Relaxing at Barauli Homestay

Wemay be on vacation but we certainly did not forget that today is a very special & somber day in Canada as well as in many other countries.

Today was a welcome stationary day for the group. Several local activities were organized including a bicycle tour of the village, a jeep safari into Chitwan National Park & an early evening cultural performance by local village dancers.

Catherine & I were both still feeling a bit under the weather so we decided to opt out of the bicycle & jeep tours. We will be coming back to the Barauli (village) Homestay next week as part of our next tour, so we will be able to participate in those activities then. 

Photo below: Catherine & one of our tour group colleagues relaxing outside the dining hall.

After breakfast Catherine went back to bed for a nap & I went for a short walk around the guest complex. 

The Barauli Homestay project was initiated by G-Adventures in early 2000’s in collaboration with the residents of the local village. The plan was to help the villagers develop a group of small guest cottages for people who were visiting the area to stay in – as an alternative to staying in commercial hotels near Chitwan National Park.

Farming is the primary source of income in this area so the Homestay project is a good way to diversify the economy & generate additional income. It also provides people in tour groups the opportunity to experience what it’s like to stay in surroundings much less commercialized.

There are currently 15 cottages in the complex & each one is constructed of the same materials as the homes that the villagers live in – with one major difference – each cottage has it’s own private bathroom equipped with a conventional flush toilet. 

Each cottage is also owned and cared for by a woman from the village. The guest complex also has a dining hall & kitchen where all the meals for the guests are served.

Photo below: mural on the wall inside our cottage.

The cottages are very basic in design & furnishings but spotlessly clean & comfortable. Quite frankly, our cottage room was nicer & more comfortable than the first hotel we stayed in in Kathmandu.

Photo below: Catherine trying out the mosquito net tent over the bed. We opted out from using it 🙂

And the meals were delicious & very modestly priced. There is even free internet access at the dining hall. Catherine & I would have been quite happy to stay several more days at this location. 

The Homestay cottages opened for business just before the major earthquake hit Nepal in 2015. While there was no damage to the village, the earthquake did have a significant affect on tourism throughout Nepal & that was discouraging for the villagers. However, with the support of G-Adventures tourist visits to the area are climbing back to anticipated levels & the Homestay enterprise is now doing well. G-Adventures brings each of its tour groups to the complex for a 2-night stay. 

Our group & another newly arrived tour group assembled outside at the dining hall at 7:00pm for a cultural presentation by the local village dance troupe. They even served us hot popcorn!

There were about 24 women dancing & they were accompanied by 2 men playing traditional drums.

They put on an excellent performance & for the grand finale the dancers got the entire audience up to participate in the final dance.

It was a great deal of fun – even if most of us did not do a very good job following the movements of the dancers. This evening clearly was the cultural highlight of our trip so far.

I took some videos of the dancing. This link will take you to one of them that has been uploaded to YouTube. 

https://youtu.be/wHkn2l-kQrQ

Cheers & enjoy!

November 10 – Pokhara to Kumarwarti

Today our group had a slow start. Everyone had the morning to themselves in Pokhara, with the option of going paragliding for a few hours as an additional cost activity. Catherine & I chose to take a pass on that one. We have had enough of high altitude thrills for a while but more than half of our colleagues were up for it! I look forward to hearing all about their experience.

Last night Catherine had the beginning of a sore throat so she decided to enjoy our comfortable hotel room this morning & rest a bit longer.

Kalpana walked downtown with me to find a local pharmacy to buy some non-prescription medicine for Catherine & then to find another shop for me to buy some new sunglasses to replace the ones that had broken the day before.

Our tour group reassembled at 1:00pm & we boarded the bus for a 6 hour drive to Kumarwarti where we will spend the next two days at the Barauli Homestay enjoying the local village & nearby Chitwan National Park.

Everyone in the group is having a great time but our energy levels are dropping off a bit as the past several days have been very busy. The bus ride today provided a bit of “recharge” time for all of us – despite the many bumps & swerves on the road.

Google maps predicted that the journey would take about 4 1/2 hours to travel about 170 kilometers but it took us 6 1/2 hours.

The first half of our journey followed the same road we took a few days ago to get to Pokahara from Kathmandu then we turned off the road to Kathmandu & headed further south.

The good news was that this new road was recently rebuilt (after the 2015 earthquake) so it was in much better shape, giving us a smoother ride. But the bad news was that all the vehicles started travelling much faster & nobody changed their desire to pass everything in front of them – so we witnessed numerous close calls with oncoming traffic.

Fortunately our driver was not at all aggressive in his driving. He was focused first on getting us to our destination safely & if that meant that it took a bit longer to get there then that was OK with all of us.

The last hour of our journey was in the dark & that was a whole new experience in itself. Everyone was still passing aggressively & visibility was way down. Fortunately it was not long before we turned off the main highway & started traveling down a local village road that had no other vehicles on it.

When we arrived at our destination there was a group of villagers there to greet us with garlands & tikas.

We went to the main dining hall & had a brief orientation followed by a delicious traditional supper on a large stainless steel plate.

After a long journey & a meal we were more than ready for bed in our little cottage. There will be lots of time to explore the village tomorrow.

What goes up must come down!

I left Wally to sleep in this morning as his cold has settled in heavily. Poor guy! He must think I am trying to do him in coming on this trip!

I was out the door at 5:45 am as the sky was changing colour in the dawn light. The Annapurna range was lit up in a fabulous way and I really enjoyed being on the roof by myself for about 45 minutes being serenaded by roosters and the sound of recorded Buddhist chanting floating on the air.

Krishna came to find me and told me that the Jeep was already here & waiting for us! We had been told the night before that the driver had to come from Pokhara in the morning and wouldn’t be there until 9:00am but he came the night before. We threw everything into our bag – easy to do because we were wearing all the clothes we had brought with us, had breakfast – porridge and milk tea for me, the special for Wally which was 2 fried eggs, two pieces of white bread, fried potatoes, a glass of juice and milk coffee. Krishna joined us for breakfast.

We paid our bill, which was about $70.00 for all of our meals and drinks (beer was the most extravagant purchase at about $5.00 a bottle) for the two nights. Staying at the guesthouse was covered in the tour but ordinarily would have cost about $10.00 a night per person.

A quick farewell was said to our hosts and I wish I had had presence of mind to get a photo before we left. The mom and dad ran the place – Kumari and Subash Gurung, I think it was their daughter and son in law who helped with the cooking and cleaning. They had three more kids, Anooj our assistant tour guide and two young girls. And the sweetest little 13 month old grandson Vitesh (I’m not sure of the spelling) tottering around. I made the mistake if thinking he was a girl because he had gold earrings in each ear but I was told that all Nepali babies get earrings. I blew him a kiss as we were leaving and he blew one back to me. Okay, melt my heart just a little more why don’t you?

Krishna picked up our bag, we shouldered our backpacks and “jimjim” we were off again down myriad tiny passageways and dozens of stone steps – we just can’t get away from them!

We came to a reassuringly large parking lot with several Jeeps and a few local buses. We met our driver Sankar and hopped in the Jeep. My seatbelt didn’t have a buckle on it – oh well!

I was reassured by the prayer flags draped inside across the top of the windshield, a tiny gold Buddha statue on the dash and various icons hanging up. Wally was comforted in seeing that the Jeep had only 30,000 km on it and there was a large screen back up camera instead of a rearview mirror!

Wally had commented to me the night before that we should put our quick dry towels over over heads like they do to calm horses down so we wouldn’t be as frightened during the ride down. Alas, the towels were in our bag in the back.

We headed into the first of dozens of switchbacks with lots and lots of honking at each corner as Sankar came to blind spots in the road. I started to relax a little bit feeling confident that he knew what he was doing.

The slope down was fairly gradual to begin with and then the grade got much steeper. We both had a tight grip on the handholds above the doors but a fat lot of good they would have done if we went over the edge.

It was astonishing that there was a road at all, carved into the side of the mountain. All along the way we passed by people squatting on the side of the road waiting for the local bus to Pokhara while we were traveling in luxury. How the buses manage to get up and down this road on a daily basis is beyond me.

The road was remarkably bumpy and we were being tossed around like a ship at sea. At one point I told Wally that being on a sailboat was not looking so bad.

The ride was so bumpy that there was no chance to take photos but here is a link to a very short video that Wally took so you can get the flavour of the experience. The swinging tassel says it all.

Be sure to be sitting down & don’t have any hot drinks or sharp objects in your hands while watching it.

https://youtu.be/LJMHEhCRUIM

My mom had given us lucky elephant charms to wear and they got a good workout! We took comfort in knowing that both fellows in the front seat were named after Hindu & Buddhist Gods.

I wondered what on earth would happen if we met another vehicle. I didn’t have long to wait for my answer. Sankar spotted another Jeep coming towards us and he pulled over to the side, the side with the drop to the valley below and left just enough room for the other Jeep to go by.

There is a remarkable camaraderie amongst the drivers, a sense of looking after each other and sharing the space. Their lives depend on it. Several times Sankar stopped to roll down his window, greet his buddies and shake hands. Talk about a band of brothers!

At the most harrowing moments Wally and I were staring at each other like a couple of demented hypnotists or just looking away from the drop. It was a huge lesson in surrender! And reminded me of a labyrinth walk in that we thought we were almost back down when we started up again!

After an hour and a half, we were back at the river’s edge. It was great to see just how far up we had been and then we started to come upon familiar places we had walked past on the way up – where we had lunch, the suspension bridge and the stone steps that we started our climb on at the end of the bridge!

The fellows checked us out of the Annapurna Conservation area and gave us the permits back as a souvenir.

On the way up, we were in part on the road and constantly getting out of the way of Jeeps being very annoyed, thinking humph, why aren’t these lazy people walking? Today we were a lot less judgmental and we weren’t as cramped for space as the people in the photo below.

Another hour and a half and we were back in Pokhara. We paid about $80.00 for the Jeep ride – which was a bargain as far as we were concerned. What a way to make a living. Apparently we were lucky to find a driver and car as many people take today off for the last day of Tihar. We also paid an additional $15.00 for Krishna to look after us for two days.

A quiet night in to rest our weary bones. Off to Chitwan National Park tomorrow!

Most of our group got up to watch the sun rise at 6:30am and shine on the top of the Annapurna range of mountains. It was spectacular beyond words.

We took a photo of the group holding prayer flags in the early morning breeze.

It was a really grueling effort for us to get here, much more physically challenging than we expected. It was not a technically difficult trek but very much an endurance test – especially the second half.

The trails are in excellent condition but are significantly different from what we are used to in Canada.

Many parts of the trails here are “paved” with large flat stones & much of the vertical rise is accomplished by climbing stone steps straight up rather than following winding footpaths with switchbacks like we have in Western Canada’s mountain parks. We are in awe of the effort that had to be made by the people who built these trails, villages and terraced farms over several centuries.

Unfortunately I had some awful vertigo due to all the steep stone steps with no railings and the thought of going back down all those steps terrified me. We all have our challenges. My nemesis is vertigo on hiking trails & Catherine’s is any degree of heeling on a sailboat.

After talking it over with each other & with Kalpana, we decided to forgo the rest of the trek and stay here in Ghandruk for another night. No hardship there with views like this!

Our decision was further affirming because I now have a full blown head cold. Hopefully it will only last a few days.

We are going to take a jeep back down to Pokhara tomorrow morning and meet up with our group at the hotel.

While we are a bit disappointed at not completing the trek, we felt it was much wiser to recognize our limits – especially considering that we still have 3 more weeks of traveling in Nepal & in India ahead of us. Plus, we didn’t want to be a burden to Kalpana & the rest of our group by slowing them down.

There wasn’t a lot of opportunity to stop and enjoy the views yesterday as we had to get here before sunset. Parts of the terrain were kind of tricky so we had to really focus on our footsteps rather than the stunning scenery all around us. Kalpana and our porters were exceptional so we always felt safe and supported.

By staying in Ghandruk another day we have been able to rest, take it all in, walk around the village, and Catherine & I were able to enjoy Nepal & Mount Everest brands of beer (me) & Masala Chai (Cath) all day as we have had our own private & modern toilet close by!

We have had a porter stay behind with us because the tour company policy requires guests to always be accompanied. Our porter’s name is Krishna, after one of the Hindu gods so we know we are in good hands. He is 23 and this is his 4th trip with g-Adventures. He will come all the way to Pokhara with us – which is also where he lives.

It was a bit sad saying goodbye to our tour group friends this morning but we are happy to be having a rest & are looking forward to catching up with them tomorrow night & sharing stories & photos of our adventures.

Krishna took us on a late morning tour of the village. We were joined by another young boy – Anooj, who is the son of the owners of the guest house. Anooj was Krishna’s unofficial assistant guide – a role & responsibility he took very seriously.

Guess what?! More stone steps but these were not as daunting & there were only a few hundred of them. The village is quite spread out over the mountain side.

Krishna showed us the building that housed the communal dhiki where people were grinding rice into flour used for baking. He asked the people inside if we could take a photo and they graciously agreed and appreciated us asking them first.

Not everyone is open to having their photo taken and some people ask for money in payment for being photographed. Our guide & the porters discourage us from doing that because it leads to the locals becoming aggressive in asking the tourists for money.

We came across a wall of prayer wheels on our way to the village. Note the marigold garland that was put up for Tihar. Krishna showed us the appropriate way to spin the prayer wheels.

We are very conscious of our intrusion on peoples lives as we are walking through their neighborhoods and backyards. We wouldn’t dream of being that intrusive at home so as much as we would like to take pictures of people going about their daily daily lives here we just don’t unless it is not an intrusion upon them.

Just before we descended into the town we had this fantastic view of it.

We walked along narrow pathways to view the old section of town.

Everyone has a small garden and marigolds are the predominant flower.

We visited the local museum which was tiny but well done. There were many exhibits of elements of traditional homes.

Krishna showed us how the dhiki works!

We returned to our home – the Breeze Guesthouse – for lunch and had a little rest. The Breeze is very modern with comfy beds and ensuite western toilets which is almost unheard of up here.

Most places have shared squat toilets facilities which really isn’t a hardship, just different. Construction on some parts of The Breeze isn’t quite finished yet but all of the essential elements are finished nicely & the views from the rooftop are great.

The village is pretty lively with Tihar celebrations in full swing with groups of people visiting the different courtyards with singing and dancing. We watched from afar as they appear to be more like like private celebrations. After dinner, we returned to our room for a rest.

And settled in to write this blog entry!

We will get up early tomorrow to watch the sunrise again and have breakfast while waiting for the jeep and driver who will take us us down the mountain back to Pokhara. I think they should put blinders on us as it will be another thrilling ride, hopefully not as thrilling as descending miles of stone steps!

Cheers!

This morning we travelled for two hours from the city of Pokhara to the trailhead at Nayapul for the beginning of our trek/hike to Ghandruk. The mountains in the background in the photo below is where we are headed. Annapurna Mountain is on the left & Fishtail Mountain is on the right.

The drive to the trailhead was pretty much a repeat of our drive from Kathmandu to Pokhara – a thrill a minute in the traffic plus very winding roads with precarious drops to the canyons below!

There was a sizeable crowd at the trailhead depot. Lots of buses with groups like ours getting ready to depart on an adventure or returning from one.

The night before our tour group leader had provided us each with a heavy duty duffel bag & we were each permitted to bring belongings with us weighing no more than 7.5 kilograms. We were also told that we would carry our own water & other things that we wanted during each day.

Our heavy duty duffel bags were distributed to our porters & they proceeded to vigorously combine & compress them in size to bundles of three for our porters to carry to our destination.

When we were ready to start out our group leader introduced us to our porters & we headed off.

Catherine also checked out the road ahead.

The first part of our trip was through a little village selling lots of trekking supplies & equipment.

At the edge of the village there was a small sawmill operation.

We walked on the road for the first 45 minutes until we reached the sign officially marking the Annapurna Conservation Area area.

We started to see Fishtail Mountain.

We came to a bridge on the road & our group leader Kalpana pointed to the stone steps on the right & said that’s where we are going – “jumjum” (meaning “let’s go!”). This should have been our first clue as to what we were heading in to.

After climbing the steps we started walking through terraced fields of rice that was just beginning to be harvested.

At one point we stopped with our porter Ale to enjoy the view of the Annapurna Mountain Range. Ale is 45 & has been a porter for more than 20 years.

Next up was a short crossing over a steel suspension bridge.

An hour further down the trail we arrived at a rest stop for lunch.

Kalpana had ordered a hot lunch for all of us.

Fed & watered we were back on the trail with layers of clothing off as the sun was getting hot.

We were starting to climb a lot more & Kalpana kept encouraging us.

Each step brought a more rewarding view but they were beginning to take their toll.

At this point the trail sign indicated “only” 4 more mile (up) to our destination.

The trail was now a variety of terrain comprised of dirt roads & many more stone steps.

We finally arrived at our destination just in time to see the sun’s fading rays on the mountain tops.

After settling into our very nice rooms at Breeze Guest House the group reconvened to the dining area for delicious hot supper & to debrief about our day’s trek.

We had hiked almost 17 kilometers in 7 hours, climbed thousands of stone steps & gained about 1,000 meters in altitude – whew – we were pooped!

Once the sun went down it cooled down a lot. We piled on more clothing & went to the guest house rooftop to view the stars. The mandala in the photo below was on the landing at the top of the stairs.

Then off to bed in our comfortable, but unheated room. Cath came well prepared with silk long underwear from her mom Jeanne. Thanks Mom!

Cheers!