ICIMOD Knowledge Park @ Godavari, Kathmandu, Nepal - July 2015

This Sunday I got a chance to finally visit ICIMOD’s Knowledge Park @ Godavari. Being exhausted and a little sore from the long hike to Sundarijal the day before, I was looking forward to a leisurely stroll in the knowledge park in Godavari. And the friend who accompanied us was well-versed with a lot of the flora in the area and in general about the biodiversity of the region - so that was an added bonus. 

We first caught a taxi to Satdobato (and for the first time in two months, the driver actually charged by the meter!… getting a hang of this place, I’d say!) Then we caught a micro to Godavari which was the last stop. After a good breakfast, where I was taught the art of flawlessly peeling boiled eggs, we set out towards the knowledge park.

The gate seemed locked but in reality wasn’t!!! After working out the lock meant to fool the novice, we headed in to the beautifully maintained park.

The main entry way

The main office

 The map of the area

                       The cicada camouflaged on the bark                                

Giant earthworms

                              Cicada exoskeleton                

 Some sort of solar heating equipment

 Loads of mushrooms around there

 Bricks and cook stoves

 There were a whole lot of slippery mossy stairs... 

 Beautiful flowers out there!

 Beautiful flowers with nectar for butterflies...

We also ran into a naturalist, Karen Conniff, who has published some handy guides on:

Godavari Butterflies

Godavari Dragonflies

We took a long break from an overlook where we could view the snow clad mountains far away in the distance. It was an almost clear day so we got some very good views with a layer of smog just below. 

We ventured a little bit into the thick canopied forest always on the lookout for leeches, which we did encounter!

The cicadas were everywhere but there were also some birds… beautiful and serene even in the midst of the cacophony… the thick canopy was beautiful.

Thanks to a dear dear friend, I got to check this off my list of places to visit before the end of my first trip to Nepal!   

Hiking to Namo Buddha, Nepal - July 2015

This Sunday, the plan was to do the 16 kilometers round trip to Namo Buddha starting from Panauti. This is the same direction as Dhulikhel to the east but a bit more southwards. 

We started out around 8.30 am from the old bus park in Kathmandu and commandeered all the seats at the back (which was a good thing as I was not looking forward to old men pretending to fall asleep on my shoulder). But before we even got to the bus station, we managed to get a flat tire with the taxi that we caught from home. That was an amusing experience. The taxi driver just hops out and starts changing the tire without even saying a word. And I was still in the car! Apparently, I don’t weigh enough to need to get out of a car to change the tire :-/ 

The bus ride that cost NPRs 60/- was long and dusty but with beautiful views. And this time, owing to the lack of clouds, I managed to get a full view of the Shiva statue!

Still not clear but the statue is right in the center!

From Banepa, the route turns southwards rather than going straight east toward Dhulikhel. The bus stop has some interesting shops.

Finally at around 10, we reached Panauti and had breakfast (the second one for the day!) at this little place. But beware! the place has really bad toilets! 

With that began our hike from Panauti to Namo Buddha located at an elevation of 1750 meters (approx. 5741 feet). We gained about a 1000 feet during our 8 kms ascent, since Panauti is at around 1450 meters (approx. 4741 feet). The initial walk was along a tar road until we reached the settlement at the foothill of Namo Buddha. With the sun scorching down on us and not a sliver of clouds in sight, we were sweating buckets within a few meters of starting from Panauti. The green paddy fields and the towering trees helped cool the way a bit ...

After about 3-4 kms, we finally reached the settlement from where the actual  ascent was to begin. With Namo Buddha so far away, a speck in the distance, I was not sure how we were ever going to make it. We also lost our way once and had to retract our steps. Just FYI, there’s a spot where we need to turn left in order to go toward Namo Budhha.

This is a useful landmark to know where to turn. Hopefully, it won’t be taken down anytime soon.

Another landmark is this huge tree out here but then there are quite a lot of trees out there :P

After this we passed through this really narrow, slippery, tree covered patch that brought some welcome respite from the heat. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture :(

After that it was a steady upward climb for about the rest of the 5 kms. But it was a wide kaccha road that seemed motorable. On our way back we saw this man on a motorbike with three young kids hanging on to him. Didn’t manage to click a picture again! Up and up we went, chugging water along the way. By the last leg, most of us were probably pulling on the last bits of energy. And then we encountered some almost vertical stairways! 

But on the other end lay our destination! First was this stupa. 

Belatedly, I realized that this was not the top. There was another steep stairway to go until we reached the monastery! There are quite a few sights to take in at the top.

The view from top. We came from way down there!

The monastery (inside)

The monastery (from the other side)

The tiger’s den 

The story goes that Buddha gave his body to a hungry tigress who had just given birth to cubs and was, in turn, reborn. Here’s the full story… This is what makes this place one of the holiest pilgrimage sites for Buddhists. 

We even got to attend a prayer meeting at the monastery. The music was beautiful. Religious chants have a way of hypnotizing you… The monks were lined up in some sort of a hierarchy with the older ones in front, followed by younger and teenage monks and then the little ones… I felt too sad watching those monks preserving a culture whose very existence is being threatened…

We were then served mango juice! Actually the whole place around the main Buddha statue was filled with juice boxes and food which I think was served after being worshipped (or something…)

Post our mandatory spiritual experience (we were at a holy site after all and we had hiked 8 kms to get here!), we went in search of much needed replenishment.

After gulping down one plate of wai wai noodles and eggs (3/4th for me) and another plate of wai wai sandeko (dry noodles mixed with spices), we set out for our return journey. The sun was still shining bright but it was past 3 pm and we needed to catch a bus back from Panauti. So, we rushed back. The clouds started to gather and it seemed that we might get some rain on our way down. But the rain gods were not going to grace us with their presence that day. Just as well… because a rain drenched hike would have been extremely difficult in this terrain. The locals do the hike to Namo Buddha in slippers and thin soled shoes!

Once we reached the settlement, we managed to hitch a ride on a school bus headed toward Panauti. It was probably illegal and the driver charged us NPRs 25/- each. But it saved us another 3 kms and probably an hour of walking. The sun was now on its way to set and the light was soft and beautiful, giving breathtaking views once again. 

At Panauti, we managed to catch a bus back to Dhulikhel, again commandeering the last seats. And finally made it back to Kathmandu around 7 pm. I also rode in my first mini-bus watching the conductor hanging out of the door almost all the way.

All in all, we had hiked about 13-14 kms … but the journey, the view from the top, the monks and their prayers made it worth it…  

Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal - June 2015

After Boudha Stupa, our next stop was Pashupatinath Temple. It’s walking distance from Boudha stupa through a kaccha (unpaved) road. We, apparently, entered it through the hills on the other side where you climb a stone stairway to reach the banks of the Bagmati river.

It reminded me of being on the banks of Ganga in Haridwar. Although not as elaborate as Har ki Pauri, it reminded me of the serenity of the temple without the throng of visitors. There were locals present but they were mostly “hanging out.” Post-earthquake the tourism has taken a hit and that has enabled me to take leisurely strolls around tourist sites that would otherwise induce claustrophobia! 

The temple was beautiful...

We even made some friends...

It started pouring heavily on our way back, so we even got to see a waterfall!

Bouddhanath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal - June 2015

Bouddhanath Stupa is a Buddhist Stupa (a hemispherical structure containing relics, mostly Buddhist relics), one of the largest in the world. I didn’t get to see the real deal as you can see from the picture below - it was surrounded by wooden scaffolding following the Gorkha earthquake, mainly to protect it from collapsing I guess.

But it's steeped in history, right? And on the bright side - I'm told it's overflowing with tourists otherwise! Our leisurely walk would have been impossible in a hundred years. It was dirty as usual though. It's a UNESCO heritage sight! … As our most of the tourist sites here. Entry was free and then a friend suggested we go to one of the rooftop restaurants to get a better view. we did  in fact get a better view but at the cost of NPRs 250 for a drink! again on the bright side - it was a mint lemonade drink and it was refreshing and rehydrating on a heatstroke inducing scorchingly sunny afternoon :)

And in case you need underwear, it's sold right opposite the Stupa!

To remind myself of what I missed, I made a sketch of the Stupa without the scaffolding :)

Hiking in Dhulikhel, Nepal - July 2015

So there I was at home thinking I’d be spending a relaxing weekend at home on the 4th of July weekend and reminiscing about the long weekend getaways in recent years. I was pleasantly surprised when I learnt about a short hike in Dhulikhel that a group of friends/colleagues at ICIMOD, the organization where I’m interning in Kathmandu, had planned.

With that began my first hike in Nepal!

We caught a bus early morning to Dhulikhel, a tourist town east of Kathmandu - two hours by the local bus. When we hopped on the bus at the old bus park in Kathmandu, it was empty but as we moved along it got way overcrowded and the conductor kept cramming more people in. Overcrowded buses in mountainous terrains … a recipe for disaster! A report on a recent accident… a harsh reminder of the value of human life in these regions.

It was about a 2 hour bus journey with some beautiful views of the surrounding hills and even a glimpse of the world’s tallest statue of Shiva - Kailashnath Mahadev Statue - located at the border of Bhaktapur and Kavrepalanchowk, about 20 kilometers from Kathmandu. Given the mist surrounding the region, initially what I witnessed was a giant head floating in the clouds … if that doesn’t make you believe in the powers that be, then nothing ever will! 

A 44 ft tall Lord Shiva is on top of the hill

It is also rice planting season apparently!

Around 10 am, we jumped off the bus to have omelet toast at a local restaurant. The food was great … the restroom not so much. The rare occasions I wish I was a guy - the luxuries of standing and peeing and not needing to sit on a filthy commode. On the brighter side, when we need to take a dump, we are all equal :) [There is good news for those not born with a penis though - check out P EZ]

After a good breakfast, we headed off further west towards a village that I think was called Bhattedanda. A friend had stayed in one of the Homestays here and suggested we first stop by there to pre order our lunch on the way back. That was a good plan because we chanced upon a guide to show us the way! It was pretty hot and humid but overcast with no rain. Hiking in the rain would have been impossible and it seems the weather gods were smiling down on us!

It was a wide path, not too muddy or rocky and with a steady incline which made it quite manageable in spite of me being out of shape. Not much of fauna but a whole lot of flora! I have often missed the greenery of the monsoon in the Indian subcontinent…

We even picked up a canine friend along (who abandoned us half way!)

We took a route that is taken to go to Namo Buddha but we did a much shorter hike.

After about an hour and half into the hike, we finally took a long rest stop at a tea/cold drink shop. And then as the grey clouds began to gather, we quickly started heading back. On our way back we encountered the helipad that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to land for the SAARC summit held last year.

That’s when the rains began. The rest of the hike was downhill and the rains had made the trail really muddy and slippery. But it was easy going. Although it drizzled at first, it slowly built up to a heavy downpour. Thankfully, the downpour began when we were 10 minutes away and managed to escape the worst of the weather. A wholesome lunch later, we walked back to the Dhulikhel bus stop to catch another overcrowded bus to Kathmandu. The views on the way back were just as beautiful...