EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Public buses break for lunch at MUGLING (110km), a major crossroads at the junction of the Trisuli and Marsyangdi rivers. This is a much more Nepali sort of watering hole, where bad daal bhaat is the only item on the menu and the wood-fronted "hotels" look like something out of the wild west (indeed, many are brothels, servicing long-distance drivers). Wherever you stop, you can be sure your driver is getting a free meal. Mugling has a few legitimate guest houses - mostly cold-water bed-and- bhaats like Naulo Hotel & Restaurant and Hotel New Bijay (both Rs140-200 [US$2-3]) - but with buses coming and going 24 hours a day, it's surely one of the worst places in Nepal you could choose to spend the night. If for some reason you found yourself stuck here, it would be worth spending the extra money on Motel du Mugling (Kathmandu: tel 225242; en suite US$20-40), located across the bridge and commanding a view of the confluence.

At 280m, Mugling is the lowest point along the Prithvi Highway. Sugar cane is cultivated on a small scale around here, and you'll also see simal, a tall, angular Tarai tree that produces red flowers in February and pods of cotton-like seeds in May. Traffic bound for the Tarai turns left (south) at Mugling and continues along the Trisuli River, making the gradual 34-kilometre descent to Narayanghat.