Chitlang Hike

Posted on Jun 3, 2012 by grungeabhi under Trekking

Tags: Chitlang, Thankot, Deurali, Matatirtha

We all dreamt of starting our New Year in a kickass way, and finally in the summer of 69 ( to be precise 2069) I got that chance. Day was 13th April 2012 i.e. 1st Baisakh 2069, group of 7 enthusiastic hikers with stern motivation set out on a short trek (Hike) to Chitlang, a medieval era village with newar settlement and having some historical places having inscriptions dating back to Licchavi era.

On 1st baisakh 2069, we (hikers) gathered in Kalanki around 9:30 am. We got onto the bus till godam chaur the inception place our hike was about to start. At around 11 am we all set our foot towards the Chitlang VDC. With the soothing breeze touching our body we were not feeling the scorching heat and sweat. Having conquered the Sailung last December only 3 were in the teams and I was quite amazed to see the turn out of the new faces for such hike. Resting in top of hills to overcome tiredness were some good times. At around 6 pm we reached Chitlang VDC, snapping the scenic beauty of nature in our lenses after 6-7 hours of walk in the trails. Though the way to chitlang is connected with motorways, we took the village trail road in order to see the natural vegetation and the real life style of simple nature loving residents of there. Night stay is the main attraction of this VDC as the people are really overwhelming in their own ways. Being the first day of the new year the places were quite occupied so we decided to stay little far away from where all the home stays were. To our surprise, we were amazed to know that fact that our Late King Birendra and his family used to stay in the house adjoined to our lodge. According to locals that particular area was known as Narayanhiti so as to represent the residential building our late king and his family. A very homely environment with the local cuisine was served to us, and maybe due to our tiredness the cuisines and delicacies provided were fantastic. Till 11 we all were holding on to enjoy much though after that we all set off to sleep.

 

2nd Baisakh 2069

 

With the sound sleep the other night all (7) of us got up around 8 in the morning. With all our morning duties and ablution we set off for the breakfast. A heavy breakfast was preferred as we were planning to walk around 22 kms to reach Kulekhani. Enjoying the geographical landscapes and trying to capture as much as scenic beauty in our lenses we were marching to reach our destination. Our next step was on Markhu where we were supposed to have lunch. Somewhere around 1 pm we reached there. Another adventure that we were going to inscribe in our memories was the boating around the Kulekhani Reservoir the largest of Nepal, and we did the same. 7 guys in a single boat 45 minutes ride around the reservoir was out of this world. After boating we took a small walk around the village in Markhu. If anyone is planning to set out for a trip like this, do not forget to visit the 227m long hanging bridge connecting two VDC (sorry I forgot the name). Lunch was ready and we got the call from the hotel guy, we had lunch and set out ourselves to the hotel to fill our empty stomach. After having lunch we started marching again to reach the destination i.e. Kulekhani for our night stay. Overlooking the fact that we had to walk still 15 kms we were taking our strides on and on. Finally, Kulekhani was on our sight and we reached there somewhere around 4:30 pm. With some snacks and drinks we set out to visit the Kulekhani Dam. There's an Old saying "Beauty lies in the Eyes of Beholder", was struck in my mind after gazing the reservoir and the dusk arriving and the lighting around it. We were heading out towards our hotel for the night stay and all of a sudden one of our Ultra Hikers proposed to while away the time in the nearby motel. That plan was all of a sudden and to our amusement we were lucky enough to witness the wild creature being held captive by the motel owner. It was the baby deer lost among the woods, and having capture some of its snaps through our lenses we started our stride back to the hotel. Dinner was served and without much ado we went to sleep.

 

3rd Baisakh 2069

 

With other day's tiring adventurous walk and sailing in the boat Ultra Hikers managed to wake up only after 8 am in the morning. With light breakfast we started our march towards our home. Strike was called upon by some political party on that day so we were little tensed but the enthusiasm to hike was still a fresh loaf of meat. We started our gait and paced up accordingly as we had to walk around 30 kms to reach the point where we could get any transportation means to reach home on time. It was a very disturbing day maybe due to the present changes in climatic condition whole over the world. A part of hill was shining like a gold where the other part was being showered by the unlikely rain, however, the pace we were walking was not coming to the halt. At around 3 pm we reached Deurali, (border line of the Makwanpur and Kathmandu district). There in Deurali we halted for some snacks and liquid. Till deurali the steep trails were making our feet ache like anything. From Deurali Kathmandu valley looked so different and beautiful. Never saw that beautiful Kathmandu ever in my life. The airplanes flew below us inside the valley, seriously it was quite beautiful. The steep and slippery ways were welcoming us and we had to march downwards to reach the point where transportation was available i.e. Matatirtha. I nearly fell down 3-4 times as the trail was very slippery due to the rain shower earlier that day. Heart was happy in one way that we will we reaching home shortly but was sad at the simultaneous time as we were to miss the time we spent in Chitang and around its periphery. After marching down for 3 continuous hours we finally reached Matatirtha and ended our 3 days trek to Chitlang. The last day walk was quite remarkable as we all residing in Kathmandu could walk 28-30 kms in a day. We all embraced each other and made our way back home. Finally reaching home a thought came into my mind - A Man Travels to the World in Search of What he Needs and Returns Home to Find it!!!