TRANSPORTATION

I. Geography
Nepal is a country which lies between the southern part of the Himalayas,
bordering with India in the south and China in the north. There are three
main ecological regions in this country, including The Terai region, The Mid-
Hill region and The Mountain regions. (Geography, 2012)

Sandikhola village is located in the Gorkha district which is approximately
82km northwest from the capital of Kathmundu and around 16km southeast
from the great city of Gorkha. It is also possible to access this village from
either Kurintar (about 8km from northeast) or Bharatpur (approximately
42km from northeast.

II. Transportation in Nepal
There are several means of transport in Nepal, including car and motorcycle,
bus and tram, taxi and airplane. (Getting around, 2012)

In Nepal, tourists cannot rent a car to drive by themselves, but they can
easily rent a car with a driver, with a cost at around US$50 per day. In
addition, motorcycle can be rented in Kathmandu and Pokhara for around Rs
450 per day.

In terms of train, there are two train lines from Janakpur, but only the
service east to Jaynagar over the Indian border carries passenger traffic.
They're narrow-gauge trains and very slow. However, there is not any train
station in Sandikhola

Nepal has a fairly extensive domestic air network, served by half a dozen
airlines. Residents and Nepali citizens pay approximately 35% of the tourist
price for domestic air fares. Likely train, there is no route to Sandikhola by
airplane.

Buses are the main form of public transport in Nepal and in relative terms
they're incredibly cheap. Very often they're also incredibly uncomfortable.
They run pretty much everywhere and will stop for anyone. Tourists can
jump on local buses anywhere.

Larger towns such as Kathmandu and Pokhara have taxis which, between a
group of people, can be a good way to explore the Kathmandu Valley. Taxi
meters are sometimes out of date, in which case tourists will be hard pushed
to convince drivers to use them (with or without a surcharge) and will
almost certainly have to negotiate the fare in advance.

III. Transport in Sandikhola
In Sandikhola, the roads are compacted and walkways are either made out of
stone or compacted earth. Sandikhola is accessible by road, however the road
conditions create significant transportation challenges, especially during the
rainy season. The road is shared two-ways by vehicles and livestock and
extremely steep and narrow.
One can access the community by public transportation by taking two different
local buses and a walking bridge (~6 hours from the major city of Bharatpur) or
one local bus and walking (~1/2 hour bus ride and 6-7 hour walk from Bharatpur
if there is a strike). Strikes, or bandhs, are common in Nepal and most services
such as transportation will cease to run for the duration of the strike.
The rainy season causes many road problems such as landslides and road
bridges being washed out. Sheep, goats, mules and yaks are all used to transport
goods to the hill and plain areas. Currently animal and human waste is a
problem, as there are large amounts of manure on the roads.
Manual labour is also readily used and is a common option when vehicles can be
used. Children will often walk between 1 3 hours a day to the community for
school (grades 1-3), depending on what neighbouring village. There is another
school (grades 4-10) 1-hour walk roundtrip that provides additional education
for villages in the area. There are many walking bridges in the region that are of
award winning and there is a over-river pulley system that is effective when
needing to transport good into Sandikhola from areas separated by rivers, such
as Bharatpur.

IV. Reference
1. Geography. (2012). Retrieved from
http://welcomenepal.com/promotional/know-nepal/geography/
2. Getting around. (2012). Retrieved from
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/nepal/transport/getting-around