Last week I was out in Lamjung with work. Lamjung is a district to the east of Pokhara in Central Nepal (although it is actually in the 'western' development region. It is a really beautiful place, up nice and close to the Himalayas, and I think many of the treks you can do in Nepal start from here.
So, I thought I would do a small pictorial guide to Lamjung district (in particular the district capital Besishahar), and my escape from it, which proved rather eventful!
I was staying in what appeared to be the penthouse bedroom of the Tukuche Hotel... fairly basic, but huge balcony and nice views!
Randomly given its remote location the hotel had a rather flash electrical set up with one of those room key cards which activate the electricity. Unfortunately it seemed that we had power cuts half the time so I couldn't make the most of such wonders...
Also of interest (??) were the curtains... which had a garden cross stitch pattern stamped on them. They seemed totally alien to the surroundings!
So what can one do in Lamjung? Here are some suggestions, should, like me you have an extended stay...
1) Buy some new under ware... i don't think a fitting service is available.
2) Buy some chickens.. possibly not free range
3) Buy some chili to accompany the chicken. Fortunately this is available by the kilo.
4) Make a cup of tea. This was the first time I have seen one of these devises for myself. They're great, basically the mirrors reflect and concentrate the sun rays onto the trivet where the kettle is, and this is, and this boils the water. It seemed to work pretty well!
5) Join in a rally of the Youth Communist League.
This was a bit scary as adults driving in the jeeps were shouting out down with US and Indian imperialism, and the children (some looked very young) were responding with chants and cheers... I decided I might look too much like a US imperialist to join in...
However, latter on I passed the buses shipping them home and they all seemed quite friendly and wanted to say 'hello, how are you?'... Note that health and safety standards are followed carefully as children cram onto the buses, and some even get to ride on the roof... one to remember for those school trips at home me thinks... none of this seat belt m'larky.
6) Enjoy the GREEN... don't underestimate this, after the smog of smogville the green of Lamjung is refreshing on the eyes ;o)
7) pick some maize... they grow lots of maize here.
8) Sit on your balcony and watch the mountains. Beautiful.
So, to the escape. We were due to leave Friday morning. It is about a 6hr drive back to KTM. Unfortunately we heard there was a blockade down the road, and we would have to wait until it cleared... so we waited... and waited... and waited... and then it became apparent the blockade wasn't being lifted, so we stayed another night. Basically some villagers were unhappy that contractors had stopped work on a new bridge, and so were blocking the old bridge. Contractors had stopped work because Maoists were threatening them, as they hadn't been involved in the planning of the bridge. Messy.
Saturday dawned and the blockade was still on. We decided to try an alternative route, but we weren't optimistic as it had been raining and the road was bad!
We got about 10min down the road and were confronted by another blockade. This was local people protesting about the original blockade further down the road. After about 15min of being harassed by various irate drivers it seemed they realised this wasn't the best plan, and so moved their minivan which had been placed across the road.
We drove along and the scenery was just beautiful... alpine almost...
One thing you don't really expect in the middle of no where is a HUGE dam construction... but yes there is... a large dam is being built, perhaps to reduce load shedding! It was interesting looking at it as we passed. Dams really are immense structures, and its easier to appreciate that when they're empty!
They must also employ a lot of local people doing construction, labouring, guard positions etc.
We then turned off the main road, on our detour and got some beautiful views of the mountains... not totally clear, but still in view!
Then we hit the bad road. The boys go off to investigate:
It is at this point i realise that although the KIA is shiny and comfy inside it is not really a very good 4x4, and a Toyota, although more pricey would be far more practical in this situation (I am sure Jack would agree with me on this one). The boys decide the road will chaw up the bottom of the car and so its not an option. We watch a Toyota pick up sail down... as we drive off to attempt another similarly nasty route!
We then devise a plan to persuade the protesters that a) I am ill and b) need to catch a plane, and therefore need to cross the bridge. I am left in the car as the others go off to negotiate this. Its hot... the car is black with leather seats... i decide siting outside might be nice... until I get slightly deterred by small groups of boys who seem to be wondering what an earth a foreigner is doing siting by a car in the middle of no where and reading a book...
After the best part of an hour the others return. Alas no one would be persuaded and would let us though... i guess fair enough. Why make exceptions for foreigners.
The only option was to return back to the town (a depressing thought)... or to abandon car and driver and walk over the offending bridge and find alternative transportation...
we chose the later.
The offending bridge:
On the other side we found a taxi that would take us to the main road... which it did, brushing the side of a girl herding her cow. She was SO lucky she did not go under the car...
At the main road we found some lunch... which I am certain resulted in me spending the whole evening, and most of the next day in the toilet... ooops.
Then we found another car to take us home. We had a friendly driver and his wife and they shared with us some a dairy product. It was small and hard and smelt like cheese. I gave it a go... it was very hard, and it took over 2 hours to fully break down. No exaggeration. Seemingly you couldn't chew/ bite/ grind/ dissolve it very easily. It passed the time i suppose... but i didn't go for seconds. Made it home by the evening... at last. Our driver made it back last night... so he was delayed 4 days. Fortunately his family lived close by so he could catch up with them!
This is long. Time for bed. Over and out.
So, I thought I would do a small pictorial guide to Lamjung district (in particular the district capital Besishahar), and my escape from it, which proved rather eventful!
I was staying in what appeared to be the penthouse bedroom of the Tukuche Hotel... fairly basic, but huge balcony and nice views!
Randomly given its remote location the hotel had a rather flash electrical set up with one of those room key cards which activate the electricity. Unfortunately it seemed that we had power cuts half the time so I couldn't make the most of such wonders...
Also of interest (??) were the curtains... which had a garden cross stitch pattern stamped on them. They seemed totally alien to the surroundings!
So what can one do in Lamjung? Here are some suggestions, should, like me you have an extended stay...
1) Buy some new under ware... i don't think a fitting service is available.
2) Buy some chickens.. possibly not free range
3) Buy some chili to accompany the chicken. Fortunately this is available by the kilo.
4) Make a cup of tea. This was the first time I have seen one of these devises for myself. They're great, basically the mirrors reflect and concentrate the sun rays onto the trivet where the kettle is, and this is, and this boils the water. It seemed to work pretty well!
5) Join in a rally of the Youth Communist League.
This was a bit scary as adults driving in the jeeps were shouting out down with US and Indian imperialism, and the children (some looked very young) were responding with chants and cheers... I decided I might look too much like a US imperialist to join in...
However, latter on I passed the buses shipping them home and they all seemed quite friendly and wanted to say 'hello, how are you?'... Note that health and safety standards are followed carefully as children cram onto the buses, and some even get to ride on the roof... one to remember for those school trips at home me thinks... none of this seat belt m'larky.
6) Enjoy the GREEN... don't underestimate this, after the smog of smogville the green of Lamjung is refreshing on the eyes ;o)
7) pick some maize... they grow lots of maize here.
8) Sit on your balcony and watch the mountains. Beautiful.
So, to the escape. We were due to leave Friday morning. It is about a 6hr drive back to KTM. Unfortunately we heard there was a blockade down the road, and we would have to wait until it cleared... so we waited... and waited... and waited... and then it became apparent the blockade wasn't being lifted, so we stayed another night. Basically some villagers were unhappy that contractors had stopped work on a new bridge, and so were blocking the old bridge. Contractors had stopped work because Maoists were threatening them, as they hadn't been involved in the planning of the bridge. Messy.
Saturday dawned and the blockade was still on. We decided to try an alternative route, but we weren't optimistic as it had been raining and the road was bad!
We got about 10min down the road and were confronted by another blockade. This was local people protesting about the original blockade further down the road. After about 15min of being harassed by various irate drivers it seemed they realised this wasn't the best plan, and so moved their minivan which had been placed across the road.
We drove along and the scenery was just beautiful... alpine almost...
One thing you don't really expect in the middle of no where is a HUGE dam construction... but yes there is... a large dam is being built, perhaps to reduce load shedding! It was interesting looking at it as we passed. Dams really are immense structures, and its easier to appreciate that when they're empty!
They must also employ a lot of local people doing construction, labouring, guard positions etc.
We then turned off the main road, on our detour and got some beautiful views of the mountains... not totally clear, but still in view!
Then we hit the bad road. The boys go off to investigate:
It is at this point i realise that although the KIA is shiny and comfy inside it is not really a very good 4x4, and a Toyota, although more pricey would be far more practical in this situation (I am sure Jack would agree with me on this one). The boys decide the road will chaw up the bottom of the car and so its not an option. We watch a Toyota pick up sail down... as we drive off to attempt another similarly nasty route!We then devise a plan to persuade the protesters that a) I am ill and b) need to catch a plane, and therefore need to cross the bridge. I am left in the car as the others go off to negotiate this. Its hot... the car is black with leather seats... i decide siting outside might be nice... until I get slightly deterred by small groups of boys who seem to be wondering what an earth a foreigner is doing siting by a car in the middle of no where and reading a book...
After the best part of an hour the others return. Alas no one would be persuaded and would let us though... i guess fair enough. Why make exceptions for foreigners.
The only option was to return back to the town (a depressing thought)... or to abandon car and driver and walk over the offending bridge and find alternative transportation...
we chose the later.
The offending bridge:
On the other side we found a taxi that would take us to the main road... which it did, brushing the side of a girl herding her cow. She was SO lucky she did not go under the car...
At the main road we found some lunch... which I am certain resulted in me spending the whole evening, and most of the next day in the toilet... ooops.
Then we found another car to take us home. We had a friendly driver and his wife and they shared with us some a dairy product. It was small and hard and smelt like cheese. I gave it a go... it was very hard, and it took over 2 hours to fully break down. No exaggeration. Seemingly you couldn't chew/ bite/ grind/ dissolve it very easily. It passed the time i suppose... but i didn't go for seconds. Made it home by the evening... at last. Our driver made it back last night... so he was delayed 4 days. Fortunately his family lived close by so he could catch up with them!
This is long. Time for bed. Over and out.
2 comments:
Sounds like a very eventful trip! Great pics, as ever. Have a lovely weekend, Amy x
Seems as gr8 trips of lamjung . You have presented a lamjung ,its surrounding and culture so nicely.
Subin Bhatta
Lamjung
(Now KTM)
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