Mardi Expedition: Adventure with Peace

Mardi Himal Expedition

Words are not enough to share the adventure and the ecstasy I had felt from my last trek to Mardi. For a job holder, it is always hard to arrange the holidays but since I am making the trend since last 7 years to go somewhere out on my birthday and easy to get holidays for the birthdays, I managed to get the holidays and this year it had been Mardi.

To be honest, it was not so-so good in a sense that I was accompanied by a couple. So next time, I am planning to go solo if I find no friends. Anyway, headed to Pokhara @ 7 AM hoping if we could reach Pokhara early in order to make it to Dhampus the same day. The luck was taken away by the highway jam. It took us more than 8 hours to reach Pokhara that day leading us to miss the last sumo to Dhampus. Therefore, we headed to Damside to my favorite hotel at Pokhara: Hotel KC. I like this hotel as it is economical and very nice.

way to Pothana

Next day, we headed to Harichowk to get a sumo to Dhampus but the Sumo was going only at 11 AM. Wandering around Hari Chowk, having some breakfast was worthy to kill the waiting time. It took us nearly one and half hours to reach Dhampus and from there the real adventure started.

Note: if your tank gets full, be ready to go behind the bushes! Not applicable to the Foreigners: D

Traveling through the small tiny stone paved way amidst the woods with the fog was absolutely amazing. Staying behind for snapping the pics was not a good idea to me as the sound of something walking in the woods totally freaked me. I literally got pale and frightened and started yelling at my friends and ran in fright. A little further, my friends were waiting and found it was just a dog. However, even so, how would I know the dog would not bite me? That was scary.

Pitam Deurali

SunaKhari

Walked past Pothana. It was already 2 PM and about to rain when we reached Pitam Deurali. But we wanted to reach to Forest Camp that day. Since the team was good at walking, we were motivated that we could reach in about 4 hours. Dreaming to reach Forest Camp sooner, we tighten our shoelaces and started walking. We walked and walked. Up and Down, hill and valley.

This is just to say. It was all the way straight UP! It was getting darker and also started raining. I was about to cry for the reason that I never had walked after evening ANYWHERE. And imagine, it was dark, raining and no distant lights as well to say we are near to forest camp. At 7:20 PM, we finally made it. We reached Forest Camp, 2550M, and all the panic turned into happiness. It was a super tiring day. So, after having the hot daal bhaat, I slept a sound sleep, keeping in mind that there are more uphill to walk.

Forest Camp

Next day, we were determined to go to High camp. We left forest camp at 8 AM and the journey started uphill. I wanted to see the Rhododendrons blooming but the Climate Change has changed the patterns and seasons for the native species. Anyway, so the walk continued. It is good that ACAP has kept the blue and white sign all the way long and the direction signs so that no one gets lost. All the signs were horizontal but at one place the sign was vertical, indicating it is 90 degree up the way that you need to walk.

Low Camp

Finally, the trail led us to Low camp, 2970M where we stayed for a tea break. Badal Dada was about 2 hours walk from there. I was frustrated along the way for the reason that weather was not nice and I thought I will not be able to see the mountains. However, one of the trespassers told me the weather had been blissful in the morning and the mountains are at least visible in the morning. Better to have something than nothing kept my willingness alive and we reached Badal Dada around noon. I did not see the beautiful scenery of the mountains from far as it was snapped in the pictures by others where Badal Dada seems to be sitting happily in the lap of the mountain. We rested at Badal Dada for a while and then started walking towards High Camp, our destination for the day.

High Camp: Poor Visibility

The weather got chilly and foggy. Visibility was very poor. Maybe of 5m distance. At about 1:45 PM, we reached at High Camp and sheltered in. Minutes after we got the room, a blizzard approached. Mardi Base Camp was a NO NO thought. The blizzard continued for more than one and half hours and stayed put, taking the scarf of clouds away and bestowing the best view of Mount Fishtail, Mardi, HimChuli and Annapurna Ranges. My heart started racing. I love mountains so much that even after dying I want to be buried near mountains. I have told my family about this as well so they let me trek for my happiness.

It was freezing but I did not miss any opportunity to see the horses grazing, hot tea, hailstones, cold breeze, the crows flying, clouds going away, people having fun and taking pictures. I am thankful that I got to pee very late at night. It was around 2AM and I saw the stars twinkling so bright and moon shining so brightly and so close. The mountains were white and it was the definition of purity and serenity to me. I wanted to stay there for a bit but it was freezing cold. It was very amazing. I really was at peace. This is why I go trekking. Mountains keep me at peace. When I’m loaded, when I feel burdened, when I am low, mountains are the sources to revitalize me. This is the reason why I trek.

Since the blizzard took away all the doubts for the next day, we started walking towards the Mardi View Point, 4300M at 5 AM in the morning. It was cold and dark. Obvious scenario. I did not have the head torch but the mobile torch was also worthy. No gloves and holding the mobile had turned my hands blue and numb. The way up was steep up and narrow. I literally crawled at many places to make sure I was walking safely. If you miss your step, your life is at stake. One of the guides, the last night of that morning, was telling stories to people that one girl had died while taking a selfie as she missteps on the way. 

Fishtail and Mardi

It took us approximately 3 and half hours to reach the Viewpoint, 4300M. It was freezing there. A lot of people had already reached there; mostly couples and the group of friends. Watching them, seeing them having fun was another fun. I was very close to the mountains. And just the down route was the route to ABC. A lot of Heli were coming and going and were very close. Heli is the only way of food transport to these places. The same day, we headed back to Sidhing Village, 1900M to make our journey back to Kathmandu.

It never is cozy walking down. We left High Camp 3700M at 10:30 AM and reached Low camp at around 12:00PM where we stopped to have the noodle soup. One bowl of noodle soup was NRs 250 and I even could not finish the bowl for my appetite was gone due to too much of walk. It was a hard walk as we needed to come down from 4300M to 1900 M on the same day. Legs were freaking shaky and there is no sign of human but the woods and birds chirping. I did not enjoy that bit because of the tiredness. I was concerned about reaching Sidhing Village and rest. Well at 2PM, we reached Sidhing village and stayed at a nice hotel. I drank wild in order to have a good sleep. The next day, I was fresh and my legs were not hurting as well. Bestowed the blessings :D.

View Point

Sidhing Village has the facility of transport in a Pick Up Van. If you are lucky, you will get a cabin or else you ought to travel riding on the hood. I think the hotel owner liked me for I was funny the other night saying “M O M O momo. मोमो माने भैँसिको मासु”! I even commented on his about to drop jeans. Well, the good thing about alcohol is, you do not hide what you want to say. So, the story connects here as the hotel owner called me and offered to go in the cabin in another vehicle and introduced me to the driver of that vehicle. Lucky thing.

It took NRs 500 each to reach to Hari Chowk from Sidhing and about 2 hours. We departed from Pokhara at 12 PM and luckily it was 5:30 PM when we arrived in Kathmandu. Getting a micro to go home after 6 is a very difficult thing for the residents of Godawari and I happened to be one of them. I called my brother and got a lift to go home and the journey ended.

Trek Itinerary

Day 1: KTM to Pokhara

Day 2: Dam Side to Hari Chowk to Dhampus to Forest Camp

Day 3: Forest Camp to Low Camp to Badal Dada to High Camp

Day 4: High Camp to View Point to Low Camp to Sidhing

Day 5: Sidhing to HariChowk to Pokhara to Kathmandu

Two Girls in the Woods:My 2_th Birthday

It was my 2_th birthday this year. A woman is not supposed to disclose her age so a man his salary. So, following this statement, I am not revealing my age either. Where was I? Yup… it was my 2_th birthday this year on 28th February, which I like to mention as two times Valentine’s day to entail it more special, me and my friend cum sister Amrita, we two girls decided to go on a one-night stay birthday celebration hike to Chisapani.

Birthday Girl

I already had been to Chisapani before so the way was familiar to me. I am a frank person so I had told my parents that we two are going. They were okay but as usual, more than my parents, my brother started nagging on and about my travel because I usually say that im broke. Hard to believe but true. I don’t know how and why I am usually broke. I barely spend or buy new stuff and always need to ask for money or let’s say loan. It seems I have an invisible hole in my pocket and the money drops from there.

In Amrita’s case, going two girls only amidst the woods brought the chills on her sister’s spines. Managing to convince the family, we girls headed to the celebration destination. Amrita had to come from Teku and I, from Godawari,so two different routes. Therefore, we agreed to meet each other at the Sundarijal Buspark. Honestly, I am titled as one of the punctual ones making people think like ‘Well, she is very punctual. Could that be she has some relationship with Japanese?’ Well, jokes apart. This is not true. I just talked about this because I made her wait for 30 minutes. It was not my fault either. It was the problem of the local transport; that Sundarijal Express bus. 😃

After catching her up, we two girls started our upward journey. The army checkpoint/ticket counter in Sundarijal is just a few meters above the bus station. Upon buying the ticket worth NRs 105 each, one can pass through unless you are the local villagers living up there. We were queried if we could make it up there because we were just two girls and the place where we were heading, Chisapani, lies in the National Park. We showed our guts and responded bravely that we would fight with the potential harm using the sticks and stones. Since the way was overall safe, we were permitted to enter. The danger for me was only of humans (thieves and loot) and that’s it. I did not have fear of wild animals because I knew the dangerous one would be just leopard and are nocturnal. Haha! However, I just feared for my gadgets. 

Me and Amrita

On the way, I bought a bottle of ‘Chhyang’ (Home-made Nepali rice beer). It just cost me NRs 20. To be honest, I have tried every of the alcohols from Chhyang to a very hard drink as well. I would like to stress ‘TRYING’ not ‘DRINKING’. Thank you for your understanding.  We walked and talked about ourselves, the things happening around us, the girly talks to be precise. We ate boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, fruits, and Wai Wai noodles on the way and saw the footprints of the nocturnals (probably a leopard).

We did not take the uphill route passing through the dense woods but took the rough motor route instead, passing through the village. We met many young groups on the way, staring at us, who probably were thinking ‘What the beautiful gutsy girls?’ We went through the short way, passing through ‘Dhaap’. It is almost half an hour faster than the usual one but is very uphill like the one we did not take. On that uphill journey, we met two middle-aged men who asked us if we were alone. I was witty enough to say, ‘No, we are not. Five are coming and we happened to walk faster’. Of course, it was two of us and telling the truth in such a scenario is always a No!

After crossing ‘Dhaap’ I was shocked to see the motor-way constructed there. The way was wider than my last visit because of the ongoing road expansion project. Then we reached our destination. People were looking at us and one of them finally managed to ask us if we were alone. And finally, we replied ‘yes’! It took us about 5 hours to reach to Chisapani from Sundarijal Bus Station including the time of rest.

Devastated Chisapani after an earthquake

Then the search for the hotel was another headache. 2015 earthquake had damaged a lot of houses there which were operating as the guest houses. There was a newly constructed, well just before the earthquake and no damage were incurred in that hotel. We asked for the room there and we got it. I am very quick at making relations with people. So, I started calling the hotel owner as Uncle and we stayed there as kids. Well, we were asked our age and the level of the study. No one needs to tell the truth to the stranger innit? Therefore, we lied again. Knowing the truth what would he do? So we lied. We walked down the hotel and explored the places. My friend Amrita even climbed the Rhododendron tree. I wore the creepers crown and became a birthday girl and we took lots of selfies. Coming back to the room, we Tried ‘Chhyang’. Stress: TRIED.

My birthday dinner

We then had our simple vegetarian cuisine of Daal, Vaat, Tarkari, and Achar. It was not that delicious. It is because I am very picky about vegetables. Anyway, making the stomach full, we ended our day and kept an alarm of 6:00 am for the next morning and had a good night sleep. Since it was for my birthday, we even got the discount on our lodging. Now see the power of addressing people from family relationships 'Uncle'. Moreover,  we didn't need to pay for the return permit as he talked with the counter man addressing as his nieces hahaha.

The next day, the foggy view of the sunrise was splendid too. Again, we snapped each other. Then at around 7:30 AM, we left for Kathmandu, our homes. We took another route which I have earlier mentioned while coming to Chisapani as uphill. So, this time, it will be a downhill journey. However, for about an hour it was an uphill way. We saw different species of birds in the way. Capturing them in my lens, I was enjoying the morning. Amrita was ahead of me. Then she noticed a group of Kalij Pheasants. I could not capture them in my lens as they were very smart to figure out our presence and they are quick to run. We were just talking about Kalij when we heard the purring sound from the leopard. We were immovable for a moment to make sure it’s a purring. It purred again and then we walked so fast like ‘THE FLASH’.

Chisapani Checkpost in the morning

Being away from there and walking amidst the dense Rhododendron woods, we were bit relieved. The chirping of the birds which sometimes was like whistling was the scariest because my friend Amrita told me that the loots whistles as the signal for having the trap and loot. Well o well, what needed more. There was a footstep sound coming. I ran a bit but Amrita did not so I had to stop as well. Upon stopping and waiting on her, I saw a man coming down. Now, what needs to be added to the fear. He approached nearer and nearer. Praise be to God, he was alone. Collecting all my guts, I managed to ask him if he was going to Kathmandu as well. He replied ‘Yes’ and scolded us for coming two girls alone. As per him, it was the place where a leopard and its cub was sighted a few days back. We thought he would walk with us but damn! He walked so fast that we could not walk with him.

Talking about that fearful scenario and walking all the way, it was so full of fun. One of the unique Happy Birthdays to me. Then we reached the check point and checked out. It took us around 3 and half hours to reach down to the Sundarijal Bus Station from Chisapani. Overall, I had a hell of a fun on my birthday. I love this kind of birthdays. I wish my birthday celebrations to be always in nature. I had been to Chisapani three years back on my birthday as well but companion was different. 😉

Stay tuned for another blog of my travel experience. I bet you would enjoy the girlish, feminine and exciting extrapolation of my experiences. Hasta la Vista Amigos! Hugs & Kisses.