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Published: October 5th 2009
We left Chitwan by tourist bus, heading towards Pokhara, but were planning on leaving the bus at Dumre. The trip passed through many tiny villages but still no views of snow capped mountains as the horizon was very hazy. Three hours of traveling before we arrived in Dumre - a dusty roadside bazaar town through which all traffic between Pokhara and Kathmandu passes. There were dozens of buses parked along the street, which was edged with shops. Dumre appeared to be not much more then this strip of highway. We took a taxi the 9 klms of winding road above Dumre to the tiny village of Bandipur. It was a delightful village and our favourite spot in Nepal (I'm writing this since we've left Nepal). The village stretched along the top of a ridge and was surrounded by valleys lined with terraced rice paddies. 70% of the houses in Bandipur are traditional Newari houses, made of red brick with slate roofs and carved wooden window frames and shutters. No cars or motorcycles are allowed into the village streets - they must park on the edge of the town - and this rule was strictly enforced. In our entire 4 days there
we didn't see any! It was incredibly peaceful. The main street was very wide, cobbled and edged with tiny shops, cafes and guest houses. We spent our four nights there in an old wooden house, in a room with a low ceiling and a veranda overlooking the main street. Jerry constantly hit his head on the ceiling! We even had hot water - one of the only rooms in the village with it I think. All for $AUD 6 a night. The people are sympathetic with Maoists cause and some of the houses had Maoists slogans on them. Other signs throughout the town were advising the people on hygiene - the one near the car park area on the edge of the village was particularly amusing - telling people not to defecate in the streets. It was a very clean town as each Saturday all the schools take their students out to pick up rubbish from around the streets. Such a pity other places don't follow their example.
Tourism is a major industry in the town and the local council are doing it perfectly - no blatant shop front advertising signs, no souvenir shops and no pressure from the local
people. It was a few years ago that cars were stopped from entering the town and the local people absolutely love the fact. Each evening the main street was alive with old men drinking tea, ladies gossiping and kids running around playing. In the midst of this tourists sat and chatted at cafes, with kids kicking balls around their tables and hens running around pecking at the crumbs under the tables. The town was full of tiny lodges were the children from outlying villages live whilst attending school. They all seemed really happy and the town rang with their laughter and talking each night. Every morning whilst we had breakfast we watched them run off th school, with all the boys ringing the bells (just for fun) outside the tiny temples in the main street as they ran passed. A lot of the money from tourism is being used to renovate and maintain the old buildings. The council which is developing tourism in Bandipur know that their town is a living museum and thankfully they plan on keeping it that way. The village people go on with their daily lives s if there are no tourists in town, though they
are very friendly and welcoming.
On our first evening we saw the mountains from a viewpoint - they were amazing - we saw them again next morning but unfortunately after that they disappeared from view until we were in Pokhara. Next morning we wandered around the cobbled streets and headed down the muddy and stony pathways to a silk farm where silk is produced for trade in India. The countryside was really pretty - all traditional houses made of stone, though there were also some of rush. We passed many people, all very friendly, with a lot carrying baskets of grass on their backs up the slippery paths. Jerry spent a bit of time trying to teach an old lady how to use cigarette paper as a whistle. All the old ladies seemed to smoke, many also had nose rings through the bridges of their noses. Most of the women were wearing batik sarongs, though they all still had red or green bangles and necklaces. It was very hot still though which made walking a sweaty business. That evening we spent some time with the kids in the streets, watching the boys play marbles and chatting with the girls. They
all wanted their photos taken but we had no requests for money or pens. The first time in months where this hasn't been the case!
Next morning we walked downhill to Dumre - the path was very slippery. We walked through some smaller villages but during the three hour walk we didn't pass many people. Prior to the road being built it would have been very busy as it was the only access the villagers had to the highway below. Dumre was as dusty and as noisy as it had been a couple of days earlier so after a coffee we caught a share jeep back up the hill. To ride in this type of transport is an experience - imagine a jeep with 18 people on board, furniture piled on the roof alongside bags of rice, and two smelly leaking plastic containers of petrol in the back with the passengers! Add to the mixture the potent black exhaust fumes coming from the jeep as we crawled around the bends in the road. They stopped halfway up to let the engine cool down. A great fun way to travel a short distance but can't imagine spending any more than an
hour on one as crowded as that one was.
The following day we decided to walk to the village of Ramkot. We were advised to take a guide so the man who ran the internet cafe arranged for his sister to take us. We had a wonderful day though it was very hot. It took 3 hours to reach Ramkot (7 klms away around the mountains - not over them thankfully!) and without a guide I think Jerry and I would have given up thinking that we had missed a path. You really have no idea of distance when you are weaving around paths - we kept looking back and seeing yet another mountain curve behind us. The young lady spent a short time with an elderly couple living in a lonely hut - the man appeared to be quite frail and ill - and it wasn't until our return trip that we found out they were her grandparents. We passed a few small groups of people - they were from Ramkot and going to Bandipur to shop. Poonum (our guide) told us that there were no shops in Ramkot at all. Ramkot village was beautiful - it comprised of
90 houses, all made of stone and mud with slate or straw roofs. Each house had a very tall corn stack where the corn is stored for up to ten years after it has dried. We spent an hour with a group of local ladies - very friendly though they could speak no English. They made us a cup of chai and let Jerry taste the local corn alcohol. Many years ago the village was full of round houses with thatch roofs - now there are only three left. Women were working throughout the village grinding corn and laying out rice or corn to dry on rush mats. The men were sitting in the shade watching the women work! We spent a very pleasant hour there before making our way back to Bandipur, passing the same villagers we had passed that morning on their return trip, this time loaded down with baskets of supplies. It was a truly wonderful day.
The rest of our time there was spent relaxing, wandering the stone cobbled alleyways watching women wash the clothes under stone water taps, stepping over corn and rice drying on the streets, buying glass bangles from a tiny shop, listening
to the beating of the temple drum each morning when a very old man opened up the tiny temple under our bedroom window, watching a man carving slate pieces for sale, and just enjoying the sound of kids playing. The only downside of the town were the dogs - every so often a violent dog fight would break out. And there were the Kuma Sutra dogs which the young boys of the village had a great time giggling over until the old men chased them away.
It was a delightful village!
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Viv
non-member comment
Sounds idyllic!
Am enjoying reading your blog immensely, hoping to pick up some ideas for a trip I'm planning to make with some friends from U.K next year. As 3 of them are asthmatic I am looking for alternative walks that perhaps are not so strenuous and your stay and walks mentioned in this blog around Dumre and Ramkot sound ideal. Any suggestions you might have would be appreciated. I feel as if I'm there already : )