Nepal Trek

Thanks to Bipin, the Dreamcatcher.

A little daal baaht to provide energy for the trek.
Ruth waits in the kitchen of food stall at Hugdi.

A lifelong wish of mine has been to trek in Nepal. I guess I had this vision of wandering through a distant land, immersed in a different culture while soaking in panoramic views of beautiful snow-capped mountains. We decided our first trekking experience needed to be at a low level, we did not want to have any concerns about altitude. Secondly we felt we would prefer to trek in an area where not so many tourists go, we were keen to meet and interact with locals. Social Tours arranged for us to trek the Chepang Hills Trail. A three day trek, which was enough for our first trekking experience. 

The trekking party at the start of the trail to Hattibang.

Day 1: Hugdi-Hattibang  . Up, up, up all the way.

We were told that the first day was a slow climb and it would take about 4.5 hours. Ruth was concerned that she would be slow. Bipin our guide put our minds at ease by telling us that it was our trek and that we would do it at our own pace. He had wise advice, if you can’t talk while you are walking then you are walking too fast. So we progressed at our own pace, Bistarai! Bistarai! Slowly! Slowly! Ruth and Wayne pace, 8 hours. We had fun and took some amazing photos along our trek.

Yes, we started down beside the Tusli River,
but we had hardly even begun climbing at this point.
Mind you the scenery was stunning

We did climb quite steeply for most of day 1, the trail was mainly a mountain pathway, that was used by locals on a daily basis to access the bazar at Hugdi. So we met many locals going about their daily business. We frequently passed small huts and farm buildings. Of course we were treated to some sweeping views of terraced hillside and the wide valley with Trisuli River flowing through it.

As we climbed we were treated to glimpses of life in the Chepang Hills.
The trail here leads up between the buildings.

We stopped for lunch at a tea house along the way. It was a later than expected around two in the afternoon and a group of men were playing cards as we sat at a table under a tree were able to take in our first taste of life in a small village in rural Nepal. The houses were mostly small two roomed huts. 

We were told it would take about 4.5 hours.
After about this time we came to this school and I thought,
We must be at the top....but when we around the end of the school building
The hill continued to go up, up, up.
We discovered 4.5 hours of Nepalese walking  equals
8 hours of Wayne and Ruth walking.

After a hearty local lunch of Daal Bhaat and filling our bottles we continued on. Up and Up the climb was steady. Late afternoon we had another stop for tea. The tea in these parts is black, and very sweet. After a tiring walk it did help to restore energy into our veins. During the last hour of day 1 we were treated to some views of the Himalayas in the distance.  Eventually we arrived at our guest house after dark. It had been a long day.

Almost at the end of day 1 and in the background our first views of the Himalayas.

Day 2: Hattibang-Upardhangadi . A little Up, A Little down.

Hosts from our first night homestay. Wonderful friendly people
Willingly to sharing their home with us, 

We woke early enough, but not at the 3:00 am that was suggested to trek to see the sunrise. After our long walk the day before, we decided sunrise with a hot tea in hand, from of our guest house at Hattibang sounded pretty good. Breakfast was millet Roti (Solid energy food),  and egg, washed down with black tea and lemon. The sunrise was interesting and it was Saturday, so the village people were making a quiet start to their day. We set off at 7:30, a few doors down we stopped in to our Porter-Guide's house. He was very keen for us to take tea with his family. His was another simple house complete with its own goats and buffalo. The local children seemed intrigued by their visitors and a number came passed to check us out.  

Bipin enjoying tea and the children at play.

The team, these guys enjoyed checking us out.
Always with a willing smile, they loved seeing their own photos.

We are blessed and ready to start day 2.

Bipin, The Dream Catcher.  Living the dream.

After a pleasant tea we were off once more. The first part was a slow climb up over a saddle. Once we were over the saddle we were treated to some interesting views along a track that seemed to hang onto the side of a steep hillside. The valley that lay before us was terraced and showed signs of life. Ruth got the opportunity to test her mountain goat skills as we scrambled over a ridge taking the shortcut. Before we knew it the cloud closed in on us and we were walking over some steep country. Lunch was millet bread and potatoes eaten on the edge of the trail. Looking out through the cloud, it was quiet and peaceful. We did meet up with a goat herder who was following his goats as they grazed.

Our porter-guide's house and he is preparing for tea.
Hattibang is a great village perched on a ridge in the hills.

Ruth having a go at being a mountain goat.
Actually this part was easy compared to the next part.

We were treated to spectacular views throughout the trek.

Eventually we started to descend down towards Upardhangadi. This was steep with lots of loose rubble so we had to be careful of our footing.  We made slow progress but managed a few interesting photos along the way. Bipin kept us entertained with his anecdotal stories that added interest along the way.  The last hour was spent under torch light as we made our way down onto a road and eventually to a village. It was Saturday night and there was a party going on at the first house and we were sent to a second place. More steps and more uphill. When we arrived there, they weren't ready so we were sent to rest in our lodgings. It was raised off the ground and reached by a ladder through a trap door. The roof inside was low and I could not stand upright, However it was cosy and the beds comfortable, maybe a little short, but adequate. Ruth climbed into her sleeping bag and slept. Bipin was concerned that she had not eaten enough. But I assured him she would be fine.  It turned out that she would have struggled with the dinner it was very spicy daal baaht.  It had been a long day and I was happy to climb into my sleeping bag and drift off to sleep. There were sounds of people having fun and enjoying Saturday night. By 4:30 more people were stirring and beginning their daily chores. In these parts few homes have running water, instead they get their water from a shared water source. Either water spouts or taps or in some cases a well.  Few of the homes have electricity connected, most now have a solar charging panel that charges batteries for a light.

You can see where we came from as the clouds begin to roll in.

After a brief bit of  mountain goat work, we make our way through some
interesting forest. 

Day 3: Upardhangadi – Shaktikhor.  Mostly down.

Day 3 and we were out of bed earlyish and told that breakfast would take a while so it was suggested we walk up to the fort and enjoy the sunrise.  It was a short 15 minute walk to the fort which dated back to the time when there would have been small kingdoms through these hills. The fort had a clear moat, with low stone walls and a small stone building in the middle. It commanded wide sweeping views. We enjoyed the rise of a glowing red ball over the mountains.

Upardhangadi taken from the fort.
The Village school is the building  on the hill.
There are 70 students at this school.
Some walk over 3 km to go to school.

The entrance to the fort. 

Breakfast consisted of local potato (very starchy) Egg as an omelette and local honey. Once again this was washed down with strong local tea. Before we knew it we were blessed with tikka and off on our final day, a short four hour trek. This day led us down through the forest to valley and Shakitikhor.

Ruth being blessed for day 3 of her trek.

Bipin and the proud  father of the groom.

These  women were part of the  Chepang wedding group
 and they willingly posed for our photo,
 before loading up and continuing on up the hil

It was interesting as we watched the valley floor come closer to us. Along the way we passed a number of Chepang, homes. These tended to be very simple, the Chepang people are traditionally nomads who live in the forest. Recently they have been encouraged to settle and to become farmers. We did meet a group who were on their way to a wedding. They were carrying their dowry of chickens, rice and produce. The willingly stopped and posed for a photo.  BY now my knees were killing me and marvelled at how powerful these little people were. They raced on uphill with their loads of 40 plus kilos and struggled on downhill with my camera.

Off they go carrying their heavy loads,
While I struggle on downhill with my camera?

Bipin, playing at being the goat herder.

Throughout Nepal there are many dogs that come in all manner of shapes and sizes. Nobody appears to own them, in some cases they wander between homes but most seem to have their favourite spots. In some households they treated like gods. On many of the city streets they exist on whatever they can find and are often sprawled out soaking up the sun in the middle of dusty roads. On numerous occasions we did spot one of these dogs trotting along the side of the road with a freshly caught chicken hanging from its mouth. In the hills, they seem to take on the role of guard and are more territorial. Often they bark as you approach letting everyone know that there is a visitor. On day 3 one of these dogs seemed to think its job was to guide us to the end of our walk. It was at our guesthouse in the morning and enjoyed our walk up to the fort. When it was time for us to leave the dog trotted off ahead of us down the pathway.  This dog walked with us for 4 hours down the hill, stopping when we stopped and leading the way as we went.  Eventually within a few metres of the end of our trek it turned back and disappeared back up the hill. I wonder if it does this for all of the trekkers who stay here or if it felt we needed the pleasure of its protection.

Not our trusty guide but one of the many street dogs of Nepal

We were pleased to climb on to the truck and head off to Sauhara and the next part of our Nepal adventure in Chitwan. The trek experience was good, being the guests of people who are living a rural subsistence life was something that we found humbling. Life is very difficult for them, and they have no choice but to work and struggle to survive. They don’t receive handouts and what they grow allows them to survive, if their crops fail they go hungry. If their crops thrive they have extra to sell. However they are lovely, caring people. They seem to be prepared to make the most every opportunity to smile. There are a lot of people in our world who need to wake up to what they really need in life, to value the life they are given and make the most of the opportunities they are fortunate to have.

Our trusty porter and guide, we were told that he is finest
disco dancer in all of Hattibang!

Being blessed and I truly am, to be able to live this dream.

We had so much fun and learning on this trek that Ruth and I are planning for our next one in Nepal. 

Probably in 2014, for those who want to join us.

Realising a Lifelong Dream, Nepal.

Nepal:
Finally I stand on the top of my world and marvelling at the beauty of the Himalayas.
Living my dream and loving being there.

Nepal with my favourite travelling buddy.
Sharing my dream and loving it.

Dreams do come true and sometimes they provide amazing journeys and insights into life. 2012 had been a very busy year for us and midway through the year we had the opportunity to book cheap seats to Nepal on Air Asia. This was a new direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kathmandu. As the rest of the year unfolded we were able to plan a very full 16 days which would give us an amazing peek into the top of the world.

The dream catcher.
Bipin ,from Social Tours, our companion.
He caught my dream and delivered it to us.

We do have to thank the team from Social Tours who worked with us to put together an itinerary that meant we could get to the places we had identified, as on the list. Early on we decided not to head up high, so our adventures were going to stay below 3000 metres, but a trek with home-stays was high priority. We enjoy learning about other cultures and believe to do this you have to go off the beaten pathways, so we tried to target places that a lot of other tourists bypass. Of course we wanted to enjoy the Himalayas, from a distance, but how can you go to Nepal and ignore the top of the world.  Social Tours helped us to meet every one of these criteria, they provided a personal approach with guides, porters and accommodation all taken care of, so that the logistics just happened, and we got the most out of our trip. The next few posts will  break our Peek into Nepal down into the highlights and provide some reflections on a lifelong dream, come true.

Life going on for local people.
Daily needs catered for at this stall.

Kathmandu: Wow! What an amazing city, we were lucky to have completed the Kumari walk with a guide who was really knowledgeable. We were taken through some interesting alleyways and shown life on the backstreets of Thamel as we walked down to the Durbar Square.

On the edge of Bhaktapur Durbar Square early one morning,
This women is dressed in the traditional Local Sari.

Kathmandu Valley: Bhaktapur and Patan, with their own Durbar squares and more life bubbling on the streets, provided us with some  interesting encounters with friendly people. Not to mention opportunities to soak in the depth of history that has evolved in this interesting part of the world.

A little Up and a little down.
Negotiating the trail next to a drop off.
This part was easy going and Ruth doesn't
realise that the next part was going to be even more challenging. 

We passed villages and schools.
As we approached the local school children assembled to
practice their greetings.
Only the brave ones actually spoke.

Trekking. Hugdi - Hattibang, mostly up. Homestay. Hattibang - Upardhangdi Nepali flat, a little up a little down. Homestay. Upardhangdi - Shakitor, Down hill all the way. All done Bistarei! Bistarei! Slowly! Slowly! At our pace with some great photo opportunities along the way.

Streetlife in Sauhara. You don't hear the elephants coming up behind you.

A Mugger Crocodile that we bumped into alongside the Rapiti River.
These are real wild animals and we were in their domain.
Crocodiles have enormous teeth and razor sharp claws.

Chitwan National Park: Staying at Hotel Parkside, at Sauhara, and taking part in three days of activities which provided up close encounters with the flora and fauna of the western lowlands of Nepal. Also an insight into the daily lives and culture of the villagers who farm and live here. Here you can  learn to appreciate the wonderful gentleness of the Asian Elephant.

Manakamana Temple is a legend.
We took the cable car up.
There were no goats chickens or pigeons in our  gondola.

Bandipur town is set on a ridgetop.
My travelling Buddy tries out one of the local resting places.

Mountain views that kept taking our breath away.
This was an evening at Gorkha as the sun set and the clouds  cleared.
Prior to this the mountains had spent the day in the clouds.

Manakamana - Gorkha - Bandipur: Magical places that each hold their own charm and natural beauty. All off the beaten path a little and bypassed by most tourists who hurry from Kathmandu to Pohkara to get Himalayan trekking experiences. Every day in these 3 places we had amazing conversations with locals and gathered insights to fit into the complex jigsaw of life in Nepal.

Narrow lanes and alleys often open onto interesting  squares.
Even more interesting are the stalls and shops that have traded in these places for generations.

Buddha under repair!
On the way up to the Monkey Temple this was one of 3 statues
being given a makeover.

Tailors on the edge of Patan Durbar Square.

Kathmandu: Exploring streets, temples and life on the streets some more. Not forgetting to mention a lesson on cooking like a local, at Social Tours. A wonderful dinner at The Rum Doodle Restaurant and Bar.

I found out that there is an art to making a tidy Momo.
They tasted good but mine just didn't the finess of the others.
All the same a great way to spend a morning.

If you wanted the short version of an Adventure in Nepal then you won't need to read the next few posts. But if you are interested to know why we fell in love with Nepal and to find out why we are already planning our next trip to the top of the world please enjoy as I try to capture the details and relive our exciting dream come true.

There is more to Nepal than Mountains,
However you look at this country it is impossible to escape the magic
of the Himalayas.