• Blog
    • Traveling
    • Reviews
    • Travelling tips
    • Personal
  • Where to travel
    • Africa
    • Europe
    • Oceania
    • Middle East
    • South Asia
    • North Asia
    • North America
    • South America
  • About us
  • Contact
  • LET’S STAY IN TOUCH

    All our latest content for travelling with small children dellivered to your inbox one or two times per month

  • Categories

    Africa India Middle East Morocco personal reviews South Africa South America South Asia traveling Travelling tips Turkey Uncategorized Venezuela wheretotravel
  • Blog
    • Traveling
    • Reviews
    • Travelling tips
    • Personal
  • Where to travel
    • Africa
    • Europe
    • Oceania
    • Middle East
    • South Asia
    • North Asia
    • North America
    • South America
  • About us
  • Contact
My first long bus ride in India
May 12, 2017

Since I started with my travel stories from my first journey in India, I just have to continue. There are many stories to be told and each is special, but I have to finish with India first. So I already wrote about my first day in India and my first train journey in India. Now it’s time to say a few words about bus travel in India. It actually is the next thing I did after arriving in Shimla with toy train and explored Shimla for two days.

Arriving to Shimla by toy train.

Index

  • Shimla is such a nice place.
  • The only way to go from Shimla to Dharamsala was with a bus.
  • Of course, Indian bus wouldn’t go for the ride empty!
  • Driver, toilet stop, please!
  • Arriving to the destination by bus in the evening.

Shimla is such a nice place.

And so clean. It is actually forbidden to spit on the streets of Shimla. The whole city and surrounding area was so refreshing to me after the arrival in hot and busy Delhi. I loved the fresh air and traffic free streets and squares for wandering. It was easy to spend a few days there. I tried more Indian food and snacks, made some new friends and took so many pics with local Indian tourists. I felt like a movie star. It seemed like everyone wanted to take a picture with me. I didn’t understand why though. Wearing my travel pants and t-shirt, I wasn’t even ready to be on all those pics. But it was fun. We had a lot of laughs. In the evenings I was making plans on where to go next. I decided it should be Dharamsala or McLeod Ganj. The place where Tibetan refugees and Dalai Lama live.

No spitting is allowed in Shimla!

Beutiful Shimla.

The only way to go from Shimla to Dharamsala was with a bus.

So I went and bought a bus ticket to Dharamsala a day before leaving. That’s what it said I should do in my Lonely Planet guidebook. That guidebook was my everything. Oh, how easy some things would be if we had wifi then. But as long as I had my Lonely Planet India, I felt safe. I was so protective of it and took the best care of it! So in my guidebook it was written the journey by bus from Shimla to Dharamsala would take approximately 10 hours. It said I should bring some snacks. So I bought snacks and a bottle of water and was ready to go the next morning. The bus was already at the station, waiting for clients. I was the only tourist on the bus and since it was empty I had my big backpack next to me. Even though the bus was a typical, not comfortable at all Indian bus, I thought it would be a great ride since it was almost empty. Oh, how wrong I was.

“My” bus from Shimla to Dharamsala.

Of course, Indian bus wouldn’t go for the ride empty!

It was nonsense. Before we even left the driver asked me to put my backpack on the roof and luckily some other traveller, going to another destination, offered to do it for me. He tied my backpack on the roof of the bus and so we left. We were driving around the town for more than an hour, picking up passengers until the bus was totally full. And by full I mean there were more passengers than seats on the bus. And so we went, slowly to Dharamsala. I enjoyed watching the beautiful landscape of Himachal Pradesh through the window. I was actually squeezed against the window so that was the best choice. There were three of us seating on two seats. But the other two were two young girls so it was really ok.

Driver, toilet stop, please!

We were driving for more than five hours and there was no stop yet. I was glad I didn’t drink too much of my water and even better, I didn’t have coffee before departure. Well other passengers didn’t seem to mind driving for a long time without toilet stop. Or any stop at all, if nothing else, to stretch a bit. So we had to wait until our driver became hungry. Then he stopped. At the smallest place by the road possible. Where only one person was working. And there was only one toilet. And of course, there was not a single bush (to hide behind) at that place. But I suppose they had the best samosas ever. The driver was happy and we left as soon as he had enough samosas and chai. So my water bottle was almost full until the evening.

The driver stopped for a minute to buy some vegetables.

Arriving to the destination by bus in the evening.

Our bus was dropping off the passengers here and there about an hour before reaching the final destination. Only a few of us were left when we reached the last bus station. It was dark outside and I had no idea where I was. Oh, and my backpack was on the roof of my bus. I asked the driver if someone can bring my backpack. He told me to just go and take the backpack. And so I did. I climbed up that tiny ladder to the roof of the bus, untied the backpack and carried it back down. Somehow I succeeded without falling. The driver and his helper were watching me and didn’t even try to hide how amused they were. Well, it must have been funny. I see it now. But back then I was a bit scared and my legs were shaking because of sitting for 10 hours on that bus. And since it was dark outside I was suddenly happy there were tuk tuks waiting to take us up to the settlement of McLeod Ganj where all the hotels were.

After this first bus ride in India I decided I’ll try to use trains as much as possible. They are just more comfortable! The toilet is always there and you can at least stand up and walk a bit. But no matter what, this first bus ride in India was a great adventure. My story continues in McLeod Ganj where I tried to meet Dalai Lama and tasted all kinds of momos.

Until next time,

Ajda

Share

India  / personal  / traveling  / Travelling tips

Ajda

  • Categories

    • traveling
    • reviews
    • personal
    • wheretotravel
  • Popular Posts

    • Why would you travel with a small baby
      April 29, 2016
    • Getting ready for a two week family trip (we're off to Morocco)
      May 13, 2017
    • Our experience with Moroccan people
      June 14, 2017
    • Top 5 reasons to visit the Garden Route with kids
      April 23, 2016
    • Sun City with kids
      April 24, 2016


  • Newsletter

    All our latest content for travelling with small children dellivered to your inbox one or two times per month

  • Recent Posts

    • Venezuela 2022 or one of the best trips ever
      April 1, 2022
    • Update - I'm still here
      March 6, 2022
    • Koronavirus travelogue
      May 21, 2020
  • Instagram Feed

    ajda.borntotravel

    With kids in South Africa, Vol. 4! The southernmos With kids in South Africa, Vol. 4! The southernmost point of Africa, penguins, grape juice tasting, fantastic playgrounds and more!!! We love South Africa! 

#southafrica #kidswhoexplore #kidswhotravel #travelwithkids #africa #borntotravelandsmile #gekkopotovanja
    With kids in South Africa Vol. 3. And Vol. 4 is al With kids in South Africa Vol. 3. And Vol. 4 is also on the way. South Africa is so diverse and perfect for traveling with kids. 

 #southafrica #travelwithkids #kidswhotravel #borntotravelandsmile #kidswhoexplore
    South Africa with kids Vol. 2. Animals, wild and d South Africa with kids Vol. 2. Animals, wild and domesticated, long beaches, sand dunes 🤩
    South Africa with kids Vol. 1 #reelitfeelit #reel South Africa with kids Vol. 1

#reelitfeelit #reelsexplore #kidsreel #kidswhotravel #travelwithkids #southafrica #eswatini #borntotravelandsmile
    A glimpse of Eswatini, second smallest country in A glimpse of Eswatini, second smallest country in Africa and the only absolute monarchy still surviving on the continent! Diverse, cultural and traditional, Eswatini is a must see!
    Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital. Ethnically and r Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital. Ethnically and religiously such a diverse city. 

#reels #reelitfeelit #suriname #paramaribo #borntotravelandsmile
    Cape Point is a promontory at the southeast corner Cape Point is a promontory at the southeast corner of the Cape Peninsula, a mountainous and scenic landform that runs north-south for about thirty kilometres at the extreme southwestern tip of the African continent in South Africa. Table Mountain and the city of Cape Town are close to the northern extremity of the same peninsula.
    A visit to the notorious former prison in French G A visit to the notorious former prison in French Guiana. Devil’s islands consist of three islands and two are accessible, one (the only one named Devils island), isn’t. Here you see the remains of the old times and the sights come to life if you read the book or saw a movie Papillon. 🦋
    Visitig the Space Center in French Guiana! What an Visitig the Space Center in French Guiana! What an experience, to see the launch pads, the rocket in it’s original size and learn about how it all functions! 🚀 

#guianaspacecenter #spacecenter #space #rockets #frenchguiana #reels #reelitfeelit #borntotravelandsmile
    Load more... Follow me on Instagram

© Copyright GEKKO potovanja d.o.o.