Enchanting Nepal… Naturally
Finally one of the dream journeys came true. Both my pal Hareesh and I had planned a Nepal tour for sometime now. Hareesh who works in Dubai scheduled his holidays in India close to my long weekend in February 2009, to tour Nepal together. Planning the itinerary by scanning websites like www.wikitravel.org was, mostly done by Hareesh. We planned to meet in Kathmandu on 19th February. My pal Shailesh, who hails from Nepal, had given me his kinsmen’s contact numbers incase we need any help in Nepal. I left Delhi by the 3 p.m. train on 18th February towards Sagauli Junction in Bihar. My ticket was in waiting list and I had to travel without a confirmed berth. My Bihari co passenger offered me to share his berth, but I didn’t trouble him and made myself comfortable on the floor. His words still ring in my ears. “Aap lethiyenaa.” When I refused to accept he said, “Aap lethiyenaa, aap ko to pardes janaa hain, hum to apne ghar jaa rahe hain aur jaakar aaram karengein” – “You can share this berth with me, you are on a travel outside and need rest. I am not bothered about the inconvenience, as I will be reaching home tomorrow morning and can rest peacefully.”
Finally one of the dream journeys came true. Both my pal Hareesh and I had planned a Nepal tour for sometime now. Hareesh who works in Dubai scheduled his holidays in India close to my long weekend in February 2009, to tour Nepal together. Planning the itinerary by scanning websites like www.wikitravel.org was, mostly done by Hareesh. We planned to meet in Kathmandu on 19th February. My pal Shailesh, who hails from Nepal, had given me his kinsmen’s contact numbers incase we need any help in Nepal. I left Delhi by the 3 p.m. train on 18th February towards Sagauli Junction in Bihar. My ticket was in waiting list and I had to travel without a confirmed berth. My Bihari co passenger offered me to share his berth, but I didn’t trouble him and made myself comfortable on the floor. His words still ring in my ears. “Aap lethiyenaa.” When I refused to accept he said, “Aap lethiyenaa, aap ko to pardes janaa hain, hum to apne ghar jaa rahe hain aur jaakar aaram karengein” – “You can share this berth with me, you are on a travel outside and need rest. I am not bothered about the inconvenience, as I will be reaching home tomorrow morning and can rest peacefully.”
On 19th morning my train reached Sagauli Jn. By 10:30 a.m. by a 2 hours delay. There I waited 1 hour to catch another train to Raxaul and reached Raxaul by 12:30 p.m. Crossing the border by the dusty roads in Raxaul was not a pleasant experience. Raxaul is a town in Bihar close to Nepal border town Birganj. I crossed the border in an Auto rickshaw and reached Birganj. From Birganj I got a seat in a Tata Spacio, which started at 1:45 p.m. towards Kathmandu. Hareesh must have reached there by this time. So I didn’t waste time there looking for tourist bus. Though the route from Birganj to Kathmandu was extremely scenic I could not really enjoy the sight from the fully packed small vehicle. Moreover the road was very bad. Virtually there wasn’t any road but stones and sand. Probably the driver chose this route to reach Kathmandu quickly. I was struggling to have a nice view of the high mountains. The narrow path was dangerous too as it has some sharp turns and is very narrow at some points. Night traveling by this route would be a bad idea. I reached Kathmandu by 8 p.m. and with the help of a co passenger, reached our hotel in Thamel area. He hails from Bihar and visits Kathmandu every month. He had to travel somewhere near Thamel and he made sure that I reached the hotel safely. I was eager to see my pal Hareesh. We reached the hotel by a taxi from the bus stand in Balaju. Hareesh was in the hotel. We described our travel experience briefly to each other. Hareesh had to travel via Sharjah and to reach Sharjah airport early in the morning he had to leave his home on 18th night to stay with his friend who dropped him to the airport. Hareesh had reached Kathmandu by 1 p.m. and after taking rest spent time walking the streets in Thamel area. We walked out and had dinner from ‘Thakkali Restaurant’. The streets were all lit up and looked beautiful. Thamel is a tourist hub with many hotels and dance bars. We returned to the room and started planning our next step. Electricity went off only to come back next morning and we went to bed.
On 20th morning we started towards Pashupatinath temple. From Thamel we went to Ratna Park by a cycle rickshaw to catch a micro van to Pashupatinath. Ratna Park area was fully crowded. We reached Pashupatinath in 20 minutes. After having breakfast we entered the temple. A big statue of Nandi, the holy cow, was situated on the front side of the ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Inside was a four head sculpture of Lord Shiva. There were a lot of small temples in and around the temple. Non-Hindus are not allowed to enter the temple and we could see tourists taking photos and watching from outside. There were many sadhus inside the temple and most of them were nude. They had applied ash all over their body. I wonder if they spend the chilly winter nights in the same manner. I never saw them before in full public view though I had heard about them. The preparation for the Mahasivaratri celebrations was going on. After spending time watching, taking photos, and listening to a bhajan, we headed to Boudhanath, a holy place for the Budhists, which is 3 km far from Pashupatinath. Here you need a ticket to enter inside and there are shops, which sell paintings & antique items. On one corner of the shrine people were engaged in a kind of prayer similar to Surya Namaskaram. After rounding the shrine we came out. We wanted to go to Swayambunath temple, which also is a Shiva temple and 8 km far. But we changed the plan due to lack of enough time and returned to Ratna Park after lunch by a micro van. We started walking the Durbar Marg towards Durbar Square, which is close to Ratna Park and Thamel. Ratna Park area was fully crowded and it continued till the Durbar Square. Wandering the Durbar Square area was a nice experience. There were many small temples including Hanuman Dhoka and Bhimsen temple, which is a 5 minutes walking distance from the Square through a crowded street. There were many antique shops on the street. This place seems to be the favourite spot of tourists. After spending time in Durbar Square we walked to our hotel in Thamel and checked out. By a micro van we reached Balaju Bus Park to catch a night bus to Pokhara.
The last bus to Pokhara started at 7:30 p.m. and we reached Pokhara old bus stand before dawn on 21st. The night bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara halted at many points for hours. Our co passenger Babu, a Nepalese guy suggested that we visit Sarangkot in Pokhara and gave his friend Om Thapa’s phone number for any help we needed as he had some other business on that day. We spent some time on the bank of the beautiful Phewa Lake, which is 3 km far from the Pokhara old bus stand. Mountains surround the large lake and the view is panoramic. We met Om Thapa who suggested how we could reach Sarangkot. Sarangkot is a 1592-meter high hill from sea level and 6 km far from Pokhara, from where one can have a view of the Annapurna Peaks and Machapuchare Mountain in the Himalayas. From Om Thapa we come to know that it will take 3 hours to reach the hilltop by trekking. I was eager to walk to the hilltop and Hareesh also agreed. We started walking through the fields by the lakeside and reached the bottom of the hill. Slowly we started climbing the hill, taking regular breaks for refreshment. We weren’t bothered by the fact that we didn’t have proper sleep last night and a proper breakfast. We started climbing the hill with enthusiasm and met a few tourists climbing down the hill. The lower and upper part of the hill is populated and the scenery is excellent. At one point someone told us that we have traveled only half the distance. By then we had already walked for more than 2 hours. Soon we felt tired and ahead us saw a steep path in the sunshine. Hareesh stepped back to the shadow of a tree and I followed. A girl approached us and asked if we are hungry she can provide food at her home. We hurried to her house to satisfy ourselves with a tea. Her brother and grandmother were in the home. They asked us to wait till they prepare food. As we are short of time we started climbing again after a brief chat with them in broken English and gestures. We could see many paragliders floating in the air. We saw a restaurant and fed the hunger with some porridge. After some rest we carried on. Just close to the paragliding point the hike is steep and we made it step by step and reached the top of the hill. 6 hours has passed since we started our walking. There is an entry ticket to reach the top most area of the hill. And finally we saw the other side of the hill. Till now we were enjoying the beauty of the Phewa Lake and the valley nearby. Now we could see the mountainous region on the other side. Unfortunately a cloudy sky covered the spectacular Annapurna peak and Machapuchare Mountain, a common view the Sarangkot hilltop is popular for. There, on the hilltop temperature was low and we enjoyed the cool breeze and the panoramic view of the surrounding mountainous region and the Phewa Lake. After some rest, we climbed down to a point where we boarded a bus to Pokhara. The last bus from Sarangkot to Pokhara left at 4 p.m. We reached Pokhara new bus stand and headed to Phewa Lake. After relaxing by the lakeside for some time, we headed to the old bus stand to catch a night bus to Bhairahawa. After a quick dinner we boarded the last bus to Bhairahawa at 7:30 p.m. Again, the night bus halted at places for hours and we reached Bhairahawa at around 6 a.m. on 22nd.
Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, is a one-hour journey from Bhairahawa and we had to wait at Bhairahawa for some time to board the first bus to Lumbini. Among the co passengers to Lumbini were an elderly couple from Kathmandu who were on their first visit to the place. We had an interesting chat with the old man while traveling. We checked in a lodge at Lumbini and after morning dues, visited the Maya Devi Temple and the Sacred Garden. We saw the ruins of BC 3rd century monastery and the Ashoka pillar and a pond near the temple. It is believed that Maya Devi gave birth to Buddha soon after coming out from this pond. Now it is time for us to return and catch the 3 p.m. train from Gorakhpur to Delhi. Hence we could not travel to the nearby Lumbini village and the 25 km far ancient town Kapilavastu. We rushed from Lumbini to Bhairahawa and crossed the border to enter the Indian border town Sunauli in Uttar Pradesh. From Sunauli it is a 3 hours bus ride to Gorakhpur. We boarded the 3 p.m. train and relaxed our way back to Delhi. On 23rd early morning we reached Delhi. There I parted with Hareesh who was scheduled to leave for Kerala on the next day.
