Title | Exploring the cave and hiking around the southern region of the Kathmandu valley |
---|---|
Start Date | 2010-05-23 |
End Date | 2010-05-23 |
Duration (hrs) | 7 hrs |
Distance (km) | 8 kms |
Hike coordinator | Adam Manandhar |
Participants | Adam Manandhar, Anup Paudyal, Ashish Tuladhar, Awanish Ranjan, Badri Adhikari, Binod Raj Pathak, Chandani Shrestha, Rajeev Shrestha, Raunak Tuladhar, Satyajit Shah, Shilpa Shrestha, Shreejana Prajapati, Subin Shrestha, Sudeep Ghimire |
Photos by | Ashish Tuladhar, Anup Poudyal, Satyajit Shah, Shilpa Shrestha, Subin Shrestha |
Captions by | Ashish Tuladhar, Anup Poudyal, Satyajit Shah, Shilpa Shrestha, Subin Shrestha |
Report by | Shilpa Shrestha |
Creative Support | Dijup Tuladhar, Prerana Pradhan |
Published Date | 2010-05-26 |
Origin | Location2 | Destination | |
Name | Dhobighat | Manjushree park | Taudaha |
---|---|---|---|
District | Kathmandu | ||
Zone | Bagmati | ||
Longitude | |||
Latitude | |||
Altitude | |||
Recommended Items to See | Hills and locality | Temple, Park and Caves | Lake and birds |
Recommended Places to Eat | Any local hotels, Thakali bhanchaghar |
||
Recommended Places to Stay | |||
Recommended Activities | Hiking and Photo Journalism | Cave Exploring and Photo Journalism | Bird watching and Photo Journalism |
Recommended means of transportation | VAN/Bus | ||
Available means of transportation | VAN/Bus/Bike | ||
Weather | |||
Culture | Influenced by Newari | ||
Distance from previous Location | 6 kms | 5 kms | 3 kms |
Means of Transport | VAN | ||
Duration | 1 hrs on VAN | 2 hrs | 4 hrs |
Shilpa Shrestha recollects:
Back to Cave Days
About Chobar
Chobar is located south-west of the city and the water of the Bagmati River can be seen flowing through picturesque Chobar gorge and out of the valley. Legend has it that when Manjushri drained the Kathmandu Valley of its legendary lake, Chobar Gorge was one of the places he smote with his sword to release the water. As the Bagmati River slices through a wrinkle in the valley floor south of Chobar, it really does look like the work of a neat sword stroke. A path along the west bank scrambles up to the main entrance of Chobar Gupha (Chobar Cave), which Hindus associate with Shiva and Tibetan Buddhists with the saint Guru Padma Sambhava. A Czech team explored it in 1985 for at least 1.2km before pronouncing it the third-largest cave in South Asia. Locals claim it’s connected to Chobar’s Adinath Mandir, the Shantipur temple at Swayambhu, or even Tibet or Varanasi. The Hindu belief, however, is that Krishna created the Chobar Gorge by throwing a thunderbolt that split the mountain. The banks of the Bagmati River on the south side of Chobar Gorge have been paved with steps down to the river. These are used for ritual cleansing and cremations in the Bagmati River.
We were all given torch lights and the group of 14 entered the cave
Unlike other hikes where we have at least 1-2 hrs of drive, in this hike, we got off the van in almost half an hour, and started walking. Just when I was feeling complacent about the pleasant and not so hot weather, the sun came up to exhaust everyone. It did succeed too for a while but soon after that we reached the entrance that led to the cave. We had hired an official guide as we wanted to play safe. We were all given torch lights and the group of 14 entered the cave. Once you get in, there was just no going back; you had to get through the route. The cave somehow reminded me of those hidden tunnel in those fictitious books that used to travel stealthily for some big mission. Of course with these head torches, getting through this passage was not any less than a mission for us. In the initial minutes itself, we sensed how tough the coming hours would be. In such a narrow path, we all had to sit and drag ourselves forward. While we were already fretting, we realized that the difficult ones were still ahead. The cave architecture required us to stoop, crawl, lie on our stomach, jump off the tall rocks and twist the body in all possible ways. All weight on our knees, elbows or palms was such a distress that people yearned to sit. With much effort, when we had somehow managed to pass it, we saw a dead end only to realize that we had to get back. So that meant climbing the rock that we jumped off, getting through the same narrow hole where weight mattered (stressful for the slightly healthy ones, eh?). No matter how agonizing the adventure was, stopping was not an option as one had to catch up the trail forward. Amidst the chaos, we never forgot posing for picture after all we needed to preserve memories of such an eventful experience. After 3 hrs of continuous exploration, finally we reached a point where our elbows and knees got respite and we could stand back to our feet. After getting back into form, we all saw light at the end of the tunnel, quite literally this time around. After the last bit of stooping and crawling, we got out of the cave to see how muddy and dirty each of us was.
…when Manjushree, cut the rock at Chobar with his sword and released the valley’s water
After getting some rest and washing off the dirt, we headed towards Taudaha. Another interesting story says that when Manjushree, cut the rock at Chobar with his sword and released the valley’s water, thousands of snakes were supposed to have been swept out of the valley – leaving behind the snake king Karkotak who still lives close to the gorge in a pond called Taudaha. However we saw only fishes in the lake. Few of us fed the fish, few went to see the birds while others just relaxed and enjoyed the scenic view of the serene water.
Then we all realized how drained our energy was. Hence to fuel ourselves, we spotted a Thakali place and treated our empty stomachs heartily with Thakali food. Then this memorable hike came to an end. This day was unlike any other hike, the D2ians had been to and the body sore will certainly keep the hiking spirit alive for few more days to come.
Please click on the image to see its large version.
01 ready for hike
02 traffic jam ma snap
03 morning walk
04 comrades approaching KTM valley
05 first break
06 tori lahure..
07 dil se re….
08 at last… adam ko single photo
09 destination at sight
10 World is ours
11 P T EXERCISE
12 the infamous chobhar ko jhulunge pul
13 picture perfect I
14 picture perfect II
15 the chobar canyon
16 waiting for guide
17 way to adventure
18 all set
19 head gear… check I
20 head gear… check II
21 head gear… check III
22 headlights
23 one with the leading lady
24 parewa gufa
25 parewa gufa Inhabitant II
26 parewa gufa Inhabitant I
27 tough road
28 stuck I
29 stuck II
30 darde disco
31 abui malai darr lagyo
32 all smiles
33 learning to crawl… all over again I
34 learning to crawl… all over again II
35 learning to crawl… all over again III
36 hatti chiryo puchhar adkiyo.. khai puchhar
37 happy dent ad @ cave
38 aba photo khichne palo II
39 aba photo khichne palo I
40 prison break
41 tired..
42 yo k ho
43 monster..
44 mission accomplished
45 peace fellas..
46 dirty job I
47 dirty job II
48 all in a days work
49 pride of a lion
50 ghanti bajyo.. jhutti bhayo
51 staple food for the hikers
52 couple and groups
53 bhakti ma cha sahakti
54 tong tong
55 stairway to heaven
56 map A-B-C-D-C-B-G-I-K-L
57 all natural
58 feel the nature
59 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
60 nature lovers
61 shade from the rain
62 read it carefully
63 taudaha ma
64 catch of the day I
65 catch of the day II
66 la hike ni sidyo…
67 bhok lagyo
68 Thakali Bhancha Ghar
Hiya, I am really glad I’ve found this info. Nowadays bloggers publish just about gossip and internet stuff and this is really annoying. A good website with interesting content, this is what I need. Thank you for making this web-site, and I will be visiting again. Do you do newsletters by email?
Awesome post. I am a regular visitor of your web site and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the nice site. I will be a regular visitor for a long time.
Hello there. I found your blog by means of Google even as searching for a comparable subject, your site got here up. It appears to be good. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks to visit then.
simply n nodoubtly a great and memorable one (Y)
PS: The writer of the report is Shilpa Shrestha rather than Ashish Bhujel.. I think its my mistake 🙂 Hope it will fix soon!
What a nice Write Up ! Kudos to the writer.