accidentally snuck in the rear entrance instead of going through the main gate
The road from there was quickly abandoned in favor of trolling through farmland, down one hill and up another. It was dirty, but the harvest was over and we did not need to fear ruining crops as we crossed the terraced hillsides. On the other side of the valley, farms gave way to brush, which then yielded a recently burned forest as the incline became more severe. In some parts it was more fair to say that we were “climbing” than “hiking”, but some goats knew the path and led us up. Finally, at the peak we found the Amitabh Gumba, and accidentally snuck in the rear entrance instead of going through the main gate. Such is life, and we eventually found our way to the main area, which was decorated with a huge Buddha statue looking over the Kathmandu valley. That was the highest point, but the path down the other side of the hill was arguably the most treacherous. Kapil decided to run down the side at full speed, but the rest of us weren’t so daring. We found the road and made our way to the Ichangu Narayan temple, and paid our respects there. The true hike was over at that point, and all that was left was to walk the road back down to Swayambhunath for food and rest. But, the memories will remain forever. -Nabin Maharjan The hiking party departed from D2 premises at around 7:30 and reached Swayambhu at 8:00 picking Justin,Babin,Kapil and Mahesh on the way.There was a warm-up hike around Swayambhu hill followed by breakfast at Nayan Hotel and finally we were dropped at Kalanki by Ram to begin the real hiking.We finally conquered IChangu at about 2PM
The starting point was a little ahead than planned but we had to hike from Kalanki thanks to some undergoing road maintainace works. The road at Kalanki about the LRI school was being black-topped. We started hiking about 9 am towards the Syuchatar Gumba led by Mahesh and Kapil through the trails.Then, we hiked down through the fields, reached Ramkot and then again hiked up the mountain trails and pine woods to reach the Amitabh Gumba. The Amitabh Gumba is a wonderful and well maintained monastery.One can enjoy a great panoromic view of the Kathmandu valley from there. After a short rest, we hiked down the mountain trails and fields to our final destination 'IchanguNarayan'. We finally conquered IChangu at about 2PM and then retreated to Nayan Hotel for lunch at Swayambhu. We all had a great time and fun. It was really a short and sweet hike within the Kathmandu valley as mentioned in the mail by Sarjan.