Nepal

India-Nepal border at Sunauli, Nepal, October 23, 2005



I've been in most of the places that have 'half-hour' time zones (Newfoundland, Darwin, Afghanistan, and India - I think I only have Rangoon still to go) but I'm now in my first (and the only) '45-minute' time zone: Nepal. The Lonely Planet says that Nepal is offset GMT+5:45 rather than GMT+6:00 just for some sort of sovereignty statement. Anyway, time has been surreal since my last post.


After watching two western movies - 'The Four Brothers'(not bad - and Mark Whalburg continues to impress) and 'Into the Blue'(unrealistic but nice for babe-watching) I rushed to the station - to discover that my sleeping accommodation on the Delhi - Gorakhpur train was identical in class to yesterday's - rather than the luxury I was lead to expect and which I confess I'd been hoping for. Still, I did have a berth to myself (along the aisle) instead of in a less-private cluster of four. Departure was at 21h45 last night and arrival was scheduled for 09h00 this morning. I felt I had to be alert because this was my first non-terminus destination but I had some very helpful fellow travelers so my only real concern was how to arrange transport from Gorakhpur to Kathmandu.


We got into Gorakhpur at around 09h30 this morning - I don't consider this delay very significant - and I stepped off the train wondering what to do next. ONE MINUTE LATER - and within 5m of the coach step - I had been offered and accepted transport to Kathmandu. I soon worked out that the touts were targeting my first class carriage. Fair enough - I was a willing mark. I was rushed to their office where I paid 1,025 Indian Rupees for 'luxury' (four abreast) bus transit to the Nepalese border and on to Kathmandu plus one night in the Kathmandu Hotel. They said I'd be at the border in two hours and in Kathmandu by 20h00. I was then rushed onto the bus and towards the border.

It was a pretty cramped bus. It let people on and off at every village and I had a variety of seat-mates, including two mothers with children. I couldn't communicate very well with anybody but I was reassured by the shadows that we were heading north-ish and eventually we arrived at the friendliest border crossing I've ever encountered (not counting the border between Northern and Republican Ireland, which was invisible). I'm pretty sure I could have walked through without any formality - it looked as if many people were doing so. I found the Nepalese customs office in a cottage beside the road and there discovered that I'd bypassed the Indian exit formalities. I walked back and found the Indian office amongst a row of shops set back from the border. I'm always a bit nervous at border offices - expecting that I've done something wrong or that I must pay a bribe (or worse - see my timeline entry about risking jail in Ghana. Soon after getting my Nepalese visa I was met by representatives of the transit company I'd engaged in Gorakhpur. I learned in their office that by now the only bus to Kathmandu would run through the night. I was hot and tired after two long road trips and two overnight train trips so I immediately accepted an unplanned alternative: a 30-minute flight to Kathmandu. Unfortunately a flock of Thai tourists had booked the whole plane so I was quite pleased to check into the Nepal Guest House which is clean and serviced with proper hot water. I'm booked on the 10h20 flight tomorrow


I might be favorably biased because I wanted what they were offering (a flight, hot water, a bed) but my first impression of Nepalese people is that they are, if it's possible, even friendlier than Indians. I feel I've neglected to remark before now that Indians are in general the friendliest and warmest people whose country I've visited. Now they're rivaled by the Nepalese.


While relaxing in my hotel room I've been updating my web site - specifically my travel maps, my biography, my timeline, my contact me page, a link to my CV, as well as routine updates of my cinema and reading pages.