Exploring East Nepal

It was really a spontaneous decision to go to Eastern side of Nepal when my Dad asked me if I was interested. Almost no prior planning was done but I thought I'll take few days leave at office over weekend to spend in our Travel.

Packing our bags, me and my family on Saturday morning drove out of the city. Driving on a new route via B.P highway, we were excited and thrilled to see many places.

Traveling almost 1500kms from Kathmandu, this part of Nepal is a paradise which has a fascinating history, enthralling culture and filled with scenic beauty. Exploring its rich Natural diversity from shivering in the hills to dancing in the hot Terai plains , East Nepal has something for everyone.

 Here are the Highlights of My Travel !

 ~ Bhedetar ~

Our first destination was Bhedetar, Pearched at 1420m it was like a hillstation above Dharan city. The damp monsoon air carried equal parts of cow dung, firewood and fog when we reached there in the late evening.

Charles Point, place to get the best view of Bhedetar which was named after Prince Charles, who visited the place back in 1980. Luckily we got the chance to see the beautiful Bhedetar before the mist covered the entire area.

One of my most memorable moment was climbing all the way to Namaste Jharna, and discovering an incredible view. It was simply Amazing and WOW!!

~ Dhankuta ~

Hile famous for the astonishing scenery of surrounding Himalayas, it was an eye-catching view of "Tongba" statue (wooden steins with brass hoops and fitted tops filled with millet-based alcoholic beverage) in the middle of the city.

Much heard about the place, the architectural masterpiece building, the timber construction, old fascinating house with balcony, such bold use of colors at the residence all made me look back again and again towards the building while climbing the uphill.

One could spend days wandering through the streets of Dhankuta with its uninterrupted natural beauty.

Saying goodbye to this breathtaking scenery we headed back to East West Highway destined to reach Ilam. On our way, we came across Koshi barrage in Saptari district. It seems like an ocean rather than the river. One of the biggest river barrages, it was thrilling  to drive across the long bridge with huge waters.

~ Ilam ~

You know you reached Ilam when you start seeing the tea estates on both side of the road. Located at the foothills of Mount Kanchenjunga, Ilam is a small town with sloped hills of tea gardens, and thick natural forests. It was an excellent getaway from my city life for fresh mountain air, a brisk walk in the tea garden, tranquil time and sightseeing spots.

                   Definitely find some time to check out the Tea Manufacturing Factory if you stop here!

On the way to Ilam Bazaar, there are two hot spots for tourist and they are Kanyam and Fikkal. As my Dad said Kanyam has largest tea estates that have made Ilam famous for more than a hundred years. (Can you imagine??) Likewise, Fikkal is a sort of business center which is also the junction from where we went to the eastern border city Pashupatinagar.

When you are finally ready to leave this place do visit Kakarbhitta, another border city from Mechi zone.

~ Biratnagar ~

Ranked as the 2nd busiest and biggest city of Nepal after Kathmandu, Biratnagar was mostly filled with the same crowd as the capital.

It was good to see rickshaws that are one of the oldest means of transportation primarily still in existence in the city.

~ Janakpur ~

Last but not the least, Janakpur was the much-awaited place on my travel list.

The beautiful and famous Janaki Mandir is a Hindu temple that lies in the heart of Janakpur. Built in extravagant baroque Mughal style, Janaki Mandir is one of the most fascinated temples. The holy temple is draped with colorful lights and decorated with colored glass, engravings, and paintings, with beautiful lattice windows and turrets. Honestly, it felt so peaceful and religious to visit this incredible site.

Also don't miss the chance to visit marvelous Bibaha Mandap, Dhanush Sagar, Ganga Sagar. It's around 10 minutes away from the main Temple.

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Luckily, I think there will always be a “next time” for me and my travel. Here’s to trying out Tongba in Hile, horseriding by the tea estates, paying respects to the religious places, feeding the wild boar in the middle of the highway and much more. Cheers!!

Unforgettable Travel - Bandipur

Deerwalk Plan Analytics Team| Bandipur| April 2015

25th April 2015 was the unforgettable date for our travel and Bandipur was the place. Travelling is fun and that fun doubles when you have amazing people to travel with. Me and my office team were all set and excited for our 2 days hike. The sky was cloudy and it had started to drizzle in the morning, but it hardly mattered to us as we were busy making plans to make the trip memorable. We left office right on time and picked everyone on the route and reached Kalanki at 8am. We packed some food & water and left the valley. Our journey had begun with all of us sharing our excitements of the hike and how amazing it felt to catch a break from our daily routines.  After travelling few kms along the curves of Naubise we stopped for breakfast at a roadside hotel.  We had breakfast, clicked few photos and got back on the road.  We were driving alongside the Trisuli River, playing games in our very own Deerwalk van and listening to the songs.

It wasn't my normal Saturday where I slept till late, had more than one bed teas. It was an exciting Saturday on road and none of us had any idea about what nature had to offer us. Suddenly, we felt the bus hit the bumps on the highway. At first, we ignored the jerks assuming it was the speed and made a few jokes about it.  Soon it turned scary when we could see all the locals outside, panicking and grumbling about the earthquake. When we reached Bimalnagar our slated hike start point, we got out of our vehicle and stood by the roadside as a precaution. We were all worried as we were not with our family in such a time and we had no idea whether to go ahead and complete the journey or return back. Then suddenly right there we felt the tremors and the road beneath us started shaking. We were holding each other. We were not able to stand straight as the road was shaking. All of us tried to contact our families and check their safety status as soon as we heard the news about our valley.

We decided to travel ahead towards Bandipur as reaching a safe place was the only agenda we had then. We reached Bandipur, checked in our hotel. The excitement of the hike was all gone and the hike was the last thing we had in our mind. The only thing we did have in our minds was to contact our families, relatives, and friends and be assured of their safety. We roamed around to see the earthquake’s effect on the city. The beautiful city was totally shut; people were scared to stay inside their houses. Luckily the hotel we were staying served us lunch at around 3pm. We were unable to decide what to do and what was actually happening. Nature’s wrath was upon us and each other's support and confidence was the only thing that kept us going at that situation. We traveled around the city for some time with earthquake being the only topic of our talks.

 Upon dusk, we all stayed around each other and hoping that everything was going to be alright. The earthquake had taken out the power in the city and we spent our night under the dark sky. The night felt too long.The tremors repeated every hour and it looked like it had no plans to stop. Early morning at 5am we traveled back to Kathmandu. We were all ready for the journey back home as we didn’t even take off our shoes for the whole night.

It was a silent morning with nothing much to talk about along the way. We couldn't even imagine what was waiting for us back in the valley. We reached Kathmandu around 11am to a city which didn’t look like the one we had left the previous day. The city was broken, people were broken, rescue was ongoing, and it was all chaotic. It showed us how vulnerable we are to Mother Nature. Indeed, we wanted to make the trip memorable, but we were unaware of the fact that we had something else waiting for us. While we all were there merely playing our parts.