a red mark or ‘tika’ on the brother’s
forehead and the brothers promise
to take care of their sisters. The days
ends with a lot of good food, dance
and music.
I was in Varsali by then, camping
and enjoying the great flavours of food
and colours of the festival. This place
was about 70 kilometres from Jom-
som town.
Entering Jomsom got me thinking,
am I still on Earth? The perfect com-
bination of a small town situated on
the banks of the Kali Gandaki River,
offering a view of Dhaulagiri and the
Nilgiri Mountains was just ‘beautiful
and breath-taking’.
Inhabited by ‘Thakali’ people, Jom-
som offers great local food. A full
meal is called ‘Thakali Thali’ primar-
ily containing lentils, rice and vegeta-
bles or meat and refills of food items
are free. Cow being declared as the
national animal, Nepal is a no-beef
country, sorry beef lovers, you’ll have
to do with mutton!
Beef … no, Airport … yes! This lit-
tle town boasts an airport, so if you
choose not to drive or you are short of
time, you can fly in too. It is just a 15-
20 minute flight from Pokhara.
If you want to forget your January’s
and February’s … go to Nepal, they do
not use an English (Gregorian) cal-
endar. They follow something called
the ‘Vikram Samvat’ calendar which
means that the traditional new year
occurs in mid-April each year and the
current year 2018 is actually year 2075
VS in Nepal.
Now it was time for me to get re-
ligious, so a temple visit was on the
cards. First was a visit to the Monkey
Temple, after climbing 365 steps I fi-
nally reached the temple but, it was
worth the effort. A combined mix-
ture of Hinduism and Buddhism was a
treat to the eyes here. Pashupatinath
TRAVERSE 65
Temple was second on the list. One
the biggest temples in Nepal belong-
ing to Lord Shiva, was quite a beauty
in itself. Sadly but rightfully, photog-
raphy is not allowed inside this temple
or I would have captured the largest
Nani’s statue that I have ever seen.
After taking God’s blessings I de-
cided to treat myself to some fresh
green tea, what better than to go to
the source itself, so I hit the tea plan-
tations. The various shades of green
that you can see when you scan the
massive tea gardens, spotted with lo-
cals in colourful attires working in the
farms, was unbelievably beautiful. I
could not take in enough of the green
colour so I decided to stop there, walk
around, relax, walk again … no riding.
Although I would have loved to
spend more time and experience more
of this beautiful country, my clock was
ticking and it was time to head back so
with a sad but satisfied smile I started