Manila Raut
Monika Agrawal As I had never hiked before, I had some apprehensions about this hike. Nevertheless, on the day of the hike, I was pretty excited. We started our day leaving from Deerwalk office premises at around 7:30 in the morning and headed towards Telkot, the starting point of our hike. We briefly stopped at Koteshwor and Bhaktapur to pick up some fellow hikers. Afterwards, we had a wholesome breakfast at a restaurant named Hawa Ghar. Hawa Ghar was beautifully decorated with bottles, drums and tires. The photographers, Sajjan and Sunil, were busy taking pictures of the place. We, then, headed towards Telkot. It was about nine that we started our hike from Telkot. Our hike started off relatively easy as we treaded along on our way to Changunarayan. We were clicking a lot of pictures and enjoying the breathtaking views all along. About half way through, we took a little rest. The difficult part of the hike started at around noon. The sun directly above our heads was, in fact, adding to our woes. Although we all were exhausted, our excitement to reach Changunarayan temple – the oldest temple in Kathmandu valley – had not abated at all. After about forty five minutes of intense hike, we reached the temple. Changunarayan temple is adorned with some of the best specimen of stone, wood, and metal craft in the valley. The temple stands as the epitome of culture, religion, history and faith of the Kathmandu valley. The atmosphere around the temple was peaceful. We were admiring and taking in the beauty of the temple artwork – some of us through the camera lenses. After the visit to the temple, we had lunch at Changunarayan. Reenergized, we headed towards Bhaktapur - our final destination. We reached Bhaktapur in about forty five minutes, where we enjoyed juju dhau (famous local yogurt), pani puri and kulfis (Indian delicacies). Bhaktapur Durbar Square is indeed a charming place, as there are statues of ancient kings perched on top of stone monoliths, wooden carvings all over the place, gateways and windows - all seeming to form a well orchestrated symphony. The view from the top of the stairs of the pagodas was simply amazing. People were enjoying the beauty of crafts and skills from the early centuries. Our fun filled hike came to an end as we headed towards Kathmandu in the office van at 4:00 PM. This hike made me want to explore and hike to new places in the future. It was certainly a memorable and enthralling experience!
Manila Raut Telkot - ChanguNarayan - Bhaktapur hike was full of fun for me. I got a chance to see one of the oldest temples in Nepal. It was too hot. But the company was awesome, so I was not bored at all. The best part of hike for me was eating “panipuri” in Bhaktapur. It was simply refreshing. Overall the hike was incredible.
Resha Sedhai It was a very bright and sunny day. So walking in the hot weather had totally depleted our energy when we reached ChanguNarayan. Nonetheless I was pretty excited to see one of the oldest temples in Nepal as I had never been there before. ChanguNarayan temple is an exquisite place to visit - especially with the repoussé doors and front facade being the main attractions. We saw artists giving shape to beautiful Thanka paintings and making wooden masks on our way to Changunarayan. I also enjoyed walking around Bhaktapur area. As the blaze of the sun was making us drowsy, we ended our hike with a very delicious yogurt (famously known as jujudhau) in Bhaktapur. Although it was a relatively easy hike, it was certainly a tiring one.
