 |
| Leaving Ngadi |
We read online that the first part of the hike is kind of boring and bland, and many people recommended we take a Jeep up to Chame (a few said even higher villages). We hiked for about 10 minutes before we saw the first Jeep, which drove past us and appeared to be full.
About 20 minutes or so after that, we saw a second Jeep which was also full (three people squished in the front, three crammed in the back + propane tanks and bags full of clothes, and a tarp over the back which had more bags + propane tanks + other stuff).
They offered us a ride for Rs.1500 ($14.48) and because we didn't know when we'd see another Jeep, we strapped our backpacks onto the top of the Jeep and hopped in. To make room for us, one guy moved up to the front and another moved on top of the tarp over the back.
(I call it a Jeep but it wasn't actually a Jeep, it was a Bolero Camper).
[Some other information that may be helpful to know before we continue: we are on a dirt road in the mountains, it's super bumpy, extremely uncomfortable, and we bounced all over the place at every bump. I will confidently say it's been the the bumpiest car ride of my life.
There was a CD playing the same 8(?) Nepali songs, two of which were Wari Jamuna and Bhanchan Budapake by Khem Raj Gurung.
Ultimately, it was kinda like a nightmare and felt like it might've gone on forever.]
 |
| River |
 |
| More River |
After about 15-20 minutes my legs kind of gave up and I just sat on his lap kind of. After an hour or so, we arrived at a small village and all got out to stretch, use the toilet, get snacks, etc. Ben told the guy he sat by he doesn't want to sit by the propane tanks anymore (something on it was jabbing into his leg) and that he is going to sit by the window this time. No one in our car understood English, so our driver had to translate, to which everyone kinda laughed at. Ben then argued, "I'm paying 2x, maybe even 3x more than you. You can sit next to the propane tanks." The driver translated and said it was true, and only fair that Ben gets the window seat
(we were paying more than them because we are [white] tourists and they know they can charge us more. We got used to in India, and yeah it kinda sucks, but you get good at negotiating).
 |
| Get out of the road, kids |
With Ben now by the window, I kept my spot; but as much as I love sitting in Ben's lap, after about 15 minutes or so we got uncomfortable so I adjusted myself outside the window. The upper part of my body (waist up) was out the window, and my legs were down by Ben's.
This was a genius idea because they had more room in the car but because it was so bumpy I had to hold onto the handle so tight and at every bump we hit, my body heavily rocked around and into the door frame (I even got a small bruise on my left bicep from it repeatedly hitting the door so many times). I sat like this for about an hour and a half or so. Lucky for me, the mountains were very beautiful, the weather felt great, and I couldn’t really hear the music haha.
Sometimes we'd pass another Jeep on the road and one of us would have to move out of the way of the other because the roads are so small. The driver and passengers of the passing Jeep would always laugh at me: some white kid hanging out of the side of a Jeep in the mountains. And of course I always smiled big and waved at them, which made them chuckle more and they'd usually wave back.
 |
| Sitting outside the jeep + the guy on top of the back |
out the jeep
 |
| A village in the valley |
After a while, my arms hurt from hitting the door frame repeatedly and holding on tightly. I knew sitting on Ben's lap wasn't really an option, so I kind of used hand gestures and simple English words to ask the guy sitting by him if I could lay across him and Ben and stick my legs out the window. He was a bit confused, but agreed. I thought this idea was so much better than the previous two.
Exclusive video from Bem
 |
| "Sleeping" |
outside the window
This position was sufficient enough to last until our last stop, where Ben hopped on top of the tarp with the other guy and I sat by backseat homeboy. The rest of the ride was filled with bumps, Nepali music, and a bit more leg room.
The total ride lasted about 5 hours total.
 |
| Playing with a car on a rope. Back of our Jeep also pictured. |
Teahouses are kind of like homier hotels. They're about Rs.600-700 ($5.79-$6.76) a night and if you ask, "if we buy dinner and breakfast can we have the room for free?" they usually say yes. Dinner + breakfast comes out to about Rs.700-800 ($6.76-$7.72).
We found a cute one with a fair priced menu (more expensive than what we were used to in Pokhara, but it's high up in the mountains: harder to get goods up here), dropped off our bags, and explored the area a bit before the sun went down.
 |
| Me by a field |
a big prayer wheel
 |
| Ben recording the big prayer wheel |
 |
| Sharing dinner with our friends |
 |
| Cheesin' and looking up groovy tunes |
They asked if they could braid our hair, so we said yes. While they were braiding it, they asked if we were actually girls, hahaha.
 |
| Braiding Benny's hair |
The girls had to go to bed after that because they had school the next day and we were going to be hiking. We said goodnight to the girls and played on our phones for a bit before going to bed. It was pretty cold out, so being in a warm bed was nice.
No comments:
Post a Comment