He had been struck by a car. Or maybe a bus.
He was laying face up, on the righthand shoulder of the road, just below my window.
We were halfway to Pokhara. It was three hours by road to the east - behind us, to Kathmandu - and three hours ahead - to the west - to Pokhara.
As I have not yet seen or heard an ambulance in my travels in Nepal, I surmised that the injured man was hours away from medical care.
I made it to the bus station at about 7:15 AM and the bus departed on schedule at 7:30.
I had received two sets of instructions to the bus station. One set of directions was correct; the other was not. I walked several blocks too far and had to turn around and walk back to the station. The station was only a 10 minute walk through the streets of Thamil from the Hotel Nana. I enjoy early AM walks, even with a backpack.
I boarded and sat in my window seat on the north side of the bus. I sat next to Tim, a young German traveler. The road was twisty, turny, bumpy and pothole ridden with endless patches to the asphault surface. There were rough sections of the road with gravel and numerous speed bumps. At times we were right on the edge of 500 foot cliffs with only rocks as a guard rail.
I found and secured my seat belt.
For the first three hours from Kathmandu it was an uncomfortable ride but very scenic. There were thousands of buses, trucks, cars and motorcycles on the road, going both east and west. All were passing each other, stopping in the middle of the road, passing head on - or on blind turns - and often we missed other vehicles by a foot or less. We went 54 km (33 miles) in two hours.
At times the bus would break very hard and come haltingly to a stop. There were horns constantly being blown by every vehicle on the road. I often heard the Chinese women in the seats in front of me gasp.
It was like an amusement park ride, with the lives of everyone at stake.
The rural hill village people - women, men, children - have neither cars or motoorcycles, so they walk on the side of the road and are at considerable risk from the passing vehicles.
After the second bus stop - about four hours into the eight hour bus ride - I saw ahead a crowd of people standing in a circle on my side of the road. It was an oblong circle. Everyone was staring down on the side of the road.
As the bus slowed and we passed the crowd, I saw the young man lying face up with his arms and legs at angles that said "unconscious". I could see his bare stomach.
Another American, Dave, from Utah - that I met at the hotel, then drank beer with on the hotel roof - and later shared dinner - told me that he saw a similar incident on his bus ride - only his sighting of a man hit by a vehicle was only two hours from Pokhara.
I'm confident that there are all types of accidents involving buses, cars, motorcycles, pedestrians, cattle, goats, dogs or even children - on a daily basis on this highway.
The view was spectacular as we rode along the edge of mountain cliffs out of Kathmandu and up and over switchbacks. We crossed several mountain ranges on the way down in elevation to Pokhara.
A river was on our right 75% of the way. Everything was green - and semi tropical - bamboo, decldious trees, banana trees - and the hillsides were steep and rose to 1500 feet on either side with milky glacial rivers or muddy, sediment laden rivers in the bottom of the valley.
Right on schedule, at 3:00 PM we arived in Pokhara. There were dozens of hotel touts waiting as we departed the bus. I had not reserved a room, as I often do, and soon as I stepped off the bus the hotel tout dance began.
I easily found a room in Lakeside, with a free cab ride, on the fifth floor, with a nice view, TV, inet, a double and a single bed, balcony. It was $22.00.
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