Ghandruk Trekking: My Experience

Ghandruk-Dhampus trekking map

Ghandruk is one of the famous tourist’s destinations of Nepal. It lies at the altitude of 2600 m. The circuit gives the splendid view of Mt Fishtail, Annapurna 1, 2, 3 and South, Lamjung Himal and Mt. Manaslu along the coast of Modi River. 
Ghandruk had been my dream since two years back that I made it a reality this year in December. Ghandruk trekking is believed to be the best from Sept-May. We were two making the circuit of Ghandruk-Landrung-Pothana-Dhampus. Initially, we were traumatized by how we will be making it as we never had trekked before. And maybe the reason why, the trek became we had an awesome, unforgetful and exciting one. I had been googling the information on the web since months early as I do not have the habit of walking long. It was written favorable for all types of people so I got the motivation that I can do it and so applies to my friend. The unfamiliar trails never became unfamiliar as we walked because of the warmth and affection of the locals showing us the right way all along. 

Because of having no experience of trekking or even out of Valley alone, I first had thought of arrangements from a travel agent but later we accumulated our "Explore Yourself" nature and headed to Pokhara buying only the bus tickets of Tourist Coach from the agent and nothing else. Searching for the cheap hotel, Hotel KC seemed to be very economical and decided to go there and ask for the room, not the advance booking which we generally did.

Day 1: From Kathmandu to Pokhara

View from Hotel KC

It was 6 in the morning, I left home and met my friend at Kantipath, Jamal, from where the tourist coaches depart to Pokhara @7. There are varieties of choices of tourist coaches to Pokhara with deluxe and standard class of facilities. We opted for the standard which is comparatively cheaper than the deluxe one. The tourist coaches fare normally is $6 but varies accordingly to the coach companies. Besides, there are microbuses and local buses that leave for Pokhara from Kalanki Bus Park at every 30 minutes. It took us about 8 hours drive to reach to Pokhara Tourist Bus Park stopping at 2 places for our breakfast and lunch on the way. It was about 3 in the noon when we finally arrived the tourist bus park. 

From there, Lakeside is about 10 minutes walk and Damside is about 5 minutes walk. If we take a taxi, it costs around NRs 150 to reach the lakeside. Lakeside Pokhara was preparing to host the annual street festival when we arrived there so the price of the room was comparatively higher for the time being. It is just a turn from Damside to reach lakeside so nothing is seemed to be missed. I found Damside area quieter than lakeside which I enjoyed most as I love calmness at night. We did not dine in the hotel instead we dined outside. The dinner was very delicious with reasonable price so for the second day, we decided to have our breakfast there. The restaurant special recipe was the fishtail soup which I wanted to have but since my friend is a vegetarian I missed it. After dining at 7 in the eve, we decided to be back to our room. It was very cold outside. As soon as we reached our room, we dived in our beds and started dreaming for the second day.

Day 2: From Pokhara to Ghandruk

It was cold and foggy morning so we decided to start the voyage little late. At about 8:30 in the morning, we left the hotel and went to the same restaurant where we had dined last night. We enjoyed our breakfast with the view of the lake where the fogs from the surrounding were being disappeared and were going up cleaning up the area like we broom. We asked them about the vehicle to reach to the Nayapul from where the trekking to Ghandruk starts. They told us to take the micro to Hari Chowk or Baglung Bus Park and from there we get the jeeps or buses to Nayapul. 

We did the same and by the grace of God, the bus goes beyond Nayapul,i.e. until the “Qlu” which is the last stop of Ghandruk. From there the Ghandruk village is about 2 hours. It cost us NRs 230 each to reach to Qlu from Baglung Bus park. The drive was bouncy but the view of the majestic Himalayas was breathtaking. We were just staring at the view forgetting everything. We did not realize how fast 3 hours passed and we reached “Qlu” Although the way from Nayapul to Qlu was very bouncy and like snake trail, we watched the local lives along the drive. We saw a herd of Donkeys jumping on the way and groups of trekkers walking with the tired face. I was imagining if I had to walk that long, I would not have made to Ghandruk village within a day. It was around 2:30 in the noon when we reached the Qlu.

Mt fishtail from the way to Ghandruk village

We started walking from Qlu. The way was somewhere plain and most of the place it was steep up. But the spectacular view of Mt. Fishtail, and Annapurna South and Annapurna I made us forget our tiredness. We were more excited to reach the Ghandruk Village. There were lots of national and international flocks of people walking down and up to Ghandruk Village. We, ourselves were competing with the people who were going up to Ghandruk. We wanted to go up first. We rested, we walked, and we had lots of fun. Finally at around 4:30 we reached the gate of Ghandruk village which welcomed us into the village.

Mt fishtail from the hotel room

 The weather was clear and the view was just amazing. Since we don’t know where to reside; we needed to search for the hotel to stay that night. Ghandruk has a variety of hotel option so I figured we don’t need to worry about where to stay. Within a minute walk from the Ghandruk gate, the options for the hotels and the lodges start. We decided to go on further ahead. After 15 minutes of steep up walk, we became too tired and we did not want to move an inch so we decided to ask for the availability of the room in the nearby hotel. Luckily, the hotel had rooms available. The hotel was reasonable and comfy. The noodle soup with the mixture of local ingredients was soul-pleasing as we were craving for food with hunger. The view of the sunset was marvelous that lured us to stay outside even during such cold weather. The mountains turned golden from white and were spectacular. It was my first time to see the mountains so close as such. I was so excited and my heart was jumping with happiness. The dinner was ready by 7. We had our dinner with the guides of the tourists. The vegetables were from their farm-grown so I enjoyed the fresh and delicious Nepali dish. Afterward, we went to have our good night sleep and set for the next days walk.

Day 3: Ghandruk  to Dhampus

Even the will of staying at Ghandruk remained in the heart; we started to march towards Dhampus at 8 in the morning where we were planning to stay for the night. From Ghandruk Gate, there is a landmark showing the way to Landrunk village. We had to pass through small areas of Landrung village, Tolka, Bhedikharka, Deurali, Pothana and finally, we would be reaching Dhampus village. It is the steep downstairs walk, passing through the river and again steep upstairs walk and only then we would be reaching to the Landrung village. It took us about more or less 3 hours to reach Landrung. We became very tired and hungry as we had not had our breakfast except a cup of tea. So we decided to rest and have our petite lunch. We opted for rice and noodle. It was quite expensive but we enjoyed the meal being super hungry. We talked with the owner of the hotel and got much information about them and the village. Then we started walking towards Tolka.
It was the dusty jeep road. Only jeeps go to Landrung and the road had opened just 2 months ago. Walking forth on the way, we reached Tolka, a small village. People got confused thinking us as East Asian tourists. It was funny when we heard them conversing such and we talking aloud in Nepalese. 

Tourists on the way. Most of the way is upstairs

The way till Bhedikharka is plain. There are shortcuts which are like upstairs but we decided to walk on the plain trail. It was about 1 pm when we reached Bhedikharka. Reaching Bhedikharka, we decided to rest for a while and we entered a small shop. I was too thirsty so I enjoyed every drop of water and my friend wanted to have a cup of tea. The owner got impressed by her so she made her cup of tea free of cost. She did not charge her for the tea. She seemed very kind to her. Lucky Girl! Few minutes further,  we had to choose the way to reach Deurali. One was long which was plain, the jeep way and another was a steep upstairs way. The steep upstairs way was the only shortcut taking 1 and half hour walk and other would probably take around 2 and half hour. We opted to take the shortcut. But it took us almost 2 hours of walk. We rested and walked for many times along the way. The way was stone-paved as in stairs in the midst of woods. Finally at 3:20 we reached to Deurali: Pitam Deurali.

The downstairs way to Pothana

Pitam Deurali has a handful of lodges. Not many options to stay and eat. It was quiet relating to the visitors and the owners were staying outside playing the cards. We asked them for noodle soup as we were too hungry. Even the ordinary noodle soup was very tasty then. As soon as we finished our noodles, we started to walk to Pothana.
The way to Pothana was plain and like downstairs somewhere. We did not feel any pain in our feet until then. We enjoyed walking from Deurali to Pothana. There were landmarks from ACAP so there is no chance to get confused or lost in the way. We met a group of people going to Pothana from Lumle down from Deurali.

Pothana Village lodges and environment

 We felt safer as we had to walk between the woods and it was starting to be evening. Within quarter to an hour, we reached Pothana. Pothana has about 13 lodges. The lodges were small and beautiful. It made us feel familiar and very welcomed. It was clean and colorful. I felt it like a happy village from a fairytale story. I enjoyed even passing by there. Dhampus is the next village to Pothana. The way goes down from Pothana to reach to Dhampus. Now my feet are all tired and started to ache. My calves could feel the pain. My friend did not complain at all. I felt envious of her strength to cope with her pain. It did not take us more than 45 minutes to reach to Dhampus. It was not the clear day so the view was blurry. We stopped at the first hotel on our left reaching the Dhampus to ask for the room. We found a room and set for staying there for the night.

Day 4: Dhampus to Pokhara to Kathmandu

We woke up early that day. We had a nice sleep but maybe because of the body ache and feet pain, we could not have a sound sleep. It was good for us though as if we had woken up late, we would have missed such a splendid sunrise. Morning at Dhampus was clear. It was cold but with the sun. The splendid view of mountains from Manaslu in the east to Dhaulagiri in the west is seen from there and in close range that even the camera cannot take the shot of the mountains together. 

Dhampus village during the day

We stayed out of the room and stayed watching the mountains and the local lives in the morning from the garden of the hotel with the Masala tea. This tea which they served was really nice. I never had such tea in my life. I enjoyed the stay at Dhampus most. We left the hotel at 8:30 in the morning. Just a few meters ahead is the bus stop from where jeeps or buses go to Hari Chowk of Pokhara. They have a time schedule of departing and when we reached the bus stop, the jeep was to depart at 9 am. It took us 1 hour exact and NRs 100 each to reach to Hari chowk from Dhampus. We took a microbus from Hari Chowk to Prithvi Chowk paying NRs 15 each. Within half an hour we reached Prithvi Chowk. From there, we took a microbus to Kathmandu.

View of mountains in the morning from Dhampus

The trip was just amazing. I still get the flashback coming in my memory. I enjoyed Dhampus, the most and am planning to make Poonhill-Ghorepani circuit via Dhampus. The more I explored Nepal; I found it more luring. The more I think of Himalayas and mountains, the more I can’t stop my heart to wish to go there. Surely I will be trekking more in the days to come.