Magical Villlage, Magical Hotel Splurging

Asia » Nepal
November 7th 2008

Published: December 3rd 2008

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JenGui

Magic

thats what it was in Bandipur

Bandipur is incredible. Quite possibly our favourite spot in Nepal, to date.
Set high up in the hills, full of breathtaking Himalayan views, gorgeous Newari architecture, well educated and smiley locals and surrounded by rice terraces lining the hillsides to the valleys below.
We fell in love and were so thrilled to be there that within the first ten minutes we found a guesthouse, said yes to it and later were kicking ourselves (again) for not looking around a bit more before settling. It soon hit us that we were actually renting out someones room in a family home. It was up on the 3rd floor (in the attic, as we liked to call it). It was incredibly dusty and filled with someones personal items (purses, sweaters, possible homework assignments).
But we were stuck there, since we already paid for the night and anyhow, the money we were paying was going right towards a local family who needs it.
We tried to forget about it by checking out the glorious views surrounding the village and it worked. We actually had our first realization of how immensely high those snow capped mountains really are.
We made friends with a great couple and

OMG

Vikki...you would have cried ifyou saw the monster spiders EVERYWHERE

shared a dinner of momo’s and Daal Bhat over great conversation and lots of laughs. Then had to go back to our spooky attic room and somehow fall asleep. But as Guillaume puts it best, “I think that I fall asleep better when we are in a spooky place because my body just shuts down so that I don’t have to think about where I am”.
We were up early that morning, like every morning in Nepal, 6am. Packed our bags and headed to another hotel...a bit more...upscale. And SO VERY worth it.
It was a place that we had read about before going to Bandipur and hoped to stay there anyhow. It's a large Newari style house, restored into a boutique hotel. It included all of our meals and a guide who took us up to a temple on a hill high above town with even MORE breathtaking views (we didn’t think that it was possible).
Againk, that evening we made friends with another great couple and spent the afternoon and evening laughing, chatting and sharing funny travel stories.
That night was a most wonderful night of comfortable and sound sleeping. At 6am I opened up the balcony doors

Random Kids

Kids posing with kids (get it?)

and had a glorious view of the snowy peaks in a luscious oink hue from the rising sun around the corner.
Yes, luxury and blissfulness doesn’t cost that much, but it costs enough that we couldn’t afford to stay there for another night. So, instead of switching the a third hotel in Bandipur, we just decided to skip town altogether and head straight for Pokhara where we will wait for Jasmine and Richard to arrive in about 4 days.

Additional photos below

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