Trekking with a porter

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Trekking with a porter must be like a very easy walk through fields but it is for sure not as rewarding as doing it by yourself, carrying your own things and walking your own rhythm. But in case someone arrange their services, it is very important to respect their rights and don’t overload them as many groups do. It is very sad to see foreigners ramble around with a small backpack, while their 16 years old porters suffer to go one step further with a 40 kg bag on their backs. For more information about that, check the International Porter Protection Group IPPG or the Porter Progress websites: www.ippg.net or www.portersprogress.org).

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Trekking around the Annapurna’s range

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This is one of the most famous treks in the world because of its wonderful landscapes and also due to the fact that it includes the highest pass in the world (this is what they assert, although we are not very sure about it) at 5416 metres above sea level. The average time to complete the trek is 16-21 days, depending on your strength and also on the length of the trek you choose (if you include the climb to the Poon Hill or the Annapurna Base Camp on your plans). As on the 14th day the weather changed into clouds, rain and cold we decided to quit the trek and come back to the nice and warm hotel room in Pokhara (a really long and hot shower is one of the things you miss the most up in the mountains). The whole way around the Annapurna’s range could be divided into two different parts: uphill and downhill. The differences are quite important and make from your hike an amazing experience or a long fatigue. On the way up (from Besisahar to Thorung Phedi) paths take you through forests, cliffs, rivers and beautiful villages, while on the way down (Thorung La Pass to Tatopani) the landscape is arid, the paths are windy and dusty, and people are not as friendly as they were on the other half of the trek. During your first days in the mountains you feel welcome and almost part of the place. After one week people treat you as if you were a dollar and don’t see much more of you than simply your money.

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Nepal’s daily diet

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Food in Nepal is monotonous, insipid and boring. Despite of laying between India and China -with some of the richest cuisine in the world-, gastronomy in Nepal is not more than a simple combination of lentils (dhal), rice (bhat) and vegetables (tarkari). Some travellers get used to it and even love it (like Hector does), while the majority of them end up eating continental food in any of the touristy restaurants all around the country. If you are travelling on a budget, it will be better for your pocket to be one of those travellers who love to eat dhal bhat tarkari everyday for lunch and dinner. The reward is that you can get as many refills as you want.

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Pokhara

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Pokhara is the second biggest city in Nepal and also the starting point to many treks in the Annapurna’s mountain range, making it a highly visited place in the country. The most touristy area of Pokhara, Lakeside, is a beautiful and quite place beside the Phewa Lake (pokari means lake in nepali) which is also full of hotels, restaurants, trekking gear, souvenir and clothes shops. This area is a paradise for backpackers, offering them places to go out and meet other travelers, adventure sport activities (such as paragliding or white water descend with a kayak), a good variety of continental dishes and relatively cheap beer.

Our plan was to get ready for the trekking in the big mountains by doing short excursions, for instance go round the Phewa Lake, including the climb to the World Peace Pagoda. Several days after we had clear which trek we wanted to do: around the Annapurna’s mountain range. We packed our bags with just the strictly necessary, leaving most of our luggage in the hotel’s storage room, and left Pokhara behind.

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Chitwan’s National Park

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After 2 days of never-ending waiting in Mahendranagar, we finally took a 16 hours bus (it should have been 10 hours!!!) to Narayangarh, a non interesting town located in the junction of Mahendra and Prithvi roads which you would never visit but is the compulsory gate in your way to Kathmandu, Pokhara or Chitwan National Park. After a well deserved resting night, we moved a few kilometers further away to Sauraha, which is the closest town to Chitwan National Park. Sauraha is full of hostels/hotels and lives almost exclusively of tourism. It’s a very pleasant and quite place to stay for a while, although its biggest attraction is the Natural Reserve, where you can do an elephant back or a walking safari to explore the jungle and spot wild animals such as tiger, one horned rhino, slot bear, crocodile, and wild elephant among others.

Unfortunately, a five day illness and three days of non stop rain just when we were recovering, which left the jungle completely muddy, forced us to leave without experiencing the walk in the jungle. If we ever come back we know exactly what we want to do: three days and two nights walking through the jungle, with the guide of our choice (not the one decided by the operators) and completely avoid the crappy tourist packages that everyone seems to take.

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TRAVELLING ON THE TOP OF A BUS

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There is no funnier (read risky) way to travel around Nepal than sitting on the top of a local bus, but it’s also the most dangerous one. Normally only the young nepali man travel like this when there is no more space inside the bus, although it is possible to see also backpackers doing it just for fun. If you are up for it ask to the driver, but bear in mind to do it for a short distance journey, as it can be very tiring. Nevertheless, if you rather travel the normal way, try to get as fast as you can into the bus to choose a good seat, since there is no seat booking and you can find yourself travelling standing up. Local buses in Nepal are private (not government run), therefore they always get as packed as possible even with people sitting on the corridor and the roof. This is why we recommend to choose a sit in the middle or back of the coach far from the door, where all the crowd normally is.

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TOURIST BUS: SAME, SAME, BUT DIFFERENT

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There are no trains in Nepal, so the public transport consists in planes, buses, taxis, rickshaws and tongas (horse pulled carts). If you are a backpacker travelling on a low budget your options narrow to local buses, being the cheapest option by far. You can also travel with what they call a “tourist bus”, but this is just them pulling your leg: you pay almost 3 times the local bus price for the same journey, the bus is a bit better but still stops every 500 metres to pack it with more local people (so no tourists at all) who pay the normal price. It has the same inconveniences and you pay much more, so what’s the deal?

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Is it safe travelling around Nepal?

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In the past years there have been many threats to peace in Nepal, as the Maoists and the Government maintained a political active war in some parts of the country. This is why international press has reported some bad news for tourism in Nepal, although Maoists are more dangerous for the local tourist infrastructure than for tourists themselves.
In any case, the situation now seems to be calm and quiet and the Maoists, in coalition with all the other parties in Nepal, have reached their first demand to stop violence: to abolish the monarchy and establish a democracy. Things look much better now for travel in Nepal and backpackers will not have to worry anymore about meeting those strange Maoist soldiers in the mountains.

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Heading to Nepal

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We decided to leave Delhi as soon as possible due to different reasons: on one hand, the noise and pollution in the city. On the other hand, it was just the third day of a very long trip and we only wanted to do one thing: travel!! We booked a sleeper train from Delhi to Haldwani, took a rickshaw to the bus station and then a bus to Banbasa. Almost two days travelling in the end!

Bambasa is the “gate to Nepal” if you are going from India to the western side of the country. We spent some hours there playing with children in a mission (it was totally unexpected but we found it, were welcomed and stayed there for a while), and the night in a crappy hotel close to the bus stand of the town. After a few hours sleep, we were awaken by polyphonic horns coming from trucks and buses willing to cross the border. Later that morning a very nice guy from the mission offered us a ride on his jeep to the Nepali city of Mahendranagar, where we got stuck for a couple of days because we trusted a man who believe himself to be the town’s magnate and tried to organise and plan our trip for us, luckily we succeed to get rid of him just on time!!

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India Gate and the city bazaars

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Bearing in mind that we prefer to get in contact with locals, learn from their culture and get to know their traditions rather than spend our time admiring old stones and commemorative buildings, we decide to visit some of the bustling bazaars in which you can find everything from leather work to jewelery, carpets, textiles, electronics, spices and tea. Getting lost in the old city’s colorful and convoluted bazaars is half the fun of shopping here. Connaught Place, Paharganj (where most of the backpackers stay due to the big number of budget hostels) and Chandni Chowk, which is best navigated by cycle-rickshaw. Near the Fatehpuri Masjid, on Khari Baoli, is the aromatic Spice Market, full of fiery-red chili powders and burnt-orange turmeric among other spices, as well as pickles, tea and nuts.

We end up the day at India Gate, a huge stone memorial arch for all the Indian army soldiers who died in WWI. Indian families and groups of friends gather here to spend the afternoon in the surrounding gardens. Lay on the grass and just count the seconds until an Indian gets closer to you just to fulfill his curiosity and ask you countless questions or simply stare at you, be patient!!

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