7th of April, 2023.
Hitchhiking in Nepal.
You can cross from India to Nepal by land borders. Yes! Although many people tell you cannot, and there is a lot of misguided information on the Indian official websites regarding your Visa, it is possible. The most common border to cross is Sonauli Border.
When you are leaving India, the Immigration Office might be a bit difficult to spot. There is a tiny little sign by the road, so you have to keep your eyes open. I didn’t. Luckily, some locals spotted me and told me about it.
The officers at Nepal Immigration Office were so kind and humble, that it didn’t look like an Immigration Office at all. I got my Tourist Visa on Arrival, and paid about 50 USD. That’s for a single entry, 30 days. You must go to the Tourism Office right after. Over there, another lovely officer, this time a woman, checked my Visa and helped me to make my hitchhiking sign. Laugh. It says “Chitwan”, where I am going to do my volunteer work.
There is a Police Check Post some hundred metres after the border. I salute them and keep walking. I start to hitchhike under a type of monument, a huge semi-circle taking over both lanes of the road. There is a good shade under it.
After a long time waiting, the police officers call me. After a bit of talking, they say I must stay there with them because they will help me. I am a bit reluctant. My experience with police officers trying to help me with hitchhiking is not the best. Apart from Scotland and Ireland, where the officers actually took me from the road and drove me to a better spot, most of the others actually didn’t help much.
But these officers are so kind that I can’t help. They make me seat and rest while they are stopping some cars, buses and vans to check on them, and then also ask if they can take me. The officers give me a really cold soft drink, which is amazing because the heat is super strong right now. A local guy in his tuk-tuk gets interested on my case too. We chat for a while and he gives me a really cold water, which is great!
A travel bus, a regular travel bus with many people on it, is checked by the officers and is going to Chitwan. The police officers tell me I can take this one. I am about to enter, when another smaller bus also stops. This second bus is a private one, and big group of friends has rented to go to Kathmandu and visit a temple. For that reason, it will arrive faster in Chitwan, because they will make no stops. That’s why the officers change their minds and tell me to take this bus instead. When I enter the bus, a surprise: about 20 Indian men are inside. I don’t know who is more surprised, them or me.
After I introduce myself and say a few words in Hindi, they all cheer in happiness and clap their hands. I wander what the police officers would think if they heard that. These big group of friends all work together in Delhi. I sit in front of Ravi, with whom I chat the most. But I also talk with most of them, talking about my travels and answering their questions. I ask Ravi to write the names of everybody on the bus. I think he might have missed someone because I’ve got only 15 names but that’s alright. Here they are: Sajay, Praveen, Mahesh, Raju, Ashish, Bhupender, Ajay, Ankur, Arvind, Vijay, Rajesh, Ravi, Pradeep, Sumit and Ravinder Choudary, sitting behind me. There was also the driver, Rihan, a very young man who was also very kind.
They were all so kind, polite and lovely to me, treating me as I was their sister and also calling me that. I felt as I was travelling with friends and not simply with people I have just met. When we made stops, they bought me chai, we ate fruits together and also shared homemade snacks on the bus. We had one break on the road to help some people who got stuck. And that was when I first realized how the roads in Nepal can be terrible. In this portion, the dust was almost unbearable, and we had to keep our windows closed. I thought that our bus would get stuck too.
We arrive in Chitwan quite late at night. The super lovely Rihan gets out of this driver seat and run to a shop so he can buy me some cake and drinks. How sweet! I say goodbye to all my bhais and start to think where will I stay tonight…
I don’t have much time to think. Somebody asks some police officers who were around to come and check on me. Why? The problem is you cannot really walk away from them once they arrive, you know? They were a male and a female officer. And even though the man was incredibly cute, I just wanted to walk away and find help on my own. And I was right, of course, I should’ve done that.
As usual, they do the only think they know how to do: take me to the station and check my documents. Write this, write that. The station was a massive place, with plenty of space for me to camp. Instead of just letting me camp there, no, they have to take me to a “proper” place. Why is that Eastern people always think that all of us from the West are fussy about things? I will always remember the immigration police officers in Mozambique, right at the border with Tanzania, who were so chill abut letting me camp on the grounds. No questions asked, nothing to write, a quick check on my passport and that was it.
They drive me to a place called Maiti Nepal, a sort of NGO for woman empowerment. I share a room with another lady, there are only two staying here right now: Gunga and Radhika. They are shy and quiet but very nice ladies.
Next morning I get really pissed of with the “manager” of the place. I don’t even remember his name but he is a pain. Why a man should be in charge of a women empowerment place is beyond me. And he is a prat. After annoying me for a long time, he leaves and ask me to wait because he will send some help. He sends the police! OK, one thing is not knowing what is hitchhiking, another is ignoring everything that I explain to him, about how I know what I am doing and just let me go. He didn’t want to help he just wanted to show off. Two ladies come over and by the time they arrive I am already crossed, so when they ask me for my passport again, I give them hell saying that all these procedures were already done last night, that I am tired of being checked so many times when all I was asking for was a little help. The woman in charge doesn’t like that much but I think that after a while she decides not to give a damn and leave.
Before I leave, I have my first Dhal Bhat in Nepal. It is the most traditional food here and it consists of simply dhal, rice and some vegetables, but the secret lies in the tomato chutney they make. It is very important to be made in the silauto (stone grinder), a very significant tool for Nepal cuisine. After grilling tomatoes on the fire, they crash them with some chilies, onion, garlic, and cilantro. The result is amazing!
In order to be able to hitchhike, I walk all the way back to the intersection where the bus dropped me off last night. And them a bit further. And further…
10 Years Around the World 