Did a thrilling 4800 km road trip from Pune to Nepal in my Scorpio-N

December 27, 2023

To ask for a pass to overtake in Nepal, no need to blow the horn, the front car notices you in their ORVM that you want to overtake.

BHPian hrishi_dypim recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Nepal has always been in my mind to visit once in a lifetime, but did not know that the time would come so soon and that is November 2023.
Before starting from Pune, I made sure to service my Nandi (Scorpio N Z8L AT 4Xplor with Apollo Apterra AT2 Tyre and Hella 470 LED bar light). checked and kept all the necessary tools that may be required in Nepal in case of any unforeseen scenarios.

I added a tow rope, heavy-duty Tyre Inflator, OBD Scanner, Puncture kit, and cleaning materials for the car.

Installed 3M white reflector on all silver-colored parts so that it looks natural and good, like roof rails, front /rear bumper, and side claddings, this surely enhanced the visibility of the car at night.

I also added Nepal/Bhutan in my car insurance’s geographical location to make sure my car is covered in Nepal.

Bought health insurance for the family for any unexpected situations.

Decided to cover these major places in Nepal :

Kathmandu
Stinged
Pokhra
Muktinath

I followed the below selected route from Pune to Kathmandu which is through Nagpur.

Day 1(20-11-2023): I started from Pune Nagar road with my wife, 3-year-old son, and me. left home at 5 AM and reached Rewa by 8 PM. This was a surprise as Google Map was showing 19-20 hrs but I covered in 15 hours which included 1.5-2 hours of total break. stayed overnight on the highway in a decent hotel. the road was very good, only thing is one needs to be cautious of cattle after Jabalpur. Noticed many accidents and injured cows on the way.

Route I followed- Pune-Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar-Nagpur-Jabalpur-Rewa.

The good part was nowhere I got to enter the city, whether it was Nagpur, Jabalpur or Rewa. I kept finishing one highway and the other highway was just joining from outside of the city. This saved a lot of time.

Nandi, having rest in Rewa Hotel and asking for more.

Day 2 (21-11-2023) : Started at 9 AM after a good sleep and tasty breakfast in the hotel. my next destination was Siwan(Bihar). covered 450 Kms in 10 hrs with 1-1.5 hrs of total break. The roads are good but very busy sometimes with commercial vehicles.

Though the highway was 4 lanes but noticed many vehicles were coming in the same lane from the opposite side not the left but my right side, It was risky, I thought they were coming due to some possible diversion but later realized it was normal.

This was the story of the whole of UP and Bihar. at one time I stopped and asked one why don’t you go in your lane? he responded, that side road is jammed by Trucks so he is coming in this lane. One said I have to take a right after 1 km and if I followed my lane it would come after 5 km.

Anyway, I reached my destination in Siwan at 7 PM, Had an overnight halt in Siwan.

The route I followed: Rewa-Mirzapur-Varanasi Ring Road-Mau-Siwan.

Day 3(22-11-2023) : Left Siwan at 8 AM in the morning.

Followed the route: Siwan-Mirganj-Gopalganj-Sugauli-Raxaul-Kathmandu.

Though there are 2 routes from Siwan, I chose the short one and it was not a good decision as it was taking me through villages and narrow internal roads. After Sugauli, i got the good state highway. I reached near India-Nepal border at Raxaul. there was a railway crossing just before the border which took at least 20-30 minutes. Finally, I reached the border around 11:30 AM.

Border Gate of Nepal-India.

As I entered in Nepal, the road took me automatically to the Bhansar Office which is on the left side. Bhansar is a kind of permit for the car in Nepal. the charge for each day is 600 NPR, I had to stay for 8 days but I asked for 10 days, 2 days as a buffer. it’s advisable to get 2-3 days of buffer. there is a heavy penalty if you get caught in Nepal after your permit is over.

You can go and make the permit by yourself and through an agent also. the agent takes 100 INR as a service charge and gives you Bhansar in 10-20 mins. need RC and DL in their original form to make the Bhansar. charges for 1 day is 600 NPR, if you intend to stay for 10 days then it’s 6000 NPR.

One caution, the agent will ask to give him either 600 NPR or 450 INR. giving money in NPR is advisable because if you give 450 INR it is 450×1.6=720 NPR. so better to convert the currency before the border, there are many shops.

Once you are done with the Bhansar the next is to take the SIM card for your mobile. the Indian sim does not work in Nepal. SIM with 7 GB of data is sufficient if you use the hotel’s WIFI in Nepal. the sim price is 250 rs.

a caution again here, if you have not converted your INR to NPR you can still do so at this shop because the conversion rate you will get is 1.6. once you enter Kathmandu or other cities people try to give you a conversion of 1.5 only.

After getting Bhansar, SIM card and INR to NPR cash it was time to move to Kathmandu the first destination of Nepal to explore.

When you check in Google Maps, It shows these two routes only. This route is the shortest but it’s through tall hills with really bad roads, water crossings, and sharp curves. somewhere black top roads but most of the time bad roads and many Y junctions where Google Maps will take you nowhere. so also don’t blindly follow Google map and whenever any Y junction comes or more than one road is there ask the local people.
If don’t have an SUV with high GC and good tyres don’t go through this route. even if you have an SUV but you have no experience in driving in hills don’t choose this road. This road does not have enough petrol pumps, good restaurants or washrooms.

I wanted adventure so followed this route and enjoyed the drive. I was able to see only Commercial vehicles like Old Scorpio, Bolero, and Sumos.

Now if someone has low GC cars or doesn’t want to handle the curves and height and needs good roads, they can choose the below map which Google map does not show on its own. this route is through Highway H1, H5, and H4.

After approx. 50 km from the Raxaul Border the adventurous road started, could not stop myself to stop, get down, and click a photo, kind of first pic in Nepal.

I started from the Raxaul Border around 1:30 PM and Reached the hotel in Kathmandu around 7:30 PM. 1-2 Hrs. of time goes at the border in Bhansar, Sim Card and Conversion of the money, so keep 2 Hrs. extra.
In my case, google Maps was showing 8 hrs from Siwan to Kathmandu so I was relaxed that I would reach Kathmandu before sunset but 2 hours extra spent at Border which delayed my reaching time.

Sunset happens by 4-4:30 PM, after 4:30 it’s all dark.

Since the route I followed was not a mainstream or busy road/highway where would find many cars. driving in the dark gets challenging due to visibility, badly broken roads, hills, and also fewer people to spot to ask for the right road.

In Nepal, one can’t cruise fast, the speed will be 15-40Kmph sometimes 60Kmph but not more than that, so here people talk in hours not in km.

Day 3(23-11-2023) : This was the first morning in Kathmandu and the very first thing I had to do was to visit Pashupati Nath ji, the usual first thing that most Indians do in Kathmandu. the temple was hardly 2 Kms from the hotel, I parked the car in public parking which is a big ground. there is no parking charges and the temple is adjacent to the parking ground.