The Town Today

In the end, the road's alignment may have been a boon rather than a bane. While many Newar hill towns lost their distinctiveness after joining the highway grid, Bandipur retained its originality. Because Bandipur's merchant classes had built sturdily, their buildings stood firm and are today ready once more to house shopsagar and Gurung ethnic groups. On terrace fields, these communities grow millet, corn and mustard. Rice grows on the irrigated fields. Fruit-growing is gaining in popularity, particularly citrus. Women, when not working in the fields, ca, cafes and lodgings. Stretching east-west on its mountain saddle, the town reflects Kathmandu Valley architecture in its pagoda roofs, lattice-work windows, and stone-paved streets. The dwellings are in the form of compact town-houses, built of brick with often-ornate windows and doorways. The roofs are of tin or slate, which is mined nearby. A distinctive aspect of the bazaar is a covered veranda which extends through its entire length, from shopfront to shopfront. The surrounding hills and forests are crisscrossed by easy trails that take the visitors to hilltop shrines, caves, springs and waterfalls. In contrast to the newar town, the hillsides are inhabited by a mix of Hindu castes and the Mn be found weaving cloth and baskets. The Magar and Gurung menfolk have traditionally joined the Gurkha forces in the Indian and British armies.