Godavari to Lakure Bhanjyang to Suryabinayak

Posted on Apr 24, 2013 by prj_shakya under Trekking

Tags: Godavari, Lakure Bhanjyang, Suryabinayak, Bhaktapur, Gundu

It was alike all other hikes/treks I had earlier, it started with moms lecture. As soon as I had informed mom about Sundays hike from Godavari to Suryavinayak via Lakure Bhanjyang with friends, she started to blast on me. "Why dont you guys just take rest at home after hectic weekdays?", "Is it necessary to torture yourself by walking ups and downs so much?", "Lets make this Sunday special at home itself." so on and so on. Despite moms lecture, I confirmed the hike, dreaming about a breathtaking Sunday. Probably it is inherited from my mom, I too think; hiking as a kind of physical torture, but to wipe out all other mental troubles. What I really love about travel is; only trouble is to reach destination leaving all other troubles behind.

Reaching Godavari from Patan

On Sunday, 10^th of February 2013, we started our journey at 7:30 AM and we headed towards Godavari on the foothill of Phulchowki, which is around 10Km South East of Patan. Before reaching Godavari, we enjoyed the awesome side seeing of typical Newari villages of Harisiddhi and Thaiba, with the breathtaking sceneries of enormous hills, clear sky and sunrise on the horizon. With such a glorious surrounding around, ½ hour of travel doesnt seem more than few minutes.

Hiking from Godavari to Lakure Bhanjyang

As soon as we reached Godavari, we looked for a good place to have breakfast. Our hiking started with a dilemma, two paths ahead nearly same direction, no one knew which one to take. After having some guidance from the restaurant owner (where we had breakfast), we chose one and lead toward our destination. After walking few minutes, a surprise ahead; a steep around 60 degree inclined was in front us. Probably we chose a wrong path, as there used to be many sub trails around (probably shortcuts). However, we managed to go through it and converge with the main trail. The trail was just like a jungle walk, only tall trees and bushes side by side while enormous hills in front. Escaping from the metro crowd, after an hour of hike, only thing we could feel was silence and cool breeze. Walking below the pine trees, looking at beautiful pines fallen down, we realized nature is a greatest of everything, a greatest artist too.

That moment what came in my mind was great Himalayan ranges, floating clouds, wild rivers so on and so on. In this way, our foot steps were just moving ahead and the destination was getting closer and closer. After few hours we reached a plain surface on the hill, we thought we wont get another best place like this one to have rest; we stopped there. Sitting below pine tree few of us were humming "Surilo Paat Sallai Ho, Khojeko Timile Kallai Ho" by Mamata Dipbim, one of my childhood favorite. Obviously shutter bugs were busy capturing the snaps of Himalayan ranges, walking trails and rural lives with their lens. We had some snacks and juice there, after reviving ourselves, our journey continues.

Leaving all the up hills behind, we were leading toward the plain trails and some down hills. Now we were seeing the views of Kathmandu valley, but the haziness above the valley was not letting us to have clear views. But we had realized, even though the views were clear, it will be a mess of unmanaged development nothing more than that. Around 1:00 PM we reached Lakure Bhanjyang and we had great view of Himalayan ranges from there. Now it was time for group photography with the beautiful scenery behind. After few minutes of walk, we reached a small hotel ran by local old woman and an awesome moment there we had was having chilled local Chhyang (Rice Beer, we named it Local Riceberg) which was served in a small traditional metal bowl. We didnt forget to buy a bottle of Riceberg (later we realized, it was not enough) for the walk onward too.

Lakure Bhanjyang to Surya Binayak Hiking

Now, leaving Lakure Bhanjyang, we were leading towards Surya Binayak and it was mostly downhill. By the time we had started seeing the awesome view of Bhaktapur city. Walking down and down, we had reached a typical village of Gundu in Bhaktapur. We had experienced typical lifestyle of Nepalese villages there, though it is not far away from urban area, it is hardly connected with modern transportation, people living with their own traditional and cultural values. After few hours of walk, we reached Surya Binayak, one of the popular pilgrims destination and picnic spot for Hindu and Buddhists. After completing 7 hours of marathon walk, we couldnt stop ourselves thanking god by stepping inside Surya Binayak temple. After praying at temple, we get down to the city of Bhaktapur, while some of hikers had already reached there. After reaching Bhaktapur Durbar Square, it was time for having food; many of us were starving as we hadnt had Dal Bhat while walking. Many were in mood of having Thakali Dal Bhat Set, but being in Bhaktapur it was hard for us to miss local Newari food and Juju Dhau (King Curd) of Bhaktapur. The interesting thing I had never seen earlier was; the cooked foods were sold by weighing in a weighing scale. After having Newari food, we lead toward Sukuldhoka, as we had heard the best of the best Juju Dhau is available there. The curd we had was so awesome that, many of us couldnt stop themselves to pack it for home.

Finally, we got back home; our hike was over with loads of beautiful moments to be remembered in the future, probably a great stuff for being a story teller in retired life.