Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging
260 KMs Trip Meter 11300 KMs
In no mood to be on the move and takes a lot of self coaxing to get going. Lazily start by 8 am. Get a call from Raman who informs about an incident near Kosi river and people agitation over there and i should enquire at the border before heading out. Literally not thinking at all. Again kinda robot and take the suggestion of Pavan to ride via Mirik. Morning Darjeeling does a send off with fog. Its quite foggy in the whole town. Ride out slowly till Ghum an take a right towards Mirik. Narrow roads with 4/4s in a hurry. Some empty roads wet with nights rain and fog as well. After some 30 kms i see a check post to the right. On observation i realize that its the Nepal border at pashupathi.
Inquired about the possibility of entering there, and it was affirmative. It was really chaotic around the border. Guess it would be more so at kakarvitta. And what do you know, there is a strike in Siliguri today it seems. Not really sure what happens in a strike these places, but i guess people dont go there at such times :D. Have to make entry in 2 India checkposts with individual blockades and both 6 feet apart! Lot of taxis around and every one staring at me lugging around the heavy bike. Feel like zipping away from there but have to get the customary border crossing pic with the bike right. Brave it and get my shot. Ride in a bit and Now at the check post of Nepal. Who do a check of the luggage. Ride a bit ahead and its the Tax for the vehicle entry. Which is called Bansar around here. Takes quite some time get the Tax reciept made. Take the Bansar for 30 days just in case. The custom office accepts Indian rupees of 2150 for a month. The officials even exchange money for me. Exchange around 8000 rupees to get around 12800 Nepali Rupees. Now they are pretty concerned about Duplicate Indian 500 Rupee notes. 3-4 people inspect each of the notes. My telling that these came straight out of Indian govt bank ATM did not satisfy them. They were complaining about different color intensities between notes not really sure of which they think was original! Finally i showed them the thread int he notes which can loops between the layers of the paper and said this is not possible with duplicate notes. This satisfaied them and i was free to go. Pretty cheerful and helpful folks though a bit slow. Since it was like 12 already suggested me to stay in Lahan and also that the road was open over koshi river.
When i am ready to ride in Nepal, suddenly i realize i am in foriegn country now and that raises the adrenalin levels a bit. So far people have been very nice and helpful. I am riding in Nepal. Still in the mountains and the way down to Mahendra highway is through Tea estates on the mountain ridges. The roads are pretty good but a tad rough. Curious eyes peer at me prolly never seen a ZMA. Get down to the planes and try my chance at getting a Nepali Sim. Two cute girls at one of the shops tried to convey that they can give sim to Indian nationals. Kinda requested to accept my Indian documents for the sim. But the gal went a got her aunt's id proff! They give me the sim in the name of their aunt! Man this is out and out of the way help! Thanked a lot and was on the road. Take a right a Mahendra highway. Awesome road and there was small 3 feet path beside for cyclists and pedestrians. Thought the ride would be quite easy from here.
See the board to Hetauda at 370 kms. No way i can make it without a night ride. stop by a pretty looking Food stall by the road and stop for lunch. The Chowmin made in a different style tasted so good. chatting with a local came to know that Ithari is just 60 kms from ther and Lahan can be done in like 3 hours. Since it was 3.15 thought Lahan should do for today. I pickup my pace and ride at like 110 in the pretty awesome roads.
Just as i overtook a vehicle i was prolly at 110, i realized it was with Nepali army guys in the blue camouflage dress! Not sure if that was a good thing to do! As i slow down in the next town to negotiate the locals on the road i hear a blip of the siren right behind me. Damn its the same vehicle i over took!. I gave way immediately and they went ahead and gestured me stop. shit guess i am in trouble. Prolly sped too much. 6-7 soldiers jump out with guns and ask me to open the luggage. I keep my kool and comply with a smile. Then croud starts accumulating around. so the guys decide the checking can be done some distance ahead and i am told to ride a bit ahead of the vehicle and stop when they say. I again comply and was told to pull over into a camp of theirs. Ohh man now i am off the road and into a enclosed camp. The patrol guys kinda handover me to those guys saying, that i was speeding so check my stuff.
Now a senior guy comes and straight ask me to tell them if i am carrying any illegal stuff before they find out themselves!! I still keep my kool and said i have no issues with checking , with a smile. Which do on each bag. They get a table when i pour stuff from each bag and then i tell them that i will put it back else stuff would get mixed. They get curious on my travel and stuff and asking what was each stuff for! More then checking it was like they got curious of the travel and biking gear. Any way after satisfying themselves, they apologized for the inconvenience and i said its ok they were just doing their duty. The senior even told me of a hotel to stay in Lahan.
Bid byes to the soldiers, and ride out. Now the road is not so isolated and it seems as i move west its only getting thickly populated. At one point i see this sand planes on either side of the road! I mean there is not sea around and then i realized that these must be the flood planes of Koshi river. And sure enough the road ahead was bad and after some time it was nothing but mud put on water. So this was the arrangement made for river crossing. Was quite dusty but would not want to be there if it rains. Can as well drown in the slush then! Not sure how this is going to hold up this year's monsoon.
Get back to the bettor roads again. The going gets slow as the population on the road steadily increases. Lot of people walking cycling on the side of the roads. The town never seems to end. Dont see any convenient place to stay in the towns as i pass by. Just got worried about the stay for the night. Was even thinking should i push it to Hetauda today. All the while riding in the west direction, was facing the glare of the sun. Getting really uncomfortable, lots and lots of people on the road. Finally got to Lahan and as the soldiers had said, there was this nice hotel Godhuli with a compound where i can put the bike safely. Its at 650 NR at expensive but had no choice. Just wondered what would the prices be at Kathmandu.
Good enough place for the night. And hope to make it to Kathmandu without any drama the next day.
Inquired about the possibility of entering there, and it was affirmative. It was really chaotic around the border. Guess it would be more so at kakarvitta. And what do you know, there is a strike in Siliguri today it seems. Not really sure what happens in a strike these places, but i guess people dont go there at such times :D. Have to make entry in 2 India checkposts with individual blockades and both 6 feet apart! Lot of taxis around and every one staring at me lugging around the heavy bike. Feel like zipping away from there but have to get the customary border crossing pic with the bike right. Brave it and get my shot. Ride in a bit and Now at the check post of Nepal. Who do a check of the luggage. Ride a bit ahead and its the Tax for the vehicle entry. Which is called Bansar around here. Takes quite some time get the Tax reciept made. Take the Bansar for 30 days just in case. The custom office accepts Indian rupees of 2150 for a month. The officials even exchange money for me. Exchange around 8000 rupees to get around 12800 Nepali Rupees. Now they are pretty concerned about Duplicate Indian 500 Rupee notes. 3-4 people inspect each of the notes. My telling that these came straight out of Indian govt bank ATM did not satisfy them. They were complaining about different color intensities between notes not really sure of which they think was original! Finally i showed them the thread int he notes which can loops between the layers of the paper and said this is not possible with duplicate notes. This satisfaied them and i was free to go. Pretty cheerful and helpful folks though a bit slow. Since it was like 12 already suggested me to stay in Lahan and also that the road was open over koshi river.
When i am ready to ride in Nepal, suddenly i realize i am in foriegn country now and that raises the adrenalin levels a bit. So far people have been very nice and helpful. I am riding in Nepal. Still in the mountains and the way down to Mahendra highway is through Tea estates on the mountain ridges. The roads are pretty good but a tad rough. Curious eyes peer at me prolly never seen a ZMA. Get down to the planes and try my chance at getting a Nepali Sim. Two cute girls at one of the shops tried to convey that they can give sim to Indian nationals. Kinda requested to accept my Indian documents for the sim. But the gal went a got her aunt's id proff! They give me the sim in the name of their aunt! Man this is out and out of the way help! Thanked a lot and was on the road. Take a right a Mahendra highway. Awesome road and there was small 3 feet path beside for cyclists and pedestrians. Thought the ride would be quite easy from here.
See the board to Hetauda at 370 kms. No way i can make it without a night ride. stop by a pretty looking Food stall by the road and stop for lunch. The Chowmin made in a different style tasted so good. chatting with a local came to know that Ithari is just 60 kms from ther and Lahan can be done in like 3 hours. Since it was 3.15 thought Lahan should do for today. I pickup my pace and ride at like 110 in the pretty awesome roads.
Just as i overtook a vehicle i was prolly at 110, i realized it was with Nepali army guys in the blue camouflage dress! Not sure if that was a good thing to do! As i slow down in the next town to negotiate the locals on the road i hear a blip of the siren right behind me. Damn its the same vehicle i over took!. I gave way immediately and they went ahead and gestured me stop. shit guess i am in trouble. Prolly sped too much. 6-7 soldiers jump out with guns and ask me to open the luggage. I keep my kool and comply with a smile. Then croud starts accumulating around. so the guys decide the checking can be done some distance ahead and i am told to ride a bit ahead of the vehicle and stop when they say. I again comply and was told to pull over into a camp of theirs. Ohh man now i am off the road and into a enclosed camp. The patrol guys kinda handover me to those guys saying, that i was speeding so check my stuff.
Now a senior guy comes and straight ask me to tell them if i am carrying any illegal stuff before they find out themselves!! I still keep my kool and said i have no issues with checking , with a smile. Which do on each bag. They get a table when i pour stuff from each bag and then i tell them that i will put it back else stuff would get mixed. They get curious on my travel and stuff and asking what was each stuff for! More then checking it was like they got curious of the travel and biking gear. Any way after satisfying themselves, they apologized for the inconvenience and i said its ok they were just doing their duty. The senior even told me of a hotel to stay in Lahan.
Bid byes to the soldiers, and ride out. Now the road is not so isolated and it seems as i move west its only getting thickly populated. At one point i see this sand planes on either side of the road! I mean there is not sea around and then i realized that these must be the flood planes of Koshi river. And sure enough the road ahead was bad and after some time it was nothing but mud put on water. So this was the arrangement made for river crossing. Was quite dusty but would not want to be there if it rains. Can as well drown in the slush then! Not sure how this is going to hold up this year's monsoon.
Get back to the bettor roads again. The going gets slow as the population on the road steadily increases. Lot of people walking cycling on the side of the roads. The town never seems to end. Dont see any convenient place to stay in the towns as i pass by. Just got worried about the stay for the night. Was even thinking should i push it to Hetauda today. All the while riding in the west direction, was facing the glare of the sun. Getting really uncomfortable, lots and lots of people on the road. Finally got to Lahan and as the soldiers had said, there was this nice hotel Godhuli with a compound where i can put the bike safely. Its at 650 NR at expensive but had no choice. Just wondered what would the prices be at Kathmandu.
Good enough place for the night. And hope to make it to Kathmandu without any drama the next day.
My bike at the parking lot Darjeeling hotel...
Not so clear today....
The hotel stairs...
My humble room....
One of the wider allies!
Fog in the town...
Out of Darjeeling, enroute Mirik...
Looks great isnt it?
Some foggy riding...
Thats the welcome Nepal gate at Pashupati...
Me with the Nepali soldiers...
In Nepal.. The roads pretty good so far...
Guess one can get plenty of pork around...
Nepali Chortan...
Tea estates on the ridge...
Nepali plains below...
Nepal has green carpets tooo....
Then i get on to the Mahendra Raj Marg. Can see the path for pedestrians and cyclists to the left...
One of the busy towns enroute...
The fantastic road again... But its not very smooth as in its evenly minutely bumpy, as in lil tar is gone exposing the small stones...
Never seen chowmin made like that, but it was tasty...
The flood plains of River Koshi...
The damaged road...
A land fill of soft soil to get across!!
Heavy vehicles take a different land fill track...
Have to wait for my right of way...
The barrage on river koshi..
Nepali Village huts...
2 comments:
Great photos across borders !!
Wishing you a great journey.
liked ur pics .. as I am also from darjeeling but now living away from my hometown .. really gave me those old memories back again .. good work keep it up n hope u had a excellent journey.
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