Try It Again

It was so easy taking the bus that first afternoon back to my hotel that I thought I'd try it again.

My morning experience was not that easy.

First of all I had to cross the street to get to the ride side of where I needed to go. As mentioned numerous times in my blog...crossing the street here in India can get you killed. There are cars everywhere....PLUS...camels, horses, elephants, bikes and just about anything else that can kill you if you don't move fast enough.

I thought my best opportunity would be to try and cross where the policeman directs traffic. Nope. I ended up following someone as they ran across the street.

Next was trying to figure out what the bus stop looked like. Very difficult...but I figured it out after all these guys I asked just kept pointing to something that looked like a headstone you would use at the cemetery. Great.

Several buses drove by and none of them stopped for me. Every tuk-tuk and rickshaw guy did...but no bus. I finally got some guy that barely understood me to wave the bus over. No problem. Interesting.

The bus was full of guys who just stared at me when I got on. Lovely.

I should comment that the bus I take are more like shuttle buses back home. Small. They have a driver and a guy that stands at the open door taking payments and telling the driver when to stop.

These buses get very full so it makes it very difficult to look out the window to see when to get off. Of course I missed my stop and then had to take a rickshaw to where I needed to be.

I had to try this again and on Friday I managed to cross the street by holding on to an Indian womens hand while she ran across the street....I found that this method works best for me.

I also managed to wave my own bus over to stop for me. No help from any man.

AND.........I got off at the right stop.

Life is good.