Early Airport scene of Pokhara

Pokhara was the winter home of the Thakalis. In the fall after the Festival lights, when the rains have stopped and nights are starting to be chilly, tea shops used to appear like mushrooms all along the trade routes and in Pokhara. They were hurriedly constructed of bamboo mats with red clay stoves and shelves from the shining copper plates and vessels. There were often benches covered with attractive hand woven rugs where travelers could sit to have their tea or food. Sometimes there were no benches, and we would sit on rugs placed on mats on the floor. Sometimes there were no benches, and we would sit on rugs placed on mats on the floor. The food would be placed on the floor in front of us. Most teashops now have tables and chairs, and signs in English to attract the tourists. Travelers still expect that a Thakali tea shop or hotel will be neat and clean and serve good food. The hostess is generally attractive and friendly, and has come from their cold but dry summer home in the upper Kali Gandaki Valley behind the Annapurnas. This valley leads to Tibet in the north and was the chief route for the salt trade in the past.

Simple Thakali Tea Shop

When I first came to Pokhara in 1963, I got addicted to drinking sweet Nepali milky tea. When on long walks or treks it gave us a rest, and we could start out again refreshed, especially when the tea shop was neat and clean one run by a Thakali. We joked about how we walked from teashop to teashop. The ancient trade routes have become today’s trekking routes. Temporary mat shelters serving as teashops have often become permanent hotels as more business has brought prosperous times.

Thakali mule transport goods with style

The Thakalis have a tradition that they originally came from the kingdom of Jumla to the west, and were of royal stock. Many intermarried with Tibetans and have similar clothing and customs. Like the Tibetans, they use a donkey and mule trains to carry their goods north to their homes. Their location on the Kali Gandaki gave them advantages, because they could collect taxes on goods in transit between India and Tibet, especially salt. They paid the Nepal government in Kathmandu for the right to collect taxes and because they were isolated with a monopoly on the salt trade passing through their area, they were able to become prosperous.

Mules used for transportation and business

When the Tibetan border was closed by the Chinese in 1959 trade stopped and many of the Thakalis left their homes and settled in Pokhara. Some family members usually stayed behind, or a family from even colder Dolpa came to live in and protect, their houses and farms. This had also been the custom when they had set up the winter tea shops along the trade route to Pokhara and the Indian border.

At Marpha the government has encouraged horticulture and fruit orchards. The Thakalis learned how to start a wine and brandy industry, since it is very expensive to export bulky ripe fruit. The orchards have been bearing fruit for some years now and apples can be found in Pokhara that were grown in Marpha and flown in from Jomsom or carried down by donkey train.

In the future the road to Baglung may be extended up the Kali Gandaki and even through Mustang to the Chinese (Tibetan) border. Many local people along the route are very enthusiastic about the prospect but trekkers are distressed at the thought that a favourite trekking route might become a dusty highway with trucks instead of mules. Tourists would be happy to be able to take a bus to Jomsom and even Mustang and Tibet. It would not be an easy road to build and to maintain it in this region of frequent landslides would be even more difficult that keeping the Pokhara to Kathmandu road in condition.

Perhaps the era of leisurely treks to or from Jomsom will come to and end and a period of shorter hikes out from a few large settlements will take its place. Some of us are already nostalgic for the old days when Dr. Mangal Singh used to stop the expeditions and occasional travelers in Tukche to show them the Buddhist temple he was keeping in condition. After getting acquainted he would ask for any extra pills and other western medicines that he could make available to the local people. Some thought he was dishonest because he charged the local people for medicines, but they would not have been able to have them at all if he had not asked for them.

Thakali Women dancing

The Thakalis who settled in Pokhara had the capital to invest in permanent hotels and restaurants. They were the first to start fruit orchards and vegetable gardens there. They have since diversified into chicken farms and are experimenting with producing gobar gas from buffalo manure. With the expansion of trekking many have moved back along the trekking routes to the north and opened permanent restaurants and hotels during the winter season. By nature extroverts the Thakalis have become successful because they are not afraid to try new things.

Journal of Late Dorothy Mierow
(We are very thankful for her contribution to Pokhara, May her soul rest in peace)