Micro-buses

There are several ways to get around Kathmandu - taxi, buses, and ... the best ... micro-buses. Micro-buses are little minivans that have been converted into small buses with 5 benches. They can hold around 20 people including the "conductor". Personal space issues are not acceptible on micro-buses - you might have to sit in someone's lap - and being short is definitely a benefit. Not a lot of leg room on micro-buses.

They are one of the more efficient ways of getting through Kathmandu's traffic. And cheap! You can get from one side of the city to the other for about 20 rupees (that's about 30 cents).

The conductor takes the money and tells the driver when to stop and go. He hangs out of the micro-bus sliding door and looks for people waiting for the bus. Two bangs on the roof means go. One bang on the roof means stop. He also helps navigate the traffic and makes sure the micro-bus isn't going to run into anything (at least on the sliding door side of the bus).

I've been getting adventurous with the micro-buses. I get a lot of interesting looks as it is not often to see a bedishee (foreigner) on a micro-bus. Last week I took a micro-bus from Jawalahkel to Ratna Park, changed to another micro-bus to go to Boddhanath. And made the return trip. I was on the final leg of the return journey, congratulating myself, when the bus turned down a street I didn't know. Hold on. When we got to the last stop I figured out I'd gotten on the micro-bus to Lagankhel instead of Jawalahkel. Oops. Luckily, in addition to sounding a lot alike, they are pretty close together and you can walk (or take another micro-bus) between the two. That's what I get for congratulating myself early.

This is Ratna Park, which is a large park close to the center of Kathmandu, with a bunch of micro-buses and a larger local bus.