| ashu |
Posted
on 01-Oct-01 12:59 AM
Hi all,
Kathmandu's weather is lovely these days: with cerulean skies and yellow sunshine and cool breeze in the afternoon -- all wonderful for kite-flying or bungy-jumping or for going on day-long hikes with friends.
Dassain, of course, is only three weeks away.
Anyway, cook-book style, the trail-info BELOW may also be of help to others in Kathmandu planning their own day-long hike, and to others who can use and re-use this info to go hiking when they are next in Kathmandu.
Special thanks to a long-time friend Yogi Kayatha, an alternative energy engineer, of Bhaktapur for devising this wonderfully scenic route for all of us to enjoy the best of Kathmandu countryside.
Enjoy!!
oohi
ashu
ktm, nepal
*******************************************
Yogi writes:
Monsoon is finally over. No more rain (hopefully). Nice weather:
neither very hot nor very cold. Green everywhere. Dashain is coming almost at
our Aangan. Perfect time for hikes and treks. So I am back with new plan
and new place for a day hike. This is our third hike this year:
Hike Number - 3: Panauti to Eccaland
(HIGHLIGHTS OF THE HIKE: PANAUTI, KUSHADEVI, NUMEROUS HIDDEN VALLEYS,
ASHAPURI MAHADEVSTHAN & HANGING VALLEY)
MEETING POINT: Old Bus Stop in Kathmandu (Behind City Hall)
TIME: 9 AM sharp.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE HIKING ROUTE.
Take a 11 number bus to Panauti from old bus park at 9.30 AM. It takes about
75 minutes to reach Panauti from KTM (Bus fare Rs. 20 per person).
Stroll around this ancient town and visit the confluence of Roshi Khola and
Punyamati Khola. This is the site of famous Makar Mela which takes
place every 12 years.
After visiting old famous temples and strolling around gullies, we will take another primitive bus to Kushadevi from Panauti Bus Park (half an hour bus ride or 75 minutes walk).
Kushadevi village lies 6 km west of Panauti. This is the village from
where one farmer named Ram Prasad Bajgain was picked up by UN Nepal office
and sent to Belgium to take part the UN Conference last May (Read the
article in The KTM Post dated 18 May 2001 for detail). Here in Kushadevi you
will see the beautiful valley carpeted by paddy fields and surrounded by
forests, villages and terraced fields.
The REAL HIKE begins from Kushadevi Bazaar. Walking upstream along
serpentine Ghople Khola we will see numerous little valleys - all
green.
About two hours easy walk along the river will take us to Ashapuri
Mahadevsthan. Anyone of you have hardly heard of this temple which is
hidden behind the high hills and lies in a little valley across the Ghople
Khola. There is a tea house as well as rest house at Ashapuri Mahadevsthan.
From Ashapuri one can walk to Arniko highway at Sanga Bhanjyang
(border between Bhaktapur and Kavre) within an and half hour. But the
highlight of this hike awaits us at slightly different direction. Another 40
minutes easy walk will take us to the much bigger HANGING VALLEY inhabited by
Tamang people.
You won't believe this as hanging valley until you walk to
one of the small bumps surrounding it and then you look down......lo....the
Kathmandu valley lies over 1500 feet below. The view is simply
stunning, breath-taking, marvelous, amazing, ..........
From this point, we can either walk down to ECCALAND (an hour) or to
Arniko highway at Nalinchok (45 minutes). Once you are safely landed in the
highway, then I don't need to guide you anymore. Right?
THINGS TO BRING: Umbrella (both for sun and rain), Sun Glass, hat,
water bottles full with safe drinking water, something to eat and of course
bus fare.
OPTIONAL: Binocular, camera, guitar etc.
If you have any question, give me a call
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