Since I've got five hours til my bus leaves...

I'll tell you about another hellish bus ride that Mel and I took. It was supposed to be a 12 hour overnighter and it actually got there on time. WOW, we were actually in Chandagarh twelve hours later! So we step off, catch a rickshaw driver and tell him where we want to go. We hit the hotel and they're all full so we pick another one which turns out to be full when we get there. Hmmm.... And why are there two rickshaws drivers I'm wondering. So after a few more we take there advice of a "nice, cheap" hotel. But you're never supposed to let them take you to their place because they get a commission, which comes in the form of higher a room cost to you, from the people they drop off. Just one of the many hustles these people have but who could blame 'em? So we get to the last one and the rent is like 800 rupees. We're used to spending 3-4 hundred and Mel is on a tight budget so we say Fuck That. Turns out there was a Doctors convention in town and the whole place is booked except for the top of the line places where 800 rupees will get you nothing. So the whole thing was a wash and we had no choice but to leave town so we told the driver to just take us to the bus station and we'd find a new town. And this guy screwed us on the fare. Charged us 250 rupees for the ride even though a few times I told him to just take us to the bus station and he would say one more, I sure. So I reluctantly gave him the 250 and then I get hit up by the 2nd "driver". He tells me that the fare was 250 but that he was the guide that got us around and therefor deserved some money also. I'm sure anyone who knows me can already hear the words that were coming out of my mouth. Fuck That. And you know he didn't get shit from me.

So here is how it continues. After twelve hours on the bus and an hour in a rickshaw we wander around the bus/ train station for a bit and find a bus heading to Delhi. It's another six hour bus ride to Delhi! Ugh! Let me tell you that Mel was super cranky again. Go ahead Mel, tell 'em how cranky you were and how you kept complaining about my talons. I myself was in a state of peace and acceptance. I hardly noticed that I was even on a bus.

So however many days and nights it took this bus to go six hours we finally got there. But we had no idea where we were. It turns out we were still an hour from Paharganj by rickshaw.

So: 12 hr. bus ride, 1 hr. rickshaw, 6 hr. bus ride, 1 hr. rickshaw

But then it was all good when we finally got our AC less plot in hell with no western toilet. Somebody upstairs loves me.