Nepal Diary: Simra-Kathmandu-Simra in 24 Hours

Mountains always fascinated me and whenever I get time or occasion I never miss a chance to visit the hills. In January I got a chance to Visit Nepal as one of our customer from overseas wanted to visit our ongoing project in Nepal. Nepal was always in my bucket list for its proximity to Himalayas so I immediately gave my nod for the same.

The project is located at Simara, in Birgunj District of Nepal apprx. 30 Km from India-Nepal border. It is located in Terai region at the foothills of Himalayas. In Nepal the area is known as Madhesh. As Simara is located near Indian border there are 2 ways to reach there. One can take Air India or Nepal Airways flight from Delhi to Kathmandu. For Indian nationals visa is not required but it is mandatory to show voter ID or passport at Nepal Immigration. From Kathmandu Simara is located at 120 Km but due to hilly roads it’s a 5 hour nonstop journey by private car. There are number of daily flights operated by Buddha air from Kathmandu to Simara which took 20 Minutes. The other way to reach Simara is to reach Patna and take a five hour taxy to Raxaul which is situated in India at Indo-Nepal border. Raxaul and Birgunj are twin cities separated by a river. Raxaul is in India while Birgunj is in Nepal. Indo-Nepal border is open from morning to evening and closes at 10:00 PM after which crossing is not allowed. No registration or entry is required and anyone can cross the border. Vehicles registred in India need permit to enter Nepal. My passport was in Saudi Embassy for visa and my Voter ID has been misplaced from long so I had no option other than the second one.

I took morning Spicejet flight from Ahmedabad and landed in Patna at 3:00 PM. The airport is very small and looking at the no. of flights and passengers it is serving,is inadequate and gives feeling of bus stand. The capital city of Bihar definitely deserves a bigger airport. I had prebooked my taxy which was waiting outside the airport . After half an hour our scorpio was zooming past Digha Railroad bridge on the Ganga. We took Hazipur-Muzaffarpur- Motihari route .The road till Motihari is excellent four lane highway while from Motihari to Raxaul road is good but is of 2 lane. The huge rivers like Ganga and Gandaki have turned the land into a fertile one which is evident from the green fealds on both sides of the road. After covering distance of 200 Km in 5 hours which include half an hour chai Samosa break in Muzaffarpur we reached Indo Nepal Border at 8:00 PM. Company driver Rishi was waiting there for us. The road from Birgunj to Simra was under construction so it took us at least 1:30 Hrs to reach Hotel Iccha in Simra.

Hotel Iccha is the best in Simra serving primarily to business travelers due to its proximity to Simra Industrial Area. Occasionally it also serves as wedding/party destination for bordering districts of Bihar as booze is banned in Bihar. It has a Restaurent serving excellent delicacies, 2 bars and a casino. It also has a huge open lawn along with jogging track, a beautiful garden and a swimming pool. Overall it hosted me so well that the eight days I spend there passed luxuriously.

Simara is a small town situated apprx 30 Km on Birgunj Kathmandu Highway. The work on widening of highway is underway so the road condition is pretty bad. The economy of the town depends mainly on industries. It also has a small airport having daily 8-10 flights to Kathmandu operated by Buddha Airways. I explored most of the town during my morning walks. Having been situated in Terai region the soil is fertile. Water level is high. Fields of grass can be seen everywhere.

Our work finished and our client Mr. Faisal was ready to fly back to his country . He had flight on 17 January from Kathmandu for which he need to reach Kathmandu on 16th as foggy weather of January has disrupted schedule of simara-kathmandu flights. We decided to book a taxy which will take 5 hours to drop him to kathmandu. Having been reached so close I also don’t want to miss the chance to visit Kathmandu so I also decided to join him for a trip to Kathmandu. The plan was like leaving Simara in morning so that we can reach Kathmandu in afternoon. Do some sightseeing till evening, visit Pasupatinath temple next day morning and I will take my flight back to Simara in afternoon. The flight fare from simara to Kathmandu is 3200 Nepali Rupees for Indian and Nepali nationals while for other nationals it is 12000 Nepali Rupees. The taxy cost us 10000 Nepali Rupees.

But the plan didn’t worked as planned. The taxy came at 12 in afternoon. It was again a Scorpio and the journey which we covered proved why only a SUV is suitable. The distance from Simara to Kathmandu is 120 KM but it takes 5 hours to cover the distance. Most of the single lane road passes through Shivalik Hills which rise upto 2000Mtrs. The road is in bad condition and has numerous sharp hairpin bends and deep valleys on one side, still the dense pine forest, slopping hills and terraced farms make the journey scenic. There are villages up there braving all hardships in hills. The only mode of transport available for them are Sumo jeeps plying between Birgunj and Kathmandu.

We had steaming tasty dal rice for lunch at Hetonda. After couple of short tea breaks we reached Kathmandu at 6:00PM. It was raining when we reached Kathmandu. I had already booked Golden Temple Inn Hotel which is situated at walking distance from Pashupatinath Temple. As we already got late and it was raining our sightseeing plan was ruined. Still with the help of google Guru we decided to visit Darbar Square. Sarathi is an online taxy booking app in Kathmandu which offers taxies (Mostly ALTO) at reasonable price. We hired a taxy to visit darbar square.

Darbar Square: Also known as Hanuman Dhoka it is a cluster of temples and palaces and is one of the largest world heritage site in world. When we reached there all the temples were closed still from outside the temples are grand and masterpieces of Nepalese Architecture. Some of the temples which are under construction were completely destructed in 2015 earthquake while some bear the memories in the form of cracks in structure which are still visible. There is a shopping market and lots of restaurents as the area is frequently visited by tourists.

Next day in morning I visited Pashupatinath Temple. The temple is dedicated to Lord shiva who is worshipped in the form of Pashupati or Lord of all Pashus. The temple is situated on the banks of Bhagmati River. It is a big complex. Only Hindus can enter inside the main temple. I visited at 7:00 in morning so there were only few visiters and I had good darshan of Bhagwan Pasupatinath. There are lots of monkeys around the temple and one needs to be cautious. There are other temples like Ganesha,Unmakta Bhairava and Jyotirlingas inside the complex.

I had return flight at 12:15AM so after reaching hotel and finishing the breakfast, I packed my bag and reached Airport which is just 3 Kms from hotel. The domestic terminal is small one from where 7-8 different smaller airlines operate flights to pokhara, simara, janakpur, etc. Flights offering Mt. Everest view are also being operated by Buddha Airlines and Yeti Airlines from here.

The plane was a 30 seater operated by Buddha airlines. It took just 20 Minutes to take off from Kathmandu and to land at Simara.

After spending 2 more days at Simara I left early morning to catch a 3:00PM flight from Patna to Ahmedabad. The stay at Ahmedabad was a short one as after 4 days I left for another Interesting destination the details of which I will provide in my next blog.