Relaxing at Barauli Homestay
We may 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.
Cheers & enjoy!