Bandipur is a hilltop settlement in Tanahun District in Gandaki province of Nepal. Bandipur was established as a point of trade by Newar traders from Bhaktapur and became an important stop along the India-Tibet trade route. I wanted to break up the long bumpy bus ride (7.5-8 hours) from Pokhara to Kathmandu, so I decided to spend a night in Bandipur. Bandipur is not along the main road between Kathmandu and Pokhara so a transfer is needed at a town called Dumre. 

Bus fare: NPR 30

The bus station departing to Kathmandu from Pokhara is Prithivi Chowk. If you are staying at the Lakeside area like I did, walk to the nearest bus stop and get on a bus that goes to Prithivi Chowk. There were a lot of practising on how to pronounce the word correctly so I can asked. 

Bus fare: NPR 300

Prithivi Chowk is like a big intersection and buses were grouped by where they were heading to. Then there were more asking where to find buses to Dumre. I tried to pay the exact fare when possible to avoid change. When unavoidable and the bus conductor didn't have the change with him/her at the time, he/she would return the change when one gets off the bus. I was the only foreigner in the bus and the bus conductor came to let me know when the bus approached Dumre. 

Bus fare: NPR 100, duration about 30 minutes (plus waiting time for bus departure)

Taxi cost: NPR 600 and takes about 15 minutes. 

As the bus I was on went to Kathmandu from Pokhara, the public bus or taxi to Bandipur was on the right side of the road. i.e. I had to cross the road to the opposite side. The buses and taxis stopped in front of a shop named Just Chill. 

Bus fare: NPR 100

To get back to Dumre, the earliest public bus departs from the bus stop just outside the village at 8:30 am, on hourly basis. 

Bus fare: Between NPR 600 to NPR 900 depending on haggling skill, duration about 4.5 hours

Once I got off the bus, 3 touts approached me. They followed even though I tried to move away. They even flagged down a minivan to Kathmandu and told me that it cost NPR 850. The staff at the guesthouse in Bandipur told me that the price is NPR 600. I knew that as a foreigner I would be charged more and I would not be able to haggle down to the same price of NPR 600. I agreed to NPR 850 and got on the minivan. This minivan I got on took about 4.5 hours to get to Kathmandu, inclusive of 2 food and toilet breaks. 

I paid NPR 1000 and the conductor gave me a change of NPR 100 on arrival in Kathmandu. I was expecting a change of NPR 150. When I told the conductor that the change wasn't enough, he ended up giving me an additional NPR 250. It turned out that the touts told the conductor to charge me NPR 900, told me the fare was NPR 850 but the actual fare was NPR 650. 

I got on a random bus that brought me closer to Thamel on arrival in Kathmandu, then walked the balance of the way back to the guesthouse.

Bandipur is free of traffic so the bus would stop at the entrance of the village. 

The bus arrived at Bandipur in the afternoon. After checking in and lunch, I started my wander around. I have at least half a day and felt that I could made it to at least Tundhikhel, Mini Great Wall Bandipur, Thani Mai temple and walk around the village. 

There are many restaurants and shops along the main street. Kind of like old city square. 

This is a sprawling open ground offering panoramic views of the surrounding hills. During my visit, there were many students visiting as well as locals having picnic. 

I managed to visit all these places I wanted to but I also spent a lot of time going in circles between the Mini Great Wall and Thani Mai temple. Here's the story how I kept going in circles between these 2 places, so please don't be dumb like me. 

It started off well, I looked up Mini Great Wall of Bandipur on Google Map and followed through. The trail was nice to walk, I passed by many animals and some humans. 

I continued walking till I was told I have reached. It wasn't as clear as the below map when I was in Bandipur. The location point marked as 'Mini Great Wall Bandipur' overlapped with the 'X' mark - which was where I stood. 

I thought I have arrived but it actual location looked like this - picture below. I initially foolishly thought this area was referred as mini Great Wall because of the few stones lining up at the side. It is unlikely that this place is popular if there were just a few stones along the path. I ended up standing around and started googling for pictures to match what I was seeing. 

The good news was Google Maps didn't really lie, I reached but it was along the hill next to it. 

So from those stones, continue walking till the trail branched out. This is what I saw and the path to the Mini Great Wall was opposite to this. There were also walls behind this big tree which I also thought that was the Mini Great Wall at that time. 

Spot the same little hut in the picture below.

I finally found the Mini Great Wall of Bandipur. 

I walked the whole of the wall and reached the building at the top. Spent some time there and then walked back to the village center. 

Thani Mai temple is a small Hindu temple located atop Gurungche Hill. The route to the Thani Mai Temple starts near where the bus stop earlier of the day. It was steps all the way up to the top with resting spots. 

There were a few people already there waiting for sunset. It was windy and got a little chilly as the evening progressed. 

When I saw this temple, I laughed to myself. This was the very temple that I got to at the end of the Mini Great Wall. The same place I left, walked back to the village and walked up many steps to come back to. I took a long time to find the Mini Great Wall, and then went on a merry-go-round to find out that I visited the Thani Mai temple 2 times, back to back.