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Hiking Route: Lele to Godavari Date: Feb 01, 2009 Hike Coordinator: Niraj Shah Participants: Upendra Pradhan, Kapil Pandey, Pravinda Ranjit, Bhaskar Shrestha, Abishesh Joshi and Niraj Shah Caption: Niraj Shah and Abishesh Joshi Report By: Abishesh Joshi and Niraj Shah Looking at previous statistics we were expecting quite a lot of participants for this hike as well. But when the final list of participants was compiled, the number came down to just nine. It seemed that D2'ians were more interested in “tough 2-day Night stay out-of-town” hikes rather than “short sweet-feel good” hikes. So, on Sunday, as expected, nine enthusiastic hikers were to show up. But again, some thought the hike would be an easy walk and decided not to join in. Finally, there were six of us, travelling down South to Lalitpur country side. The original plan was to hike up from Lele to BhatteDanda and see the PIA crash site and come back down. But on enquiring locals about the hiking trail, we came to know that the short-sweet-feel-good hike would be too short to feel good. So we travelled on, down to the southernmost end of Lalitpur towards Chandanpur in search of an appropriate hiking trail. The search went on for quite a while (till 12 in the noon to be precise). Finally Upendra dai suggested a route he had travelled 12 years back. The hiking trail was from Lele village to Godavari. To get to the starting point we had to travel back down to Lele village, an hour’s drive from where the plan was conceived. So, back inside the van and towards Lele. Lele finally and Godavari another four hours of walk…but does Upendra remember the trail he walked 12 years back? We all liked to believe that he did…and so we all followed his lead through ups and downs and didi ko pasal and beer ko glass and Mankamana temple and fighting the Ultraviolet assult with our improvised UV protection goggles :-P (See the picture below for the UV protection goggles we mean). And after 4 and half hours we finally believed that Upendra knew the trail.

01 hike started from naag dhaha	02 reflections on still water
03 ka bata Kachuwa Kha Kharayo Kharayo ko	04 bamboo fences around love huts
05 Slum Dog Bankrupt	06 .SlumGoats NoMoney
07 Smile and ever lasting smile	08 nakaruana ma hike ma chu
09 love huts	10 Beeesssst Hiker
11 naagraj	12 on the way to chandanpur
13 Upendra leading the hike	14 reluctantly he walked
15 believe it or not	16 oops wrong turn
18 this is how we survived (UV Protection)	19 the team had no clue where to start
21 I`ve got a bike, You can ride it if you like, It`s got a basket, A bell that rings, And things to make it look good	21 trail to Godavari
22 a these boots are made for walking	23 marching towards godavari
24 The curious case of Bhaskar Shrestha	25 Is this the trail I wallked 12 years back
26 Ohh yesss	27 Abishesh with his tools
27 practicing survival skills	28 Not high enough for a bungee dive
29 Guys follow me	29 that hill is still a long way away
30 tori baari ma ho tori baari ma	31 country side lalitpur
32 Green fields and blue sky...	34 Lele village - ward no
35 Upendra still leading	36 a Even tough hikers need a break
37 Bhaskar is happy with his new look	38 yo baato kaha jaaney ho
39 interesting landscape	40 Under construction - no steel frames
41 this picture reminds me of somebody	42 manakamana temple on the way
43 Mini Mankamana	44 the great KP
45 look who is in the mirror	46 time to climb up the hill
47 not again Upendra is still leading	48 bhaskar trying his best
49 hmmm still a long way	50 Niraj is exhausted
51 the trail	52 finally we reached at the top
53 sweaty Upendra	54 wild-fire
55 going down-hill	56 ohh yea we reached
57 time to pose for the pics	58 what we still have to walk to reach Godavari
59 into the woods	60 on the way to Godavari
61 at godavari	62 Different view