Walk with Ron: March 2015

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Kot Dada, Lalitpur

Never heard of and never thought of being there.
As we continued our Cherry Blossom tour, we headed our way up to the hill of Pulchwoki. Half way through, daddy asked me to do a U turn for driving through this very rough, off the beaten path wasn't pleasant. A stop by at Godawari Nau dhara and Durga mandir, and we made our way back. On Durga fupu's request, we decided to go to Bishanku Narayan which was 3km, running southeast from Badegaon. Obvious, we had to treat ourselves with local choiya kachila before we headed our way. The fun part of the temple, Bishankhu Narayan, was a walk in between the rocks, a tiny gap but enough to squeeze in through. The locals suggested us to go higher; absolute delight as we peaked. The view was amazing as we could see the entire valley, includes Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur. We could spot TIA, jets flying and landing in between. The range of the mountains at the backdrop was just as beautiful. It was a clear day. We four ladies couldn't help but photo pose, lying on a fresh green carpet. Well, it was untrimmed but hardly stepped nice and fresh green grass that looked like a carpet. What's better than laying on a fresh green grass on a day like this and searching for shapes in the cloud?

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Cherry Blossom at Godawari

Not that I expected it to be huge but the blossom at Pushpa Bikash Kendra, Godawari weren't tantamount to be calling it a festival as in sizes of trees, also the quantity. However, the bloom of cherry and others were quite captivating. We all were drawn into with five individual cameras. My dad's plan was to get numbers of cherry plants from the nursery. To his disappointment, they were all sold out. 'We should have come a bit earlier', was daddy's regret and Japan is still on my bucket list for it's famous Cherry Blossom. On a happy note, we took hundreds of photos.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Ghale Gaun Lamjung

Turkish Airways crash landed the same morning I thought I was bidding a farewell to loved ones, I did too but unfortunately they didnt allow me in. Uncertain about how long the operation of towing the airbus would take, thought I better be blogging which I havent done in a while. I guess this'd be the only post of this year's Nepal visit but could be more.

Team of five and we headed our way early morning. After six hours of travel, approx 18km north west of Kathmandu, we reached Besisahar, Municiplity and Disitrict headquater of Lamjung. I was hoping to trek from Beshisahar which would have taken much longer for it took us 3 hrs of jeep ride. We didn't have a clear view of Annapurna ranges on our way. However, the magnificent views while we escalated was worth the rough ride. It wasn't a happy ride of course but until we explored a humpy-bumpy narrow road of Bhujung, the worst.

Much similar to Ghandruk and its home stay but smaller in size, Ghale gaun sits at an altitude of 2016 meters from sea level. GhanPokhara which we passed by and Ghaleguan are Gurung settlements. The village offers a tremendous view across Annapurna and Manaslu mountain peaks including Machhapuchare, Annapurna, Lamjung Himal, Bouddha Himal, Himalchuli and many still to be named himalayas, also popular for its unparalleled scenic beauty. There could be Mt Rona.

A brief touring of Gurung settlement, with the sun setting down the hills was breathtaking. Rajya aunty and her friends were looking forward to local kukhura, gundruk and dhedo for dinner. All we got was dhedo and sukuti. We were also looking forward to some cultural performances which didn't happen. However, home stay at DurgaDevi Ghale House No. 17 was cozy despite the cold night.

Next morning was an early rise for our pretty women, showered, permed and ready to head off to the view point. I was the last one to get off the bed. It was pretty dim when we walked up the hill. A majestic panoramic view of snow capped mountains from the top, watching the sun kiss the entire range was a once in a life time experience. Of all, the most memorable, was to witness the four pretty women dancing along.