I wanted to head from Aurangabad to Ahmedabad. I actually wanted to visit Junagadh, from where it would be possible to go see a lion sanctuary called Gir National Park. I tried to figure out a train to get me to Ahmedabad, but Aurangabad and Ahmedabad are on two different trunk lines and there are no truly direct trains between the two. There are two trains that connect the two, but they were days away and would take 17 hours. I didn't want to wait that long and I didn't want to be on a train for that long again either. So I decided to take the bus. The advice I was given on that was to take a bus to Surat, at the mid point between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Then I would take a bus to Ahmedabad. I thought there would have to be a bus all the way to Ahmedabad, but I didn't know where to look for that, so I decided to follow the plan.
I got up early and headed to the bus station and got a bus to Surat. I found the bus for Surat and hopped on. The ticketing personnel on the buses all have handheld ticket machines they use to print out the tickets. Then they get the money. The tickets list the start point, the end point, the price, and the other information including the distance to travel. I noted that the distance between Aurangabad and Surat was 405 kilometers. On my other travels I had found that buses travel about 50 kilometers per hour on average in this country. I had gotten on the bus at about 8:30, so I hoped that all being equal I would be in Surat by about 4, and hopefully with good roads earlier.
Unfortunately the roads were very crowded. And the roads were crap. So the 8 hour trip that was hoped to be 7 or 6 turned into 10 and a half and I arrived in Surat after dark. Along the way there was some interesting scenery.
And later, I did get to see the sun set just before arriving in Surat.
I decided that instead of trying to get to Ahmedabad that night I would stay in Surat. So I started wandering about trying to find a place to stay. But it seemed to be very busy in Surat for some reason. I saw fireworks and wondered if there was sort of celebration in town. Or it could simply have been that it was some sort of major crossing point and many people were staying there as a result. The area where I got off the bus had a bus station and a train station right nearby. I tried lots of hotels nearby and found none that had rooms. So I gave up and decided to head to Ahmedabad. I discovered that there were sleeper buses to Ahmedabad that ran all night. So I went and got something to eat. Then I went to a cyber cafe for a while to use up some time and then I went and caught a bus. The distance was about 300 kilometers, which should have come to about 6 hours. Starting at about 10:30, that would put me in Ahmedabad at around 4.
Sleeper buses in India are better than in China (or Vietnam for that matter), but the roads are still kind of rough. I was in the bed at the back of the bus, behind the back wheels, and that meant an especially rough ride for me. At least I managed to get enough rest to deal with the next day. But it wasn't particularly comfortable.
When I arrived in Ahmedabad, I decided just to carry on to Junagadh and be done with it. I would return to Ahmedabad later on and see things there. I sat down to wait for the bus station to start for the day, but a rickshaw driver approached me asking where I wanted to go. I said Junagadh, thinking that would make him go away since there was nothing for him. But it didn't. Instead he told me about a private bus company that was going to have a bus to Junagadh at 4:30. He could take me to the ticket office for 10 rupees. The ticket to Junagadh would cost 350, and the bus would be comfortable. It sounded like a reasonable plan, so I went with him. Unfortunately for him, when we got to the office I was told the ticket was only 320 rupees. Aha! No wonder the rickshaw driver was so helpful. He could get a commission. He grinned ruefully. But fair play, I couldn't fault him for it. I wouldn't have known of the option if he hadn't told me about it, so he deserved the commission. Then when we got to the spot to catch the bus, he waved off the 10 rupees for the ride. But I gave it to him anyway. He had earned the commission and we had agreed to the fare. It only seemed fair to me. Ha ha!!
After he left, I waited for the bus. 4:30 came and there was no bus. The bus agent then told me 5:00. But still no bus. Then he told me 6:00, but again, there was no bus. Then they told me that the bus was full (so why the hell did they sell me a ticket?), but there was another bus to a different city that would me only a short bus ride to my final destination. They gave me some of my fare back and off I went to the new bus. By then, of course, I was on almost 24 hours with only a fitful couple of hours sleep. I was getting annoyed and having less and less holding back an outburst. But I made it to the bus. Where I waited. And waited. And waited, as they filled the bus and just sat, and drove around a block or two, and then sat around for a while longer. I finally got fed up and blasted the guy in the front, and told him that I was getting pretty pissed off about waiting since 4:30 to be on a bus that now wasn't even going to the place I wanted to be. He told me it would be ten minutes more. I told him that if they didn't get the bus moving in ten minutes, I was out of there. Ten minutes later, the bus was still sitting there, and they had turned the engine off. I just picked up my stuff and left. I didn't even try to demand any money. I had just had it and I wanted out. It was only a matter of five dollars. I'm not sure they had believed me that I would leave, but their mouths were hanging open a bit when I up and left. I don't suppose they really cared all that much since they had the money, but it did feel good to have left them knowing that a foreign visitor left in a foul mood. They do have a saying here that a visitor is God. From a tourism perspective they do understand that a lot of money comes in because of foreign tourists. Perhaps those bozos know they screwed up, big time.
In any case, I walked into the bus station right next to us, and got right on a bus that left a few minutes later. And I noticed the bus I had left still sitting on the street outside. I imagine that bus moved faster as the state transportation buses really do only go about 50 kilometers per hour on hour, but the bus I had boarded was going where I wanted it to go, it was cheap (I ended up only paying a little bit more than the small refund that I had received for the bus change), and I was on my way.
And the people who run the state buses are so much nicer. They are helpful and friendly and they seem to be very invested in making sure I am okay. I have been very impressed with all the state transportation services all over India.
When I arrived in Junagadh, I located a place to stay, got some good information about visiting the national park and then got a shower and a bit of rest.
Hopefully it wouldn't be too difficult to visit the national park, nor would be it be too expensive.
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