In Love with Bandipur

I love my guesthouse because it is family-run and you really feel like part of the family here. Somehow it's so nice and clean and airy here. I sit on the surrounding communal balcony and start a conversation with the interesting mother-daughter duo from the neighboring room. They come from Flensburg, and so I speak German again for the first time in a long time. It's strange. I've long switched the keyboard on my phone to English. The daughter is flat with a feverish diarrhea, so they are stuck here, but completely relaxed. I could imagine worse places for that. The mother is about my age and a supervisor. And so we have really exciting and enriching conversations. We immediately agree on how special solo traveling is and that everyone should have done it once. You learn so much about yourself and meet yourself anew. What is actually my rhythm when no one else is around? When do I like to get up, go to bed, when do I want to eat, how much need for activity or rest do I have, do I want hustle and bustle and people around me or do I prefer to be more myself, do I prefer culture or nature? Not having to make any arrangements and being able to decide completely freely in every moment is genius. On the other hand, as a solo traveler, you have to confront your fears in a completely different way, endure uncomfortable situations and grow beyond yourself. It is a completely different feeling to know that no matter what happens, you are completely on your own and have to deal with the problem alone. Nobody is here, nobody will come and nobody will help. After the first solo trip, you have the inner certainty: I can do anything! And that relaxes a lot. I love traveling. Here I can let go very well, be completely in the moment and live in flow.

While we are talking, a house is being built next door. Uh, a cottage. Yesterday they made the foundation, pouring would be the wrong word, and today they are building without any further drying. I think of Sabine and Susanne, who have just built. What would they think of this? Notice the lush amount of space.

A little later, I am astonished to see these women carrying heavy gas cylinders with a rope on their foreheads. Women and men can be hired here as porters for a meager wage. Phew! That's also Nepal.

And yet I am totally in love with Bandipur.

With my neighbor, I climb up Thani Mai to Gurungche Dasada. The shrine is boring and I couldn't care less about it. But the unobstructed 360-degree view is just as great as described in the guidebook. With good weather, the sunrise outshines the one in Sarangkot effortlessly.

I would love to stay longer, but I notice that I am becoming restless. It will soon be time to move on to another country.