Budhanilkantha to Sundarijal, Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park, Nepal - July 2015

On my last weekend in Nepal (for this trip …), we set out on the longest hike yet! It felt like a fitting farewell (part 1) to a region I have called home for the past two months… And my two housemates joined in for the first time :) One of our colleagues had done this hike before and without him this would not have been possible ...  He set a good pace that got us through in good time.

A total of around 20 kms (approx. 12 miles) starting from one of the entrances of Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park located at Budhanilkantha. This national park is located north of Kathmandu valley and is probably the closest one from the valley. This being a much longer hike, we decided to start earlier than usual. We left  Ratnapark (old bus park) around 7.15 am and got to our starting point in about 30 minutes in a micro. (Although extremely uncomfortable at times, I prefer using local transportation. It makes you feel like you belong…) But before we got to the starting point of our hike, we visited the temple of Budhanilkantha which houses the statue of the sleeping god Vishnu. 

Then after a very spicy breakfast of samosa tarkari from a roadside restaurant, we set out toward the entrance of Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park around 9 am. It’s a bit of a climb to get to the entrance but it’s a tar road with beautiful views.

There’s an entry fee which varies depending upon your country of origin and what exactly

you plan to do at the park! There's even a fee for helicopter landings!!!

The entrance... 

They seemed to be pretty strict about the entry ticket. There was an army outpost behind the gate where the army officer checked out our tickets and noted our names and countries in his ledger. A couple of foreigners tried to sneak past them but were sent back. I am not sure why they were attempting to avoid a $5 entry fee which is probably peanuts for them. Anyway, our tickets were also checked at our exit point!

Here’s the checklist of its flora and fauna.

The hike was long but not strenuous. The only major elevation gain was when we went up to Nagi Gumba - a local nunnery that seemed to have suffered quite a bit of damage from the quake. The nuns were rebuilding the place when we visited. It was my first Buddhist nunnery and quite a unique experience. 

There’s a small shop where you can buy snacks. We consumed quite a bit of those I’d say :P

We were told the whole area would be infested with leeches. Luckily for us, we were misinformed about the infestation. Along the trail there wasn’t a single leech. We did encounter a few (but more on that later…)

There were cicadas around creating a ruckus. It was so loud that there were moments when I had to close my ears! Apparently, the sound of cicadas is loud enough that it can cause hearing loss in humans if it sings right outside the human ear!!! They can also pierce your skin looking for nectar, if they happen to perch on you and mistake your limb for a tree trunk filled with sap!!! But otherwise these fellows are harmless :P We spotted a few dead ones on the way. 

Other things we encountered...

Indian moon moth (actias selene) - a broken wing 

Himalayan keelback (???) (… If someone can ID correctly, let me know…)

Some other creatures and other things that we came across… 

They need to get a room...

On and on we went, covering kilometer after kilometer at a steady pace. It’s a very dense forest. The day was humid and although it didn’t rain for the better part of our hike, we were already drenched in sweat!

Along the way, we rested, snacked, and drank loads of water since we were sweating buckets!  Since the major landmark, Dharahara, collapsed during the earthquake, our local colleagues were at a loss regarding the location of the other minor landmarks…  A cruel reminder of the recent devastation. Hope it’s built back up soon!

We got some beautiful views of the valley. 

Since it was a Saturday, we encountered quite a few youngsters enjoying the hike. But we tried to steer clear of them as much as we could since they were too loud for us! None of them seemed to be in any sort of hiking gear - not even shoes. People were in flip flops on that uneven terrain. I have found this to be the case even when hiking in India and have always been amazed by the experience. I would have sore feet for sure if I did that. But I guess they are accustomed to it… being from a  mountainous region… Or does it have to do with the poverty in the region? … I don’t know… 

We took a few shortcuts to reduce the very long distance that we had to cover… Some shortcuts were more interesting than others!

After about 2/3rds of the hike, we crossed a bridge under which flowed a strong stream which would probably join the Bagmati river. Apparently, this catchment area provides a a lot of the drinking water to the valley. We were unsure about whether we could wade into the water since this was the source of the drinking water supply. But the water was too tempting and there weren't any overt signs prohibiting entering the river. So we waded into the ice cold water and got some good pictures while we were out having fun while freezing our feet… 

We resumed our hike, only to realize that we would have to once again cross the river because our path was blocked. But our path was on the same bank, so we had to cross and then come back across to join our original path… And this is where the most interesting part of the hike occurred. As we shed our shoes on the shore, we noticed leeches jumping!!!

Not having encountered any on the way, I was taken by surprise! We quickly tried to cross but the current was too strong for us. Ultimately, we formed a chain and crossed while leeches tried to cling on to our legs. A lot of locals were swimming in the river oblivious to the leeches around them…

I was so overwhelmed by the surprise attack that I did not take any photos :( Thankfully, we had salt with us and got rid of the leeches quickly. Not before some of us got bit though… 

Back on our original path, we walked just a bit ahead to get to the dam. It was streaming with locals having fun in the cold water. That’s when the first drops of rain began. The heavy downpour was yet a few hours away….

The dam... 

We then had to climb up slippery steps that were very risky. How people were doing them in regular footwear without much grip is beyond me… I even managed to slip once and get a nice bruise on my hip :(

This seemed to be a tourist site because it was filled with people and garbage. The garbage is conspicuous all throughout my travels in this country. On this particular hike, I encountered anything from food wrappers, to discarded condom wrappers, to used sanitary napkins. I wish I wasn’t so squeamish because I remember wanting to rush through this area since it made me want to puke… Having the ability to observe things that others often miss can be a boon and a curse...

The Sundarijal waterfall (devoid of the people and garbage) was beautiful… 

After getting our tickets checked at the gate again, we bid goodbye to Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park and then descended another long flight of very slippery stairs. Here is when the rains began to gather a bit of momentum. We halted once to get some refreshments. Hiking in the Indian subcontinent, does have its perks… a hot cup of tea is never far away… 

Damage from the earthquake… the water pipe shifted…  

At the bottom of the stairs, we caught a bus to Ratnapark, the old bus park. By then the gray clouds were turning black...

We caught a micro bus to Jwalakhel circle which was so stuffy! The windows were shut since it was raining like hell and we were squished like sardines in there (...borrowing a colleague’s oft-repeated phrase). When we got down, the road was submerged in at least a foot of water. But I don’t regret not taking a taxi home… this was an experience to remember!

Muddy, dirty, and exhausted to the core we made it home by 7 pm! We had hiked for almost 7 to 8 hours that day and walked for almost 20-21 kms! I loved (almost) every moment of it :)  

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...