...and by 12 hs, i mean 20...

Theoretically the bus ride from kolkata to dhaka takes 12ish hours...or 20 if its yesterday and you're me and Sheila. really not my best case scenario...here are some highlights of the journey...

Border crossing - absolutely crazy. i didn't have any idea where i was going or what i was supposed to be doing. guys just shuffled us here and there...the bus guy took my passport (i wasn't so thrilled about that)...then he gave them to this little guy who escorted us to the next stop where we filled out our exit cards for India (well, first they filled them out for us, but then for some reason they threw those ones away and had us do it). the whole time i'm asking where my bags are (cause there not with me...and i just have to trust that they're going where they're supposed to be). then we walk across the border...through customs (just a walk through, they didn't check anything), we were guided to another room where another guy filled out another form for us...to another room where our passports were stamped (the guy took them again...i was watching those little blue books like it was my job). asked about the luggage again...spotted it. escorted to a van. van ride to the bus...looking for luggage...luggage spotted again and loaded safely on the bus. i feel like we broke some many travel "rules" yesterday, but somehow it all worked out.

border crossing = success. stressful. confusing. but still a success.

i'd heard from others that the bus crosses a huge river on a ferry, which i was really looking forward to. i thought it would be a neat view. so we're driving along and suddenly we stopped. i thought we must be in the ferry line. i'd also heard that sometimes you have a wait a bit for the ferry (i'd heard 3 hrs which i thought would be horrible). we waited and waited. i asked the bus guy what was going on. he said we'd board the ferry in another hour (by now, theoretically we should have reached Dhaka) and then it would be 3 more hours of driving. THREE hours after i talked with him we boarded the ferry. if we would have known how epic our wait was going to be i would have timed it from the start. it was at least 6 hours, but we're pretty sure closer to 7. just sitting. inching forward...stressing out about how we're going to get where we need to get once we arrive in town.

so...finally we're in dhaka. we're about 1 mile from where we're meeting our friend. suddenly the bus driver drove right over a median in the road. it was probably 30 feet long. we both saw it coming, but the driver clearly didn't. it scrapped the bottom of the bus a lot...and there was a hissing sound (never a good sign). we sat for a bit. the driver tried to move, we moved a bit and then stopped (i think he messed up the air brakes...but i'm no bus expert). wait...wait...wait some more...and along comes our friend to pick us up. he has a bicycle.

Sheila and i get our bags and start walking (the roads of dhaka at 2:30am aren't exactly teeming with people). we get a cycle rick eventually and ride to the guest house, arriving at 3am...20 hrs of travel...both exhausted.

also...just to add a bit of joy to the day, when we were waiting to get on the bus a lady asked me if Sheila was my daughter....nope...not at all, but random lady, thanks for the chuckle

so...we're here...we're safe. at this point i feel like i've checked off the "ride a bus to bangladesh" box of life...and never is when i'd like to repeat it.