Despite my experience of Indian bureaucracy, I can still be amazed by it. Moritz and I enter the immigration office at the border and get invited to sit in a rather plush room. None of these grey, dreary passport control buildings you get everywhere. We were then taken individually into another room where they scanned the passport and took our photo. The normal process. After returning to the original room he would then fill in all the details in a book. I am sure that book is never looked at.
Thinking this process was over, Moritz and I headed towards the gate, which the military controlled. There we were given some seats to sit on in the booth where they once again wrote down all the details from our passport in a book. We could then leave India!
Arriving at the Nepalese immigration, everything was opposite to India. No paperwork for starters! Fill in a form online and then e-mail it to the officer, who checks it and then prints your visa sticker for the passport. Ten minutes later, and after paying 50 in new crisp USD, you get your stamp and enter Nepal.
Bhimdatta
The first major town where we could sort out lunch, internet and cash was a bit of a sprawling mess but somehow organised and not what I expected. I was expecting the town to be like an Indian town, in complete chaos with everyone trying to get somewhere or sell something. But it was much calmer and everything seemed to shut at 17.00. However, we managed to organise SIMs for our phones, albeit after supplying Next of Kin details, a passport photo and copies of our passport. Nepal just moved the bureaucracy.
We also discovered they like to add a 10% commission on money exchanges or ATM withdrawals. Nepal was going to be expensive. We found a cheap hotel and headed out for a meal, our original plan to cycle another 50km had failed with the time it took to do everything.
Let me see tigers… please…
With 150km to complete the next day to the park, Moritz came down with food poisoning. Apparently, he was going to die; we opted for a bus. But communication was going to be a barrier in explaining what we needed to do. Luckily, there was a local in each place to help us get on the correct bus and help negotiate the cost including the bikes. The English in Nepal is surprisingly good.
After finding our accommodation and being offered the options of a jeep safari or walking safari. We opted for the jeep safari. The next day started early, just before sunrise, we would have breakfast and then head off with our jeep, driver and guide. The forest at this time of year is dense with plants making it hard to see any animals, even less so with tigers who are experts at hiding!
We covered a large amount of ground, stopping at artificial water holes for the animals. In a few cases, we parked the jeep continuing on foot. This way we would be quieter. Our only defence is a big wooden stick to fend off the larger animals. I’m not sure it would’ve worked against a pair of mating tigers we found evidence of on our walk.
On one occasion we did see a rhino but after about 5 or 10 minutes he decided he had had enough of us and wandered off into the long grass. We made a quick escape in case he decided to circle round and have a ‘little chat.’ Whilst we saw no tigers we did manage to see the freshwater dolphins which very rarely come this far up the river. We also saw plenty of deer!
It was an enjoyable experience and one I would do again but maybe in March/April when there is less foliage and a higher chance of seeing a tiger.
Next step Pokhara
After meeting up with Ollie, Seb and Nabil, we continued to Butwal by coach. Getting 5 bikes onto a bus along with all the luggage made for a nightmare situation. But with three in the boot and two in the seats we managed it. Unfortunately, my chain was also partly damaged and now skips occasionally when I cycle. I can’t fix it until Bangkok when I reach the next Rohloff service centre.
Whilst in Butwal we also met up with Sam and Jack, two other British cyclists in the area who were heading a similar way. We set off as a group of 7 to find a place to camp for the night. After a couple of villages, we found a park for the night. The local family living next to the park offered us water and we also became the night’s entertainment for their children.
The next day’s riding was going to be a tough one, 96km and 1,700m elevation. I opted for lots of small stops to take on sugar! It worked. I could now rest and probably ache a lot tomorrow. Been a while since I did any elevation. We found a football pitch for a place to camp that night and the next day headed into Pokhara and prepared for a hike around the Annapurna circuit.