Exhausted after yesterday's drive, the team slept in no time once they reached the hotel. Team XPD decided to resume their journey by 8 am yesterday because the Nepal immigration opens at 8. After having a good breakfast of parathas and eggs at the hotel, the team loaded the bags and left the hotel at sharp 8.15 am.
Exhausted after yesterday's drive, the team slept in no time once they reached the hotel. Team XPD decided to resume their journey by 8 am yesterday because the Nepal immigration opens at 8. After having a good breakfast of parathas and eggs at the hotel, the team loaded the bags and left the hotel at sharp 8.15 am.
15 mins of drive took them to the Nepal immigration, and from there to the border, they covered a distance of 1.5 km. The roads were extremely bad. Nearing the border, the team witnessed change from the rubbles for roads.
The Chinese border had buildings that were all big and newly built up.
It took about 20 minutes for the team to cross over to the China side. Their guide Wangtha was waiting at the end of the bridge. One by one, the team went through immigration. The team had a lot of luggage, like smaller laptop bags, camera bags etc.
It took less than an hour for the customs officer to check the engine numbers and to carry out other formalities. The roads ahead were fabulous, not a pothole or rut. Their guide Wangtha told them that they have two more checkpoints before they could reach their destination Gyirong that was only 25 km from the border.
The second check post was closed as Panchen Lama (Living Buddha) was visiting Gyirong, so they had all the roads closed. Cars, Buses and trucks started lining up. Wangtha their guide went to get the team's permits to Everest Base Camp meanwhile the team arranged for SIM cards for themselves.
Past 7.30 pm the team was allowed to cross through the checkpoint. The team had to wait for six hours in the cars; however, they managed to find food nearby.
They reached the hotel a few minutes past 8 pm and were happy to witness lots of Indians around, as this place a stop for people going to the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra. The team was at 9171 feet over MSL today and are in high spirits to climb higher.