Abhishek Shrestha
For this week, the Everest Uncensored team chose to explore around Lamachour via Godavari. The number of the hikers had increased to 19 including 2 ladies. The team disembarked at Godavari and had heavy breakfast in preparation for the tough climb ahead. Then the thrills through narrow trails in the woods began. They huffed and puffed up a hill with tales of tigers and geishas.
After an hours walk through the woods, a three pronged fork lay before them. One led towards the left (deeper into the woods), another to the right (to a village in the distance) and the next right up (to the Heavens above). The team chose the left one. After nearly half an hour’s walk, figuring out that the left path led them to nowhere, they returned to the spot. And the team chose wonderful way to find which was the right path. Though many of the team mates didn’t agree, it was left with no options inside the dense forest and a coin was tossed to decide on the remaining two paths. The Heavens won and they commenced the steep climb. The team proceeded with the scenic view of the mountains and the valley. It was so exquisite that many would have opted to settle down on the hill-top for the rest of their lives, had they not have had worldly affairs to attend to down below. After walking through treacherous tracks, laid in frosted ferns at intervals, the team reached another hilltop where it munched biscuits and cheese and marveled at the achievement made so far. After an hour’s steep and dusty descent, the team thought to kill two birds with a stone and decided to have picinic there. Iit reached a farmhouse at Lamachaur and negotiated the procurement for a goat and lunch. Some busied themselves in cooking rice and mustard green, while others played cards, while some slept, and others some waited eagerly for the goat and local wine to arrive. Meanwhile, Kesar Bahadur Bista, the actual owner of the farm and a minister in the erstwhile Royal government, summoned us all and gave an oration about the place and his farm. We guessed so why he was the Minister for Agriculture. We knew that His farm had rhododendrons that range from deep red to white in color. The mustard green on his farm are the tastiest in entire Nepal; he claimed. He has grown some such unique and delicate herbs in his farm that it is better not to reveal such confidential information. He also invited the team to come again for a picnic during the time of spring when the rhododendrons are in full bloom. Finally at 4.00 pm, a late self-cooked lunch washed down with the local wine (rakshi) did wonders and jovially hollering hikers descended to Lele in the dark after five. After arrival, the team made a survey amongst the participants to assess the hiking experience which resulted as following: The Question: How did you find the hiking? The Options: (A) Excellent (B) Very Excellent (C) The Most Excellent The Result: (A) 21.05% (B) 21.05% (C) 52.64% (D) 05.26% (No participation in the Survey) Really, it was the most exciting hiking.
