Yaghya Lamsal
On February 12, 2023 at 08:00 am the team assembled and had a delicious breakfast at 109° restaurant located at Deerwalk Complex, Sifal, Kathmandu.
At 08:42 am we moved from Deerwalk Complex to Dhading, Dhunibesi.
At 10:00 we visited the Machchhindra Secondary School family. We also sang the National Anthem with students during the assembly, and observed the school’s computer lab.
Shekhar Karki joined us from there.
Twelve hikers (Ten from Deerwalk/ Deerhold and two guests) were all set to walk from Khanikhola to Pipla Mod. We started our actual hike at 10:33 am from school. We passed by the Municipal office of Dhunibesi and had a few word exchanges between Balkrishna Acharya (Mayor of Dhunibesi Municipality) and Rudra dai about the development of government schools in Dhading, particularly Dhunibesi at 10:36 am.
After the fruitful discussion, at 10:50am we moved from the municipal office.
There was a huge farm of cauliflower and broccoli on the way before we reached Dhuni Khola. We stopped for a group photo.
At 12:45 pm we reached Dunde and started to see brick factories on the way. It was fun interacting with the local people. There was an Indian guy with 4 daughters and wife living in a cottage who lived there for more than 25 years as a worker at one of the brick factories.
At 13:05 pm crossed the way to the Ex VDC Chairman’s home at Badri Tar Barhabise.
At 14:00 pm we reached at – Kshetrapati chowk. The way was very muddy and our travel was affected by the vehicle moving along. We decided to take a shortcut. We met a lady from Dang District who was temporarily living there and was so good at making mat (Gundri) from straw. I posed a question: what is the name of the handle she uses to make mat (Gundri)? Madhu Bhusal got the right answer after few members couldn’t answer. The right answer was ‘Hattaso’.
There was a school called Omkar Bidhyashram (Aanp Bari) designed as Gurukul but it seems was not taken care of.
After a three-hour walk, we wanted to have something as we felt hungry. We had our snacks:Gundruk Sandeko, Popcorn, noodles, biscuits etc. at 14:15 pm in the school premises.
At 14:50 pm we continued our way through Kukhure Chaur having seen the amazing farming and landscape.
We shared our own biscuits, fruits, water and chocolates as we were walking uphill.
At 14:45 pm we reached the Sunbesi team and got tired and tried to take short-cuts. Shekhar was trying to prove he is local and took a risky short-cut way.
We witnessed blossoming pears on our way and felt it was welcoming us.
The sunset was stunning as it struggled to get down under clouds.
Finally we reached Piplamod at 17:00 pm and took a final group photo. Laxman was waiting there and we were on board to come back to town.
This is how we ended up our hike covering 13.39 KM in 6 hours and 14 minutes of walk.
The sunny day was completely in our favor with partially windy during the day. The route was a mix of up and downhills, but not tough.
We got back to Naxal, Monalisa for dinner. It was amongst the most incredible experiences we’ve ever had.
Thank you.
