going to bhaktapur was quite a hassle. there were no clear sign of where exactly we should take the bus and which one to take. there was no sign of where we supposed to alight the bus either. so we relied a lot on asking the locals. like a lot. on the street. and on the bus. thankfully the nepali were generally friendly and would interrupt if they know they could help. i remember one girl in uniform, not sure whether it's college or high school, after a long talk on where we should alight, she still tapped me on the back when i was about to get off the bus to make sure we walk to the right direction towards the old city gate.
we read a lot about how notorious the public buses here are. how crowded it could be. and it did. it got to the point where there was no room at all to stand. but it was nothing compare to some of the bus rides in jakarta. crowded of course, but at least here i didn't feel like i was threaten or that i need to be cautious of crime or sexual harassment.
getting out of bhaktapur was also a hassle. we avoided riding a taxi and wait for the bus. trying to avoid certain bus that didn't look "convincing", we waited quite a while before getting on our ride. it was around this time that we noticed how people would leave their belonging on the bus seat to claim it, and then got off and wander around, before then came back when the bus was about to leave. it's quite fascinating to me because even in the country as "safe" as singapore, people usually left simple things like umbrella or a pack of tissue to claim a seat. but here they left their bags and groceries and all that. without worrying anyone would take it. not even in europe i think people would do such thing.
we didn't spend much time in the city. it was a small city to nicely roam around. there was one particular time when it reminds of being in bali, surrouded by all the temples.
