Day 1 - The bus ride

Kathmandu to Besisahar

At 7 am I was ready in the hotel lobby waiting for the guide to show up. Anxious? Not a bit, just punctual.
Well, it gets as late as 7:50 am when I start worrying. Maybe I should have checked my emails again last night.
I'm the first customer of the day at the internet cafe downstairs, check the emails, get the agency's phone number and call. "We'll be there in 10 minutes. We're on our way".
Indeed, 5 minutes later Arjun - the agency owner - shows up with my guide. I feel embarassed. Pashupati, which I'll further call Pipi (read Peepee) at Arjun's suggestion - it's not the nickname I gave him, but I can see how the Australian came about to assign it to him :-) - has a small 40l daypack which weighs almost nothing. He's wearing dress pants and a beige cotton shirt.
My daypack is several times heavier than his and the big backpack is not necessarily heavier, but much bigger in volume. Although my hopes for Upper Mustang have faded, I still took bivvy sack and thermarest with me. Maybe I'll get to camp somewhere.

We take a cab to the bus terminal where - after much asking and discussing - we get on the bus. It is 8:30 am.

The bus only leaves at 9 am after many hiccups. For the next hour or so we keep stopping very frequently and I do not realize that the road is going slightly up. The bus is packed, it is very hot and humid. When we reach the top of the hill I can see the deep valley beyond. The steep, very steep slopes are beautifully terraced providing land for cultivatng corn. It's incredible given the steepness. I notice somewhere far down in the valley another road skirting the slopes. Not much later I realize that that is our road.

The road is descending in switchbacks and it's only the mysterious communication between drivers that saves us, I presume. Honking all the way.
On the othr side of the valley we keep descending until we hit the bottom of the valley. The river grows steadily in volume and meanders as the valley widens. On the lower terraces is growing rice.
The roadside is beautifully dotted with red and yellow cannas. There are also some shrubs with beautiful raspberry coloured flowers. No idea what they are. I also notice some cacti with yellow flowers, red camelias (in September!) and some other plants similar to lilies.
The road meanders along the river but soon the valley narrows again and the cultivated land gives way to jungle vegetation. I can see waterfalls through the dense jungle forest.
After 2 short pee breaks along the way we have a lunch break around noon. This is a good opportunity to stretch out a bit. After that we continue along the river.
At some point the road has been swept away by a roaring creek. The water flows freely straight over the washout and plunges down and into the river below. The river is very big by now with muddy dirty water. From time to time there is a suspension bridge across, or we pass a whitewater resort.

We're leaving the main river valley over a bridge and follow the riverbed of a smaller tributary. The road starts ascending again and the ridges are becoming softer than the ones of the previous valley. As the valley widens the rice plantations are also becoming bigger.
The road is only one paved lane by now and every encounter with traffic from the opposite direction is a close encounter, and not just literally. A couple of times buses from the opposite direction have to back off to let us pass.
Did I mention the banana groves? There are many along the road just as there are many vendors offering bananas, apples and other stuff all along the way when we pass through a village or hamlet.
It is 2:40 pm when I see the marker "Besisahar 22 km". We reach Besisahar at 3:48 pm. I am extremely tired. My headache did not go away in spite of the Tylenol I took earlier.

We take our backpacks and go to Hotel Annapurna. It's hard to define a "hotel". The name encompases a very wide range of buildings and/or services. Here, on the first floor, I get room 108. It contains a twin bed with 2 pillows, a chair and a small shelf. There's also an attached toilet with shower. On the toilet tank there's a big Christmas picture stuck. Someone thought of comfort and the homey feeling :-)
I also get a lock to my room. 150 Rs, that is little over 2 USD for the night. Luxury!
Perfect, I have my privacy - it's better than expected.

I tell Pipi that he can do whatever he feels like and so he goes visit a friend. I get ready for a walk after having a shower.
It was nice and sunny all day but now the light is getting softer. I go upstairs to the rooftop from where I have a great view of the surrounding hills and the neighbourhood. I even try to take some pictures. The hillside is covered mainly by rice plantations, just like all the terrain around here.
When I go out for a walk I get assaulted by half a dozen children which, eventually, attack my backpack and take the candies from its side pocket. Lesson #1.

I return to the rooftop and spend the rest of the afternoon till dusk writing in my diary. It's a warm, beautiful evening. When Pipi returns from his visit we have dinner together: daalbhat - the traditonal Nepali dish consisting of steamed rice and a lentil based soup/sauce and some vegetable curry on the side. It tastes very good. Lesson #2.

It is 8:30 pm when I go to bed.

I have seen swallows lined up on the electrical wires today. Lots of them. It's fall!