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Title	Hike to the 100 Hillocks - Sailung
Start Date	04/24/2010
End Date	04/25/2010
Duration (hrs)	12 hrs.
Distance (km)	20.5 kms
Hike coordinator	Ravi Sharma
Participants	Amit Nepal, Anuj Bhandari, Jehen Joshi, Manoj Rokka, Nabin Maharjan, Pawan Pokharel, Prajwal Shrestha, Ravi Sharma, Sameer Tuladhar, Sangharsha Bhattarai
Photos by	Jehen Joshi, Pawan Pokharel, Ravi Sharma, Sangharsha Bhattarai, Sameer Tuladhar
Captions by	Ravi Sharma, Sangharsha Bhattarai, Sameer Tuladhar
Report by	Nabin Maharjan, Sameer Tuladhar, Manoj Rokka
Creative Support	Dijup Tuladhar, Prerana Pradhan, Sangharsha Bhattarai

Nabin recollects: The 10 D2 hikers departed from the D2 premise at 7 am for Mude, the starting point for the two days hike to Sailung. Passing by SuryaBinayak, Banepa, Dhulikhel, DolalGhat and Khadi Chaur on the way, we finally reached Mude at noon. Carrying 6 sleeping bags for contingency, we began the hike from Mude. The way from Mude to BaghKhor was all roadways - dusty, narrow and ungraveled road with lots of sharp turns. We hiked past Deurali, BaghKhor and finally reached Dhunge Bazaar at 4:00 pm. There, we stayed at the Parvati Lodge for the meal. The people living in the Dhunge are mostly the Tamangs. The Tamangs  are known for their simplicity and honesty. It seemed that the lodge owners were not expecting any guests, so, we were happy to eat the simple Nepalese meal they could serve that comprised of rice, dal, gundruk and alu tarkari. The climate had completely changed at Dhunge. At 2500 m above the sea level the weather was very  pleasant. Unlike Kathmandu in the summer, the wind here was cool and refreshing. At 6:00 pm when we left Dhunge for Kalapani, it was already cold. Wearing the jackets, we hiked through the Dhunge trail to Kalapani. Sooner than later, it was sundown and we were hiking under the half-full-moon night. The path was well lit by the moon. As we hiked higher and higher, the stars approached closer and closer. Sangharsha then taught us how to locate the pole star.  Hiking at these hours, when the rest of the souls were resting, was really a wonderful experience. It was 8 pm when we reached Kalapani. There were few households around there. We stayed at one of the households at night. There was a long room kept aside for guests. The room had beds for 12-15 people. We were grateful towards the house owner for the warm beds as it would have been very difficult (almost impossible) to sleep under the open sky in the freezing night. The next morning, we all woke up at 5 and set out for Sailung at 5:30 a.m. After 1.5 hours long walk, we finally reached Sailung which is situated at 3146 m above the sea level. There were small hills all around like the sand dunes in the desert. The magnificent view of the Himalayas (mountain range) and the beautiful landscape around along with the cool breeze setting the mood, Sailung is a must-visit destination for everybody. However, we were unfortunate for not being able to see beautiful Himalayas clearly. Despite this, we really enjoyed the beautiful view of the landscapes of Sailung. We were busy taking pictures here and there. We also came across some horses there.

"Gantabya ma pugeu ta Kan6u, Khana khayau? Nikai thakai laagyo hola..."

Around 9 am, we left Sailung and headed down for Dhunge. On the way, we came to know that there was transport strike in Dolkha. Amid the tension and fear, we reached Dhunge at 10:15 am. There, we were relieved to know that the bus was operating till Mude. Shortly, we boarded a bus at Dhunge and reached Mude around 1 pm. There, we were greeted by Ram Dai who had already arranged for the meal in a hotel. While we were eating, the news came that the strike was lifted. It was a pleasant and welcome surprise since we all were expecting to leave Mude in the evening because of the strike. We left for the Kathmandu from Mude. We were all exhausted and thrilled from the hike at the same time. We stopped shortly at a place near Dolalghat. The guys enjoyed a cool swim in the hot weather for an hour. Then, we all headed for Kathmandu and reached there at 6:00 pm in the evening. Overall, it was a memorable and worth-savoring hiking experience. The Best Hike Ever – Sameer

"“WaiWai+Dalmot+Cheura” on the top of 3146 m high Sailung danda. I completely agreed with the note of Vishnu Dai, “Once you get to top of Sailung, you will hardly desire to leave that place”."

Hiking to Sailung -simply amazing! I must admit that I have never been to a place like that before. I was astounded with the beauty of the surroundings there. Hiking trip on a whole, was fun filled and really exhilarating. Although this was my 11th hike after joining D2, I got a chance to do many things that I never did in the previous hikings. Starting the hike from Mude at the midday around 12 o’ clock was really challenging task. With the sunrays sucking the water from our body, we hardly managed to save water we had till we reached Dhunge. I have never experienced a hike to a place where water was so scarce. On reaching Dhunge, all of us had some nice lunch (or should I say dinner) at a local hotel. All the way along, teasing between AmitN (“Maharaj”) and SangharshaB kept us entertained. After leaving Dhunge, hiking under the moon on an uphill path was the moment I enjoyed the most. Pointing at the lone twinkling star RaviS said something that made all of us smile- “Lau aja moon ta kasto sano vayecha”. Nearly about one and half hours of moon walking, we reached Kalapani at around 8 pm. There were hardly 5/6 houses, most of them being the inhabitant of Tamang people. After spending night there, the stride towards Sailung began the next day with the rising sun. On reaching the base of Sailung, all of us were mesmerized by the spectacular view of the surrounding. All of the hikers running over the hills that were covered with green carpet of grasses, posing for the camera…really RaviS and SangharshaB had a busy time with their cameras. Even some of us had great fun jumping over the hills and showing some karate moves for the photographs. The only thing that I missed at Sailung was the view of mountain ranges because of the thick haze. Then we had some time to have a breakfast of “WaiWai+Dalmot+Cheura” on the top of 3146 m high Sailung danda. I completely agreed with the note of Vishnu Dai, “Once you get to top of Sailung, you will hardly desire to leave that place”. Although we all still wanted to be at the top, we had to depart with a heavy heart as there were the obligations of catching the bus that would get us back to Mude from Dhunge. There were other problems on the way as well, as we heard about the bandha (strike) of Tamsaling in Ramechhap, Dolakha and Sindhupalchok. I had one of the scariest bus rides in my life on our way back to Mude from Dhunge as the road was “kachhi” with very sharp turnings. To add more life to the journey some of us had the courage to go to the hoot of the bus. On reaching Mude, our own Ram Dai was waiting for us ordering some good lunch at a local hotel. Just after finishing the lunch, the news of bandha being withdrawn brought us some joy as we could head back to Kathmandu on time. On the way back to Kathmandu, some of us had some fun and guts of swimming in the famous Bhote Koshi River before reaching Dolalghat. After an hour of swimming, we headed back to Kathmandu. This hike to Sailung has been one of my best of all times. One day I would definitely like to go back to Sailung to have a view of the Mountain ranges again. Strong cool wind magic – Manoj Sailung, the place we must visit. I had a long time desire to visit Sailung. I first heard about it on my hike to ThuloPatal from Jiri. On that night we were walking towards ThuloPatal and the time was 12:30 pm, reviving our stride, the cool strong wind was blowing from east and the local guide told us that the wind was from Sailung.

"Blurry view of Mount Gauri Shankar hiding behind haze was standing on the North and cool wind was already blowing. We all started to move towards Sailung. "

Our journey to Sailung began from Mude, after walking 4 hours from pine forest to small villages; we had our lunch at Chayachhap-Dhunge and started to walk towards our last destination for that day. We reached Kalapani around 8 pm andstayed there for the night. On Sunday morning, wewoke up at 5 am. Blurry view of Mount Gauri Shankar hiding behind haze was standing on the North and cool wind was already blowing. We all started to move towards Sailung. On the way, for the first time in my life, I got an opportunity to see white & pink Rhododendrons. We reached Sailung at around 7:15 am. Sailung means ”Village of God” in Tamang language and god lives in small hillocks.This might be the reason as there were plenty of hillocks around Sailung. The early morning strong cool wind at Sailung proved that local guide on a way to ThuloPatal was right.

Trip Itinerary : Mude - Bagkhor - Dhunge - Kalapani - Sailung Hike
From-To-Activity		Start Time	End time	Distance	Means/Details
Day 1
Kathmandu	0 Kilo (Paachkhal)	7:30 AM	9:00 AM	40 km	VAN
Breakfast at 0 Kilo (Nrs 100/80 Non-veg/veg Breakfast)
0 Kilo (Paachkhal)	Mude	9:30 AM	12:00 PM	45 km	VAN
Mude	Deurali	12:15 PM	2:00 PM	3 km	Hike
Deurali	Bagkhor	2:00 PM	2:25 PM	2 km	Hike
Bagkhor	Dhunge	2:25 PM	4:20 PM	5.5 km	Hike
Lunch break (Nrs 100 Lunch set with Egg)
Dhunge Bajar	Kalapani	6:35 PM	8:30 PM	3 km	Hike
Night stay at Kalapani; Local house; Nrs 70/Person/Night, with 2 black tea :)
Day 2
Kalapani	Sailung	5:45 AM	6:45 AM	2 km	Hike
Rest/Sight seeing at Sailung
Sailung	Kalapani	8:30 AM	9:15 AM	2 km	Hike back
Kalapani	Dhunge Bajar	9:15 AM	10:30 AM	3 km	Hike back
Dhunge Bajar	Mude	10:45 AM	12:30 PM	15 km	Local Bus (75Rs/Person)
Lunch break at Mude (Nrs 115/90 Non-veg/veg lunch set)
Mude	Bhotekoshi Banks	2:00 PM	3:45 PM	35 km	VAN
Bhotekoshi Banks	Ktm	4:30 PM	6:30 PM	50 km	VAN

Please click on the image to see its large version.

01 Breakfast as usual @ Sharmila - zero kilo	02 Thank god it is dead...getting burnt is not easy
03 Getting ready for the trip	04 The long way to go
05 Wish they could stay on their feet a little longer	06 I hope they will plant 10 on cutting 1
07 This hike is going to be a memorable one	08 Heavy heart, they said not so much heavy as school bags with load of books
09 Deep pine forest	10 Lets walk in a group dont make subgroups
11 We are making home for us not a house	12 Manoj-I have waiting a long for this hike
13 The temple was a landmark for us	14 Follow the principle to be healthy
15 Education is the only source of development to make new Nepal	16 A glimpse of Bagkhor-Deurali locality
17 Heading towards Dhunge	18 ukkali ma janda janda jutta mero fatyo...khai ta taruni
19 Development brings destruction as well	20 We took some short cuts
21 Having some chocolates can keep us moving forth	22 Tradition and technology together
23 Its safe to drink said the local people there	24 Amit with FotoMate and his bag
25 Touching sky	26 I`m a big big fan of her
27 Dhunge ta pugiyo...aba agadi janae takat chai chaina baaaa!!	28 Its a sunny day but I wonder how cool this place is
29 Ask Sangharsha how many shots he took that day	30 Million dollar smile
31 Dhunge bazar-waiting for the meal-lunch or dinner	32 You can print any sized - B&W or Color photo here
33 its just a house on construction now...will be home when a family settles in there well	34 Umer ma ta hami pani heroine thiyou...
35 Ain`t I too young for this...I wish I had pencil and copy in my hand	36 Friends for ever
37 Picture speaks itself	38 We dont need any extra light as we were escorted by moon
39 Bedtime tea	40 Shooting Stars at 10 pm in the dark just to track their ways
41 No we don`t want to wake up	42 lets walk up to Sailung now
43 There you go, mountain range covered in the curtain of haze	44 Hosts of the night at Kalapani
45 Leaving Kalapni behind, heading for Sailung, lets see who gets first	46 Spring Blossom- Pink Rhododendron
47 Rhododendron in white attire	48 abuiii...kati matra ukalo chadnu...ma ta marchu ki kya ho!!!
49 Ready for the new challenge with the rising dawn	50 whitodendron
51 The Morning Sun from Sailung	52 Should reach there
53 Thumka @ Sailung	54 Shining bright
55 I believe I can fly	56 Above the hill
57 The first climb to the Zenith	58 Find out who they are
59 The Jumpers	60 Amit`s Scream mingled into the air Sailung
61 Experience the Magical winds	62 See the unseen
63 Moving with the cool breeze in the morning	64 Final destination
65 Spreading the peace...light of asia	66 breakfast tyo pani waiwai ra chiura
67 Dont dare to come any closre	68 Horse in the meadow and the morning shine
69 Above the hills	70 Race to get captured
71 Goreto ani ustai cha galli....	72 3kg stones will be more than enough for Balance
73 Hanging on the bus while travelling back to Mude	74 A new experience of life-Anuj
75 Short break in the journey back to Mude	76 Brothers Under the Sun
77 Sangharsha wanted to capture the light peeping in	78 I wish i could capture the ray
79 Hey I`m here waiting for you guys