18 - 21 Dec 2012
Tuesday of our last week in Nepal we set off for the little hilltop village Bandipur. I had to do some research to figure out how to get there as it's not a common bus route. The friendly boys of Monumental Paradise said we just need to get a taxi to the local bus station in the morning (at the godly hour of 6am), then jump on a bus direct to Bandipur from there. Apparently none of the tourist buses go there, they only stop at Dumre, which on the way to Pokhara. Then from Dumre you need to catch a local bus up the hill to Bandipur. I thought this direct local bus to Bandipur was a great option, that meant no stopping in Dumre and having to find the local bus.
So we get to the local bus station about 6.30am, immediately we stand out like dogs balls. No tourists here! Local Nepalese men start bombarding us, wanting to know where we're going so they can take our business. When we say Bandipur we get directed to this small desk, pay a measly 500 rupees for us both and that's it! We climb on the local bus with no leg room and try to get comfy as best we can. We're in for a roughly 5.5hr trip. Luckily we left our big bags back at Monumental so we only had our day packs. Somehow I managed to squeeze them above our heads with boxes of shit and blankets and all sorts of stuff. This bus is not made for baggage. We head off fairly empty but as we slowly ease out of Kathmandu (extremely slowly after flat tyre problems) we start to pick up more locals along the way and soon enough we're full to the brim, eventually picking up so many that they are standing in the aisles on top of each other. It's insane.
We finally reach Dumre which we're told will be a 15min stopover. Cool, so only another 20min drive up the hill and we're there! Thank god, as the bus is getting really uncomfortable at this stage as they loads bags of rice in the aisle along with the millions of locals. There is barely room to breath.
Once we get going again I start getting really excited, Bandipur was my thing. I really wanted to visit this very unique and special town. Time passes and I realize we're going up, then down, up then down... Aren't we supposed to be driving up the hill? A lot of time passes and I start to get worried. Finally the bus boy asks us where we're going (every bus driver has a bus boy who takes money as people get on and off and helps the bus reverse and park etc). When I say Bandipur his face changes and I realize we were actually meant to get off in Dumre after all. There is no fucking direct bus to Bandipur from Kathmandu!! God dammit, I wish I had known this but the locals all insisted - yes bus goes all the way to Bandipur.
Thankfully the bus boy was keen to help us and got the driver to stop then jumped out in some random local town and disappears into another bus stopped behind us going the other way. He runs back and tells us to get on that one with the little English he knew. We had no idea where that bus was going or when we were supposed to get off. The bus is loaded with people and I have my day pack which is bulging, my big camera bag and also my pillow and jumper etc which I had to grab in the rush of jumping off the other bus. I'm an unorganized mess trying to grip all my stuff with every hand and finger I had. I had my back pack half hanging off me and as I'm trying to squeeze through the people all in the aisle I"m bumping everyone. They keep telling me to go back further in the bus but the entire aisle is packed and I have no idea how to get through without knocking everyone's head. I only get in a little way, the bus starts going and I'm trying to hang on the bar with one hand while carrying everything in my left hand. I couldn't support myself and I keep going all over the place while the bus is driving crazy. It was fucking stressful. Finally I get down the back of the bus and stand in an empty part of aisle, have room to fix my bags and put them on the floor and support myself with both hands. Eventually a guy leaves and I get his seat. I find out that we're going back to Dumre, where we have to get off and find this other local bus.
We had to pay 50 rupees each for the trip we shouldn't have been taking... Going back to Dumre felt like forever. It took us almost an hr to get back! What a fucking setback. I mean I thought we had been driving for awhile when we were heading the wrong way but I didn't realize it had been quite to that extent. I guess this bus was alot bigger so it was slower and of course it stopped a million times to let locals on or off...
When we finally reach Dumre it doesn't take long before we find the local bus to Bandipur. It's a very small bus and luckily we got to it early so we got seats at the back before piles and piles of people and bags of rice and whatever else filled every inch there was. It was hilarious watching them all try to fit! We waited an hr before we left but thankfully there were guys out the window selling us stuff to pass the time. We bought fresh coconut for 10 Rupee.
As soon as the bus leaves we are already on a windy road heading up the mountain - now this is more like it! It takes a mere 25mins and costs us 30 Rupee - cheap as chips!
Bandipur is amazing. Already you can see how different it is from Kathmandu. The cobblestone streets, the wooden and brick buildings...It's so cute! Sam and I start searching for a guesthouse. We go in one after the other and are shown the tiny rooms that really makes you feel like you're back in the 1800's in England. The little wooden tours, stone floors and walls, wooden window frames... And so so cheap! They all had shared bathrooms and the toilets were horrible squat ones so Sam and I kept looking. He was starting to feel a bit off and needed a proper western toilet. Eventually we settle for the most expensive place there with a huge room, comfy bed and en-suite. It stood out from all the rest by miles in that it was just a normal place, more Western then Bandipur style. The price tag was quadruple to the rest of the places to. I really wanted to stay in the cute medieval style rooms but Sam wasn't feeling well and needed a proper toilet. Still was the same we'd been paying with Monumental and Lotus Inn anyway, only $12.
We went to dinner along the main street. All the restaurants were part of guesthouses and had tables set out on the street. No vehicles allowed the town at all which made it feel so quiet and peaceful. All the tables had candles and we soon found out why, out goes the power and the town is in darkness - except of course for the candle lanterns which added an amazing atmosphere. I was in love.
After dinner Sam went downhill fast. He had been talking about feeling a bit off earlier but now it really escalated. Once he started vomiting that was him for the rest of the entire night. He was up every 15mins coming out both ends. He'd come back to bed shaking uncontrollably and try cuddle up to me for warmth. When I felt his skin I could feel that sickly cold feeling. It was shocking and unfortunately when one person is sick the other has to hear it and be awake all night. So we didn't get much sleep that night at all. Somewhere along the way I drifted and Sam must've to.
In the morning he was not as bad but he wasn't better either. I headed out to eat some breakfast, walk around the village and try find a chemist for some antibiotics. The walk was positively lovely. I walked all the way to one end, then went down the hill and looped round. I got a full feel of the place. I walked where there were no tourists and only the locals who were all so friendly and talking to me, asking me why I came to their village and what I'm doing there. Kids were everywhere, playing and smiling and waving at me - also wondering why I'm there. The place is fairly knew to tourism so I guess it's still a mystery to them as why foreigners are walking around taking photos of them.
I couldn't find a pharmacy anywhere! The place is so untouched that there are no shops, no pharmacy's... nothing. Just locals selling goods to each other out of their homes. So I went back to Sam empty handed and found him watching tv on my laptop - looking much better. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the room which of course wasn't how I imagined my stay in Bandipur but we still had one more day so we could do something tomorrow. Today was all about Sam getting better.
The next day we checked out of the fancy place as Sam was healthier and we had agreed that if that was the case we'd check into one of the more rustic local places for a third of the price on our last night. I was so excited!
We found a place with a western style toilet, shared but just outside out room and our room had the cutest window looking out over the mountains. Sadly in Nepal there is so much haze so taking pictures of the mountains tends to be a challenge. After dumping our stuff we set out for the caves we had read about. We decided to walk on our own and found ourselves going down the mountain on steep slippery stone stairs. All the while trying not to stack it I am thinking 'God it's going to be awful on the way back up!'. About half way down 4 young local boys catch up with us and ask if they can 'group up with us' as they are heading to the caves as well. The only problem was they were way faster then us, flying down these steep slippery steps and we are struggling to keep up with them! Eventually we reach the cave and unfortunately we have to pay for a guide because the boys weren't allowed to take us in.
I was soon grateful for the guide as the cave was massive and pitch black inside. Sam and I didn't think of that! It was really cool inside, but I couldn't get any good pics with my camera. There was some real tricky bits where we found ourselves slipping and sliding our way down. Apparently it's the biggest cave in South East Asia... impressive. We walked up and down through many sections of the cave, looking at different formations and enjoying the humidity compared to the cold outside.
When we were done we found the boys sitting outside waiting for us and were soon climbing back up the hill with us. I was hoping they wouldn't secretly as I knew I would struggle to keep up with them! Sure enough I am soon dying, gasping for air, my heart is beating out of my chest and I feel like vomiting. Bloody kids are are flying up the mountain. We stop for a break somewhere and the boys start playing a card game.I was grateful to get my breathing back in check.
As we get closer to the top they go their separate ways from us and we continue back to our room to shower and relax.
That night I took some night shots with my SLR, but we had smoked some hash in the bedroom and I wasn't functioning properly and didn't understand my damn tripod! it was doing something really strange and I thought it was broken... turned out I just needed to screw the freaken head in as it had come loose! Dumb arse I am.
The next morning we got up early and rode the local bus down to Dumre and jumped on another local bus back to Kathmandu ready to spend our last weekend in Nepal.
I was very happy with our trip to Bandipur, and even though Sam was so sick for half of it we still enjoyed ourselves :)
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