The only thing that can be a little frightening sometimes is crossing the street or walking through a traffic jam because there aren’t always sidewalks in Kathmandu. Sometimes the wheels of motorcycles or cars get very close to me, and I’m afraid my feet will get squished. Somehow they always manage to stop, though, and my feet are all right.
Taking the bus is a little more challenging than walking in Kathmandu. For starters, the buses here don’t display stops. That means you have to remember the routes and walk to the front of the bus when you are approaching your destination.
Then there’s the crowding. It has been so crowded on the bus that I can barely stand without leaning on others. People were all huddled together, and there’s not even a millimeter of space between them. Moreover, the ticket collector took on more people at every stop we passed by. As if all of us could just be folded like a piece of paper to make room! I was really uncomfortable and a little annoyed at first. To my surprise, I discovered that all the other people on the bus were laughing, probably finding the whole overcrowded situation funny and entertaining. So, I started laughing with them, and all my negative emotions disappeared.
As I watch the interaction between people on the bus, I think it’s definitely one of the best places to see some of the cultural differences between Nepal and the United States. In Nepal roads are smaller, cars are smaller and houses are smaller and more packed in, so the idea of personal space is not as important as in the United States.
