Tag Archives: backpacking Nepal

Universal Religion: Psy trance party in Nepal at the beginning of the Annapurna circuit

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The key to getting into most music festivals!

“We’re the security for the trance party. Would you like to see our I.D?” Ram asked us. Usually, we’re asked to present I.D. This was a good rescue.

We were 7 hours away from host farm, Hasera, for one night to catch the end of this party, Universal Religion. One of the worlds highest altitude parties, this year was held in Bandipur, an area where most people jump start to their Annapurna circuit trek.

We were caught with a 1,500 (17 USD, very expensive in local economy) Nepali rupee taxi ride up the mountain from a city called Dumre to Bandipur after night has settle into the mountains. The road was a windy 7km uphill. Half way up, the taxi croaked on us. The driver lifted the hood and started fidgeting with the engine pulling out god-knows-what from who-knows-where in the engine block. The engine would not start. Other cars passed by roaring up the bend. More failed monkey mechanics and the driver calls someone.


As he was on the phone, we hear another car approaching. We took out the headlamp to shine the road to make sure people knew were right around the bend so they wouldn’t hit the passed out car. As the car rounded the corner, the headlights split up evolving into two sleek black motorcycles with even sleeker helmets and riders. They stop.

What coincidence that we ran into the head of security for the trance party! Ram, his name was. They threw us on the back of their bikes and we finished the last half of the ride on their motorcycles.

We turn left onto a dusty bump road and started seeing signs of tourists and Nepalese alike wandering abouts the gate of the party.

The stage at night

“They have no one day tickets” Ram informed us. “However, we are in charge of the wrist bands, so if you like, you can pay us 5,000 rupees.” That came up to 58USD. The normal ticket was 100USD. We agreed. We also think he just banked that money as private sale. We’re not concerned. We saved money.
Police lined the entrance but Ram got us in without checking bags. A bit redundant to have security and police carrying rifles the size of their body.

The first people we spoke to, after eating some food, (it’s been about 12 hours). “What the *** are the organizers thinking?! Those wankers had 4 toilets for guys and 4 for girls for a party of 4,000 people. And they have no water to wash our hands with!” Justin and Simon both complained. 2 British guys, well seasoned into the party life.

We had a good laugh and then checked the washrooms. And what the **** are the organizers thinking?! Those toilets were FILLED to the BRIM with not only the usual toilet stuff, but of other should not mentions. Camping at the party would’ve been cool until there was no water and no nearby toilets. We were even planning on it, our bivvy sack, sleeping bag, fleece blanket and emergency blanket all part of the day bags.

We started doing the hike down the road to search for a place to stay. And wouldn’t you know, every place is full. It really didn’t come as a surprise though. Our last ditch attempt after an hour of wandering around, we went into the nearest hotel to the party to ask for rooms. Obviously full. But we had to ask anyways. Half jokingly, Christa said “Can we just sleep on those couches?” (In the lobby)

Yes, best hotel room ever.

The receptionist looked at us all weird. We started walking out and he called us back in. He lead us into the luggage storage room opened the door to reveal a mattress. “You can stay here for 500 rupees.” That was about 6 USD. With a washroom nearby in the lobby, that is all we needed. We put down our day packs and headed into the party.

The main (and only) stage had a… uh… flower? column? covering the dance floor. As far as trance party designing goes, South Africans have a pretty intense decor reputation set out for them. And so a South African designed the stage for the party. It was magnificent and indescribable.

The music was, well, psy trance. Too bad it wasn’t progressive or goa that we both enjoy more. But at this late at night – or early in the morning – deep psy was pretty called for. Everyone was jiving to the heavy bass. Lekker… Finally a legit party and to make it more epic, it was at the jumping off point to the Annapurna Circuit. A high altitude party. Ha!

In the daylight, we had to figure our way down the mountain (7km of windy road), find a bus to Kathmandu, find a bus to Banepa and then find a bus to Hasera farm – 7 hours away.

Stage during the day on tear down

We strapped our sandals, hiked up our bags and started marching down as the other party go-ers lined up for the bus that never came. Not too soon after we started walking, a jeep pulled up. Filled with party people shoved in the front, the back seats, and the bed of the truck. We hopped on the back. Ian couldn’t fit as there were too many people. So he stood with one leg in the bed, and held onto to the roof rack of the jeep. The road wasn’t only windy, but also very bumpy. It was quite the work out to hang on.

Getting down to Dumre again wasn’t so bad, and finding a bus to Kathmandu was even easier. 4 hours later we landed in Thamel, the hipster and touristy part of Kathmandu. We went back to our favourite Korean restaurant. Really, the only Korean restaurant we knew. We were craving MEAT. “SLAUGHTER A COW AND LEMME AT ‘IM!!!” screams the stomachs. Except we got pork, sam gyeop sal. Whoo!

Ian hitching a ride down the mountain

We called our host father at the farm, who was in another part of Nepal on a business trip. “All the buses to Hasera have stopped running now.” Govinda said. We were caught in Kathmandu for the night. Not a big deal, we already knew the Thamel area and knew exactly where we wanted to go stay for the night. Thamel Guest House.

The first time we went there, the bar owner, Biki, told us about the party and said that he’d be there. So we went to him. And wouldn’t you know, Ian’s stomach decided to crap out on him from the party food. Ha! Really, isn’t that surprising.

We didn’t stay the guesthouse the first time because it was a little manky. But this time, we did. 400 rupees. Winning! Until we turned on our lights to see the room afterwards. There was load-shedding at the time, so the lights at the hotel didn’t work.

(Load shedding: When certain parts of the city shuts down electricity for a certain time for other parts of the city to have power)

We saw the state of the room and it was the mangieous rooms ever. We would’ve rather stay in the storage compartment. The carpet was stained with years of wear. The bed was clean-ish, but we revealed the stained sheets. The washroom leaked something awful. The walls everywhere was peeling and clearly poorly patched up. The water from the tap had physical debris flowing out. And the shower tap kept leaking to leave a fresh puddle of water on the floor. Whatever, it was one night.

Ian passed out immediately while Christa stayed up to people watch.

The next morning, we came crawling back to Hasera. We missed Mito’s food and Govinda’s uplifting and never-ending humour. And it was time to get Ian better, again.

Hasera – Living on a rural farm in Nepal

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Christa working the plants

“Yololo!” Govinda shouted. Best word ever you’ll hear on the farm, because that meant “Food is ready!” Mito, Govinda’s wife, prepared possibly the best food ever. After a semi-relaxed morning of work, we get pretty much the rest of the day off. Or we could choose to do more work if we wanted to.

We were volunteering at Hasera Permaculture farm. We went through a company called Volunteering to Learn. Rolling hills with huge mountains in the distance surrounded the farm. But their gigantic size makes it seems like we could reach a hand out and touch the top of one of the snow capped peaks. In just over a week, we’ll be working our way up one of those peaks. But for now, we were busy digging up onions, garlic, and feeding chickens and petting the cows.

When we arrived, we happened to jump right into the end of a workshop where we get to design our own permaculture farm from 2 days of workshop. Both of us had a lot of ideas on how to be hippie and in the end our house was bomb-tastic. Urban farming with veritcal gardens and seasonal green houses with a pond inside. Badass.

The view from the farm

We got to experience local rural village wedding as well. It was an arranged marriage and a simple one. Nothing flashy. We took a stroll down the road and then down through other farm fields. It lead us to the family’s farm where the wedding was held. Colours decorated the trees and incense filled the air infront of the family’s Shiva temple. The couple sat side by side while family members on both sides took their turns blessing them while someone recited incantations and prayers.

Few days later, we got to celebrate Hanumans birthday, the monkey God who rescued Shiva’s wife, Parvarti, from Sri Lanka. We walked with Govinda, our host father, to the village Hanuman pagoda. People were already in deep incantation, burning incense, throwing blessings onto the Hanuman and into the fire sending it up to the Heavens for him to receive it.

Traditional village wedding

These experiences were something few people get to do. To live right in with the family in a rural village in Nepal. We were expecting hard work and hours in the sun. However, what we got was more of becoming part of the family and local community. After the wedding, when we arrived at the temple, we recognized many people from the wedding and they recognized us (Wasn’t very hard).

Vishnu’s commerical potatoe fields needed to be harvested. He was one of the lecturers at Govinda’s farm during the workshop. We got a chance to repay his kindness by helping him harvest his humungous farm. Just fields and fields of potatoes. Even though he  lectured at the permaculture farm, he needed commercial farming and so used chemicals. He knows the detrimental effects, but it’s the only way to provide locally grown potatoes in the local region. Otherwise, potatoes aren’t naturally grown in Nepal. We got to work alongside family and friends of Vishnu. It was quite a humbling experience as people older than us tear up the ground as we struggle to keep up with the work.

Vishnu’s fields

After our 2 weeks of living at the farm, we exchanged very bittersweet goodbyes. Our experience was over, but not forgotten. It was a very rewarding experience that will sit with us through our lifetime. Our eyes turn over to the peaks in the Everest mountain range. Onward, journey!

Birth Place of Buddha to the Kathmandu Valley – sacrifices and host families

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The birth site of Buddha in Lumbini

Lumbini. Not so shortly after we crossed the border, we settled in a quiet town where Buddha has been proven to be born in. Nothing spectacular. A few temples all very dedicated to Buddha from each Buddhist country in the world. We saw China, Korea and Nepal before we decided it was too hot to bike around anymore. Here it was still 40 degrees. Not what we bargained for, weather-wise.

We retreat back into our room play in the shower, aka wash our clothes. It was about time we had fresh clean clothes again. All hand wash, courtesy of the hotel shower. Just don’t tell them. Shhh… We head to Kathmandu 2 nights later.

Trinkets in the market

It was a 10 hour bus ride starting from 7:30am and arriving at 4pm. Kathmandu, Thamel. One of Ian’s favourite city so far in the trip. It trumps Varkala and Jaisalmer. The gear stores, for one, and secondly, lots of swanky restaurants, bars, and other establishments, straight up our alley. We were starving for meat. We found a Korea BBQ restaurant. How fitting! We’re fresh out of Korea, we know the dishes, and we know how to eat it. We had sam kyap sal, and so gal bi. *Drool*

Afterwards, we found a live band playing in the local pub. It happened to be Nepals New Year, and people are still out celebrating. We met a couple of nice Indians and hung out with them for the better part of the night.

The next day, we head out to meet our trekking

Our host family in Kathmandu

guide, Pema, for our 19 day trek to Everest Base Camp (EBC from here forth). We finally get reunited with our climbing gear. 40kg total, including ice axes, harnesses sleeping bags, shells, down jackets, snow pants, boots… etc. The total list is extensive. We organize all our paperwork and discussed about how to arrange the visa extensions that we need and where to meet. We also bought our tickets to South Africa, after much anticipation from Christa’s mother. We started all this first because we won’t see Pema until after our volunteership.

Monkey temple

This volunteership, we’re heading out to Kavre, just a few kilometers away from Kathmandu, but still a small remote farming town. Some nice mountains out there supposedly. Before we get shipped out there, an awesome host family welcome us into their house for 3 nights. We prepared traditional Nepalese food with the family and they taught us some basic Nepalese.

The volunteer organizer, Sujan, showed us around many many temples. “City of Temples” is Kathmandu’s name. And it certainly lives up to its name. “Oh, it’s a live sacrifice”, the Sujan said as we walked by a puddle of fresh blood on the ground. Hindu’s in the city were celebrating a festival. We came in when they were getting the cow ready. The goat had already been sacrificed.

Biggest and oldest temple in Kathmandu

The legs were tie up first and then the cow was shoved onto the ground. They made sure the legs were securely fastened. A Hindi Nepalese pulled out a pokcet knife and lifted up the chin. Makes the first slice and the crowd takes a step back as blood sprayed everywhere, his shirt, the temple, his arms and right around the crowd. The cow didn’t make a sound, but you could hear it screaming from the eyes.

The Nepalese man took a cup and collected the blood the was spraying from the jugulars and splashed it on the temple. He did it twice. The neck was still attached, but the esophagus clearly exposed and the blood gurgles out as the cow desperately tries to breath. As the cow inhaled, it drew more blood to the lungs and was trying to cough it out. Finally, the Nepalese man fully decapitates the head as he jams the knife into the neck and rips off the head. He places it on the temple alongside the goats head. Cow has been sacrificed.

For more pictures of our trip in Nepal, check out:

India Nepal border, Lumbini, and Kathmand Rd. 1

Below is a picture of the sacrifice. Warning: Graphic content.

Freshly sacrificed cow and goat