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The cycles were hired from chettrapati at Rs.275 per day with helmets, pumps and puncher tools a day before the tour day, on Friday.
 Selecting the bicycle at chettrapati
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At 7.30 am on Saturday, Sabin, Arbin, Sakund, Maheshowor dai and myself gathered at Baneshwor from where journey to Nagarkot started on the muscle power and two wheels. The foggy morning on the Suryabinayak highway was chilling to bones. I had to buy gloves on the way to beat this cold. The wide 6-lane road was an opportunity for warm-up. After peddling for 15km, at 8.15am we were at Kamal Binayak at Bhaktapur. Jeri, puri, tarkali, pakoda and tea was the breakfast at Kamal Binayak. After brief shopping for tiffin, we were ready for the uphill journey.
Nagarkot is about 30km from Kathmandu and lies at the altitude of about 2150m . The uphill cycling journey is 15km from Kamal Binayak. This route is perfect for the starter cyclist who wants a tough yet easy ride. Furthermore, this route is also very close to Kathmandu and vehicle are available incase of emergencies. And if one wants an easier ride, he can take the bike on the bus and return downhill journey only!
The time we were riding was the school time; hence lots of school children were seen on the way. The waving hands of children and school girls were an encouragement to the journey while the fat breaking tough ride was harder part. To pass each kilometer stone was a challenge to accomplish.
On the way lots of couples on motorbike were seen. Since Nagarkot is close to Kathmandu, it is ideal place for couples to pass some time together in peace and private.
Energy was draining out of the body. Even the intake of glucose couldn’t give enough energy to peddle the bike. About half kilometer before the Nagarkot, the situation was worst and the team couldn’t peddle further even an extra meter. With grace of god and human effort we were top of Nagarkot at 12pm. But we had few more kilometers to peddle to reach the view tower of Nagarkot. For this 3 km of journey it took 3 hours. The body was deprived of energy so we had to rest in between to recharge the body with food and some more time were spent to click photos.
Finally after reaching the view tower the energy was revived by the beautiful view of mountains. The view tower was crowded with young people who had come for picnic. More interesting activity was that people were trying to climb the leaderless view tower through the truss.
After that, we returned to Nagarkot for dal-bhat. Rs. 170 for vegetarian food is a bit costly than normal price of the food. However there were no alternatives.
At 4pm we started downhill journey and at 6pm we were at Baneshwor. On the way we took a brief intermission at Bhaktapur. Some photos at Nyatpol and few more at the Bhaktapur durbar square were taken. We were at Chettrapati at 7pm to return the bicycle to the shopkeeper.
A day full of cycling without any prior exercise had made our legs very stiff and pain was observed. Further there was pain in pelvic muscles due to seat of bicycle. In summary, whatever happened in the journey, it taught us one thing that “will is the power to win”. Youtube.
Timelog
| 7:30-8:35 am | Baneshwor to Kamalbinayak |
| 8:45-12 pm | Kamalbinayak to Nagarkot |
| 12-3pm | Nagarkot to view tower |
| 4-6pm | Nagarkot to Baneshwor |
khokana, a set on Flickr.
On 15 october 2011, with anoj i went to stretch legs on the field of western kathmandu. We hiked from kritipur to khokana and then to bungamati. Crosed the mustered field and the paddy fields.Clicked photos on the way.
Crossed bagmati at Chovar near Jalbinayak. Fields were yellow with flowers of mustard. Farmers were busy to harvest paddy. We Reached khokana in about three hours.
2 plates Choila,1 plate bara, 1 plate chatamari, 1 plate sukuti with 1 batuko chyang, beautiful Sauni and a Sunny saturday that is how life should be. No sunday, no monday..just saturday!
Via Flickr:
Khokana lies at the southern end of Kathmandu valley. Historically famous for mustard oil.
At pm in Kathmandu it’s difficult to get proper transport to reach your home. So you should arrange the transport before planning to leave for rafting and returning home on the same day (at least from Kathmandu!).
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Waiting for bus at Thamel |
On 23rd April 2011, plans were that we would leave Kathmandu by 7 am. Well said than, we were at Kalanki till 10am.
We reached Charaunde at around 2pm where boats were arranged. A crowd of rafters were already there ready to raft. But we were hungry. Eggs and breads were self served. After a couple of photo shoot and packing the cameras in boat’s black box (the protection box), the guide trained us to row the boat. Here are the commands he taught
All forward!
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Filling air in the raft Safety preparation Enjoying in the boat |
All backward!
Left forward, right backward!
Right forward, left backward!
Simple to hear, hard to obey. Those commands were really confusing till we practised on the way. Later on it became easier to understand and simple to obey. The guide was the captain of the boat.
After the brief training, our boats was facing rapids. Twin Truck, Laddie’s delight and so on. Fancy names! High grade rapids are more adventurous and dangerous because the girls in our boat fell times and again on those rapids. Pinky and Rita swallowed Trisuli water and became ‘mukt’ from their ‘pap’. The white face girl fell off from the boat for three times, but she was tough and returned back to boat each time she fell.
Even though we did not know how to swim, it was not difficult to jump in still water with life jackets. It was easy to float but getting back to boat was tough job and needed help. The guide wanted to catapult the boat but our passenger got the hint and the plan failed.
The rafting took about 3 hrs and ended at the beach of Trisuli at Kuringhat where we ate dal-bhat. Had a brief photo shoot. Then we changed our wet clothes and returned back to Kathmandu. But on the way the tourist vehicle had problem. The tyre puncher and we had to wait for an extra hour.
It was 10pm when we reached back to Kathmandu. Thanks for Juben for providing shelter for that night.
The participants: “Sanima Hydro and Engineering” Nirja (the planner), Sudha (the event manager), Sarita, Eliza, Pinky, Deepika, Gyatri, Rita, Sajan, Maheswor, Naresh and his frens, Arbin, Deepak and others.
The cost: NPR 1500 per head (included travel, breakfast and launch) but not droping at home.
The time: Full day.
Suggestions: Spend couple of days. First day raft and stay at the beach then next day return back!
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The bus Jump |
The smiling tyres Boat sukaudai Me on boat |
Book of Adventure 