On July 3rd,2022, the DWIT hiking club conducted a one-day hike to Namobuddha, a sacred Buddhist pilgrimage place. A total of 19 participants were present for this hike. After gathering at the Deerwalk premises, we boarded the bus at 7:25 am and headed towards Dhulikhel. We arrived at a local restaurant in Dhulikhel around 8:40 am where all the participants had breakfast of chickpeas, boiled eggs, and tea. We boarded the bus again at 9:30 a.m. after finishing our breakfast.
Initially, the plan was to start the hike from Dhulikhel and to head towards Namobuddha. But there was a slight change in the plan. We reached the entrance of Namobuddha by bus at 10:00 am and there we decided that we would hike all the way along from Namobuddha back to Dhulikhel. But first, we entered the monastery. The monastery was located around a breathtaking view of nature and hills, offering complete serenity and peace of mind. All the hikers then started exploring the temple by going through the monastery and its sections. When we entered inside the monastery, we could see religious paintings (Thanka) and the magnificently large statue of the Lord Gautam Buddha. We killed all our tiredness in the state of tranquility around.
It was around 11:00 am when we left the monastery and walked down to the main road. We began our hike by following the pathways along the hills to make it more exciting and interesting. The path was difficult, and there were no houses, no roads at all. The trails were tough and slippery. We were being infested with leeches everywhere but we kept on moving forward. After hiking for around two hours, we finally saw a house and rested there for a few minutes. Then, after gathering our energy back, we headed towards the nearby main road which led us to Panauti. It started raining mildly, so we contacted the bus to pick us up while all of us waited in a nearby local shop. The bus arrived at 3:00 pm, and we picked a place to eat lunch as all of us were starving.
At 3:30 pm, we arrived at the VIP restaurant at Banepa for lunch, where we had a thakali set of food. We left the restaurant after having our lunch, and headed back to the college premises. We arrived at the Deerwalk premises at 6:15pm and concluded this memorable journey.
The hike was challenging and adventurous. Regardless, it was one of the most amazing experiences we’ve ever had.
