Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

We take the bus from Pokhara to Kathmandu this morning, with about 25 other passengers. The bus rides are scary here, as we wind around the steep cliff-sides. It often feels like either the bus will topple over the edge, or, we will hit one of many trucks coming straight for us, that our driver is playing chicken with. The ride is to take 6 hours, with a couple tea & pee breaks, and a Nepali daal bhaat buffet lunch at a roadside diner. After the second hour of hot stickiness and breathing in diesel fumes, the drivers finally close the windows and roof openings, and rev up the AC, which really doesn't amount to much change, except now we're just breathing in the smells of sweaty bodies all around us. But we're thankful we opted for the tourist bus, and not the local bus, as Darrin is already set to heave out the window from the twisting hairpin turns. We're about 45 minutes from town, when traffic grinds to a halt. We find out, 30 minutes later, from a Swedish woman next to us, whose son works for the United Nations here in Kathmandu, that there are riots in the streets and clashes between the police and taxi drivers. The drivers have blockaded the city, burning tires and causing havoc. We are stuck. Everyone but us, and the Swedish ladies disembark the bus, strap on packs, and head out to walk the remaining 10K's. The Swedish woman's son advises us that we should stay with the bus. There's no way to get any transportation through to the city, and with the ruckus and burning going on, it's really not a great idea to be walking through the conflict, we might get caught unintentionally in the firing line. So, we wait it out for 3 very hot hours. The traffic finally moves, and we make it back safely, passing through the smoldering burnt tire streets. Apparently this is quite common in Nepal, and it's life as usual on the streets.