ARRIVAL TO NEPAL

Crossing the Nepal land border from India is not what I expected.

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After more than a year on the road, and a dozen border crossings, what a surprise to notice the absence of organization and of any official form at the entrance of this country.

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Of course, Nepal has had years of hardship for its development between the earthquake in 2015 which devastated a good part of the territory, and the civil wars between 1996 and 2006. Its economy is based mainly on agriculture, the roads are non-existent or under permanent construction - one would say.

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Sent from office to office, I have the impression of arriving in a holiday centre.

I scan my backpack through a detector located inside a van and I am sent to the stand opposite side of the road to show my passport. Then, to the office next door where I am registered in a large grimoire that I sign for form.

Then comes the hardest part : receiving my visa. To get my passport stamped, I was told to continue straight for 500m to the Namaste hotel.

A few steps later, I obviously get accosted by multiple tuktuks who offer to take me by car, it is no longer 500m but very very far at 2km, they tell me.

 

The experience of the past 3 months in India has allowed me to sharpen my tourist trap detector, especially with tuktuk drivers, but I must admit that entering Nepal has been even more challenging to divert the incessant asking.

 

Arrived at the immigration office, I see that dollars are only accepted and I therefore have to find an ATM to withdraw Nepalese rupees in order to change them for dollars. The French couple I met on the spot greatly diminished my hopes by telling me about their long experience in acquiring their dollars and their visas (I would meet them again a month and a half later, by chance, in a guest house on the edge of the Begnas Lake).

 

Indeed, it took me a few hours and several round trips to be able to withdraw from the office with a stamped passport and legally begin my exploration of Nepal.