What is "koilabas"

Koilabas is a bazaar town and Village Development Committee in Dang Deokhuri District in Rapti Zone of south-western Nepal. The town is situated on the southern edge of the Dudhwa Range of the Siwaliks, at Nepal's border with Uttar Pradesh 5 km from the village Jarwa on the other side. Indian and Nepalese nationals may cross the border unrestricted however there is a customs checkpoint for goods. Koilabas has regular bus service to Tulsipur on the Gorakhpur-Gonda Loop of Indian Railways.

From Koilabas, goods are transshipped over the Dudhwas to Dang and Deukhuri Valleys, then on into hill districts Pyuthan, Rolpa and Salyan. Before Nepal's east-west Mahendra Highway was built in the 1990s, Koilabas was also a transit hub. It was often easier if less direct to use Indian trains to travel east or west to reach other parts of Nepal than to traverse a seemingly endless series of north-south mountain valleys on foot.

Hindi or Awadhi are spoken natively by most inhabitants, with Nepali and Tharu widely understood.