Kanchanjunga-Taplejung :: Part I (Kathmandu to Taplejung)

It takes 13 hours to reach Birtamod from Kathmandu on the first day and another 13 hours from Birtamod to Taplejung on the second day. This is the most tiresome part of the journey. Travelling in bus for long hours is a monotonous work.

In the road from Kathmandu to Birtamod after reaching Narayanghard you can verify many mathematical deductions. The obvious one would be two parallel line meets at infinity. However, in highway, two parallel lines meet either at another vehicle or at some bushes.

Koshi barrage is a site to see. It's so beautiful in the morning hours. We can also verify beauty is deceptive. The devastation done by Koshi has ruined the life of many villagers which lies in its bank.

The road from Birtamod to Taplejung is a hilly road and has many hair pin bends. The road is black topped upto Phidim and the worst part of the journey starts. The dusty road from Phidim to Taplejung is only 85Km but takes about 7 hours to complete and provides free imposed exercise to every muscles of your body. I heard that this stretch of road will also get black topped soon but who knows? The government of Nepal has many other things to do :(.

No matter how fast you depart from Birtamod to Taplejung you will reach there after sun has slept. So I would suggest breaking the journey in two days: first day upto Phidim and then from Phidim to Fungling.

There are few good lodges in Taplejung. The good ones are targeted to tourists so it's a bit expensive for common Nepali people. The lodge price ranges from Rs.50 to Rs 800 per night per room. Fortunately I had chance to experience all the hotels. In the lodge where we paid Rs. 50 had better food than the lodge where we paid Rs.800 but the beds were in opposite conditions.

Standing in Taplejung means you have already reached mountainous part of Nepal. There is no motorable road from Fungling. Until now this place is dead end to vehicles. So your real journey starts from here. The trekking from Fungling towards North will take you to the remotest and relatively untouched part of Nepal.