We stayed near Beni at RiverSide Hotel which is managed by Thakali folks. Thakali is a Nepali tribe well-known for being business-oriented people, they own hotels, shops and so on whereas Sherpas are good in trekking and mountaneering, Magars, Gurkhas and Gurungs are mostly soldiers, outstanding for its bravery in the British and Indian armies.

When we arrived, we are not allowed to go into the office and we did not find out the reason until too late. The militaries are staying in our same hotel as the management is connected to the Royal Nepali Army. The area is a Maoist stronghold and RNA is planning a big operation against the guerrilla. The military base camp nearby was not large enough to lodge the officials so they are having their meetings in the hotel management office. We learned about all this while having dinner in that very same office (the dinning room upstairs was freezing cold).

Ganga and Eka looked nervous and it made us uneasy...we tried to sing our favorite Nepali song (actually, the only one we know the lyrics) Hong Kong Malaie ("Soldier in HK") and the staff of the hotel told us to mind our words...the army generals were hanging around...

None of us slept well that night and the next morning, we packed our stuff at six and left the place and had no breakfast...Ganga was scared to death 'coz he said that the soldiers had led several attacks against the Maoists late in the evening...

We left the place briskly and noticed the villagers staring at us all the way to Beni. We were told that both Maoists and soldiers are disguised as civilians but easily recognizable ' coz of their extremely short haircuts and looks...In the past, they have even killed their own comrades ' coz they were not able to distinguish who was who.

Well, we were the only tourists along the way, ran into a few suspicious men with short haircut and a military checkpoint...The road to Beni takes usually 60 mins. we made it in 35 mins...and did not run 'coz we were physically exhausted after trekking for five days.

We just followed the banks of the Kali Gandaki khola all the way to Beni

The bus trip from Beni took 5 hours. Our bottoms are still in pain... the bus is what it's called in French a "tape cul" and Hindi music playing loudly all the time...By the end of the ride, the tape played a few old Western songs and we went crazy singing along...the whole bus was staring at us...by now, we are used to being stared at.