Darling Harbour

I've wondered many a times why the name Darling Harbour? I had in my mind, harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney for you to take your darling to. I wikipedia just to find out it was named after a Lieutenant, Darling, his last name apparently. I like the way how mind's been set up anyway. I will stick with it. Darling Harbour is one of the great waterfront tourism destinations and it is equally recreation-ed by locals because of its proximity and variety of dining options and funky nightclubs. We spent couple of hours in and around Darling Harbour. Mom wanted Malaysian for dinner and dad mo:mo. We dined at China-Town where I was almost fooled by this Chinese restaurant owner when she said my card declined. I didnt realise it's April first. We finished off with delicious emperor puffs (one of those things people love queuing up and be served through a window) and egg tart.

Lahana Kirtipur

As much dad mom love taking me to mandirs, they like local eateries too. Upon finishing mom's shopping, we headed to Kirtipur. This time it was uncle's recommendation and no doubt it was worth every bite. The word Newa Lahana means Newa Civilization and the place was pretty obvious to its name, preserving Newari culture. A must place, if you want to taste of authentic newari dishes. 

We were welcomed by an ornate gate with a big signage of "Lahana" followed by a stone paved trail with hanging pieces all the way. Fascinating as it was, the trail led us to Lahana museum. Pretty amazed with what we saw we had to go check how the popular Lahana restaurant looked like.  The four storied concrete building wasn't that appealing. However, we did climb up to the rooftop and asked if they were serving any thing extra. We decided to go back to the museum for its more authentic environment, to see people at work and food of-course! The view was spectacle as the place had this open wall and the seating arrangement was simple yet very comfy on coushions. We started with a "samey baji" set and the plates kept coming until we could no more. Every dish was a delicacy and every bite, divine. Yum! I said yum with every bite. The dish I liked the most was "Sapumhichha" (liquid bone marrow encased in stomach lining). It was juicy and succulent,  nothing like I've ever tasted, "Quati" comes second which I gobbled all my own. That gave me bad tonsillitis but again not as bad as from the last tour. I was on bed for two weeks and more not of tonsillitis but allergy.

We stopped by at Bagh Bhairav mandir for a brief look out.

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Surkhet

It wasnt on our bucket list but we had a day more to spare and hence, Surkhet, three hours away from Kohalpur. We passed through Bardia National Park once again and therefore the check-points. Surkhet is in Bheri zone of Mid-western region. The valley includes Birendranagar, which spreads around 50 sq km and it is 600km from Kathmandu. It was pretty warm again compared to Nepalgunj/Kohalpur, foggy throughout.

The first thing we did after the meet ups at Surkhet was to climb Ghantaghar. The perfect timing allowed us to see the sun set. It was 360' view from the top. One could see the valley and further. Next, was panipuri and chaat, highly recommended by Pabrita (one of the ex-students of Rajya aunty). A brief walk to Birendranagar bazaar and it was getting dark already. We were dropped off to Shila (Rajya aunty's friend) aunty's place and the fun began. I have never seen Rajya aunty cook, never in my life and she did at Shila aunty's place (Shila aunty being a vegetarian). Amazing!

Sunset from Surkhet ghantaghar

I am this most of the time.  c: Rajya aunty

Surkhet Ghantaghar

Rajya fupu's cooking (finally)

Babai, on the way to Surkhet

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Nepalgunj

Nepalgunj, our final pit for the day. Nepalgunj is a municipality in Banke district and is a border with India. I didnt expect Nepalgunj to be so chaotic. It could be the construction work, but there were too many on the road and off too. Perhaps it will be a better place in future with better roads as one can see where it's heading to. One of my wish list was a tanga (horse cab) ride in Nepalgunj, popular mode of transportation in and around the city. It is fun to ride as to my past experience, but passing through the chaos now, I was more concerned about the haze of dust covering the city. Although chaotic, I absolutely loved the view of  the sun setting. I somehow managed to film it from inside.

I wouldn't recommend Nepaljung, perhaps in a couple of years the construction will be over and will be   ok to go around but Rupedia, a big No, never. 

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Harnawa-Bardia

After lunch at Chisapani, we headed to Harnawa, one of the five buffer zones, community forest of Bardia National Park. Buffer zone surrounds Bardia National park and is created to preserve the natural resources and for the conservation of wildlife. Buffer zone covers around 327 km of forests and private surrounding lands, Harwana is one of them. Harnawa is a beautiful small village surrounded by forest, 5km off the main highway. We were welcomed by Yamkala's (Rajya aunty's ex-student) mom dad, soda came first followed by fresh buffalo milk, they had two of them. Although mid-winter, the place was pretty warm and it was a sunny day. I absolutely loved the place, everything about it. 

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Karnali Bridge

Elephant ride at Bardia National Park and we headed to Karnali bridge as we didnt get a chance to walk past the bridge the day before, also for the lunch. 

Karnali bridge is over Karnali river and hence the name, the longest river between Kailali district and Bardiya district of western Nepal. It is the second of its kind in Asia. The nearest city of Karnali bridge is Chisapani which is the entry point of far-western region.  This single-pillar asymmetric suspension bridge is unique in design and is 500km from Kathmandu and lies in Mahendra highway, the longest highway of Nepal. 

Walking on the bridge was a blown away experience meaning it was terribly windy. We walked in a row holding hands. Rajya aunty and Muna aunty were more concerned about this five year old and I, my mobile. I didnt want it to be blown away as I managed to take few pictures. We walked past the bridge and to the same place we had our lunch yesterday at Chisapani. I guess those fish were freshly caught from the Karnali river. Glad we returned, as they say do not return without tasting the fish at Chisapani.

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Bardia National Park

A very good night sleep on a larger than a king size bed (could almost fit 10 people) and we woke up in the dark. One more time, it was local 'anda' egg (relatively smaller in size) and tea and we were ready to head off. Unfortunately, our vehicle wasn't. We had to push it back and forth for a while, even my five year brother was a helping hand. Our driver said it was his fault to turn off the vehicle with the lights on. Ah! well, we were on the highway in no time and off again about 12km on the gravel road to  Thakurdwara. We were ahead of time and we waited for GulabKali to appear. Elephant ride lasted about an hour. Not a quite ride like I had in Meghauli jungle, Chitwan for we had five year old brother on board but I expected to encounter more animals. Not luck our, the only different thing this time was reptiles including endangered long snouted gharial, marsh mugger crocodile and python. There were 7-8 pythons snuggled in the pit, apparently they were cold and would spread once the sun comes out as per our guide.

If I were to make it next time, I would do certainly do a jungle walk or a jeep safari and elephant ride in the evening as they say there is more possibility you will see a tiger hunt.

Chandni-Dodhara

So, our reserved vehicle picked us up seven in the morning. Our first turn was left, about 14km southwest along a dirt/gravel road from Mahendra highway to book an elephant/ride for tomorrow. We had to come back the same road, which killed about an hour time. Back to the highway, as we passed through Bardia National Park, we saw many wild animals from the park including white haired monkeys, dear, more monkeys and a group of crocodile sun bathing by the Babai river. Everytime we spotted one, I would ask the driver to stop. He wouldnt however, saying we are not allowed to, for they were many check points in between and he seemed scared. We continued our highway journey and stopped at Chisapani- Karnali bridge for lunch. Our driver knew where to stop by, meaning the food was amazing, very local yet delicious. We further continued to the west, Mahendranagar being our destination for the day. Mahendranagar is the most westerly border. Well, that was our aim, to reach the end. Mahendranagar is 5km east of the Indian border and 700km west of Kathmandu. We also passed through Shuklaphanta National Park.

Our driver recommended Chandani-Dodhara, also Rajya aunty, which is 12km away from Mahendranagar. We were a bit lost as there were too many roads and when we asked for direction,  we were told we were on the right track. We could have asked for a shorter route instead. Chandani Dodhara bridge, also known as Mahakali bridge is a suspension bridge over Mahakali river. It is in Kanchanpur district of Mahakali state, far western region of Nepal. It's a pedestrian suspension bridge over Mahakali river. However, we saw many motor bikes passed by and those horn blowing motorist (quite in hurry look like) were certainly annoying to pedestrians on the narrow bridge. The bridge is about 1496m in length, the longest suspension bridge of Nepal and links Nepalese living in Dodhara-Chandani of Kanchanpur district.

It was pretty windy and it started to rain as we escalated to the bridge. We went for samosa tea immediately after a short walk on the bridge. All fuelled up and we were ready to head back. We knew we had a long way to come back. Bahunpur, Bardia is where we had to come back to, Rajya aunty's ex-student Yamkala's place. It was almost 8pm in the rain and dark of course when we reached her place and we were very much welcomed with her local 'murghi ko jhol' (as she says) and dal bhat.

Kohalpur

Glad we covered 25 districts out of 75 on my last road trip with dad and Prakash uncle to the east, this time it was west we headed to. We made it to extreme east on my last tour and to the west this time. Kohalpur, our first pit, also became our junction to go back and forth. We didnt do much on the day we arrived, except that we went to mela and around. Despite the mela being agricultural, it was pretty loud and a crowded place for people to enjoy live concert. People were dancing loud. Well! the music was and so were audience. What I loved the most was this 'chaat' Basu uncle recommended. There came along his story of cycling long distance just for the sake of this 'chaat' during his time. I guess it was well deserved. It was yummy, quite different to what I've experienced so far. The road side was full on with food carts of savoury snacks like the one we tried, chaat and there were others.  Here's more-

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Kohalpur Mela

Kohalpur Kids

Local 'Chaat'

Chobar

It is not always you get to see the valley with its surrounds. Most of the times it is clouds and mists that obscure the view of the mountains. I was pretty amazed for it was more than just a rare glimpse  of the snowy mountains. Yeap, Chobar is the place. Almost time for the sun to set and the view was spectacular. While I was busy taking a couple of panoramic photos, mom and dad went inside a nearby local cafe, which also had the view. The cafe had some amazing collection of old photos of Kathmandu which could be dated way back to 1901 AD. Adinath Lokeshwar Temple was just a couple of minutes walk up hill. The first thing I noticed was these metal plates and cups and vessels nailed onto the walls of the temple and the surrounds/courtyard. The myth is newlyweds do such to ensure a happy married life. I didn't have my camera with me again but here's more:

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Kakani ko Trout

My idea was to wait patiently an entire day for some fish to drive into my net but that wasnt a trick. The trick was to chase them into one corner of the pool and Voila! He, the keeper didnt take more than few seconds to grab a kilo of them. Glad there were not many watching besides mom and dad. Here's more on what we did - 

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Godawari/Naagdaha & Temples

Saturday again, I didnt have much plan but moms did. Our first pit stop, Santaneshwor Mahadev not that we planned for but Dad took the turn. Santaneshwor Mahadev is one of the famous Hindu temples located at the south-east of Kathmandu Valley. This Shiva temple is located in Jharuwarasi, Lalitpur and is about 6 km away from the valley. The name Shantaneshwor, meaning boon for having a baby. Thus the myth is people without children come to please the Lord. Mom had a trouble walking up the stairs which  should be around 300-400 stairs in total. From the top, we could see the concrete jungle of entire valley. Well, it went 360 degrees around.

Next, was Naag daha of Dhapakhel which was about 10-15 mins drive away. With few boats on the run it looked like Fewa lake of Pokhara. Although peaceful as it seemed we could see people around the lake busy washing. We then headed to Bajrabrahi Temple. The temple is 8 kilometres from Lalitpur, it took us about another 10-15 mins from Naag daha. The temple is famous for bird watching and is a wonderful picnic spot. We saw a lot of visitors in and around the temple. The temple is surrounded by a huge forest. I noticed that the temple didnt have a gajur (pinnacle). The myth says, the priest of the temple had a nightmare the night before it was supposed to go on. He saw that whoever tries to put on gajur would die. Thus the idea of gajur was abandoned and the temple remained without.

Finally Godawari, destined place, famous for its picnic spots and the Royal Botanical Garden. Godavari is a village situated  at the foot of Phulchoki (the highest hill in the valley-2715 metres) and 14 km southeast of Kathmandu. First, we went to "Naudhara". We paid around Rs25 entry free. People were busy picnicking, it was crowded and loud. Next, Godavari Kunda where water flows from within the temple. The Godavari Kunda (Spring) was fascinating as the water flows out the courtyard and to the  lake like site where people were busy boating around. The Royal Botanical Garden attracts many local residents and visitors but unfortunately it didn't us. Well, we didn't have much time to go around. The garden is popular for plants, trees, ferns, flowers, orchids and for birds and butterflies. It is one of the beautiful places just a few kilometres away to enjoy the nature, also proven to be a great picnic spot.

By then, we were starving. As we passed through small scenic Newari town of Harisiddhi, Thaibu and Badegaon, we had to stop by. One of the locals in Badegaon served us absolute delights. Choyla, kachila, batman, bara etc, a very typical Newari khaja and the taste was amazing. Although burning hot, we absolutely loved it. It was the best bara (O). It sure beats 'Honacha', another popular place for Newari khaja in Patan.

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Shiva Temple-Shantaneshwor

Naagdaha

Bajrabarahi

Godawari

Godawari

Newari khaja

Bara 

Bajrabarahi Jungle

Temples - Squirrels

Let's take it this way, it was a pilgrimage tour. It took me a while to get out of the bed. It was the coldest morning by far. We were out by eight. Dad had to drive with the headlights on. While mom and dad went out in search of duck, aunty and I stayed warm inside. I was sleep deprived.
Our first pit, Swamyambhu. The monkeys were cheeky even in the cold foggy morning, perhaps to do with the crowd, more the people more naughty they become. Puja's done dad handed me a warm cup of tea look like  to drink. I took a sip and Yuck! Apparently, it's a good stuff. Yeap, everything good  in life has to be sour, ugly or hard to accomplish.
Second, Bijeshwori Temple. A newly wed couple were behind us, lined up for puja. They seemed to be in hurry, so did we. Win! moms didn't let them go in even with their humble request. Next was Bhatbhateni Temple where I enjoyed feeding pigeons while moms busy on puja.  Gyneshwor, the final temple for the day. Kids at the temple surrounded me when they heard  squeaking sound of duckling.  I lied and said I wasn't carrying one. Garden of dreams, the final pit for lunch and a nap.

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight