Hi All,

We left Pokhara very early morning on 15 April as our visa is expiring on April 16. Our destination was Sonauli (Pokhara – Tansen – Butwal – Sonauli), a border town between Nepal and India. The distance was about 200 km and we rode through high mountains, villages, next to ravines and rivers. There were not many vehicles using this road as they prefer to use a Pokhara – Mugling – Sonauli route which is easier though slightly further. Our riding was good and smooth.

We reached Sonauli at about 2.45 pm. The carnet clearance with the Nepal’s Custom took about 20 mins and Indian’s Custom slightly shorter about 15 mins. There were many local touts around on both sides offering services to do the carnet clearance but we decided to do on our own. It cost us USD0.30 on the Nepal side and USD0.00 on the Indian side.

Sonauli is a chaotic town, full of people, vehicles and animals moving in an unorganized manner. We are not sure whether these people and vehicles have proper documents to move in/out of the two countries. We did not stay long in Sonauli and rode further into India roads. Since time is getting late, we decided to stop and put a night at Nautanwa, a small town 12 km after the bother. It was a wrong decision and a wrong place to stop but unavoidable because the next sane town is Gorakhpur, about 95 km away. We don’t think we can make it to Gorakhpur before dark.

The USD9 hotel per night in Nautanwa was managed by a 70+ year old man. It has common/shared bathroom with no hot water and no light (in the bathroom) as well. We went out to look for food/dinner and could not get a decent eating place. The town is full of dust, the traffic was a nightmare, people move from all corners, so we went back to our room and ate our spare/reserve food – oat and biscuit using our torch/camping light as the electricity has went off.

Definitely not so good impression about India on Day 1.

Cheers,
Borneoman & Trailing Spouse On 2 Wheels.