I was super proud of myself because today I finally figured out how to get to work on the public transportation: white mini vans with signs - written in Nepali - telling the patrons where the van is headed. You can flag them down and jump in while they are still rolling or hop on at one of the stops, designated only by the fact that there might be a few people congregated in a certain area on a main street, but those people might just be trying to cross the street...you never really know. Anyway I had figured out how to get home FROM work, but I hadn't figured out how to get TO work. With the help of a coworker, I figured out the destination of the bus I needed to get on, but, when searching for it, accidentally asked, "Where is Lagankel?" instead of "Does this bus go to Lagankel?" in Nepali...oops. (I guess it's better than when I tried to outsmart a shoe salesman who had been selling the same shoes at a cheaper price one week before and said, "Next week, it was 260 rupees..." I always get next and last mixed up.)
Anyway once I figured I had mastered the bus system I was chatting with some other coworkers at lunch and asked them about the pricing system. Apparently, there isn't really one. Each bus charges what it wants to. I was giving all the drivers 11 rupees because that was the price the first time I got on a bus years ago, and I thought that was the fixed price for all public transport, but when I learned I may have been giving them my 11 rupees and shortchanging them as I jumped off the bus, I felt bad. That, apparently, was a hilarious notion. Oh, and I got lost walking back on a supposed 'short cut' this evening. I guess I still have quite a bit to figure out...
Anyway once I figured I had mastered the bus system I was chatting with some other coworkers at lunch and asked them about the pricing system. Apparently, there isn't really one. Each bus charges what it wants to. I was giving all the drivers 11 rupees because that was the price the first time I got on a bus years ago, and I thought that was the fixed price for all public transport, but when I learned I may have been giving them my 11 rupees and shortchanging them as I jumped off the bus, I felt bad. That, apparently, was a hilarious notion. Oh, and I got lost walking back on a supposed 'short cut' this evening. I guess I still have quite a bit to figure out...
