The Unexpected Trip to Nepal

How It Started

The trip began on the evening of April 10. It was not something we had been planning for weeks or even days. My brother Vaibhav suddenly said that we were going to Dharchula, and I simply said yes.

Within a short time, the plan had gone from a casual idea to an actual road trip. We quickly got everything ready, packed our bags and prepared the Himalayan. By around 10:45 PM, we were on the road, riding towards Dharchula in the middle of the night.

Because everything had happened so suddenly, we were not exactly prepared for how cold the ride would become. As the night got colder, riding the bike became increasingly uncomfortable, and I was also getting sleepy. Eventually, we realised that continuing like that wasn't a great idea.

Around 4 AM, we reached Rudrapur and decided to stay at Hotel Kingsman for the night. We had originally intended to keep going, but the cold had already forced us to change the plan once. At that point, we had no idea just how many more times we would have to change it.

The Plan Was Simple - Until Nepal Appeared

The next morning, we continued towards Dharchula. Our original idea was to reach Dharchula from the Indian side and then enter Nepal on foot using the crossing there.

That was the plan.

But when we reached the Tanakpur side, we noticed that there was another way to enter Nepal directly from the route we were on. We already knew that we could eventually reach the Dharchula region through Nepal, and suddenly the idea of going through Nepal sounded much more interesting than simply following the original route.

We didn't spend much time thinking about it.

We decided to go in.

The Unexpected Entry Into Nepal

At 12:34 PM on April 11, we crossed into Nepal.

And almost immediately, everything started feeling different. The people around us looked different, the air felt different, the roads looked different, and even the surroundings had a different character. It wasn't some dramatic border-crossing moment, but the change around us was noticeable enough that we could actually feel that we were somewhere new.

We exchanged Rs. 2,000 and received around NPR 3,100. We continued into Nepal and stopped for food along the way. One thing that surprised us almost immediately was that Indian UPI worked in Nepal, which made small payments much easier than we had expected.

We also realised that Nepal was 15 minutes ahead of India. It was such a small difference, but seeing the time change on our phones was one of those little moments that made the whole thing feel real: we were actually in another country.

The SIM Card We Should Have Bought

Not long after entering Nepal, we thought about buying a local SIM card. A shopkeeper offered one for around Rs. 250, but when we asked how much data it would actually provide, he couldn't give us a clear answer.

So we made a completely reasonable-sounding decision at the time: we'd buy one later.

It turned out to be one of the worst decisions of the trip.

For the next two or three days, we travelled through Nepal with almost no mobile internet. Whenever we stopped somewhere with Wi-Fi, I could check things and use the connection for a while, but having to stop just to get internet made everything slower. More importantly, travelling through unfamiliar mountain roads without constant access to maps or information is very different from travelling with mobile data.

The one good thing was that almost everywhere we stopped, there was Wi-Fi available. Coming from India, where Wi-Fi is already so normal in hotels, restaurants and shops, this made the situation a little easier. The people we met also generally seemed quite friendly and helpful, so we were still able to manage despite not having a local SIM.

We would keep thinking that we'd find another place to buy a SIM. We never really did. By the end of the trip, that Rs. 250 SIM card had become one of those tiny decisions that you remember because it caused so much unnecessary trouble.

Into The Mountains

Around 3 PM, we reached Attariya and turned towards the mountains. This was the point where the trip started feeling completely different.

At around 3:20 PM, we began climbing into the hills. The road started winding through the mountains, the temperature dropped again and the scenery changed with every few kilometres. We were riding higher and deeper into Nepal, and the excitement of actually being there kept growing.

The road also became more demanding. Petrol pumps became less frequent, so at one point we had to buy fuel from a local shop. We paid around NPR 1,250 for it.

We kept moving through the mountains, occasionally stopping for short breaks. By evening, however, the temperature was dropping and darkness was approaching quickly.

We still had several hours of road left before Darchula.

That was the moment we realised that entering Nepal had not just made the journey more interesting. It had made it much longer.

We Thought We'd Reach Darchula That Night

If we had stayed on the Indian side, we probably would have reached Dharchula much earlier. Instead, because we had chosen the Nepal route, the distance ahead of us was considerably longer.

We still believed that we could make it by night.

We were wrong.

By around 6:30 PM, it was already getting dark. The cold was increasing, and we were still nowhere near Darchula. Eventually, we stopped at a hotel around Lumbini Bhansadhar, had dinner and decided to spend the night there.

So our first full day in Nepal ended with us still far away from the place we had originally planned to reach.

At least we had made it deeper into Nepal than we had expected.

But the next day was going to make the trip even more complicated.

The Route We Thought Would Take Us Back Into India

The next morning, we had a new problem. We had to decide not only how to reach Darchula, but also how we would eventually get back into India.

We checked Google Maps, talked to people along the way and tried to understand the possible routes. We were told about a route near Satbanj that could take us towards Dashrathchand, from where we might be able to exit Nepal and enter India near Pithoragarh.

It sounded completely possible.

So we continued with that plan.

The Exit Route Didn't Exist

Around 12:30 PM, we reached Satbanj.

This was where things started falling apart again.

We had been told that we could use the route ahead to exit Nepal, but once we actually reached the area and started asking people, we found out that bike and vehicle exit was not possible from there.

We even contacted an Indian shopkeeper near the border through WhatsApp to confirm it.

The answer was the same.

We couldn't leave Nepal from there.

At that point, we had two choices: turn around and lose even more time, or continue towards Darchula and figure everything out later.

We chose the second option.

India Was Right There - And We Still Couldn't Cross

The road towards Darchula became one of the most memorable parts of the trip.

At one point, the road came extremely close to a river. We stopped, went down towards the water and took photographs before continuing.

Later, we were riding along the mountains with the river running beside us. Then we noticed something that made the situation feel almost absurd.

India was right across the river.

The road running parallel to us was in India. We were in Nepal. We could literally see the Indian side, but there was no simple way for us to cross over.

At one point, we came across Charchum Bridge. We had heard that this bridge would eventually provide another route between Nepal and India, and seeing it gave us a sudden sense of relief. We thought that maybe this was it - maybe we had finally found a way to get back into India.

The locals also told us that India could be reached from there, so we were genuinely hopeful. For the first time in a while, it felt like the long detour through Nepal might finally be coming to an end.

Charchum Bridge Wasn't Open Yet

The problem was that when we reached Satbanj and asked around more carefully, we were told that we couldn't actually cross the bridge because Charchum Bridge was not operational yet.

We were shocked.

The bridge was physically there. It looked ready. We could see the route on the other side. People had told us that India was accessible from there, and yet the bridge simply wasn't open for traffic.

At that point, we genuinely started wondering whether we should just turn around or continue towards Darchula. The journey was already becoming longer and longer, and every time we thought we had found a way out, something else stopped us.

Eventually, instead of turning back, we continued towards Darchula.

Later, around 5:30 PM, we finally reached the bridge itself. The bridge looked ready to use, and we even spoke to the guards and people managing the crossing. We requested them to let us cross, explaining that we simply wanted to reach India.

But this was not just another bridge.

Crossing it meant leaving one country and entering another. Even though the bridge physically looked ready, they couldn't allow us to cross before it was officially operational.

They told us that the bridge was expected to become operational by the end of 2026.

So once again, we had to accept that we weren't crossing into India that day.

Finally, Darchula

We continued on towards Darchula, and after hours of riding through the mountains, we finally reached the Nepal side at around 6:15 PM.

We had finally made it.

There was just one more problem.

The footbridge connecting the Nepal and India sides closed at around 6 PM.

We had missed it by roughly fifteen minutes.

We could see the crossing, we knew that India was just on the other side, and yet we couldn't cross that evening.

After travelling through Nepal for two days, getting lost in route plans and trying to figure out the border situation, arriving at Darchula only to miss the crossing by minutes felt almost unreal.

We found a nearby hotel for around Rs. 500 and decided to spend the night there.

We Reached The Destination - And Then Had To Leave

The next morning, the trip changed again.

Vaibhav had an interview on April 14, so we couldn't stay back and explore Darchula any further. We had to leave early.

At around 5 AM on April 13, we started riding back towards India.

There was something almost funny about it. We had spent all this time trying to reach Darchula, and once we finally got there, we barely had time to stay.

Still, we had to head back.

The Road Back Was Its Own Adventure

The return journey through the mountains was long, tiring and slightly chaotic.

At around 8:30 AM, while following a bus, we suddenly had to brake hard. We lost balance and fell towards the left side. Fortunately, the mountain was on that side. If there had been an open drop instead, the situation could have been much worse.

Moments like that have a way of changing how you look at the road afterwards.

The rest of the ride became a collection of random little moments that somehow made the return journey memorable. We passed through the same roads we had travelled earlier, watched the mountains slowly disappear behind us and eventually reached the lower plains again.

By around 5:30 PM, we were finally back in India.

Finally Home

Once we crossed back into India, we still had several hours of riding left. We stopped for food along the way, continued through the night and gradually made our way back towards Delhi.

After spending days on mountain roads, crossing an international border almost spontaneously and dealing with one unexpected problem after another, the final stretch felt strangely calm.

At around 2 AM on April 14, we finally reached home.

The trip that had started with a completely casual, last-minute decision was finally over.

Looking Back

The strange thing about this trip is that Nepal wasn't even supposed to be the main plan.

We were supposed to go to Dharchula, cross into Nepal from there, spend some time around the area and return. Instead, a decision near Tanakpur sent us directly into Nepal, where the journey became longer, colder, more confusing and much more memorable.

We had no perfect itinerary. We didn't have a local SIM card. We misunderstood an exit route. We missed the border crossing by fifteen minutes. We had to change plans multiple times.

But none of that really feels like a problem now.

Those are the things I remember.

I remember the moment we suddenly decided to enter Nepal. I remember seeing the time change by fifteen minutes. I remember riding higher into the mountains and realising how far we had actually gone. I remember seeing India across the river and knowing that we still couldn't get there. And I remember finally reaching Darchula after spending so much time trying to figure out how to get there.

Most of all, I remember that the trip was never really planned.

Sometimes that's exactly what makes a journey worth remembering.

My Experience

This was my first international trip.

When we usually hear the word Nepal, the first thing that comes to mind is Kathmandu, but my first experience of Nepal was very different. I didn't visit Kathmandu, Pokhara or any of the places people normally associate with a Nepal trip. I simply rode into Nepal through the border near Tanakpur and travelled through its far-western mountain roads towards Darchula.

And honestly, that made the experience feel even more special. I got to experience Nepal not as a typical tourist, but from the seat of a motorcycle, travelling through small towns, mountain roads and places that we had never planned to visit.

The people we met along the way were one of the nicest parts of the trip. Most people we interacted with were friendly and helpful, especially when we were trying to understand routes, borders or simply figure out where we were.

Even the way people drive in the mountains was something I noticed. Whenever a truck or another slow vehicle was travelling in front of us, it often seemed to understand that we were behind it without us having to do much. The driver would look for a safe place, indicate towards the right and give us space to pass. On unfamiliar mountain roads, that kind of small courtesy made a difference.

The culture, the roads, the mountains, the people and even the little differences in everyday life made the journey feel genuinely international, despite the fact that we had travelled only into the far-western part of Nepal.

I think that's what I'll remember most about this trip. It wasn't a perfectly planned international holiday. It was simply an unexpected ride that kept becoming more interesting the further we went.

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