Bandipur (1030m)

Our first official day of "the trek" was actually not a trek at all. It involved our group hopping on a bus at our hotel and heading out of Kathmandu into the hills. After an obscenely bumpy 3+ hour ride, we turned onto a very small road that basically went straight up. It zig-zagged up about 1000 meters until we finally stopped in the quaint and so called "ancient" village of Bandipur. Apparently Bandipur has recently become more of a tourist destination for its realistic representation of traditional Nepali lifestyle and culture. While the people were very friendly and we enjoyed the views from its precarious perch on the hill, it seemed a bit contrived.

Still, it was perhaps a nice happy medium in its amenity offerings, as it weened us from attached bathrooms and sinks in a somewhat sanitary way, including western toilets. The guest house we stayed in was run by Himalayan Encounters, which is the tour company, so they put on quite a spread for dinner including chickens roasted on a spit. Very tasty, but we were still craving something a bit more local. This yearning would soon fade...

Before sunset our tour leader took us on a short excursion up a "small" hill to watch the sunset. It was going up this hill on the trail and stone steps that we realised we weren't in Kansas anymore; the steep (but minor compared to what was to come) drop-offs beside the trail were a bit stomach churning at times. With legs shaking, we all safely reached the top and enjoyed the views, as well as the cute dogs that escorted, or perhaps herded us up to the top.