Another of the lesser known treks around Pokhara is a walk to Panchasse, a small village with wonderful people and a beautiful walk.
To begin the trek you get on a short bus ride to a town nearby. It may be a short bus ride but it was also the bumpiest I have ever been on. I've been on many mountain roads and poor excuses for paths but this one was like driving on constant, very uneven, speedbumps. It was great fun! Although not the most relaxing bus ride I've been on and definitely not one where I was going to be reading a book.
Once again we employed the tactic of ask at every junction and this worked to our advantage more than ever. As we got further from Pokhara there were fewer people that spoke fluent English but all seemed to know where we were going and pointed us in the right direction. One gentleman had excellent English and told us that we were going in the right direction but there was a much better and easier way to get there. This is just one of the many hundreds of examples of the Nepalese attitude of going the extra mile to help people.
This new route also placed us in a town called Siduane in time for lunch. As we walked into the village a lady stopped us and, clearly understanding that we were doing the trek and it was lunchtime, offered to provide us with plenty of daal bhatt for a small price. I think this is why I love travelling in Nepal so much - even if you are in the middle of no where there are people you've never met before happy to help and offer you any assistance that they can. It makes it so easy to travel as there is much less that you need to worry about as a random Nepali stranger has probably worried about it for you!
After the daal bhatt had settled and we were given more directions we started the final stretch of walking. As we had been getting higher we were getting great views of the valley and we had been very lucky with the weather as it hadn't rained. It was a good day's walking but a long one and I was very glad to get there, wash the sweat off and not think about climbing more stairs!
The way back down from Panchasse was much easier than the way up. Although it sounds obvious that going downhill is easier than uphill it is often not the case as going constantly downhill can be very hard on your joints. However, we went a different way down that involved a lot less stairs. The weather was quite misty and so we didn't get great views of the mountains but, having grown up in England, I am more than happy to walk in misty and rainy weather and it is better than England as it is not freezing cold.
It was a lovely trek that was much more relaxing than the longer treks I have done. It also makes me want to do more of the lesser known treks in Nepal as walking in more isolated areas is a very different experience. We saw no other tourists and so making the trek incredibly peaceful and everyone we met seemed to be there to help us. Technically we are an industry and tourists are the income for many of these people but it didn't feel like it at all. We were welcomed warmly everywhere and, as always, people went out of the way to help is. But it isn’t with the attitude that they expect something back but simply because it is the culture here and just because we are from a different country doesn't mean we are exempt from this. It is going to be a bit of a shock going back to England and especially the London attitude!
To begin the trek you get on a short bus ride to a town nearby. It may be a short bus ride but it was also the bumpiest I have ever been on. I've been on many mountain roads and poor excuses for paths but this one was like driving on constant, very uneven, speedbumps. It was great fun! Although not the most relaxing bus ride I've been on and definitely not one where I was going to be reading a book.
Once again we employed the tactic of ask at every junction and this worked to our advantage more than ever. As we got further from Pokhara there were fewer people that spoke fluent English but all seemed to know where we were going and pointed us in the right direction. One gentleman had excellent English and told us that we were going in the right direction but there was a much better and easier way to get there. This is just one of the many hundreds of examples of the Nepalese attitude of going the extra mile to help people.
This new route also placed us in a town called Siduane in time for lunch. As we walked into the village a lady stopped us and, clearly understanding that we were doing the trek and it was lunchtime, offered to provide us with plenty of daal bhatt for a small price. I think this is why I love travelling in Nepal so much - even if you are in the middle of no where there are people you've never met before happy to help and offer you any assistance that they can. It makes it so easy to travel as there is much less that you need to worry about as a random Nepali stranger has probably worried about it for you!
After the daal bhatt had settled and we were given more directions we started the final stretch of walking. As we had been getting higher we were getting great views of the valley and we had been very lucky with the weather as it hadn't rained. It was a good day's walking but a long one and I was very glad to get there, wash the sweat off and not think about climbing more stairs!
The way back down from Panchasse was much easier than the way up. Although it sounds obvious that going downhill is easier than uphill it is often not the case as going constantly downhill can be very hard on your joints. However, we went a different way down that involved a lot less stairs. The weather was quite misty and so we didn't get great views of the mountains but, having grown up in England, I am more than happy to walk in misty and rainy weather and it is better than England as it is not freezing cold.
It was a lovely trek that was much more relaxing than the longer treks I have done. It also makes me want to do more of the lesser known treks in Nepal as walking in more isolated areas is a very different experience. We saw no other tourists and so making the trek incredibly peaceful and everyone we met seemed to be there to help us. Technically we are an industry and tourists are the income for many of these people but it didn't feel like it at all. We were welcomed warmly everywhere and, as always, people went out of the way to help is. But it isn’t with the attitude that they expect something back but simply because it is the culture here and just because we are from a different country doesn't mean we are exempt from this. It is going to be a bit of a shock going back to England and especially the London attitude!
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