Trip to South-Eastern Nepal (Part-1)

Quite a lot of water has flown over river Bagmati, since I had last ventured out of my cozy home to travel in Nepal. So, I decided to hit the road, as usual, and see the other side of Nepal, the plains, or as they say, the Terai areas of Nepal.

So, on 24.12.08, I along with my family, set out for a trip of South-Eastern Nepal, the areas bordering the state of Bihar of India.

Our first halt would be "Birgunj", which is around 200 kms from Kathmandu. The road starts at 1300 mts and will ascend to 2500 mts before we reach Birgunj at 300 mts. It has some of the most fantastic views of the Himalayas. It has a great view of the mountains from Dhaulagiri to Mt Everest. Daman is halfway between Kathmandu and Birgunj at 2322mts. It is definitely worth visiting.

(A landslide on the way)

The Road can at best, be described as a single road. Traffic is quite few on this road, since people basically avoid adventure. They prefer a more circitious route which is 300 kms long, but not this one !

(The road has many dead-ends & blind-alleys)


The nature is pure, fresh, chaste and unsullied.

Finally, we reached Daman, which is at an altitude of 2322 mts, much above Kathmandu valley.

(Sumona at Daman)


(Me at Daman, with my dependable Car)

This road was built with the cooperation of India !

We rose to the highest point in this road at 2488 mts.

It was a narrow winding road up the mountain to reach the Everest Panorama Resort at about 2400m. We traded in the humidity and weird bugs for fresh mountain air and amazing views.
The mountains are captivating to me because they are so expansive and you can see for miles over other mountain tops and through valleys, giving a sense of openness. From this viewpoint, one can see a 400km panorama of the Himalayas which includes 10 of the world's highest mountains. We were very fortunate to have a clear afternoon where we could see the mountains fairly well considering they are over 100km away.

(Snow clad peaks can be seen at a distance, from Daman!)

(A tourist taking a snap )


(Way downhill towards Birgunj.)

(Way downhill is very steep, as we descend from 2500 mts to 300 mts. in about 30 kms.)

On the way, we see ladies toiling on the road, carrying loads. Here, in Nepal, the women-folk are pretty industrious, while most of the men-folk prefer to idle their time.

(Women carrying goods on their back !)

(Scene at the way to downhill)

Birgunj is situated about 3 KM from the Indian northern border Raxaul. It is a main entry point to Nepal from India for routes such as Calcutta and Patna. Majority of all the foreign goods shipped to Nepal by sea go through Calcutta-Haldia Port to Raxaul to Birgunj then reach to main cities like Kathmandu. Hence Birgunj is an important land entry point for goods to Nepal.
Apart from a few tourists who actually go to Birgunj to see the city, the city is simply taken as a stop over place for travelers, businessmen and pilgrims going to other destinations in Nepal.

(A temple in Birgunj, at evening)

We stayed at Birgunj overnight, and moved next morning to Janakpur, the birth-place of Goddess "Janaki", also known as Goddess "Sita".

(Scene of early morning at Birgunj, with heavy fog, everywhere)

For my memories of trip from Kathmandu to Pokhara, kindly click the button below, namely, "Older posts."