Has anyone travelled to Nepal via China (Sanghai/Kunming)? Transit in India/China is pretty lengthy but China seems to be a lot cheaper, I mean 300$ cheap. Seems like a fair deal if there's not much hassle. Could anyone share his/her experience.

Thanks in advance.

PS: Planning on going sometimes in July in case anyone has any specific suggestion.

sajhafan, yes, that is true, last time I had transit in Shanghai and Kunming. The total transit in China was about 20 hours. I did not have Transit visa from Embassy. When I landed in Shanghai, the Chinese Immigration stamped 24 hour stay permit (valid until next day) on my passport. They give departure card that I had to submit back to immigration before I departed from Kunming. You are not allowed to leave airport with this 24 hour transit visa, so I suggest do not even hang out near the airport exit doors. Sometimes the officers randomly stop and ask questions and it's not easy to explain to them in English. I don't think you can even go to hotel with this visa.

Thank you Everest01 for you quick response.

I called the Chinese embassy and they said that I need transit visa. Then I called Chinese eastern airlines, and they told me I do not need visa. So I was confused.

You mind if I ask you, when did you travel last time? If the rules has been changed since.

Chinese emabssy people are so hard to deal with

Thankx

sajahfan,I travelled around October 2012. I also see the rule in following link. http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/visas/zgqz/t943855.htm

That's the problem. They are hard to deal with and they don't give a shit what you are going through. I had 2 transits - first 4 hrs which got extended to 10 hrs for which I got transit-visa stamped, and the other 12 hrs which was also extended because of delay - 2 days. They didn't tell me I needed another visa when I was sent to the hotel but at the time of departure, they were reluctant. Thankfully, I had chinese speaking nepali friend with me (whom I had met in the hotel). He explained them the story and finally let us through.

Thankx again Everest01 and Bairagikancho for the input.

I have decided to go without transit visa, lets see how it goes. I will update my information, if I got in trouble.

 Chinese airports are notorious for flight delays. Their on time performance is 30%.
Go only if you are desperate or else good priced tickets can be found through advance booking with Qatar, Singapore.

Turkish Airlines recently started their service to Nepal via Istanbul. They are offering discounted ticket for promotion. Also booking in advance with Turkish will get you some good discounts.

Shop around.

sajhafan, I got your mail. Like Everest01 said they will put a stamp on your passport which will be valid for 24 hrs but I disagree on the fact that we cannot go outside. Basically you are already out once the stamp is placed on the passport. I travelled recently ( July - August 2013). After the stamp was placed on my passport, myself with my wife and some frens went to a guest house for that night ( 14 hrs transit in Kunming) and then came to the airport the next morning. One incident I want to share was I forgot my money bag ( $2000) in rest room ( I know pretty funny) in Shanghai...But luckily I got it back ( good citizen turned it back or I don't know) from the police( took foto of handing over and stuff hehe).

Thankx Stylish,

Thats a good news that i can go to the hotel. I will update my information once I get to nepal, so others can benefit from these cheap tickets.

Help garnu bhayako ma sab saathi haru lai dhanyabad cha.

 dont forget to come back and share your experience so others can benefit.