So we booked the day before and managed to arrange with a random taxi guy to pick us up at 5:30am...the guy actually slept all night in his cab outside the complex and called us at 530 on the dot.
Our flight was at 7:35, but knowing full well our driver was the next Schumacher, we knew we'd be there in plenty of time...and we were right. Surprisingly there were no issues, in fact as soon as I boarded the plane I KO'd so did not even feel/realise the take off or landing.
SO, we arrived in Dehli with no clue how to get to Haridwar. The options were either Train, Taxi or Bus...but it seemed that we already missed the 11:00am fast train and the next one was at 15:30. Talking to the locals, it they advised that the next best option was the bus, which was equally as fast and a fraction of the price of a taxi. However, we were still dubious and wanted to go see what trains we get onto.
Dad inquired at the official taxi office (at the airport) and they said we needed to take a cab to the train station. The airport has its own official taxis but being the Indian I am, I suggested we walk outside of the airport and catch a local dude to take us as it may be cheaper.
However, I was wrong. We walked and walked until we found this Punjabi guy who agreed to take us, little did I know that this guy would stop every so often to answer his phone, pee in the street or swear at driver alongside.
An hour later we reached the train/Bus station and this was the point which proved to be our biggest mistake. As we got off this guy approached us and said the bus for Haridwar was leaving in half hr and the bus was, and I quote, " a 280 seater LUXURY coach". So we just went along, booked and waited in the pick area. By this time I was hungry, so I manned the bags whilst dad found food and fresh carrot & ginger, and pomegranate juice.
While waiting we got chatting to the guy opposite, a professional engineer, who soon informed us there was no bus till1pm (only another 30mins)..giving us time to watch the rats run around us and buy some guava fruit.
1pm soon arrived and this guy came shouting "Haridwar, Haridwar". He asked us to follow him, across a mega busy carriage way to the bus. I was somewhat relived as the buses I had seen go by in the waiting area were..to be blunt...awesome. Not.
Approaching our bus, the word luxury didn't really spring to mind. In fact it was quite the opposite, the front looked liked it had hit a few cows and on entry all the seats were ripped, had metal poking out of them or no seat to sit on. Fortunately, dad told me to go find seats whilst he loaded the luggage so I was able to pick the best of the bunch. The seats however, were next to 3 local old guys that just kept staring at me, and looked liked were out of an Alladin movie (multi colour turban inclusive)
Dad got on the bus and looked at me, I could read his mind thinking...what have we got our selves into. Never the less, we 'man'd' up and decided to look upon it as an adventure.
The time now was 1:30 and dad asked when we would be setting off to which the guy replied 2, already 1 and 1/2 hrs late. 2oclock soon came to which the locals started abusing the organiser, who was just waiting for more people to make money out of and take on board.
At this point, I too was frustrated and added to the pressure by shouting "chalo chalo", then out of nowhere the guy behind me starts shouting and says he wants his money back, little did we know that this guy was ex-Indian army and later told us he had medals for killing people.
Anyway, we finally set off at 14:45 and at this stage I was wondering what time we would reach as we hadn't booked anything in Haridwar and this is when the nightmare began.
The driver kept stopping to pick more people up along the way and traffic was a nightmare. Several hours later, it was getting pretty dark and I thought we would reach around 7 until we hit this road block where the oncoming traffic wouldn't move and we were in the middle of a jam.
To make it worse, the driver stalled and couldn't get the bus started again untill 25mins later. After a few shouts and clever mounvering, we edged forward only to see a train zip past but the ill taught driver managed to start up and stall again..only this time he stalled on the train track!!
At this point, I started to REALLY shit myself as theres no way we could have moved on if a train came towards us. Luckily, the bus perked up with people pushing at the back and we were off...so we thought. 10 mins later the driver pulls over for a break at a service station, which I guess I didn't mind as I was hungry and needed to go to the bathroom.
I soon went, only to turn around to see a monkey watching me pee in the middle of a dark, secluded path. Meantime, dad bought chips and a coleslaw sandwich and then we were off only to stop another 5 mins later!!
The driver had realised that he wasn't going to able to drop the random passengers he picked up to their destination and so he got off, with them, and jumped onto another bus driving them to their place...leaving us waiting for yet another 40mins and the adventure didn't stop here, once he returned we set off once again only to learn that the bus lost power and we had to get off...in the middle of nowhere, with no taxis, shops or people. At this stage, I think I had no more frustration in me and could only laugh, nervously.
Outside the bus, the driver was getting endless amount of abuse from the passengers, in fact I was pretty sure he was going to get beaten by this old man...with 1 leg and two crutches. By this time 11:15, I noticed a little van pull up and so we picked up our bags and made a b-line for it only to be followed by everyone else. Luckily, we managed to get a seat and just watched everyone pile on like sardines. I was worried dad would stress out although, as usual, he was cool as a cucumber.
20 mins later, the driver stopped and it seemed we were here, finally. We asked one of the bus guys about hotels and he said 'Hotel Sachin' was good, we had no choice but to take his word and so we began walking for about 10 mins up the road, checked in and paid whatever he asked.
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