Hitchhiking in Nepal: Okhaldhunga

19^th of April, 2023.

Hitchhiking in Nepal.

Walking up the hills outside Ghurmi it might be challenged, but it is also pleasant. I take some photos and carry on.

Almost desert roads around here. A few trucks pass by but they drive so slowly that I decide not to try and hitchhike with them. Plus, the roads are so bad that I can only imagine how bumpy it must be inside the truck. After I walk for a while, a young man, Iugraj, who is going to work in a nearby town, in a bank, offers to take me until there. Yay! Better something than nothing! He is a very nice young man and, even though I am a bit worried about the steep road, being with my backpacks and all, it is all good.

After Iugraj drop me off and goes to work, three engineers going to Okhaldhunga, pick me up. Mabhav, Umsh and Kumar are going to do some work in the town, and drop me off by its entrance. On the way here, they have told me about the national flower of Nepal, it is called Laliguras, and it grows in a tree.

I should’ve left my backpack somewhere around the entrance of the town, so I could walk more freely. But perhaps because I was uncertain about my plans of where to stay for tonight, I took it with me.

Okhaldhunga is the birth place of a very important Nepalese poet called Siddhicharan Shrestha. It is a cute little town, with lots of ups and downs. I don’t really know where I am going, I am just following the flow. I like the style of the traditional houses, with wooden patterns. Even though the streets and its houses look cute, there is not really easy to take a nice picture.

I pass by a local market, and even though I would like to get some food here, I have no money, so I keep going.

By all means I arrive to the Historical Okhaldhunga, in Siddicharan Park, where the huge grinding stone (which names the town) can be found. It is a cute little place, with a nice small souvenir shop by it.

You can get really nice views around this area, and also some hiking spots. You just have to hope for some good weather (which I didn’t get); and make a good plan for going around (which I hadn’t). The truth is that everything was very cloudy for me about my time in Nepal. The way that things turned out, and the discrepancy between what I was expecting to do here when I was dreaming about coming, a long time ago, with the circumstances I am now that I am here. Anyway…

I decide to leave. I am considering to camp somewhere on the way but I will try to get as close as possible to Bhotekoshi today. Recollecting all these facts now, I really don’t know what came over me while I was planning all this. Seriously, I don’t know why I chose these places, and not others. It’s a mystery…

Well, I am on the way to Kathmandu, which should be slightly easier to get a lift. I know I have to get out at a small town called Dhulikhel though, and take right. Surdesh and D.I. are going all the way to Kathmandu, so they pick me up. Yay!

Surdesh is an engineer and D.I. is his driver. We stop in Ghumir for lunch, unfortunately not in the restaurant of Sarmila and Sanjaya, but in another one, a bit fancier. I am so hungry, only having had a banana since morning. They very kindly pay for my lunch and we carry on.

We arrive in Dhulikel after dark. It is OK and I feel like, more and more often I am quite fine with getting to places late night, and just figuring out what to get to eat and where to stay.

I come to a restaurant called Fire Wooden Pizza, to ask for some left-overs. The young man with whom I talk is extremely kind and helpful, and he is very interested in my story.  But he tells me that unfortunately they don’t have any left-overs. He then offers to prepare something fresh for me but I have decided long ago that, I would not accept fresh food prepared for me anymore, so I kindly refuse. He insists but I tell him that I can ask in other restaurants around and I will certainly find something. But then someone from the kitchen tell him that there was an order which was cancelled, after they had already prepared, so they ask me if I want that, to what I say yes, of course. Nawam offers me some drinks too but I only accept some water.

I start walking towards Bhotekoshi when I realize that the road is going through hills, so there will be no way for me to camp somewhere there. I am slightly outside the town, so I decide to walk around and ask some locals for help, a shelter for tonight. It takes quite a while until someone decide to help me. But it is also quite late so there’s not many people around for me to ask.

When I am talking with some people, two ladies are passing by and I start asking them if they cannot help me. Immediately they say yes!

Prashna and Sahara are sisters going back home. They are very interested in travelling so they are actually very excited to have me around. But they are also a bit uncertain about what their mother will say and how she will react. But they keep telling me not to worry that everything will be alright.

We walk a little bit until we reach their home. They live in a building, and the division of the rooms is quite interesting. Many families share the building, like a regular apartment building, but the difference is that they don’t have apartments per se. In each floor there are several rooms, and each family has some of these rooms for each member. Then there are shared toilets in each floor, and a place for taking a bath upstairs, on the roof. I feel like I am in a film, you know?

The girls say we will sleep in another room but not the one they usually stay. I don’t know why. We take everything there and I finally meet their mother. She is lovely but she is a bit suspicious at first. And she is not sure if I am actually a woman, which is quite funny. But luckily soon enough she is convinced.

We chat for a long time. Prashna and Sahara are lovely girls, and I like them very much. We share the same point of view about many things and they being interested in travels, I tell them about some of my adventures, but also try to explain to them how they can also go and explore the world without much money. And how they should because it is a wonderful and very important part of somebody’s life, to explore the world and to discover new cultures.

When we are talking about books, I decide I want to give them the book I have just finished, Full Tilt, by Dervla Murphy. Even though is not one of my favourite books, for different reasons, it is a great story and it breaks a lot of stereotypes about female solo traveller and safety, and about some countries and their culture. Then the girls also decide to give me a book, and it is a gem. They give me Stones into Schools, by Greg Mortenson, the second book of his about building schools for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I am so happy!

Next morning, we go to visit a temple nearby, which the girls want to show me. I take a quick bucket shower when we come back. We then have some breakfast and before I leave, the girl’s mother gives me a bag of homemade popcorn and a box of juice. Popcorn! My absolutely favourite food! I cannot believe it! Neither can the girls when I tell them. The mother is happy with my happiness and I can see that now she is also happy that I came. After saying goodbye to these lovely souls, I resume my journey towards Bhotekoshi.