Nepal

As we approached the border the single track dirt road was lined with parked trucks and vehicles. Other vehicles tried to squeeze through the remaining spaces causing chaos. The uneven surface of the road tipped one lorry so far to the side it ended up resting on the roof of a landcruiser. Gridlock!
A little further through the queue, next to road side market stalls, a small green taxi was pushing in between two parked lorries. It succeeded but then had to stop on a hill, it's handbrake wasn't up to the task and the small car rolled back into one of the lorries, crushing an inappropriate sporty spoiler and it's rear lights.
Fearing the possibility of being crushed we detoured through the market stalls, stepping over blankets laden with cheap Chinese products and sports socks. The queue continued over the Friendship bridge to one last Chinese Checkpoint and on to the Nepali border. Amidst the bustle it is easy to miss the border checks and we have met people who have cycled straight through into Nepal unchallenged.
The visa office is just inside Nepal and is one of the few buildings not built in the local "shack" vernacular. We paid $30 and carried on downhill, for some considerable distance the chaos continued amogst seemingly makeshift buildings, temples and of course the lush green gorge.
 
We descended along the Sun Kosi past very attractive villages, more palm trees, a bungee jumping resort as the temperature just kept rising. It was unusual for us to see people washing in rivers and we quickly tired of having to say "Hello" to the growing numbers of pedestrians and people working by the side of the road.
The first major town we came to was Barabise, the administrative capital of the area - More Chaos!
Here busses just stopped where they pleased, mostly next to the little tented fast food stalls lining the bridge, a seemingly common road manoeuvre.
The road started to climb from Dolaghat where locals had been bussed out from Kathmandu to enjoy the river beaches. The climb then continued for 10km before starting a very steep rise over the next 17km. Parts of the climb were painfully steep as we climbed from just 600m to 1500m and the rim of the Kathmandu valley. Cycling in the heat was a new thing for us, sweating was a novelty and we broke our journey for a fizzy drink. We had no idea how much a  coke could cost but it turned out we had change from 20 pence! The climb wasn't the biggest of the trip but the heat and some very steep sections took their toll and meant that with 30km to go we had only over an hour of daylight left.
We made it to Kathmandu's manic traffic at dusk. We weaved in and out of cars, past blockages and crashes all the way to the area of Thamel. Upon entering the tourist ghetto we were shocked by seeing so many white faces, one of which asked where we had come from - in English! By chance we had bumped into Miriam from Holland who had cycled with Ben and Mandy for a while in Tibet. Funny how small the World becomes when you are a cyclist.

Visit border cycling for more information on guided cycle trips.