Visas plus Overland route
Hello thereMyself and my girlfriend are currently living in Guangzhou China. I have a photo assignment in Dhaka (Bangladesh) in late June 2012 so we have plenty of time to get there and are toying with the idea of going overland from China via Tibet / Nepal / India. We have a good idea of the route up to at least Kathmandu but need help at this part. Can anyone tell us or suggest a route from Kathmandu to Dhaka? We would love to take in Bhutan but visa might be an issue. Can anyone suggest a route by overland?
Ok, the tricky part. Myself and my girlfriend have our visas sorted, but our friend who is currently in India and wants to join us when we start in China will need to get a visa for China/ Tibet / Nepal /Bangla on an Irish passport. He will also need to renew his Indian visa or apply for a new one in Nepal (Kathmandu). Anyone know if you can apply for these visas anywhere in India? And also howe long it takes for an Indian visa in Kathmandu ?
Advice is much appreciated
Best
Phil
1
For travelling overland from Nepal to Bangladesh -From Kathmandu take a bus to Kakarbhitta (18 hours). Cross the Indian border to Panitanki (Please get an Indian visa in advance. They are not available at the border). From Panitanki there are regular mini buses to Siliguri (1 hour).
From Siliguri take a bus to Chengrabandha. Cross the Bangladesh border (Get an Bangladesh visa in advance. They are not available at the border). Get a bus to Dhaka.
I believe there are direct buses to Dhaka from Siliguri. I have seen signboards advertising them in Hill Cart Road, Siliguri. You could check them out.
2
Thank you so muchActually on second thoughts we might just join my friend in India and start from there.It seems easier.!!It would save him having to get another Indian visa in Kathmandu.
So my new question is does anyone know where you can get an Chinese / Tibet / Nepal visa in India on an Irish passport ?
3
Hi,Some visa information:
1. You can get Nepal visas at the border. Visas are available for as long as three months. The process is very simple.
2. Visas for travel to Tibet can normally be arranged in Kathmandu, but you have to book a tour. Most tours end with you coming back to Kathmandu - it might be complicated to get a visa that allows you to travel in China after your Tibet tour. Regulations for this change all the time, since regulations for Tibet change all the time. I'm not sure what it's like to get just a normal Chinese visa, if you want to fly from Kathmandu to somewhere in China other than Lhasa, but it may well be possible.
3. Bangladeshi visas can be arranged in Calcutta. I believe that they come with a specific border entry point for Bangladesh.
4. Getting Indian visas is always a bit of a bureaucratic process - in Nepal it will take at least about 4-5 working days, and there are no real guarantees. If your friend has already been in India, he might have a bit of trouble getting another visa, and he might have to spend 2 months outside of India before being allowed to apply for a new visa. Having said that, I managed to pick up a "second" Indian visa in Kathmandu about a year ago, but it involved a fair amount of time spent at the consulate there.
There are many, many possible routes from Kathmandu to Dhaka. The most straight-forward Nepal-India border-crossing is at Sunauli (about 9 hours from Kathmandu), where most travelers head on to Varanasi. From there you head east across Bihar to Calcutta. Another possibility is to travel to Kakarbhita (about 18 hours from Kathmandu) as suggested above. This leaves you with many options for traveling through West Bengal, and heading into Bangladesh by some more obscure border crossing if you like. The main border crossings are in the south, serving traffic to/from Calcutta. The most interesting India/Bangladesh border crossing I know of is at Gaur, where the border crossing goes right through a medieval city gate, but I'm not sure if foreigners are allowed to cross here.
