And we didn’t have to worry too much about the safety glass on the bus’s door, as I believe the bus didn’t have a door. No need for air conditioning that way. The bus had a front mount engine and the driver sat beside it (kinda like some school buses). Instead of wasting space with the engine, they mounted a padded carpet shelf over it to allow people to sit, leaving a small cutout for the gearshift.
Google says it would take 3h 17m for this trip on National Highway 8. Google assumes things like people driving in lanes, constant speeds, zero construction, no dodging of horses, and even pavement. This is an example of a Google fail.
There’s no word in Hindi for “expressway”. I don’t think there’s a word for “freeway” or “turnpike” either. It was a four-lane road with a divider in the middle most of the way. Over the length of NH-8, a single bridge was found at what could be almost described as an interchange. Since there are no other bridges, there are breaks in the dividers to allow u-turns, people crossing, and cross streets. Plus, in many of the villages and small cities, they’re starting to build overpasses adding construction to the mix. Plus we had to pass three elephants. Google is wrong by about 2h in its calculations.
We hopped on the bus about 10:45 and arrived at 16:00 – so why 2h more than what Google said? This wasn’t the express bus, so there were a bunch of stops. Sometimes, they included slowing down along a few crowds of people and shouting “jah-pour, jah-pour, jah-pour” like an auctioneer. For a few pickups and drop-offs, we didn’t even come to a complete stop; just leap.
There were a few food vendors that got on for a single stop, selling samosas and other yummy smelling wares. But, on the advice of a wise sagess, never eat from the street vendors. Plus there were toll-booths and a gas refill.