Day 64 Sun 5 November, Zhangmu/Dramu, Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal

We discover that overnight, KennyOne (the kangaroo clutching on to the aerial for those new to this saga) has eloped with a yak (We suspect it was really a dzo in disguise), converted to buddhism and is seeking refugee status in Tibet. We aren’t too distressed, after 4000km thru China he was looking more like a yak than a kangaroo anyway so he’s quickly replaced by a freshfaced KennyToo before we meet Pu Chung at 9am to drive down three more hairpins to the border where we park the car at the head of the line (we’re the only vehicle). He joins the queue at customs and we go for breakfast.

We soon learn that because its Sunday we have to wait for someone in Lhasa to agree to let us out, which takes till 12.30. We finally exit or so we think after putting a couple of bags thru a scanner and say farewell to Pu Chung. However he says he’s coming with us for the next 7km until the Friendship Bridge which actually marks the border 500m below. The road is a trochus as it’s in neither China nor Nepal and hence maintained by neither, very rocky and rough, ploughed by little microbuses which live in the no-mans-land and hundreds of Nepalese tata trucks which are allowed into the first bit of China to collect cargo.

At the bridge we finally say farewell to Pu Chung who seems to be relieved to be going back to the rarefied atmosphere of the Tibetan plateau instead of the greenery and warmth of this alien lower country. We cross the bridge and enter the chaotic world of Nepal. A very distinguished looking and helpful policeman/soldier blows his whistle, shouts a lot and gets people and trucks out of our way, opens the gate and waves us in. Formalities are quickly accomplished (we look thru the other carnets in the customs office and find the last car came thru 2 weeks before – a French camping van, and that there had been perhaps half a dozen in the past year).
The contrast between Nepal and China is very stark. It’s clearly poorer, but the people are brightly dressed, smile a lot and seem much more lively. It’s much warmer, greener and the air is full of exotic smells. It also has lots of butterflies and wild flowers, something which the more intense farming and liberal use of pesticides in China seems to have eradicated. We continue on down the valley which would be stunningly beautiful if it weren’t for the precipitous drop from the dirt road to the floor where the river, by now a raging torrent of jade green and foam, is carving an ever deeper canyon through rapids, cascades and waterfalls.

It’s slow progress through pretty villages with smiling children and when we come to a place which offers Nepali meals we pull over and climb down to a little resort on a terrace in the sun overlooking the river. Despite there being no-one else there the host offers to provide us with delicious Sunday lunch. We discover this entails him scouring the village to find the necessary ingredients which all takes a little longer than expected but is very welcome nonetheless. G passes the time being chatted up by a pair of young Nepalese girls.

After lunch we discover that KennyToo too has absconded, deciding to stay in the valley with the girls, (traitor - he’d wimped out after only 5 hrs) so we press on for Kathmandu. As it gets dark much earlier in Nepal we think we’ll aim for Baktapur 20k outside the city to avoid having to drive into K in the dark. However the road is slower than expected and after we’d pick up a Czech couple who’ve been left behind on a rafting trip when their bus had driven off without them, it’s completely dark before we reached Baktapur, with a full moon rising over the hills. Traffic is chaotic, single lane roads, no-one uses headlights or lights of any sort and no chance of finding our way into Baktapur so we decide to bite the bullet and find a hotel in Kathmandu. Guided by the LP mudmaps we fight our way thru rickshaws, motorbikes, decrepit taxis and hand carts, via narrow alleyways scattering tourists and locals alike eventually by a miracle of navigation and luck pulling into the gates of the Kathmandu Guest House in the old part of Thamel at 7.30. Although they don’t have a room (first time on the entire trip) they do have margaritas and a very helpful manager who finds us a very nice room in a newly opened nearby hotel, the Samsara. It has a large enclosed and secure garden where we can park the car and an equally obliging manager.

In contrast to Chinese hotels, not only do those in Nepal have smiling helpful, attentive staff who don’t overtly resent your presence, and margaritas, but they also provide hot water, soap, airconditioning, toilets which flush with real seats and more than 3 sheets of paper, clean towels which are towels not teacloths and which haven’t been previously used by 10 other people to wipe the floor. The beds have springs and when you ask for a double bed they don’t look at you as if you are a sex craved maniac, nor do they want a 100Y deposit for the key as well as full payment, passport and visa details upfront. They have plumbing that works, don’t charge extra for the remote control for the A/C written entirely in chinese, have rooms which have been cleaned more than once in the past year and don’t have a service directory which contains nothing other than a price list of all the items of furniture and fittings in the room in case you might feel tempted to steal anything. What’s more the 40 channels of shit on the TV actually include some non Chinese programs in English, and the obligatory wall clocks in reception actually have some showing the correct time. There’s no brass faced console between the beds with five switches, 3 of which don’t work, no wall lights still in their plastic wrapping on broken brackets above the beds with blown bulbs, no cigarette burns on all surfaces including the carpet, the directory and bedside tables, no roundbacked chairs with stained microthin cushions and no cracked teacups or bathroom glasses which were last washed in the Tsang dynasty. We’re beginning to miss Tibet already.

Distance today 120km
Distance from start 14,051km
Road condition index: troshus & bit scary from border
Maragitas: 7/10