Universal Religion: Psy trance party in Nepal at the beginning of the Annapurna circuit

The key to getting into most music festivals!

“We’re the security for the trance party. Would you like to see our I.D?” Ram asked us. Usually, we’re asked to present I.D. This was a good rescue.

We were 7 hours away from host farm, Hasera, for one night to catch the end of this party, Universal Religion. One of the worlds highest altitude parties, this year was held in Bandipur, an area where most people jump start to their Annapurna circuit trek.

We were caught with a 1,500 (17 USD, very expensive in local economy) Nepali rupee taxi ride up the mountain from a city called Dumre to Bandipur after night has settle into the mountains. The road was a windy 7km uphill. Half way up, the taxi croaked on us. The driver lifted the hood and started fidgeting with the engine pulling out god-knows-what from who-knows-where in the engine block. The engine would not start. Other cars passed by roaring up the bend. More failed monkey mechanics and the driver calls someone.


As he was on the phone, we hear another car approaching. We took out the headlamp to shine the road to make sure people knew were right around the bend so they wouldn’t hit the passed out car. As the car rounded the corner, the headlights split up evolving into two sleek black motorcycles with even sleeker helmets and riders. They stop.

What coincidence that we ran into the head of security for the trance party! Ram, his name was. They threw us on the back of their bikes and we finished the last half of the ride on their motorcycles.

We turn left onto a dusty bump road and started seeing signs of tourists and Nepalese alike wandering abouts the gate of the party.

The stage at night

“They have no one day tickets” Ram informed us. “However, we are in charge of the wrist bands, so if you like, you can pay us 5,000 rupees.” That came up to 58USD. The normal ticket was 100USD. We agreed. We also think he just banked that money as private sale. We’re not concerned. We saved money.
Police lined the entrance but Ram got us in without checking bags. A bit redundant to have security and police carrying rifles the size of their body.

The first people we spoke to, after eating some food, (it’s been about 12 hours). “What the *** are the organizers thinking?! Those wankers had 4 toilets for guys and 4 for girls for a party of 4,000 people. And they have no water to wash our hands with!” Justin and Simon both complained. 2 British guys, well seasoned into the party life.

We had a good laugh and then checked the washrooms. And what the **** are the organizers thinking?! Those toilets were FILLED to the BRIM with not only the usual toilet stuff, but of other should not mentions. Camping at the party would’ve been cool until there was no water and no nearby toilets. We were even planning on it, our bivvy sack, sleeping bag, fleece blanket and emergency blanket all part of the day bags.

We started doing the hike down the road to search for a place to stay. And wouldn’t you know, every place is full. It really didn’t come as a surprise though. Our last ditch attempt after an hour of wandering around, we went into the nearest hotel to the party to ask for rooms. Obviously full. But we had to ask anyways. Half jokingly, Christa said “Can we just sleep on those couches?” (In the lobby)

Yes, best hotel room ever.

The receptionist looked at us all weird. We started walking out and he called us back in. He lead us into the luggage storage room opened the door to reveal a mattress. “You can stay here for 500 rupees.” That was about 6 USD. With a washroom nearby in the lobby, that is all we needed. We put down our day packs and headed into the party.

The main (and only) stage had a… uh… flower? column? covering the dance floor. As far as trance party designing goes, South Africans have a pretty intense decor reputation set out for them. And so a South African designed the stage for the party. It was magnificent and indescribable.

The music was, well, psy trance. Too bad it wasn’t progressive or goa that we both enjoy more. But at this late at night - or early in the morning - deep psy was pretty called for. Everyone was jiving to the heavy bass. Lekker… Finally a legit party and to make it more epic, it was at the jumping off point to the Annapurna Circuit. A high altitude party. Ha!

In the daylight, we had to figure our way down the mountain (7km of windy road), find a bus to Kathmandu, find a bus to Banepa and then find a bus to Hasera farm – 7 hours away.

Stage during the day on tear down

We strapped our sandals, hiked up our bags and started marching down as the other party go-ers lined up for the bus that never came. Not too soon after we started walking, a jeep pulled up. Filled with party people shoved in the front, the back seats, and the bed of the truck. We hopped on the back. Ian couldn’t fit as there were too many people. So he stood with one leg in the bed, and held onto to the roof rack of the jeep. The road wasn’t only windy, but also very bumpy. It was quite the work out to hang on.

Getting down to Dumre again wasn’t so bad, and finding a bus to Kathmandu was even easier. 4 hours later we landed in Thamel, the hipster and touristy part of Kathmandu. We went back to our favourite Korean restaurant. Really, the only Korean restaurant we knew. We were craving MEAT. “SLAUGHTER A COW AND LEMME AT ‘IM!!!” screams the stomachs. Except we got pork, sam gyeop sal. Whoo!

Ian hitching a ride down the mountain

We called our host father at the farm, who was in another part of Nepal on a business trip. “All the buses to Hasera have stopped running now.” Govinda said. We were caught in Kathmandu for the night. Not a big deal, we already knew the Thamel area and knew exactly where we wanted to go stay for the night. Thamel Guest House.

The first time we went there, the bar owner, Biki, told us about the party and said that he’d be there. So we went to him. And wouldn’t you know, Ian’s stomach decided to crap out on him from the party food. Ha! Really, isn’t that surprising.

We didn’t stay the guesthouse the first time because it was a little manky. But this time, we did. 400 rupees. Winning! Until we turned on our lights to see the room afterwards. There was load-shedding at the time, so the lights at the hotel didn’t work.

(Load shedding: When certain parts of the city shuts down electricity for a certain time for other parts of the city to have power)

We saw the state of the room and it was the mangieous rooms ever. We would’ve rather stay in the storage compartment. The carpet was stained with years of wear. The bed was clean-ish, but we revealed the stained sheets. The washroom leaked something awful. The walls everywhere was peeling and clearly poorly patched up. The water from the tap had physical debris flowing out. And the shower tap kept leaking to leave a fresh puddle of water on the floor. Whatever, it was one night.

Ian passed out immediately while Christa stayed up to people watch.

The next morning, we came crawling back to Hasera. We missed Mito’s food and Govinda’s uplifting and never-ending humour. And it was time to get Ian better, again.