Lamjung -13th March, 2016
Travelling is always fun and when you travel in a group of new
friends, it’s even more exciting. We (Hike For Nepal) organized a 2 Night/3 Days trip on 7th,8th and 9th March 2016 to Ghale
Gaun via Kaule Paani coinciding with 3 public holidays.
On Monday morning, 11 enthusiast hikers gathered at Samakhusi,
Kathmandu at 9 am and boarded on the micro bus and headed to Beshisahar,
Lamjung. After 6 hours of drive we reached at Rani Kuwa, Lamjung from where our
hike was to begin. Despite the tedious drive in micro bus, everyone was excited
for the hike and upcoming adventures. After a short break for snack and
preparation for the journey, we began our uphill hike. We crossed through the
local villages, terraced farmland and dense mixed forest before we reached at
the historical Lamjung Palace at Kaulepani ridge by evening. After spending
some time exploring an old palace from where Shah King used to rule, we then
moved ahead to the home stay village of Kaulepani.
Certain homes in the Kaulepani village were recently turned into
home stays to give real feel to visitors how a typical village lifestyle is
while showcasing their culture and traditions. We were excited to be part of
this award winning home stay village (It was declared as the best home-stay
tourism village in Nepal on the occasion of the 35th World Tourism Day). It was about to
get dark as we were approaching the village. The villagers and the members of
home stay community were eagerly waiting to welcome us.
On our arrival we were welcomed by the local villagers and served
refreshments and drinks. Although we were tired, we were more excited when
locals entertained us with the Gurung cultural song and dance (Kauda, Chutka
and Ghantu ) showcasing their local culture and traditions. In the evening we
stayed with a host family as a family member and indulged ourselves to savour
local delicacies.
The next day we woke up early to watch sunrise and breathtaking
Mountain View and had breakfast with the host family. We then gathered in a
community hall where the representative of the home stay briefed us about their
culture, tradition and uniqueness of the village. After saying good bye to the
locals we then proceeded towards a long day hike.
On the day we hiked through the sub tropical mixed forest, past the
rhododendron forest, Gurung villages and farms observing daily chores of
village people. After 2 hours of hike we reached at BakhreJagat where we
quickly grabbed chocolates, energy drinks and locally available food to
reenergise ourselves for a day long hike. We then started to move uphill
through the paved stairs deep into the forest before we found ourselves walking
through the ridge of the hills and the scenery we observed was spectacular. We
were thirsty and hungry and our pace was getting slow but the surrounding hills
and the mountains view at the backdrop continuously inspired us to move ahead.
After about 4 hours of hike we then reached to small village of Baglung Pani
where we had already ordered for the lunch. We stopped at the village for an
hour and had a freshly cooked Nepali style daal, bhat , tarakari, pickle and
chicken soup.
It was already 2pm when we finished our lunch. We then hiked ahead
towards our destination. As we were crossing through the jungle it started to
rain but we keep moving ahead. We were drenched by the rainfall, exhausted but
still excited as we were about to see the first glimpse of the traditional
Ghale village. Reaching at the top we found ourselves walking past the entrance
of Ghale Gaun.
Ghale Gaun is the perfect example of home stay based tourism
destination in Nepal and is situated at an altitude of 2070 m from sea level
and majority of the people living in the village are from ethnic Gurung tribe.
This beautiful village lies in along the round Annapurna circuit route
which is well known as worlds as well as Nepal's a popular trekking
destination. This majestic village is only 205 km northwest of Kathmandu and
125 km northeast of Pokhara.
The rustic and traditional settlements, the ancestral home of brave
Gurungs Ghale gaun lies in the Ghale utterkanya Village development committee.
The lanes of roads are stone paved and clean. Ghale women normally wear blue
and red attire, called ghalek and lungi and men were kachaad, bakkhu.In the evening we sat around a campfire and entertained ourselves
with songs, anecdotes, stories and dance. We then had a dinner over the fire at
host house and spent the night. The next morning we woke up bit late as there was
Solar eclipse on the day and we avoided direct contact with the sun.
Later in the morning we walked through the villages, stopped at
temples and tea gardens to capture the moments. It was a sunny morning and the
sky was blue and we were lucky to see the spectacular mountain range in 180
degrees.
If you are lucky enough during your visit you could observe
Machhapuchare (6693m) Annapurna (8091m), Annapurna II (7939m) Annapurna IV
(7525m), Lamjung Himal, Bouddha Himal (6974m), Himalchuli (6747m) and many
more smaller peaks.
We had a typical Gurung breakfast and that consist of unique millet
sel roti, eggs and gundruk (fermented curry). The host family then bid us a
farewell by putting us tikas and garlands.
It was a final day for us, and after saying good bye to the locals
we slowly started to hike downhill leaving the village behind and cherishing
the beautiful moments we had shared with the host family.
Finally we reached at Khudi at the bank of the river after three
hours of downhill hike and took a local bus to BesiSahar. At BeshiSahar we had
lunch at local restaurant. We then boarded on the micro bus and headed back to
Kathmandu laughing, smiling and sharing each other’s experiences and moments we
spent together in the last three days. We came back to Kathmandu Bus Park at about
11pm and took taxi to the home.
