Pokhara to Ktm.
Cold on the bus, but good views of Annapurna, almost as if hidden by a curtain. Just outside Pokhara the local bus in front of us goes over the side, rolls, and slides down a really steep slope. People go down to help and I grab a first aid kit off an American girl and slide down. There's a couple of people beyond help, I go to start CPR on one kid then realise there's no ambulance to come. A man comes round from behind with a young child of maybe 6, and I take her up the slope. She's covered in blood but it's not hers, and she appears to be in shock only. An old woman sits next to me with pleading eyes, she has a large open gash to her head, there's no glass I can see so I mop it up and bandage her, getting blood all over my clothes. A trekking guide comes to help, and we get her, the child and an old man onto our bus, and I sit on the floor and mop him up. He seems to have a depressed fracture to his cheek, all I can give him is two paracetamol and the packet to show when he gets to hospital.
We drop them off there, then we head off for breakfast. The trekking guide thanks me for my compassion privately and says all the other westerners just watched. It's a sorry thing really, and I feel some guilt I couldn't have helped more people.
The rest of the journey is thankfully uneventful as we travel our bumpy way through the mountains back to Kathmandu. I return to Wonderland with it's swamp view and fog chorus, and as I check in I remember the excitement of heading out for Lukla and I'm a little bit sad. The adventure is coming to a close, and i know now what I'd been dreading, I'm going home single, it's going to be a tough adjustment.
I'll blog about the missing days in Pokhara soon. Clbomg wall tomorrow to take out some frustration!
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