15 Nyalam - Kathmandu

8th November 2025

Today we started in our Mini-van very early from our Nyalam hotel (7:00am) as we had to cross the Land Border Checks into Nepal well in time, to meet our Bus transport on other side by 10am or so.

However, two unexpected (but minor issues) arose so it was good we had enough time on hand to resolve them and still reach Nepal on time. One, was that at the China Exit Police Check Post, we did not have some Paper Copies of Permits that they wanted, so we had to drive back some 15 Kms to our Nyalam Hotel to make copies and then go back again, losing about 1 hour. Two, we faced severe traffic jams, near Zhangmu due to construction work and heavy Container Trucks traffic negotiating the hair-pin bends at Zhangmu. Probably we lost another hour due to that.

In the end we did reach the Immigration Center by 9:30am and fortunately not much crowd there. Our Guide Jamyang was very helpful in seeing us through those Customs & Immgration exit process. After exiting that building we jwaved goodbye to Jhamyang and walked across the Friendship bridge rolling our Luggage across on trolly wheels, by around 10am.

On the Other side we were met by a Nepalese Agent, Shyamlal, who facilitated our Nepal Immigration Entry and walked us to our Bus waiting down the road in about 10 minutes. We started in that bus at 11:45am or so and headed for Kathmandu. Of course we alos "lost" some time as we switched to Nepal local time! 

We reached our "Sapana Hotel" in Thamel, Kathmandu by late afternoon and had time to relax in our Rooms for a few hours; before we stepped out for our Final Celebratory Dinner in Thamel area in Kathmandu. Next day all the other 9 members from Kolkata checkout out early by 4am to catch their Buddha Air flight to Kolkata. I stayed on in KM for another two days to relax and recover and flew back to Mumbai on 11th November by a direct Indigo flight. Personally, it was a huge learning experience; this 16-day trip to China and Tibet.