The Western Hills: Begnas Tal, Bandipur & Gorkha

Fresh from the trail and ready to relax for a spell in the low hills, we spent a few days in Pokhara, Nepal's second largest city. Unlike Kathmandu, it is laid out along a placid lake and has markedly similar feel to it. We were also there for Dasain, Nepal's biggest festival of the year. Everyone goes back to their home villages to spend time with their families, get tikka (a mark on your forehead of red dye mixed with grains of rice and some green leaves placed behind your ears) from elder family members, and to sacrifice and eat all of those cute goats we saw everywhere. The festival is also called Durga Puja, so the wrathful and bloodthirsty goddess Durga must be appeased with sacrifice in order for the family to prosper in the year ahead. Also goat is delicious.

We didn't get invited to any goat feeds, but the family that ran the guesthouse where we stayed invited us to take tikka from the eldest woman and gave us a small meal as well. It was fun to be there and included like a member of the family. We spent much of the afternoon watching all of the other family members come up dressed in their finest to also receive tikka.

Other than that we ate tons of good food, went for strolls in the surrounding countryside, washed our clothes and ourselves, and rested our weary bones. We also met up with our friend from the trail Anye and went to a really cool expat bar, a little too cool for us really. There was a crowd of bikers who seemed like Australian Hell's Angels, a crowd of hipsters, world weary professional travelers, and even fire dancers plying their dangerous fiery trade out front.

Taking the long road back from Pokhara to Kathmandu we spent some time exploring smaller villages along the way. Our first stop, only 14km outside of Pokhara, but a 45 minute bus ride and over an hour walk, was to Begnas Tal, a quiet lake set among rice paddies with stunning mountain views. After being in Pokhara it felt like we were back in the country, the sound of motors and hordes of tourists were left behind. We sat at our lakeside lodge watching fisherman let out their nets as they slowly paddled their wooden boats across the lake. We rented a boat of our own for the day and paddled into the many inlets, stopping for a "fish and chips" lunch at a lakeside restaurant - the fish literally a whole fried fish - it was tasty. Colin did most of the paddling as Amanda relaxed in the boat. It was like Victorian England sans the parasol.

We left the lake heading towards Bandipur, a quaint ridge top town that was once the last stop of the trade route between Tibet and India that was malaria free. The first leg of the journey we walked along the ridge above Begnas Tal soaking up the views of the Annapurnas, and then down to the bazaar where we caught a bus down to the highway. A local man helped us to get a decent price and also hung around to help flag a bus for the next leg. It is really difficult to get a reasonable fair on transport, but it made us feel better to see that transport workers rip off locals as much as they can as well as goras. We got to another main town and after a quick momo (Tibetan dumplings and spicy sauce, mmm) snack caught another bus up to Bandipur. Quite an undertaking to travel a very short distance.

Bandipur village is laid out along a central bazaar paved in stone with townhouse-like buildings on either side. The feel was almost European and there was even a central square with temples and a library. We did some more day hikes, up to a nearby ridge to get an unobstructed view of the peaks all around us, down to the largest cave in Nepal, and also out to the mulberry groves of one of nine silk farms in Nepal, where a worker gave us a detailed overview of their operations and chatted with us about politics in the shade for a spell. We happened to be in town for Halloween as well, so we found a pumpkin (the homestay proprietor's brother who lived down the street turned out to have one when we were asking how to say "pumpkin" in Nepali), bought loads of candy for all of the neighborhood kids, and even ran into another American, with whom we bobbed for doughnuts in the middle of the street. It was a whole lot of fun, and it was nice to get to celebrate with the neighborhood, even if they thought we were a little goofy.

Next stop was Gorkha, whence Prithvi Narayan Shah launched his campaign to successfully unify Nepal. The town itself was nothing more than a bustling Nepali roadside bazaar, but the hike to the historic palace on the ridge was worth the detour. The palace is surrounded by temples where people perform sacrifices and the steps to the entrance were stained with splatters of fresh blood. Many families were leading unsuspecting goats and chickens up to the top, dressed in their finest. We thankfully didn't see any bloodshed. We hiked around the palace and up to many viewpoints where we could see the Manaslu, Ganesh, and Annapurna ranges in the distance.

From Gorkha we made our way back to Kathamandu, where we write from today. We are only here for two days to prepare for our next trek into the Langtang, Gosiankund, and Helambu regions, which are north of Kathamndu and close to the border with Tibet. We are excited to be back in the mountains and are looking forward to some good cultural exchange with the people in the region. We will head out tomorrow and likely be trekking for another 20 days, give or take.

Dasain Festival, receiving the tikka from the eldest person at our guesthouse.

Paragliders coming in for a landing, Pokhara.  These guys really smashed into the ground.

Begnas Tal.

Walking around Begnas Tal and enjoying the rice paddy views.

The view from our boating adventure on Begnas Tal.

The view from Thani Mai in Bandipur.  The valleys were covered in clouds in the early morning.

A bunch of straw heads, and one human head....on our walk to the largest cave in Nepal.

Colin posing for a photo in the fields of Bandipur.

Amanda on one of the many bamboo swings set up for the Dasian Festival.

Bandipur Bazaar and it's upscale hotels.

Colin, Amanda, and Jack on Halloween!

A very serious doughnut eating contest in the streets of Bandipur.  Big mouth Colin won hands down.

Another beautiful view of cloud covered valleys from Gorkha.

The palace on top of the ridge above Gorkha.

Ganesh Himal seen from Gorkha.