Nepal 1
This second outing from India turned out to be… complicated.
I left Pondicherry on November 7: Bus from Pondicherry to Chennai then train to Benares.
I will arrive in Benares on November 9 at 5 am after 35 hours of travel. I thought I could spend 2 days in Benares to rest and prepare on the one hand, the border crossing and, on the other hand, organize the journey and the arrival in Kathmandu.
I wouldn’t have time to rest or organize anything. At the end of the morning I will learn that it is not every 3 months that you have to leave India but every 90 days… which shortens the time to leave India by 2 days. It is November 9 and I must therefore leave the territory before November 10 midnight. Either the next evening at the latest….
So I will do a PCR test that I will receive the next day by Whatsapp, buy a train ticket and 30 dollars to pay for the visa.
Journey to the border
The journey continues the next morning. Up at 4 a.m.…. Train from Benares to Gorakhpur (220 kms) the train will be 5 hours late… I will arrive around 3 p.m.… Once at the station, I have to find a bus for the border at Sonauli, I must be the only foreigner at Gorakpur, they all know why I’m here. It will therefore be a bit of a hassle between the bad directions given and the harassment for departure proposals in 4X4s… It will take me 3/4 of an hour to find the bus… But luck is with me, the bus is full and will leave 10 min later. (The bus leaves only when full).
Two and a half hours of travel for the 100 kms that remain.
Land border crossing
I will arrive in Sonauli after dark, around 7 p.m. So I have 5 hours to get the respective immigration stamps, pay the visa, eat something and find a place to sleep.
Sonauli is a border post around which shops, street restaurants and a few hotels have gathered. It is a place of passage, Indians and Nepalese come and go freely. Only the goods are checked by Indian border guards accompanied by sniffer dogs.
Then will follow the passage to Indian immigration for the exit stamp, the crossing of the border with control of the Indian army and passage to Nepalese immigration.
It’s 10 p.m. OUFFFF…. I have all my passport and visa stamps for 15 days..
I’m going to rest for a few hours in a lackluster Guest House, sleep dressed and, the water being at 10 degrees… no shower…
Back and forth between Indian and Nepalese immigration offices
Wake up in Sonauli
Around 6 o’clock I go out to have breakfast in the street and look for the first bus that leaves for Kathmandu. We will leave at 7 o’clock.
Journey to Kathmandu
Nepal suffered a major earthquake in 2015. Roads are cleared but not repaired. So it will be dirt and track for about 20% of the way. The bus stops everywhere to pick up or drop off passengers. We will even board a passenger with his goat… the goat will travel on the roof with the luggage….
Leaving Sonauli at 7 a.m., we arrive around 9 p.m. in Kathmandu. That is 14 hours of travel for 300 kms.
