Back to Pokhara

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Alan Stock

Day 59 – Location: Bandipur; Nepal.

29/10/12

I had an awful night’s sleep with a dodgy tummy and unable to catch more than a few hours. As soon as the horrible hawking of the elderly people in the building began at around 4am, I couldn’t sleep at all. It sounded like they were literally hawking their guts up, and they’d revisit the toilet at regular intervals to do it – you could tell they were doing it in the loo as it echoed! After breakfast we walked around the rest of the backstreets we hadn’t explored, nice and quiet. Bandipur is the most quiet and chilled out place I’ve been to in Nepal, even compared to the mountains.

We hopped on top of a local bus heading back down to Dumre. This time I got the good view. It was a lot faster coming down and we soon reached the town. I was sitting in the hole of the spare tire this time so it was fairly comfy. Anja had to return to work tomorrow, so we said farewell and went our separate ways, from here she could catch a bus back up to Besisahar. I got on a local bus to Pokhara and even got a seat with decent leg room. Unfortunately for my knees, it wasn’t to last, as at another town on the way back we got transferred to another bus and I had to sit on the back row. I couldn’t sit in one seat because there wasn’t enough room for my legs, so I was squeezed in with my knees scrunched against the hard seat in front, as different locals came on and off for the next few hours. At one point I had a kid in my lap, it was that busy!

The Himalayas from Bandipur

I arrived in Pokhara bus station and got a taxi to Lakeside. I’d decided to come here so I could report my stolen things with the tourist police, and also I was interested in paragliding before leaving Nepal – having been let down in Bandipur. I found a hotel and as I needed to head back towards Kathmandu to sort out the passport, I booked a package tour to Chitwan national park which is in that direction. Chitwan is a jungle/long grass environment with elephants, rhinos and even the occasional tiger. I also booked a tandem paragliding session for the next morning. It’s really cheap in Nepal compared to other countries. I spent the rest of the day investigating the passport replacement process and catching up on my photos and blog. I also phoned the British embassy in Nepal to find out what to do about my stolen passport. The helpful lady at the British consular told me I’d need the police report, then I could come to their office in Kathmandu to arrange what to do next about getting a temporary replacement or apply for a full one. I told her I’d pop in within the week to sort it out. I still had a valid visa for two weeks so there was no urgency at the moment. I spent the rest of the day chilling out in a restaurant.

View from the bus on the way down from Bandipur

Sunrise at Bandipur and the Cave

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Alan Stock

Day 58 – Location: Bandipur; Nepal

28/10/12

In a fit of madness we’d decided to get up at 5:30am to watch the sunrise in this great location. After both struggling a bit we eventually managed to rise and get out whilst it was still dark. The Lonely Planet had suggested a little temple up on the rocky ridge above the town for one of the best views in Nepal, so we climbed the little path that zigzagged up the narrow ridge as it got lighter.

Himalayas sitting on a sea of cloud

It was pretty cold but the twenty minute walk warmed us up. At the top of the ridge was a little wood with a shrine. From up here you could see around in all directions, in ten seconds you could be at the other side of the hilltop looking at a different view. A western couple were hugging behind the temple, apart from that we were alone up here. A layer of cloud lay above the big valley floor, obscuring it completely, and a river of cloud flowed over the far ridge beyond the town, wisping into nothinginness futher down. Very nice.

Out of the cloud layer protruded the hills, one set looking like a giant hand. And beyond that was an 180 degree view of the snow topped mountains, completely clear. It was the biggest and best view of the range I’d seen yet. In the other direction, the stepped valleys poked out of the cloud cover and cloud wisped over smaller ridges. A magical place for sure.

As we waited, more people arrived, mostly Nepalese tourists. There weren’t many but unfortunately they made enough noise to shatter the peace. Still, it was nothing compared to Sarangkot or Poon hill. The mountains started to line with gold and the sun appeared over the cloudy ridge. Awesome. If you want somewhere romantic to propose, Bandipur is it. We walked back down and went back to bed for a few hours.

After breakfast we set off in search of one of the biggest cave in Asia. The directions in the Lonely Planet were very vague and we climbed up the hill behind the town, saying hello to locals and made our way through a forest for about half an hour in what we thought was the right way, through the mossy trees rammed with spiderwebs. We met an English guy coming the other way who told us the cave was In a completely different direction, great. We backtracked and asked the locals until we were pointed the right way. Unhelpfully the official metal signs pointing the way were mostly missing, probably part of someone’s roof now. We started descending a long flight of slippery stone steps. At a rest stop a local chap asked if we wanted to buy maruina, producing a big ball of the stuff, presumably plucked locally. He joined us down the path for a bit pointing us in the right direction as we chatted to him.

We had been descending for about an hour, passing no one, working our way through a forest traversing the hillside. We reached a junction with no indication of where to go, so we went up, and reached a house with lots of beehives in logs, like I’d seen when trekking. A few guys were there and when we asked for directions an old man tottered out to lead us on a little path in the right direction. He showed us with hand signs which way to go and we continued. After one junction, following the guys directions, we came to another junction with a clear stone path in one direction and decided to go that way. It led to a big rocky outcrop in the forest, with a cave entrance going down steeply into the blackness. This must be it. However, the guide book had said you could hire guides at flashlights at the cave. We guessed as it was the holiday no one was around.

Field up in Bandipur

The cave entrance was pretty cool and I clambered down to check out further inside. Unfortunately I’d forgotten to bring my headtorch so I couldn’t get far before complete blackness. I could hear echoey water running inside and at one point faint voices. I shouted hello but got no response. As I’d heard voices, I thought it would be a good idea to wait for the group to come out, maybe there would be a guide we could use or torches. But after half an hour, no one had showed up, apart from some grazing buffalo ravaging the jungle. We gave up and started the long climb back up the hillside. On the way we passed a few other groups with guides plus a small group with climbing equipment and wondered if we’d come completely unprepared.

The cave entrance

After navigating a herd of sheep and goats a man was leading up the hill with his dog, we reached the top again and walked in the sunshine to the town, it was mid afternoon now. The mountains were covered in cloud again. We had lunch and Anja chatted to some other Swiss German women on another table, who joined us for a bit. One of them came with us later when we went to see the sunset again. Unfortunately we were a bit late, so settled on the wall of the larger temple which had a good view of the layered hills and valleys. We stayed admiring the orange beauty before us, and I watched day turn to night and the stars come out in the clear sky, as Anja chatted in her native language to the other woman, something which is a rare treat for her out here! Because I don’t speak German the conversation was a soothing background noise. We played Anjas game of spotting faces in the contours of the hills’ silhouettes. We went for a beer and dinner together and called it a night.

Bandipur

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Alan Stock

Temple in Gorkha

Day 58 – Location: Gorkha > Bhaktapur; Nepal

27/10/12

We had breakfast in Gorkha on the hotel restaurant’s terrace, looking out over the hazy but attractive view of the hill ranges in the distance.

Gorkha

Then we went for a stroll around the town, exploring its few little temples and the old side streets which reminded me of Bhaktapur, weathered brick buildings with wooden shutters. Gorkha was a quiet little town especially because of the Dasain festival, with shops closed and families spending time indoors together. At one tiny temple we found, a group of kids greeted us. One of the girls, only about 8 years old spoke really good English, asking us lots of questions and even explaining in detail about the god the temple was dedicated to. One day she’ll be a guide I’m sure!

We went to the busy bus terminal and took a local bus back to Abu Khareni, again we got lucky by getting seats for the two hour journey down the valley, but the views were restricted by the low windows. The bus was crammed full as usual. At Abu Khareni we caught a jeep to Dumre, back towards Pokhara – the same route we’d travelled yesterday.

Dumre

Twenty minutes later we arrived in the busy dusty town, where we found a small local bus to take us to Bandipur. It had been recommended as a peaceful haven with good mountain views so we wanted to check it out. We climbed onto the bus roof and were soon joined by a full roofload of other passengers. The road to Bandipur was steep and had a lot of hairpins. I’d chosen the wrong side to sit, so my views were mostly of trees and walls, whereas Anja had some great views of forested valleys which I had to break my neck to see.

Occasionally we had to duck quickly to avoid low hanging wires and branches. Decapitation is part of the fun here. A guy on the roof started chatted to us. One really nice thing about Nepal is that so many people will just chat to you on the transport.

We saw a few of these in the past couple of days – wooden ferris wheels which kids sit on and spin around. We never quite figured out how the kids get on after the first lot were on as they’d be stuck at the bottom because of gravity.

I got a very numb bum from the uncomfortable roof rails, making a mental note to bring more cushioning next time. Brilliantly the bus conductor climbed up the side of the bus to collect the fares from us roof passengers – moving around like a monkey and hanging on for dear life as we drove by sheer drops and swung around bends! We laughed at the thought of our fat old bus conductors at home doing the same thing!

The bus conductor climbs on the roof to collect the fares!

We swung into the small town which perched on top of a hill-line, offering very nice views in all directions of the hilly surrounded. We were immediately met by an accommodation tout who took us to a dingy hotel nearby, it wasn’t worth it, so we walked into the main street, which had plenty of tourists but no traffic as it’s banned here. We found a basic but cheap guest house which felt more like someone’s home than a hotel – in fact later we met an old guy who told us a few years ago it had been a homestay. The guest house roof looked out onto the big valley below with hills layered into the distance, very nice.

The sun goes down

Aside from the very stereotypical aging tourists wandering around with big cameras, the paved main street was very quiet and lined with restaurants with seating on the street, feeling very Mediterranean. The buildings were old and charming and at the end of the street were some nice small bricked temples. We stopped for lunch in one of the restaurants on the street and watched the world go by. There were a lot of serious photographers walking around carrying two or three big cameras each. For the size of the place there were lots of tourists, but they weren’t noisy so the peace was preserved. The town was almost free of the scourge of shouting and car horns, making the atmosphere really chilled.

We dropped into the only paragliding office in the town, which offers sunset paragliding over the hills which sounded great. Unfortunately their instructors were all away on a group trip and wouldn’t return for days, so that was out.

The temple up the road

We walked up a road to a larger temple as the sun started to sink. There was recent blood on the floor and a blood trail leading all the way around the temple to one of the side buildings. According to the guide book, during the Dasain festival, goats are sacrificed with the sacred sword which is housed in the temple – it looks like it got a taste of blood today! We followed a little path further uphill and climbed into some terraced fields where Anja hoped we’d get a good view of the huge valley below us. She was right – the view was stunning. We sat down as the sun went down and drank in the atmosphere. Below us we could see from the winding river at the bottom of the valley, to the green hills rising and rising beyond it, to even bigger hills on the horizon. The sense of scale was awesome and we had a full panorama around us.

And then Anja spotted the mountains. We’d only seen cloud above the hills, but looking further up, the Himalayas pierced through them. It was incredible, from here they looked truly massive – the sense of scale was the best I’d seen, as we could see from bottom of the river valley all the way up to the mighty mountains in the distance, which dwarfed all the rest. The occasional horn, shouts and animal noises occasionally wafted up from the valley floor, but otherwise it was very peaceful. Of course we took a lot of photos but they can’t capture the scale and amazing atmosphere we experienced there – it’s one of the best moments I had travelling so far.

The Himalayas loom out of the clouds. This wide angle lens really can’t capture the epic scale of this view.

As we walked back the sun was going red and vanishing over the ridge, giving us some nice sunset views to the other side of Bandipur. When it got dark we chilled out at one of the street-side cafes until bedtime.

Alan Stock Photography

My travelling (mis)adventures. It's ok to cry.

Monthly Archives: February 2013