Roshan Ghimire
Hiking in Nepal -especially in the hilly areas- is a great activity full of fun and adventure. My office, Deerwalk Services, had recently organized such a hike, and I decided to join in to be part of fun and excitement. The hike was to start at seven in the morning on March 17, 2012, Saturday. The planned route was from Majhitar to Trishuli in Nuwakot district. As planned, we gathered at the office premises at 7 AM in the morning. We had planned for twelve members in the hike. However, two of the members could not make it due to some urgent work. So, we were left with ten folks. We left the office at 7:30 AM by bus. The hiking starting point was about three hours drive away. On the way, we briefly stopped for breakfast at a place called Ranipauwa. We finally reached our starting Point –a place called Tigaun - at about eleven. Our walk started from Tigaun, and the fun started. It was much more exciting than I had expected. We passed many villages, forests, rivers, and muddy paddy fields. As we were passing through a village, people began watching us with surprised look on their faces, as if we were the first outsiders to reach there. They asked us where we were going, and we replied - “Majhitar”. Looking even more surprised, they suggested that we would have been better off taking the bus to get there. Little did they know that we were on a hike! As we walked, we were searching for shortcuts instead of using the existing trails. At one point, we resorted to following the local women – who were going to the forest to get grass to feed the cattle – so they could guide us through the wilderness of the forest. We even joked with the ladies - asking them to help search for beautiful local girls for our friends to marry. Walking through muddy fields was the one of the interesting parts of the hike. In some places, as there was no path for walking, we had to walk through the muddy paddy fields – delicately balancing our body so we would not fall. The most memorable moment of the hike was Basant’s disappearance. While we were busy tending to our muddy feet after the wade through the fields, we suddenly realized that Basanta was nowhere to be seen. We moved our eyes to search for him – and much to our relief – we saw him waving his hands from the field below where he had fallen. We continued walking. We passed a Hanging Bridge on Madi river, which was really beautiful. Crossing the bridge, we walked up the hill and reached Majhitar – our final destination. At Majhitar, we had some cold drinks and food, and took a little rest. We then began our journey back to Battar, where our bus was waiting for us. It was about 3 PM when we reached Battar. As we still had some time left in the day and we had not had enough of the walk, we decided to walk further. So, we headed off to Nuwakot. Upon reaching Nuwakot, we ordered our lunch in a restaurant. In the meantime, as the lunch was being prepared, we went to visit Nuwakot Durbar (palace), where King Prithivi Narayan Shah had lived. The palace was made by the king as a safe haven from enemies. We visited the jail at the palace as well. After the little tour, we went back to the restaurant to have our lunch. The lunch was so delicious that most of us realized only after the meal that we could eat so much. I would never forget the ghee that was served with the meal there. After the lunch, we returned back to the office. With all the fun, it seemed that the day had passed quickly. We chose a different route on our return trip - Trishuli to Galchi and then to Kathmandu. On the way back, we passed through a place called “Devighat”, where King Prithivi Narayan Shah had died. We reached the office at eight in the evening, having captured some of those unforgettable moments in our cameras as well, which should help us relive those moments time and again…
