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Published: December 17th 2022
Sunauli Dec 13
th2022
“
Few are those among men who have crossed over to the other shore, while the rest of mankind runs along the bank. However those who follow the principles of the well-taught Truth will cross over to the other shore, out of the dominion of Death, hard though it is to escape.” Buddha “
Smile, breathe, and go slowly” Thic Nath Hanh
For reasons that I am yet to comprehend, when I received my one year/ multiple entry Tourist Visa for India in Sydney, Australia, it had a stipulation that I was only allowed to spend 90 days maximum continuously in India. That meant that although my visa was valid, I had to leave India and return again after 90 days if I wanted to continue my travels. Not only does the sense of this escape me, it is also inconsistently applied.... I met a woman at Sydney Airport when I was flying out to India who had received her visa from Melbourne which stipulated that she was allowed to spend 180 day maximum continuously.
Anyway, having accepted that this was how it was, and sure
Nepalese Immigration at Banbasa
A case of too much technology is hardly enough... or is that far too much? that I wanted spend at least 6 months in India on this trip, I planned how best (for me) I would manage this. Being in the northern state of Rajasthan, a quick trip to Nepal would be the closest and cheapest way to do it. I had reason to be in Delhi at the end of my 90 days, and from there it is a mere 320 km ride to the small Uttrakund border with Nepal (the western side of Nepal at a town called Banbasa).
At the outset, I am not saying that there is necessarily more madness than usual afoot in the ways of visas and border control in India or in the world generally at this time. Just I am reporting my latest 'mad' experiences.
Post the Covid lockdowns when things were opening up again in India for foreign tourists, crossing land borders to enter India was forbidden (only entry by flight was permitted). Then things started to relax more since September 2022. I did as much research about all this as I could... there existed one information memo on the internet issued by the Government of India. That and other
information gained from other travellers 'informed' me with confidence that I could cross into Nepal by bike, stay a day, and cross back again through Banbasa. That would allow me the shortest route back to Rajasthan where I wanted to settle for a few months in Pushkar.
And so I had a Plan A.
I got the border and successfully exited India on my way to entering Nepal and THEN.... The Indian Immigration Official told me that I would not be permitted to re-enter India through the Banbasa border.
“Why?”
“Covid rules”
As much as I tried to have this unpacked with some good reason, the only answer remained:
“This is the rule”.
I looked out the window at the hundreds of Indians and Nepalese crossing back and forth on the small border road, unchallenged.
OK then, time for a Plan B.
But first let me digress with the Nepalese Immigration procedure. Simple enough: one was to pay a fee of US$30 for a minimum 15 day visa, do an on-line application for a visa,
and then go to Customs up the road to get a 'ticket' for the bike for however many days I wanted to stay in Nepal. First of all, and without warning, one could only pay the visa fee in CRISP and CLEAN American Dollars or Euros. Luckily I had a pretty neat and new US$50 note in my wallet and was able to give that and get a US$20 note back in change. Phew. Not sure what I would have had to do if I did not happen to have this currency handy.
I muse: perhaps this policy is Nepal's attempt to stop money laundering... clean money is clean already 😊
I happened to meet a Japanese guy named Tanaka at the Indian Immigration who then turned up behind me (I was quicker on my bike.. he was walking) at the Nepalese Immigration. He also had American Dollars (he needed US$50 for his 30 day visa) BUT... they were not crisp and clean enough for the officer. The office by the way was a small house with just this one guy in attendance (but he had to be summoned from a bedroom). He spoke
little English but enough to deny Tanaka's US dollars. Luckily I had a crisp new Euro50 note which I swapped for Tanaka's 'not crisp and clean enough' US dollars.
He also told us to use our phones to do the visa application on-line. Again luckily (without pre-warning about this) I happened to have an Indian pre-paid SIM with internet data that still worked at the border. Tanaka had none. So I hot-spotted him to do his.
The official then said we needed to wait for the boss to arrive. Half an hour later the boss arrives and tries to turn on his PC to process our applications. BUT... the internet was down. SO.... I hot-spotted him from my Indian SIM data so that he could process us. BUT … the on-line applications we had done were not showing. SO... we sat at his PC and redid them direct.
I offered to pillion Tanaka on the bike to the nearest Nepalese town (Mahendranagar) 6 km away where we would find a place to stay the night (it was getting dark). We found the wonderful Hotel Apee... with the amiable Ranjeet running the
show. Clean and comfy and reasonably priced room and (eventually) with hot water to boot.
So my Plan B was to ride 250 km east along the Southern part of Nepal to the next bigger border with India at Nepalganj. After two nights in Mahendranagar (I needed a lay-over day after all the riding I had been doing from Rajasthan to Delhi to Nepal) I set off and reached this border.
Picture if you will the crowds entering the stadium for the World Cup Final. That was the scene at this border. Thousands of people crossing over. I proceeded to do the same on my bike... an Indian Officer stopped me and directed me to the side... a Senior Officer arrived, examined my passport and said
“Not possible to cross into India here”.
“Why?”
“Covid rules”
“What?”
“Covid rules”.
I looked at him in disbelief. I noted that he and his colleagues were obviously putting their lives at risk being so close to me (a foreigner) without a mask in sight. I looked at the crowds still crossing... I looked back at the Officers...
“How far to the NEXT border?”
“300 km”
And so there was a Plan C. It was already getting late so I rode about 120 km and stopped for the night in a delightful little place in a clean and comfortable reasonably priced family-run Guest House where the extended family of brothers and sisters and grandparents and grandkids and cousins and uncles and aunts all worked downstairs in a an extensive and obviously flourishing triple restaurant (three besides each other, each kind of specialising in certain tasks and foods and sharing resources where needed). I enjoyed the rest of the evening playing with the kids and sitting with Hari, the guy I was dealing with.
Plan C saw me setting out again the next morning for the next BIG border... Sonauli. On the way I had to transverse a Tiger National Park. I was stopped at the entrance to wait until there was an escort to take me and half a dozen other locals on bikes through... in case we were attacked by a tiger.
At Sonauli, where again there were thousands of Nepalese and Indians wandering across the border, and after again being sent to the side for passport examination, I was allowed back into India. I speculated that perhaps the ground there was somehow decontaminated from 'foreigner borne' Covid or something.
The whole trip from Mahendranagar to Sonauli was a road I had used back in 2015 when I returned to India by bike via Banbasa. The huge difference this time was that there were at least 10 Police Checkpoints along the way (there were NONE in 2015). I was stopped half a dozen times.. but just for them to ask where I was going, and then waved on. Something is happening politically in Nepal and I am not sure what.
SO... finally I was back in India. At the Indian Immigration Office it was all easy and straight forward. The big difference too that I noticed was that the officer I dealt with was a very different type of Indian official than that I was used to... He was a young relaxed casually spoken guy with excellent English who might have otherwise been on a work experience placement from some Western country. I am used to officials who are straight up and down, will not engage in relaxed conversation, who seem to be nervous about not strictly following tight rules or being admonished by some Senior tucked away somewhere in another room. Something is happening in India....
This guy was very sympathetic to my plight and agreed that the rules were silly. Now that's a first.
I figured that my trip to Nepal had added 1,000 kms to the original Plan A. By this time I was so far east in the country that Varanasi was the logical next stop on my extended ride back to Pushkar. Not a bad option (I do love that place) for a few days respite.
Whatever was happening in India, it certainly is not that logic is being applied to the “Covid rules”.
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Marguerite
non-member comment
Visa fun :)
So you crossed the border just a hop, step and a jump from where I lived in Bhairawa (Siddharthanagar) in Nepal and directly in line with Lumbini!!! Well done :)