Around the world: Sunauli Border crossing

    

  

  

The scammiest land border crossing. I am now on a “Governmenr bus” to Gorakhpur typing this. The worst part of the scam is to have a muscular man come up and try to extort more ticket price out of me. That is, if my judgement is wrong and I actually got on to a local bus.

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Turns out, I was right. I got on the government bus and paid 93 Rupees to go to Gorakhtpur and did not get threatened with physical violence. None of the scams that people reported about this border crossing happene to me, including the warnings Taylor, the 3 year american vagabond told me about. I think one reason is because I’ve been through too many now and the fact that I dress like a Nepalese. A few actually tried speaking with me in Hindi thinking I am Nepalese.

Passport

Most Europeans and Americans get their Indian Visa first and fly to Delhi before tackling the 36 hour trip from Varanasi to Kathmandu. Most Asians do the reverse and get their Indian Visa from Nepal before crossing Over to India. This is a log of the Sunauli crossing from Nepal into India.

Currently, if you want a 6 month multiple entry visa, it’s best to apply in your home country. Nepal’s Indian embassy usually only gives out 3 month single entry visa and is a popular destinations for Asians and anyone in a pinch to get an Indian Visa. I’ve heard cases where people get 6 months multiple entry by submitting an essay about their journey for spirituality and meditation. But your mileage may vary.  

 

Location to apply for Indian Visa. Must submit form before going in. Embassy opens from 9:30 to 12 noonand will need to come back in 7 days. 

Locations 

Location of Nepal Customs and immigration.

 

Location of Indian customs and immigration 

It did take a while to figure out which one is the right bus to take. Because this is th difference between 100 rupees and 10000 rupees, I asked the immigration officer and he said 200m from where it is and pointed it out on google maps for me. When I got there, the buses looked pretty run down and doesn’t look official at all. They had Green paint with blue stripes. I then asked a shop keeper in front and paid him 20 INR to tell me the truth, but he pointed me down to the private bus park for a white van with blue stripes. I then wasted a lot of time walking around trying to find the bus that says U.P.S.R.T.C on it. Then finally, I asked 3 rikshaw drivers about it and I finally figured out that it was the green bus from the beginning. The key is figuring out the right word in Hinglish for state bus which is called “government bus”.

  

Google maps location of “Government bus”.

  

The green bus goes to Gorakhpur, the red goes to Varanasi.

  

If you get this receipt, you are on the right bus. Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation

Why didn’t I trust the immigration official? Because I remember the official tourist infirmation at Kathmandu telling me there are no buses to Thamel, which turn out to be false. In case like this, crowd sourcing for an answer seems the best. I am surprised that the information I paid for is actually the wrong one. 

 

The “government bus issues a receipt for your trip and there are actually 3 officials on the bus now. An accountant who issues receipt and holds all money and change, a minder that shuffles people to different seats and takes your payment and a driver. I think the accountant was added later due to several reports of the minder physically threatening tourists before at around 2012.