Trekking in the Valley
Trip Start
Dec 30, 2009
1
12
42
Trip End
Ongoing
Dhulikhel, Nepal
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
We relaxed, drank beer, had long…long breakfasts in the sunshine looking at the mountains, tramped into Dhulikel to have a look around the old town. Dhuikel is like a miniatur Bhaktapur, less well preserved, but also less touristy which was refreshing after the intense tourist nature of our hotel. We chose a funky looking restaurant for lunch, which was also an art gallery, and were asked to choose from the extensive menu. Can we have momo’s…No. Can we have Dal Bhat….No, Can we have…no no no no. You can have fried rice or noodle soup. Fried rice and noodle soup it is then! To be fair to them it was delicious, and the fried rice came out in the shape of a heart (ahhhh).
Having spent two days doing very little we decided to up sticks and trek to Nagarkot which is a more touristy town, also perched high on the hills overlooking the mountains. After a typically slow start to the day we caught the local bus into Banepa (ours without a goat on the roof, but many with) and then navigated our way to Nagarkot using the age old technique of asking every person we passed if this was the right way….who needs a guide? Well us apparently, even though we didn’t think we wanted one an old dude chased us down the street near Banepa, and insisted on showing us the shortcut way to Nagarkot. In Nepal the shortcut way means ignoring the steady incline of the haripin track, and walking STRAIGHT up. Remember these are the Himalayas people, I mean STRAIGHT up. Often requiring use of hands to haul ourselves up the insanely steep path, after about an hour of this both Kev and I felt we could perhaps not manage the 4 hours further to Nagarkot….and then the old man finally relented and let us take the easy path….just as our legs were about to give out. He was a sweet old man who didn’t speak a word of English, so I was forced to use my limited Nepali to communicate, a bit. And through this method we realised that payment for this guiding service/insane work out was rs300 (about £2.70) and a pen. He got bored in the end and we did successfully navigate our way to Nagarkot (we did actually have a map) via a village of evil children who hit us with stick, stole our things and spat at us. Nice.
