Into Nepal

James Stevenson — Sat, 11 May 2024 14:18:10 +0000

I arrived early from Forbesganj at the border. It is quite an impressive operation on the Indian side. I had to wait a couple of hours for it to open and I was on my way to the Nepal side. The usual sort of border chaos and I went in search of the Immigration office to get my visa. It was a couple of kilometers up the road and of course I missed it. Asking about yielded no results- this is an obscure unknown office apparently. Eventually I found it and a long wait ensued because of no electricity.
Eventually found a hotel in Biratnagar, expensive at 3800 nc a night and not really very good.
Off west along the Mahendra Highway and construction work on the highway for the next 2 days made it quite tiring.
Excellent modest hotels at Lahan, Laldunga, and Hetauda. I maybe unnecessarily take a.c. rooms . My 2 non-ac experiences, albeit a long while back traumatised me. Often the a.c. is just too cold for me. The room rates are about between 1800 and 2300 n.c.
I am relishing the food. Simple but superb. I had dreamed about this kind of food when I was in the culinary wasteland of Bangladesh.
My 3d day from Laldanga to Hetauda ended up being severely testing. The highway was narrow and the traffic insane. Then a stretch of no-road, full concentration and steely nerves. Made it alive through that, then the hills. I’m glad I didn’t know in advance that it was coming up. The narrowness of the road plus my exhaustion at this point plus a thundershower- suicidal stuff really.

2 days in Bihar

James Stevenson — Tue, 07 May 2024 12:36:24 +0000

These have been long days one after the other each over 100 kms.
Some nice roads and weather from Malda following The Ganges (but too far away to see). Windy and dusty entry into Bihar and overwhelming forced socialising.
Bihar is dry… so sad and seems serious about it.

Bihar – James Stevenson

Into Nepal

2 days in Bihar