Oct 21,14 Monday – Nepal Border - Kathmandu

Arrived at the China departures building very early to get in line and hopefully beat the worst of the crowd.  We were right behind Erin and Adam in the line (see our Tibet blog for info about our intermittent travels with Erin and Adam).

Travel companions - Paul, Mary, Adam and Erin

Getting across the Chinese border was relatively easy.  Sorting out the chaos on the Nepal side was a bit more work.  However, eventually our guide showed up with another individual and took us and our luggage to the Nepal customs building to get our Nepal visa.  The room was packed with all the westerners dutifully lined up.  Our guide took our paperwork and $50 and basically cut to the front of the line.  However, we had major problems with our US bills.  We kept pulling out $20s and $10s but they were never quite flawless enough.  We finally found a pristine, uncirculated $100 and they were satisfied with that so we got our visa and change.

By then we had also acquired three additional “porters” who proceeded to grabbed all of our luggage and head down the street towards our car, leaving Mary with her heavy backpack.  

Narrow streets of Kodari

The town on the Nepal side, Kodari, was very narrow as it was squeezed between the river and the mountain.  The town was basically the width of the buildings on either side of the road and a narrow, bumpy, occasionally paved road.  The streets were sometimes down to one lane, as trucks were parked on the sides of the road waiting for nightfall, when trucks were allowed to cross the border.

 

The drive from Kodari to Kathmandu is about 150 miles and took about four hours (with a lunch break).  The drive was bumpy, windy, dusty, narrow, and spectacular.  Nepal is very mountainous with rice paddies climbing half way up the mountains.  It was really a spectacular drive.

Rice fields and valleys of Nepal

Road through the slide

Part of the drive was through a massive slide that occurred a couple of months before we arrived.  The slide wiped out a large section of hillside, destroyed a village and killed a number of villagers, and blocked part of the river, creating a lake.  The makeshift road through the slide was very slow, very bumpy, and very, very dusty.

Lake made by the slide



Kathmandu lies in a large valley surrounded by mountains.  The views driving into the city were good but the air was quite hazy.  

Statue of Shiva

And there was lots of traffic. Quite a shock from Tibet, where the air was clear and there was very little traffic after Lhasa.  Lane lines, including the center lane line, were only a suggestion.  Lots of motorcycles.  They and cars, ours included, took a lane out of the other direction, since our direction was packed, and the other direction had lighter traffic.  The oncoming traffic just moved over to accommodate.

In the evening we went to a dinner and cultural show that had dancers and musicians performing Nepalese dances. 

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