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Posted by : amit Sunday, March 21, 2010


  • kakarvitta is a small city situated mechinagar municipality, jhapa district, Nepal. In boarder of Nepal and India. The meaning of kakarvitta is land of crabs. kakar= crab, vitta=land.The River Mechi is the dividing line between India and Nepal and so, although I dare say it is fine to go for a swim.. On a clear day you can see the foothills of the Kachenjunga range; from the plains. the way up to 2500 metres is Nepal's tea growing area.You can Notice the well-practiced intercropping method the local farmer's use. No vast plains of wheat here, but potatoes in w
    ith corn, spinach in with spices etc. Walking these roads you really see how modern Nepal liv es alongside ancient Nepal. You'll see houses with satellite dishes and the occasional latest model Chinese built motorbike but also people tilling the field by hand and buffalo-drawn carts. If you want a destination, ask the locals which is the road for Bahundangi. It can be walked in about two hours. This village has a bazaar that operates daily and peop le come here for horticultural supplies and ayurvedic me
    dicines.
Walks along other roads mig ht take you past a brick kiln or through tea estates.Kakarvitta is on the Nepal-India border at t he eastern end of the 922-km long East-West Highway. It is a 610-km drive (13 hrs.) from here to Kathmandu. The Mechi river bridge marks the boundary between Nepal and India. On the Indian side, Gangt ok the capital of Sikkim is 146
km (a four-hour drive) and Darjeeling is 113km (three hours). Kakarvitta marks the eastern end of Mechinagar Municipality.Kakarbhitta is about 15-17 hours drive and 610 kilometers away from Kathmandu. This is a small town on the border between Nepal and India and foreigners can use this to cross the border. There are many hotels and lodges around the area to accommodate the tourists in moderate prices. Tourists can commute to Kathmandu or any other cities either by bus or air. The closest airport is at Bhadrapur, about 25km southwest of Kakarbhitta and it takes about 45 min to land in Kathmandu domestic airport by flight.KAKARBHITTA is one of the more laid-back crossings on the Nepal-India border, since it's mainly a gateway for people,. Most

of those using it are Indians, hopping over from Darjeeling for some quick shopping or heading to Birat

nagar for business; the

presence of nearly 90,000 Bhutanese refugees in camps west of here probably contributes to the flow as well. A recently negotiated

transit treaty between Nepal and Bangladesh may eventually increase the commercial traffic through here, but for the time being

Kakarbhitta feels very much l ike a back-door entry whose only apparent link with the rest of the world is the fleet of night buses

that roars in from Kathmandu every morning and roars out again every afternoon.

If you have some time on your hand

s you could take a stroll in any direction into the surrounding countryside. The Satighata tea

estate is just ten minutes' walk south of town, and a Buddhist monastery run by Tamangs can be visited on the way. A walk along the

banks of the Mechi River, just east of town, is nice at sunset or sunrise.

All of Kakarbhitta's accommoda tion is within spitting distance of the bus park, so it's easy to shop around - you can judge these

books by their covers. Two better places that have stood the test of time are Hotel Rajat (tel 023/62033; Rs140-200 [US$2-3] / en

suite US$8-12) and Hotel Kanchan ( tel 023/62015; en suite US$3-8), side by side at the north end of the bus park. The Rajat, which is

run by very professional Newars from Kathmandu, has hot water and TVs in its more expensive rooms (some are supposed to get air

conditioning as well), a restaurant and a small garden/parking area. The Kanchan is further down the luxury scale, but the owners are

friendly and supply hot water by the bucket. At the bottom end, Hotel Kathmandu & Lodge (Rs140-200 [US$2-3] / en suite US$5-8) and

Hotel Mount Everest (Rs140-200 [US$2-3] / en suite Rs200-350 [US$3-5]) can't exactly be recommended, but they at least aren't too

dire.

Most guest houses have their own restaurants , but assuming you're only going to be eating one hot meal in Kakarbhitta, you might as

well eat it at Hotel Rajat. Moneychangers and lodges will swap Nepalese and Indian rupees at the market rate, but to change hard

currency you'll have to use the bank (Nepal Rastra Bank, the pink building on the north of the highway signposted only in

Nepali; daily 8am-6pm). International and long-distance phone calls are possible from the better guest houses and various ISD shops.


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