Day 331 - A record breaking land border crossing

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This morning’s task was to cross the boarder into Nepal and we did this as quickly as possible. The wait at the Chinese side was long but was made comical by watching a huge number of Indians (they come to visit a holy lake and mountain in East Tibet, China, as they believe this is a place of beginning for Hinduism) bleary eyed trying to find out what was going on. As well as observing the many different vehicle checks of varying degrees of thoroughness causing another comical hold up that many Tibetans were getting irate about. This town has to be the most inappropriate place to have a border crossing, when the roads are not wide enough to have two cars pass one another and that buildings can only accommodate 2 custom officials with the tourists wishing to enter and exit the country spilling over into the streets.

Once reunited with our bags we were dumped as soon as we met up with our Nepalese contact and walked the rest of the way down the steep road to Friendship Bridge. The red line in the middle of the bridge symbolizing the divide of China and Nepal was a happy sight.

After a stress free entrance into Nepal we traveled the 3½ hour journey to Kathmandu, which was spell binding; the scenery was so different to the arid and sparse scenery we had experienced not 24 hours previous. Everywhere you looked the steep land had been created into steps so to get as much use out of the land as possible, with farming sugar beat, rice or other vegetables.

Our new driver and those coming the other way for that matter, startled us by their politeness of holding back for one another and overtaking at sensible safe times.

Once settled into our luxury $15 a night beautifully renovated guest house, International Guesthouse in Kathmandu, we went looking for food and boy did we strike gold.

With regards to the China/Nepal boarder breaking records there were a few. This boarder crossing meant we incurred the biggest time difference in all the land border crossings we have done so far a staggering 2 hours and 15 minutes.

We also today when we visited an Irish bar had the beer ‘Everest’ and taking a look at the label on the back which read…”Specially brewed in commemoration of the historic conquest of Mt. Everest on 29 May 1953.” With this we raised our glasses and made an anniversary toast to Sir Edmund Hilary, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and the Everest.

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