Sanjay Maharjan 30th Jan 2015, my first hike from Deerwalk. It crossed 6:30 AM, the time we decided to leave, when I got to the office premises. But I was relieved when I came to know that I was not the last one to be waited for. After waiting for some hikers for about half an hour, our journey started at 7:10 AM destined to collect other remaining hikers. The real journey started when Nimesh dai the 10th and the last hiker joined us at Nalin chowk. Our destination now changed to ‘108 kilo’. ‘Take nothing leave nothing’ the rule of hiking as said by our coordinator Ishwor dai, we were almost with nothing in our hands except a camera, a video camera and some empty bags. We had expected to reach our destination by 11:00 AM but we had wasted a lot of time in gathering to be sure to lag our expectation. We chased our time. The expected 4 hours of the journey was not possible with some chats, sharing memories, some jokes and jokes on one another. At about 8:30 AM we braked for our breakfast at Panchkhal. A cup of organic coffee, a couple of roties and tarkari gave us strength to gear up further in our journey. Now we were on Araniko Highway, a typical Nepali highway with the walls of a high hill on a side and continuously flowing river on the other. Suddenly on the way we saw the destruction of nature happened a year ago. The whole hill had landed onto the river forming a smaller hill on top of it. The scene cooled our heart as the roofs of the houses were still under the water and tips of trees were visible at the surface of the river. What we saw was beyond our imagination. The temporary alternative road on the landslide area and carelessness of government was then the topic of talk for some time. It was about 11:00 AM when we got to Barabishe bazaar. We were unsure to find more shopping areas ahead so we decided to get some stuffs for lunch and for the hike which was no farther than an hour to get started. With some dry foods, oranges and some Cadburys we were ready for the hike. Moving ahead further, we took a glance at a bridge full of people having crazy fun of bungee. Then after getting confused at more than five bridges on the way, we finally got to our right hanging bridge. It was almost 12:00 PM when we got off the vehicle in our destination ‘108 kilo’ whose name was also justified by the meter reading of our vehicle.

With our tired legs, paining backs, and empty stomach we jumped under the hot water. That sulphuric water was really hot and acted as medicine to heal our pain.

Looking up the high hill standing in front of us, we stretched ourselves and were prepared for the walk. From the top of the hill the mighty ‘Duguna Gadi’ was inviting us a challenge. We too accepted the challenge and marched to conquer it. Each and every step of mine was teaching me a new lesson. The walking route was made easy with the stairs. Different colorful birds somehow regenerated energy in us to climb further. The view of cards surrounded by the villagers gave us the memories of Dashain and Tihar. After passing 3/4 villages we finally reached the top, the Yarmasing village, where lay the Duguna gadi at nearly 3:00pm. ‘Duguna gadi’ a hidden Fortress, strategically built by the Nepal Army in 1850 A.D. This offensive fort in Nepal during Nepal-Tibet war is historically important for all we Nepalese. This fort was brave enough to chase them and stop the Tibetans to enter us. Being in such a brave palace got us feeling proud. The top was plain surrounded by pilles of rock plates. Soon our imagination fled us to the 1850s Nepal-Tibet war. The scene from the top was very exciting. We had the view of two hills showing a clear view of our neighbor china between them. ‘Khasa bazar’ seemed in no distance from there. We saw two countries with no view of boundaries. We only had our imaginary lines cutting the hills which we pretended to be the boundaries. After being some crazy armies there for about an hour we turned back. Climbing down the hill was a bit easier than climbing up. It crossed 4:30 PM when we all gathered at the bottom. We all looked up once again and took a deep breath, feeling proud for ourselves. By 4:45 PM we all were inside our ride. As it was not further than 2kms, the question arose ‘why not to have a warm bath?’, so we headed forward to Tatopani rather returning back. With our tired legs, paining backs, and empty stomach we jumped under the hot water. That sulphuric water was really hot and acted as medicine to heal our pain. Now only lacking was a good dinner to satisfy our hunger which a nearby hotel fulfilled. Then around 6:50 PM we returned with a load of knowledge and an unforgettable day in our memory.