Traveller’s tales

Traveller’s tales

WE had gone sightseeing at a tourist spot, Ghandruk of Kaski. I am sure that you have heard of it. Perfect place, perfect environment; still, something was missing. It was hospitality, despite it being tourism year which obviously applied to both domestic and international tourists. For the first time in my life, I felt subordinated just for being a domestic tourist. Everything was fine before we reached our hotel, But after seeing our room, we felt uneasy because it could accommodate only three people while it was meant for six people. We accepted it considering that hotels might be expensive in such a place. Later, when we asked for some hot water, the hotel owner told us that it was our “bad fate” that we were domestic guests, and we felt very small. It was because we demanded hot water for free as we had paid for dinner, breakfast and lodging; and they started expressing their dissatisfaction. At first, we thought that the particular hotel owner was stingy or it could be that the tourism year had brought certain frustration among them. But by morning we got the idea that every hotel there was of the same type. They respected foreigners and dominated domestic travellers. The worst part was when they threatened us after dinner that if we did anything wrong in the hotel, they would bring the local boys to take care of us. I have visited various other tourist places, but the night there was the scariest one. We had no complaints about the expensive food, lodging or anything because the place itself was so difficult that it had to be expensive, but we were really dissatisfied by the hospitality there. We were upset by their biased behaviour towards domestic and international tourists. We were shocked to know that no one outside of Ghandruk was allowed to buy land in Ghandruk. They had to use the mule of Ghandruk itself. Okay, that was not our issue as we were certainly not there to buy land, but at least they should have realized how the place’s image would be affected by their behaviour towards domestic tourists. When we talked to other relatives about the place, we found the same dissatisfaction among them. I wonder how they managed to handle the entire tourism year, and what sort of feeling domestic tourists had gathered from there. They would compare us with international tourists every time we said something. “If it had been foreigners, they would have paid us a thousand for this.” “If it had been foreigners, they would not have woken up this late.” And so forth. Their wor
ds made me feel that tourists meant only international travellers with large pockets. I tell you, Ghandruk is a wonderful place; but I would never recommend it to you considering their hospitality.

PUBLISHED IN THE KATHMANDU POST, POST PLATFORM MARCH 9, 2012