Goodbye Nepal, Hello India!

I have now left Nepal. In the past few days we've travelled a lot. We left Kathmandu on the morning of the 6th. We had spent the previous couple of days sitting in our hotel room as the Maoists have called an indefinete bandh, or strike, which means everything is closed, except between 6 and 8 pm. Even then it was a limited number of things that opened and, as they had no deliveries, restaurants remained shut after the 3rd. This amounted to two things; meals of dried noodles and biscuits and extreme boredom. So we were glad to get out.

The strike also closed every road out of Kathmandu and so we had to fly to Simara (near Birganj, the border town). As we could only get plane tickets for the 6th it meant the extra hassle of changing our train ticket to Kolkata from the 6th to the 7th. The Maoists are not popular among tourists, or in fact most people, at the moment. The atmosphere in Kathmandu has completely changed and it was both sad and annoying that our last couple of days were ruined. But the Maoists obviously think it's wise in Nepal Tourism Year to completely put off any tourists from coming and so crippling a huge part of the Nepali economy. A great way for a party who want to run the country to act. Congratulations to whoever thought of that one.

We flew out on another washing-machine sized plane and then had the trouble of getting from Simara to Birganj. The bandh has stopped all cars and taxis so in the end we got a horse and cart. You have to try everything once. Three people each with a backpack and day sack meant a fairly squashed ride but we got to Birganj. Which was definetely closed. We originally intended to spend the night but decided to spend our money in India where we might get a decent meal. Another congratulations to the Maoists by increasing the income of the country. Well done.

So, on another horse and cart we left Nepal. And turned round and came straight back in again. Got the correct stamps in our passports and left Nepal for the final time. Which was strange; I hadn't thought about leaving until then, I'd just be looking forward to having something to do, but we were leaving Nepal! That is the main reason tthe Maoists are intensely annoying as it meant a very boring last few days in an amazing city of a beautiful country. One that I hope to come back to.

Not that it isn't great to be seeing new things all the time. Raxaul was... busy. Shops were open, kids were going to school and people weren't just hanging about aimlessly. It was nice to be out of an area of indefinite strike! The thing we were most looking forward to was a proper meal. Something that we hadn't had since breakfast on the 4th (kind thanks to Sanjeep of Omega for paying for that one :) so willingly too...) This isn't as easy as it seems. There aren't any (obvious) restaurants in Raxaul. To be fair the Lonely Plant describes it as a "grim, dirty and crowded border town" and it isn't a particularly inaccurate description. Although, honestly, I was glad to be somewhere that had something happening outside the hours of 6 and 8

In the end we ate at the hotel and it was one of the nicest meals I have had in my life. I have never been more grateful for a meal anyway!