Aashish Dutta Koirala
Dashain days had begun. It was the last hike before Dashain vacation on second day (Dwittiya) of Dashain. All the friends were in refreshing mood. So a shorter route and easier destination was chosen for the hike. It was really a refresher hike. Nagarkot is the hill town on Bhaktapur district, lying at the altitude of around 2000m. It is the nearest tourist destination from the valley and is famous for viewing sun rise. A black topped road leads to the town from Kathmandu via Bhaktapur. We chose to reach Nagarkot from ChanguNarayan via Telkot. However, owing to an ordinary mistake on choosing road to ChanguNarayan, we reached Duwakot on vehicle at 8.00 and we had to walk half an hour additional to reach ChanguNarayan. Thus, our route became Duwakot- Changunarayan- Telkot- Nagarkot. It is wonderful that, every hike differs from other. However shorter or easier it becomes, almost every hike is an adventure. This shorter and easier route also became an adventure for us. Walking hours in the incessant rainfall in foggy hills and jungles, the muddy and slippery roads made this hike also an adventure. The rain had already begun before we reached Changu Narayan. We had breakfast at ChanguNarayan. We were expecting the rain to stop. However, with no such symptoms, we moved from there at 9.00. As higher we moved, so colder it was. As we reached Nagarkot at 13.00, almost all of us were soaked and shivering with cold. The fog didn't let us see the beautiful views of the surrounding hills and settlements. It was just walking and walking. We had wonderful lunch at Nagarkot and got back at 14.30. It was 15.30 to get back to home.
