When you travel on a tight budget, paying the bare minimum is a gamble - you could end up in a shithole run by scammers and infested with bedbugs. On the flip side, that same budget can sometimes score you a basic but absolutely wonderful room. That's exactly why I dived into deep accommodation research for my trip to Pokhara, Nepal, when I was still in Varanasi, India.
While scrolling through Google Maps reviews, I spotted a photo of a cute cat at one of the chosen guesthouses. In that moment, I realized that I wanted to stay there.
The photograph from reviews on Google.Maps
Gorgeous, isn’t she?! An orange+tabby cat (a torbie?) with the agouti effect - do you see "the white noise" on her back? That's the agouti thing. Love it!
I met her on the very first day of my stay in the property: she was nesting on a pile of blankets.
However, she wasn't happy about my interest - rather nervous.
And when she heard the click, she jumped up and ran away.
I followed her to establish a connection.
She finally even let me touch her, but she was tense, and as soon as she heard the shutter click again, she ran.
Later that same day, I saw her again, and this time she directly meowed me to leave: "Human, you are making me uncomfortable!"
It was a disappointment. But her reaction is completely understandable: she lives on the grounds of a guesthouse where all kinds of strangers constantly want to pet her. Cats don't like an excess of attention from unfamiliar people.
Yes, that's where the story unfolds - the place called My Beautiful Cottage... Not only the cat but also well-mannered mongrels and hens are present here...
The guesthouse is located in the countryside - a paradise for a cat. So it's no surprise that I didn't see her for several days. And the weather was rainy, so part of the time the pretty cat was obviously hiding indoors in the bungalow of the owner.
In the meantime, I met her admirer:
A cat was screaming, so I went out, and found this tabby Romeo on the straw roof of the owner's bungalow where the family lives and the hotel cat.
Funny thing: he was screaming to let everyone know he was coming, but he was stepping as if he wanted to be unspotted.
Here, he is approaching to the place right above "the blanket nest" of our pretty cat.
Romeo doing his job.
Enjoying his own amazing aroma with a perverted face, lol, and leaving the scene.
A week later, I was getting ready to head to the town for a photo walk when I suddenly noticed the beauty sitting on the fence...
The cat was ready to run away at any moment. She was also disturbed by noisy dogs walking along the road...
I was approaching her slowly, without staring at her, showing her I was interested with something else (but cats know this trick, they often do the same). So she left the fence and walked up the stairs to the second floor of an unfinished building.
Here, she is saying I was making her nervous:
So I sat down on a brick with my face directed in the opposite direction. I was trying to prove I was chilling myself, and eventually she realized I was.
As you see, she returned to relaxing and watching me with curiosity.
Here, she is enjoying the dry and warm weather, resting, although keeping listening to me 'cause you never know...
I believe humans' standing position is weird for cats, like, if we are trying to prove we are large by unnaturally walking on the hind paws, but when we are crouching or sitting low on a brick, this proves we are in the pose of loaf - and the loaf pose means peace, means sharing a beautiful moment of life. Add to this respect to the personal space of cat (keep distance, direct your face and body away from the scared cat), and you have a chance to win her friendship.
After a quarter of an hour being together this way, the pretty cat understood I was well-mannered and conscious of cat culture, so she started appreciating me.
That's where I changed the lens - the kitty decided to come to me and I needed a 50mm to photograph her from a short distance:
She allowed me to stroke her, she was talking to me.
At last, she lovingly pressed her face into my backpack - was "kissing" it as cats do, and that's where I realized I was accepted into her social circle. Not a stranger anymore. 😊
She's saying: Hooman, you are accepted, your cat culture is high, you are beautiful!
We'll see how our relationship develops and what happens between the hotel cat and Romeo the tabby. Stay tuned - more cat stories are coming!
The photos were taken with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G and a Nikkor 70-300mm on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 in March-April 2026 in Pokhara, Nepal