Whenever I come to know that I will
be travelling to some place (getting an opportunity to come out of my pigeon hole),
all I am reminded is of Hans Christian Andersen quote- To travel is to live.
I love travelling, being a dreamer I keep
imagining myself at different places exploring them and living them to the
fullest. Till 29th September 2013 I was just a domestic traveler,
that too by road or rail and also had not yet explored the hills (apart from a
Vaishno Devi trip during my childhood). Thus there are a lot of FIRSTS indeed..
The best thing about
visiting Nepal from India is that there are no visa requirements (which worked
in our favor, as we have not yet made our passports :P) On 30th
September 2013 we six of us arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport (first foreign trip). All of us were
excited that we couldn’t stop smiling…excitement level knew no boundaries. Once
getting over with the formalities at the airport, we thought of discovering the
place...it gives you such an international experience that you forget you are
in India.
Our
flight timing was 11:05 AM (Indigo airlines). We boarded the plane on time and
sat on our respective seats. I took the window seat because I wanted to enjoy
the beautiful view outside throughout my journey…air trips are boring unless you are carrying your
gadgets but thankfully it was just 1 hour 30 minutes flight (easy to survive).
As
soon as the airplane took off, I was on a date with the clouds for the rest of
the flight. I was in their land, I visualized the homes of these big gaseous
balls, and I felt like hopping on these balls and also eating them up (NOM NOM)
By 12: 30 pm we had landed at Tribhuvan International
Airport, Kathmandu. I have an admiration for uniform people and the pilots of
the flight were too smart looking( I was lost for a few seconds) but the queue
at the immigration counter wakened me up, it took much time than the flight
duration :P My uncle and his family had
come to receive us at the airport, as soon as I stepped out of the airport, the
weather gave me a sigh of relief(Delhi’s scorching
heat is torturous). Their home was 20 minutes away from the airport, we had our
lunch and spent rest of the day at home.
When you think of Nepalese food the first thing that
comes in mind is momos, my aunt’s homemade fried momos were so amazing..and the
chutney she made along with them (mouth watering). All the delicacies were homemade. Mind you, Kathmandu is full of monkeys hopping here and there. From the balcony I could see a family of monkeys strolling in the evening. (Monkeys also deserve a picture in this post :p)
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| Pyaare Bandar |
For the first two days we headed for a local
visit in Kathmandu. It is one of the worst polluted cities of the world,
endless constructions being done in the city, worsening the state of the
capital. The black smoke emitting from the vehicles could easily give a person
some chest infection (this was not expected from a city which has God gifted
natural beauty).
The traffic conditions are also haywire, the funny part is that there are no
red lights…everyone is running here and there, there is manual control of
traffic (but then I thought it’s better for them as there is no electricity for
15-16 hours in a day).
We went to local street market in Kathmandu which
was full of a variety of items (but the
item outshining the rest was the jewellery). They even accept Indian
currency..so whatever we used to buy I used to ask Dad to do the conversion(
as his calculations are much faster than the calculator :p). Maruti 800
might have lost all its sales in India but Nepal would be a favorite
destination for them. Yes, this is so because Maruti 800 works as taxi over
there..even for a 10 minute ride it would take hoards of money, by any chance
you thought of going by the meter, you might have to drain your wealth :P Oh
Yes, we just experienced that…if they are stuck in a jam, the meter will keep
running, and when you get down and start arguing the meter will still keep on
running…(Petrol is costlier :/). The
best part I admired was that there is no gender bias and it’s a very liberal
society, women are running shops, they drive autos and even if they wear a mini
skirt or so nobody will ogle at them. We also visited some religious places in
there, one of them is Pashupatinath temple- the oldest Hindu temple dedicated
to Lord Shiva and the river flowing is Bagmati. Another temple we went was Budhanilkantha which has the largest granite
figure of Lord Vishnu reclining on a bed of Nagas.
The common thing I noticed in every temple of theirs was it had these
roofs and a small sized gateway which had a common entry and exit point. More
than 5 people can’t stand inside the inner temple. Temples are flooded with
monkeys, pigeons and goats. More than people flocking by, I could see the
wildlife.
On 2nd October
we had celebrated my brother’s birthday at home. The next day we had to leave
for Pokhara- cleanest city of Nepal…pure and beautiful. As it’s a bit cold in Pokhara
we took our jackets/stole as a blanket. Our road trip to Pokhara was extremely adventurous,
as it was my first hill trip I had no experience of how traffic moved on these
narrow roads, I was nervous yet enjoying it to the fullest. The journey presented
beautiful view of the hilly ranges and the river Trishuli flowing from Kathmandu
to Pokhara. Throughout my way, all I could say was -Look at the beauty of the river/ranges. We stopped midway to
have milk tea (you have to specify milk, otherwise black tea is served)
Then we headed to Gorkha, Manakamana temple. The temple was at a height
and to reach there one had to use a cable car. When we were standing downstairs
I thought it was just one stretch we had to cross but there were three big
stretches, we crossed the river, the hills …I was awestruck as the scene which
we could visualize is beyond words, what a perfect blend of water and mountain
ranges…it was purely a gateway to heaven (As
Big Boss is running on Colors nowadays, we cracked a joke that this place is
Jannat ka WOW but in case the cable car stops and one falls down, it would be
Jahannum ka AAO :P) .It is a beautiful temple dedicated to Goddess
Manakamana. We got family photographs clicked there. While returning in the
cable car I was back in routine with my photography session, as the sun was setting
down beautiful sceneries emerged on our way. And then there was a sudden
halt..The three of us were totally shaken, our cable car had stopped moving and
was stuck in the middle of the route.
Immediately I saw fumes of smoke coming out from the station, we thought
that the station is on fire and we are gone. By that time I had thought of a
rescue plan in case something happens (I am quite fast at making plans :p) Big
boss tagline was coming in my mind L Below was the river Trishuli flowing at such a speed that we could have
swept off easily..but thankfully the car started moving..We landed and asked
why the car had stopped, and they replied with a smile that electricity had
gone..and it happens daily (I felt like punching the lady as she didn’t realize
we could have a heart attack :P) We aren’t daily travelers !!
Look at this beautiful view-
Look at this beautiful view-
After landing my trembling feet on the ground,
relaxing a bit…we headed to Pokhara and reached there around 8 pm (Nepal Time). Oh, I forgot to tell you, Nepal
is 15 minutes ahead of Indian timings. We relaxed and the next day our local
Pokhara visit started. First we went to Davis Falls, the water is 100 feet deep
and the fall has been named after Mrs. Davis who was swept away by the currents
in 1961(you can thank me for giving you factual information :p)
We visited Mahadev cave dedicate to Lord Shiva and
then went to Phewa Lake for boating. For the first time I had seen a raised
platform on a boat, probably for a safe ride and they also gave us life
jackets. Everyone was photographing each other in the lake :P The water of the
lake is so clean, one hour spent in the lake was totally divine as the
beautiful view of the ranges and the river was a blessing. (When one hails from
Delhi and doesn’t get to see a clean river, mountains or even clouds, for that
person it’s JANNAT J
We also went to Japanese World Peace Pagoda (It was
the toughest destination to reach)…after we had taken the car to a certain
point on that narrow road, we had to climb hundreds of steps to reach there..I
thought that those stairs are a gateway to heaven..From the Pagoda one could
see the entire city of Pokhara and beautiful ice laden mountain ranges wrapped
with clouds.(All of us were tired after
this trip and returned to our hotel) The internet access facilities are without
restrictions- I completely enjoyed wifi till the time I stayed at the hotel.
The next day we headed to Saharankot for the best sunrise seen in the early
hours. That was a marvelous view I got to see- the sunlight reflecting on the
ranges amazed me..HEAVEN (Sorry for
repeating heaven/jannat in every other line, I don’t have any other word to
describe it :p)
We bid goodbye to Pokhara and returned to Kathmandu,
did the remaining shopping…(for all our shopping the credit would go to my
aunt, because of her we could do smart shopping in a few hours).On 7th
October 2013 we returned to Delhi.
As we couldn’t see the ranges from the
aeroplane while coming here, we couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity while
returning which our uncle had given us..let me show you how the Himalayan
ranges looked like from the plane
I want to thank my uncle’s family for their lovely hospitality and a memorable experience in Nepal.
I know it 's a very long post. Thanks for cooperation
