Leaving Nepal

Today was a big day up at 4.00 am to start our journey to Tibet.

In the 4WD are 3 other people all very nice and seasoned backpackers. As you know John and I are more your 5 star travellers. Not sure where to start with today. We drove along for 9 hours on the worst roads or should I say tracks we have ever been on. I don't think I could really explain how bad it was.

We then arrived at the Nepalese border and that was just unorganised. Our visa to enter China was a group one shared with travellers in another 4WD and they got stuck in a traffic jam so we had to wait 50 min or so for them to arrive and sort out our exit from Nepal. We then got back into the car for 5 min to the next check point where our bags are searched in a shack with dust everywhere. We then walked across the Chinese border in the dust and over rocks to the Chinese Immigration we paid $5US so a porter could carry our bag it was just awful and that is being polite.

At the Chinese border we met our next tour guide, he seems OK but hard to understand. Then it is time for immigration to check our bags again the only thing that made this pleasant was the building was quite nice and no dust.

Now in Tibet and 9 of us climb into a dirty minivan which is going to be our transport for the next 8 days. Oh the joys of backpacking, I keep telling myself it is all about the experience and the stories we can tell our children and grandchildren.Read more