Bandipur - a piece of heaven

The Lonely Planet guide says the village is ‘draped like a silk scarf along the high ridge above Dumre’. Such an image! Had to be done, esp. as had nearly a week before Great Trek. Booked room with Newari family (?) in village, plus tourist bus ticket to Dumre. Agent explained in detail, wrote it down then explained again, so I think I got it though not really sure about the staying with Newari family bit.
Journey started bang on 7, comfy seats in ‘air-con’ bus… on wrong side of bus, though, & missed some stupendous views of mountains, winding roads & precipitous drops into ravines. By 12, arrived in Dumre. Typical roadside town, lots of noisy traffic, esp wildly decorated lorries (lurid painted flowers, tinsel) with horns which trilled or blared at anything which didn’t leap out of their way, including motorbikes, other vehicles, people and cows.
Jeep-ride up to Bandipur. 3 mins before jeep due to leave, about 12 people on board, plus luggage, bags of produce etc. Not bad for a 10-seater. When we left there were 20 – at least 3 on roof, 4 on tailgate. Stopped en route to pick up 4 more. 30 minute journey up steeply winding roads, views opening out.
Village filled with old Newari houses, quiet, paved streets and people noises. Reason? No motor traffic; bollards stopped all vehicles neatly outside village, meant that it immediately became a human place, with children playing, people chatting and even pavement cafes along the main strand. I had some lunch & met my host who ran a small shop just down the way. Yes, I WAS booked in to stay with a family.
I took over his daughter’s room. She was lovely, aged 28, very pretty and called Radica. She didn’t speak much English but we managed. Disconcertingly, when I looked at the bed I found some hair-grips (complete with strands of hair) under the pillow, so I suspected that the linen wasn’t exactly fresh. I asked for a towel & she returned with a tiny hand-towel – ah well, better than nothing. I asked for a cover sheet & she gave me a fleecy, rather smelly, blanket. Toilet was full-on traditional, with squat toilet (fine), basins & jugs (OK) and no loo-paper (help). Glad I bought my own. When we ate, they sat me at a table with a plate & spoon. But – hey – I was in a Newari house, so I sat down on the floor with them & ate with my hands. I was messy but generally accurate & the family seemed to enjoy the experience as much as me.
Sunset – what a bonus. The air cleared and I saw floating, snowy mountains in the distance. A long line of them. Beautiful, serene, always there but normally invisible (some sort of metaphor here???) IN LESS THAN A WEEK I WOULD BE TREKKING THERE.
Later on there was a power-cut & we sat on the outside step chatting – well, sort of. I videoed some of them & showed them the results, to great delight, then tried to learn some Nepali, which caused mild hysteria. Much more fun than sitting in a restaurant wondering what to do next. In bed by 9; bed rock-hard; I used one of the thick blankets under the mattress & took over the sheet from the neighbouring bed to use as a top sheet. Glad I did as the fleecy blanket ponged.
Next morning, awake at 5am, with first cockerel crowing. Sense that the village was slowly coming to life – people stirring, talking, spitting (yich). I remind myself that Nepali people find our habit of blowing our noses into a piece of paper strange and offensive – how on earth can we stick it back into our pockets, for heaven’s sake! – and try to ignore the concerto of harsh honking, hawking and guttural spitting coming from all areas.
Today Radica took me to the Siddhu cave, the biggest in Nepal. She & friend set off in jeans & flipflops; I wore serious walking boots and slipped & slithered down the mountainside. People had gone to immense trouble to create paved steps but they were slippery in the shade so I was cautious and slow. Radica just chattered and skipped merrily down. Ah well. The cave was impressive. We had to climb over boulders and scramble up a muddy slope to reach the main areas. High roofs – some with prayer shawls stuck near the top – and large chambers stretched out into the distance. The ‘girls’ scrambled on for a while, but I decided on caution & waited for them.
I decided not to ascend the semi-vertical slopes, so we carried on back to Dumre & caught the jeep back up. Much easier!
Afternoon – went to the parade ground – it’s very big; they used to have archery contests there. But latest parade was of 16-17 year old students having a big celebration which involved loud music, loads of shouting and chasing around and dropping litter with abandon. I took refuge in a nearby hotel with panoramic views of the valley and fleecy clouds. Behind the clouds, snow-capped mountains waited for sunset, but I couldn’t wait that long, so continued exploring. Met man called Robin Sparrow (what were his parents thinking?...), v earnest, with bottle-glasses, who talked for c 10 mins incessantly about himself… this continued later on when I saw him on the ‘main drag’. He told me in cheerful detail about his stomach problems when travelling in India.
Next morning as I left I was given a garland, a puja and small present by Radica & her mother; her father presented me with an apple. How lovely. And the mountains were out! The full range!! I took photos, the jeep left & I waited for about 90 mins in the village for the tourist bus. Lovely to sit on my rucsac and just watch early-morning Dumre. People stopped to chat (perhaps because I was wearing my garland & red spot) & time passed v easily.
Had window seat on the better side of the bus, so could see the precipices & wrecked vehicles. Journey passed uneventfully apart from a 2 hour traffic jam going uphill to enter the Khatmandu Valley. About 6 lorries had overheated or had punctured tyres & traffic had to edge round them with v little help from police. And of course, no-one would give way to anyone else. So it all took ages. But the driver was v patient and avoided too many semi-suicidal overtaking attempts.
Safe journey, what an experience. Glad I did it.
Next adventure – Annapurna…