Exploring Hill Towns of Nepal: Bandipur, Gorkha, and Tansen

Nepal has many hill towns that were created for similar reasons as the hill towns in Europe. Going back thousands of years, what is currently Nepal was fragmented into many kingdoms. That changed in the 1768 when Prithvi Narayan Shah expanded his kingdom to create what we now know as Nepal. We visited three hill towns, each with their own character.

Bandipur: A key trading and administrative center between India and Tibet. The center has been restored in the historical Newar style.

Gorkha: Prithvi Shah ruled from this town when he conquered the rest of Nepal. Today it is the district headquarters.

Tansen: The long time center of power of the Magar Kingdom.

Bandipur

Bandipur has banned all traffic from the quaint, central district which makes it very relaxing and quiet. The buildings have been restored and it was interesting to explore the town. It is extremely clean with garbage bins actually being used. Children and dogs roam freely.

Bandipur has the oldest library in Nepal and it is still in use. It all fits in the top floor of this building. Even in land-locked Nepal they have the book “Island of the Blue Dolphins.”

We took a hike to the nearby town of Ramkot. It is a quiet village where people still farm using traditional methods.

The hike was along a “road” that the locals use to herd goats, water buffalo, and gather firewood.

The following day we hiked down to the Siddha Gufa cave (the second largest cave in Southeast Asia). It was an incredibly steep, humid descent to the cave and all sorts of caterpillars were dropping from the trees creating a “silky” mess to hike through. We also saw a few monkeys swinging through the trees.

When we got to the cave we were the only people there. The infrastructure inside is very limited and the gate attendant/guide pointed out features and helped us scramble to the very back of the cave; climbing up and down slippery ledges and under low arches. He was wearing flip flops and we could barely make it in sturdy hiking boots! There were bats in the cave that would woosh by as we moved deeper into the cave.

In Bandipur we stayed at the Bandipur Bliss that has amazing local and Himalayan views. The bed was comfortable and the shower had plenty of hot water. We enjoyed sitting on the deck listening to the sounds of the town; children playing, roosters crowing, and the occasional truck rumbling along.

Gorkha

After Bandipur we went to Gorkha. There is a palace and temples at the top of the mountain and a few temples and museum in the center of town.

The Desain Festival was going on while we were here, celebrating the triumph of good over evil that lasts for several days. The temple at the top of the mountain had many people visiting as part of the festival. Note the leaves stitched together as an offering to the turtle below. We saw these leaf bowls everywhere we went, usually with small offerings of food, rice, flowers, and incense.

We were there during the festival day that goats, chickens, and pigeons were sacrificed. We saw many live goats tied to the roof racks of buses and carried on motorcycles being transported to the “festivities.” There were goat pens where you could buy them for sacrifice; a large sum of money for locals. Pictures below: note the guy in the green jacket holding a chicken by its wings, and you can just make out the back legs of a goat between the men on the motorbike, and goats tied to the temple steps, blessed with red “tika” waiting their turn…

A more fun aspect of the festival are massive bamboo swings that are only built at this time of year. We saw them in many towns during our travels.

We had awesome sunsets and interesting views from our comfortable, modern hotel (Gorkha Garden Hotel).

Tansen

Our final hill town was Tansen. Tansen is a less touristy destination but has many old buildings, a few temples around town, and a great view from a tower in the park at the top of the hill.

We got lucky with a clear day and could see the Annapurna range and more!

As part of the Deshain Festival, offerings were made around town, including for cars.

We stayed at the City View Homestay and the hostess, Jenny (a local school teacher), was nice enough to make us breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All the restaurants in town were closed for the festival so we really appreciated her hospitality. We talked to her extensively and learned a lot about daily life in Tansen. She was amazed that in the USA we don’t have water storage systems. Water in Tansen is pumped into town at random times (3 am when we were there), and the locals have to actively manage their storage tanks to ensure they are full but don’t overflow (wasting water and money). Water is heated on the roof in black solar holding tanks; thankfully we had warm showers. The bed was a thin, foam mattress pad on a plywood base. We really enjoyed our stay and loved the genuine, homestay experience even though the neighbor started playing at 4am loud festival “Save Our Souls” type music.

The Paparazzi

These are common towns to visit for Nepalis and Indians, but we only saw a few westerners. Over this past week we became minor “celebrities” with many people wanting to take a pictures with us. Children are very curious and like to practice their English and ask questions.

On to the Plains

From Tansen we left the hill towns and are headed to the plains close to India. Our plan is to visit Lumbini and Chitwan National Park. The adventure continues!