Well what an epic day that was, and not in a good way.
The road between China and Nepal was washed away a couple of years ago by a bad flood. It is being repaired, but is only open for certain parts of the day for traffic to pass.
We left our hotel at 10am, and arrived at the waiting point about half an hour later. Our guide must have used some influence, or money, as we were second in the queue.
We waited there with the trucks and other tourist buses for an hour or more. It was fun watching other cars try and push in and be sent back by the very officious looking Tibetan Police Woman.
When the road opened, we proceeded to the large chinese immigration building and arrived at 1pm.
There is a 2 and a quarter hour (no idea why the extra quarter) time difference between China and Nepal, and the Chinese immigration officials don't start until 2pm, even though the road opens up over an hour before that.
Finally at 2pm the border opened and after shoving and pushing some more the group were able to stay together to go through. 4 of us, including me, were in front of the immigration officer for quite some time and then our passports taken away for approval higher up.
We were sent away to get lunch by our guide while waiting, then told to come back quickly to get in the queue for immigration. I had to get my lunch as take out, try eating noodles with chopsticks while fending off pushing in Chinese!
Finally at 2pm the border opened and after shoving and pushing some more the group were able to stay together to go through. 4 of us, including me, were in front of the immigration officer for quite some time and then our passports taken away for approval higher up.
While waiting I worried about my one social media post while in Tibet and wondered if I would get my passport back or be stuck in China! Apparently a big red notice flashed up for the four of us, but we've no idea why. The immigration officer even looked at every page in my passport, and I have amassed a lot of stamps by now!
Finally we got through and out to the bridge across No Man's land. Walked across in the rain.
Our ordeal was far from over. The roads in Nepal are atrocious and particularly the one away from the border, due to the flooding and ongoing repairs. The 11 of us on the tour were put into 3 different four wheel drives. We were at the back, going very slowly along narrow potholed dirt road, with lots of hairpin bends and steep drop offs. I thought the driver was bad because he was close to the edge at times and took the corners wide and close to the mountainside. A while later, he went slowly with a grinding noise and nearly went into the mountainside. It appears there was a mechanical fault because when we got out and looked, the 2 front wheels were facing in different directions!
Thank goodness the 2 cars in front had arrived at what was supposed to be the lunch spot, but it was now 5pm (7.15pn for us with the time difference)n so it turned into dinner.
Finally we got through and out to the bridge across No Man's land. Walked across in the rain.
There couldn't be a bigger contrast between China and Nepal than their border buildings and processes!
We were herded into a tin shed (yes that's right!) and body searched, again trying to fend off all the people trying to push in. Came out of the other side of the shed and an officious Nepali police officer then proceeded to open and rifle through all our suitcases. I have never in all my years of travel seen such a thorough search. The poor first person had every bag in her suitcase pawed through. Another person had bought a Tibetan game with a bowl, coins, dice and drum thing, each in a separate bag, each one was examined and he was asked all about them, like were the coins us dollars. It was ridiculous.
Finally some more police officers were sent over to help the one guy who was taking forever. They were definitely not as thorough as the first person who as our guide said, was an a**hole!
Then on to immigration, a small office at the bottom of a dirty building. One small window for arrivals and one for departures. There was a guy sitting in departures doing nothing and chatting to the arrivals guy with his feet up on a chair, despite there being a huge line of arrivals, everyone taking ages and no departure s. I don't even think there could be any more 'departures' as the road would have been closed again!
So the arrivals guy has this old broken looking camera he keeps having to move to take pictures for the Nepali visa. It took us another hour and a half or more for all of us to get though from the point we crossed into Nepal.
Then on to immigration, a small office at the bottom of a dirty building. One small window for arrivals and one for departures. There was a guy sitting in departures doing nothing and chatting to the arrivals guy with his feet up on a chair, despite there being a huge line of arrivals, everyone taking ages and no departure s. I don't even think there could be any more 'departures' as the road would have been closed again!
So the arrivals guy has this old broken looking camera he keeps having to move to take pictures for the Nepali visa. It took us another hour and a half or more for all of us to get though from the point we crossed into Nepal.
Our ordeal was far from over. The roads in Nepal are atrocious and particularly the one away from the border, due to the flooding and ongoing repairs. The 11 of us on the tour were put into 3 different four wheel drives. We were at the back, going very slowly along narrow potholed dirt road, with lots of hairpin bends and steep drop offs. I thought the driver was bad because he was close to the edge at times and took the corners wide and close to the mountainside. A while later, he went slowly with a grinding noise and nearly went into the mountainside. It appears there was a mechanical fault because when we got out and looked, the 2 front wheels were facing in different directions!
One car was sent back for us and our luggage and we joined them an hour or so later and had dinner! A car came from a town ahead to replace the broken car and we all squeezed into 2 cars for the rest of the long long, windy road to Kathmandu in the dark. Arrived at 10.30pm their time, 12.45am our time, after having left over 14 hours earlier. Like I said! Epic.
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