| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 30-May-02 12:03 AM
Hi all,
A group of us long-time Kathmandu-based friends -- who make it a point to go hiking/camping/trekking out of Kathmandu once every two or three
months -- are preparing for a trip to Bandipur in Tananu Zilla
this week-end.
Our idea is to leave Kathmandu Saturday morning, and come back Sunday
evening -- using local transport, eating locally available dal-bhaat and
all that.
Don't worry: The organizer of this trip, Yogi Kayastha of Bhaktapur, has been doing this kind of trips for the last 15 years, and he has taken care of all the logistics. Plus, Yogi, being Yogi, is a fun guy to go hiking with.
Anyway, the reason I am posting this is not to preen and dekha-o saan, but
to inform you all that since our friends' circle now includes NEW fathers and mothers or newly-wed couples, not all of them, for obvious reasons, can join
us on trips like this, like they used to before.
Hence, we have decided to be more flexible about and open to accepting
other new friends (male or female, preferably professionals) to go hiking/camping/trekking with us once in a while. The idea is to have fun
(broadly defined), while not exactly promoting, well, Club Med-style
hedonism :-)
If you are interested, please send me an email with a phone number;
and either Yogi and I can fill you in on the details. Five of us are
certainly going.
If you are not in Kathmandu and/or not interested, well, ignore this posting altogether.
Here's the deal:
Total expected expenses: No more than 1000 rupees, inclusive of
everything.
a) Visiting Mankamana Mandir on the way.
b) Throughly exploring Bandipur -- which has the potential to be Nepal's Boston, in terms of being a center for various educational institutions.
c) Staying at a local lodge -- run by another friend.
d) Coming back home Sunday night.
e) Bring the usual travel gear.
f) Come with energy and a sense of humor.
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 30-May-02 02:07 AM
Hi!Ashu,
Bon Voyage! I had been to Manakamana on foot,
trekked there in few hours and returned to pokhara
just in one day, quite long time before Laxman Babu
made the rope-way. Well, Manakamana Mandir after
LB's RW took only 10+ minutes to reach there,
kya gajab re chha ni ta. Well, I had almost mukka-hana-han with
the trip organizer. Reason he too money for something
else, and gave a wrong ticket. So, be careful, too.
Bandipur: I was there in Bandirpur for at least 3 -4 times. Once
on foot, second time on Motorbike and then, on char-pangre
gadi. Going to Bandipur on foot (trek) is most safe and better
than anything else, and 4 pangre is most danagerous.
Well, motor-bike is not very bad while climbing. I still remember
those moments. Now, I wonder whether it is safe,
because it is also hot-bed of Maoists. If you advertise here,
I wonder whether Maoists spies will be informing their
lal-army to salute you with Arms, "Ashu bhanne ko,
yata aunus ta?". Though it looks joke, it can turn out to be
real, especially, when you carry camera, money and duuuuuurbins.
If you are going to Bandi-pur, why don't you guys go to
Damauli, too. The Byas gufa, and the river where matsya
gandha was purified by Byas for her gesture of love. I
like Damauli very much, and almost like Pokhara. From
Damauli there is ".... Barahi" about 1.5hr walk in east side
very famous for the colorful fish ponds. . ... . I guess
you know Bhanu Bhakta ko ghashi kuwa which is
just 20minute walk from Damauli Town. Since its still before
its early june and if rain is not that much, then, Damauli
madi ra seti ko dovan ma Swimming is another great adventure
you can enjoy. I like the clean water of Madi.
That much is for now. I wish to know what is yourexperience
after you return from MBD tour.
Take care.
HG
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| Parakhi |
Posted
on 30-May-02 09:06 AM
Ashu,
Great idea to promote internal tourism. I had not been out of country, I would have joined your team.
I endorse fully what Guru said about Bandipur and Damauli. It's more pleasant to be in Bandipur than in Damauli. I have momories from my early days of those flour and oil mills, those big and busy shops (by the standard at that time), famous school where most top-notch bureaucrats and professionals from Tanahun were educated, dhungakhani (slate mine), and the location itself. When I revisited Bandipur in 1998, it was not much the same as it used to be.
Bandipur lost it's charm when the district headquarters moved from Bandipur to Damauli circa 2013 (?). (I heard stories from my father how they were fighting to keep it in Bandipur. A boy named Nirmal was killed during the fight... that's why Nirmal High School in Damauli got name from him). Slowly Bandipure Newars (I am not being racist here) migrated to Chitwan and other places deserting the place. By the time buses and trucks reached there, business in Bandipur was so low.
With the recent efforts of remaining Bandipures, it's now turned to be one of the tourist destination. View places at the tundikhel (a hotel around the corner), hospital area and some other places to be.
Ashu, I suggest you to walk on foot either on ascend or on descend... a conditional choice of your team. My choice is descend. It's the route worth walking.
Please share your experience after you visit.
Parakhi
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| Sangey |
Posted
on 30-May-02 10:17 AM
Indeed, Ashu, do post how your hike goes, in minute detail and with your usual fluid and lucid writing, so that we too can enjoy the hills and rivers of our Nepal vicariously. This would be a good break from all the talks about politics and incomprehensible adulations/bashings that seem to have overwhelmed this site lately. Your ghanaghashya-ko-ukalo-esque journal will be a welcome departure from this monotony. Cheers.
Sangey.
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| torilaure |
Posted
on 30-May-02 09:59 PM
Ashu ji,
The offer is really tempting. Any other time I'd have joined the group. However, I just can't miss the England match on sunday.
So hope you guys have a lot of fun and I hope to join you next time (when there is no England match, of course).
Amar
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| _BP |
Posted
on 01-Jun-02 02:48 AM
Hey Sangey, are you saying that the ukalo Ashu will be encountering is even worse than the Kupondol-ko-ukalo that only the Herculean amongst us could bicycle up without getting off our bikes on the way to school every morning? And BTW Ashu, how safe is it traveling in Nepal, I mean for people such as yourself? Take care of yourself now, and keep a diary. I enjoy your descriptive travels in the homeland :)
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| manashalu |
Posted
on 01-Jun-02 02:55 AM
I think one gupha(chamere gupha?) lies in one hour walk north east of bandipur is also worthvisiting.
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| Parakhi |
Posted
on 01-Jun-02 11:31 PM
Manasalu, are you referring one Gupha under the rocky terrain of Muchchuk ko danda or one that is accessible from Bimal Nagar near Dumre? People often say that there is one tunnel from top to bottom that links these two outlets.. No one has explored that evidence though..... Of course, without going above Bhanu High School / Campus to Mucchuk Danda a Bandipur trip won't be a real trip...
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| Parakhi |
Posted
on 01-Jun-02 11:32 PM
Mucchuk Danda is to the North-West of Bandipur bazaar though.
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| ashu |
Posted
on 02-Jun-02 11:09 PM
GP-ji,
I appreciated your concerns re: the Maoists.
Thank you.
But we met NOT a single Maoist in Bandipur or the surrounding areas.
What we saw was a Police Chowki there -- on the way to Tundi Khel via
Bandipur Bazaar-- that had been blown apart by the Maoists last December.
Bandipurays appeared to be quite upset with the Maoists for closing down,
about a year ago, their beloved 16-year-old Notre Dame High School School,
then run by Jesuits from St. Xavier's and Catholic nuns from Japan.
The Maoists, being the usual Maoists, were apparently trying extort huge sums of money (Rs. 300,000) from that school that charged only Rs. 600 per month per student!
Now, thanks to the initiative taken by Iswor Gopal Pradhan and other old-time Bandipurays, plans to re-open that school -- at least up to Class 5, in the beginning -- are underway.
Parakhi,
Your knowledge of Bandipur is excellent.
Yes, deciding NOT to take the bus up from Dumre, we walked up that Bandipuray cobbled trail, made famous by King Mahendra through one of his songs.
The view of the Marsyangdi Valley down below was lusciously green, fresh
and stunning . . . prompting one of us to muse about paragliding!!
You are right: Bandipur Bazaar, on the whole, does wear the dejected/forlorn
look of a beautiful bride, jilted by her husband-to-be just around the time of marriage . . . or is that, in the interest of gender equality,the other way
round? :-)
We were told that in its heyday until 1970 -- i.e. before the completion of Siddhartha Highway and Prithivi Highway and before the Sadar Mukam changed
to Damauli -- people from Syangja, Mustang, Manang, Lamjung, Kaski,
Gorkha, Palpa and Parbat came to Bandipur to buy brought-from-India
clothes, oil, foodstuffand all that, and Bandipur was thriving with
commercial/trading activities.
For many years now, Narayan Ghat, Damauli, Pokhara and others have
taken over Bandipur's old commercial role, making Bandipur feel like
an old aunt everybody respects but nobody listens to.
Still, Bandipur Bazaar, with its typically Newari lay-out and architecture (reminding
one of Chainpur in Eastern Nepal and certain sections of Bhaktapur), does
remain a testament to the ingenuity and craftsmanship of the Newars (originally from Bhaktapur) a few of whom are still making Bandipur their home for the last 250 years.
We had had fun playing Frisbee in the Tundikhel, which offered us a
"balcony-seat"to watch the soaring-above milky-white Annapurnas,
Manashalu and even Ganesh Himal . . . which were, well, playing hide
and seek through the clouds.
Manashalu,
Yes, we had had fun for an hour exploring -- pretty much standing up, as
opposed to crawling like one does on other caves in Nepal -- that spaciously wide and big goofa: Siddha Cave.
Lots of bats, yes.
But few traces of stalagmites (i.e. upward-growing mounds of natural calcium
deposited from drip water) and stalactites (i.e. hanging mounds of natural
calcium deposited from drip water) -- leading one to think that the cave is, geologically speaking, a new one and is still being formed.
Indeed, we later found out that Nepali geologists have estimated the age
of the cave to be of about 25,000 years -- a blink in the eye of geology.
BP and Sangey,
The ukalos were not that bad. They were actually quite pleasant -- what with
our guff, laughter, intense discussions, plenty of water, camera-stops and
stops for chiya and so on and on. And traveling on the highway was pretty
safe too: no "heavy checking" by the police or the army.
All in all, I'd recommend all of you to go visit Bandipur.
I'd also recommend that you stay in this family-run lodge -- Bandipur
Guest House -- which provides basic amenities in "safa bata-baran", and
whose owner Mr. Iswor Gopal Pradhan -- with his salt-and-pepper-hair
and weater-beaten face that has seen much in its over-60 years -- is
a delight to do guff-suff with over a cup of Soktim chiya in the morning.
More later,
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| ashu |
Posted
on 03-Jun-02 12:56 AM
Parakhi,
BTW, we also went up that Danda -- past Bandipur Campus and past
Bhanu Madhymik -- to go up to Thani Mai ko temple.
Had we more time, we would have gone up to the next hill to explore King Mukunda Sen's old palaces and left-over military paraphernalia, not to mention
the famous Bag Thala, where one could potentially run into leopards.
Well, there's always next time.
Walls of the campus and the school are painted over with pro-Maoist writings,
and it was a weird experience for us to be watching the Bhanu school children -- dressed in their ubiquitous blue school dress -- singing the national anthem on a Sunday morning in that big chaur amidst with all those jindabaad/moordabaad slogans on the walls staring back at them.
Thanks to a subsidy provided by some European benefactors, the
school has access to email and the Internet.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 03-Jun-02 02:09 AM
Ashu,
your trip reminds my 2decade old trips, as if yesterday.
Thanks a lot. I wish I can go again with my family.
Bandipur should turn out to a tourist resort. I wish they
offer more freedom to visitors, I mean let them cook,
stay, have fire works ... all the night. A real camping site,
like Pahalgam in sri Nagar.
HG
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 03-Jun-02 03:05 AM
Ashu, great reportage on your travel to Paschim. Now you know why folks from Gandaki anchal are justfiably proud of their land. Perhaps more so than others. I've never been to Bandipur, but have heard so much about that "old aunt who everybody respects but no body listens to". Newars from Gorkha, Bandipur, and Chitwan inter-marry a lot, so I have a lot of acquaintances with roots in all three. Hope Bandipur rejuvenates itself. Until it does, we've still got the Illams, Gorkhas, and the Palpas to remind us all the hill jewels we own.
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| tiramisu |
Posted
on 03-Jun-02 05:44 AM
as always, a sight for sore eyes.
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 03-Jun-02 06:57 AM
Ashu,
Did you notice that Gorkha is Durbar is said to be visible from
Bandipur, I do not remember whether I saw it or not. Peoples say.
The vice versa also true. When in Gorkha, peoples out in Gorkha
who had relative in Bandipur said, Bandipur lies "uuuuu tyaha?".
Well, if you have Duuuuurbin, you can surely notice it. I had once
seen through very nice binoculors that "uuuu tyo Amar Jyoti
schoool ho.... Keta haru hidi raheka chhan school ko ground ma".
I guess same story if you had good duuuuurbin while you were
in Bandipur, or if were equipped with looooong lensed camera.
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| HahooGuru |
Posted
on 03-Jun-02 06:58 AM
What places did you see? Ashu, your photograph is always in
demand here, and I can not ask you to post it here for your
private reason (not to be misued by ugly netters, but, let
me know the URL of the trip album, khusukka in my email
box, as in the past. Yo private request hoi. Sajha.com mitra haru
ho narisaunu hoi yo khusukka ko request dekhi.
HG
PS: San Bhai, k ho malai yasto jhamela jahile pani dui tukra parnu
parne ya dummy post garnu parne whenever I start a new session.
Help me.
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