TRAVEL DIARY TOWARDS THE WESTERN SIDE

Every Dashain vacation, I prefer to travel out of the Kathmandu valley. This year the institution I work in chose me as one of its travelers. The destination was Nainital of India. I was excited about visiting Nainital on the first day of Dashain. It was raining nonstop from early morning. However, it subsided as day passed by. Along with more than 100 students and a few colleagues, we left from Chobhar in 4 buses on 21^st September at 1 p.m.

Travelling in autumn season is pleasant, and moreover, we could enjoy the green hills and the serpentine roads from Thankot onwards. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a few hours’ jam near Narayanghat which delayed our schedule. The road was under construction and heavy rainfall took place.

After having our dinner there, we travelled all the night in the bus to reach Kohalpur at 11 a.m. Tired as we were, we relaxed before having our breakfast in the hotel rooms for some time. Driving through the straight terai roads, viewing the green paddy fields, in the morning or evening is bliss. Within 5 hours, we were in Opera Hotel of Mahendranagar for our lunch.     

As expected, we had to carry our heavy luggage in the border area and it was already 7 p.m. when we started for Nainital. The Indian highway was well maintained, swift, well lit, with huge trees on both sides of the highway. I felt as if I was going inside an unknown cave. Our destination welcomed us at midnight and Hotel Ashok served us with warm dinner in the rainy chilly night.

The morning of 23^rd September got worse. Our schedule got disturbed due to this. The heavy downpour, wind and the fog continued till the evening. We finally decided to go to the nearby shops ignoring the weather. Mall road, as it is called, stood at 5 minutes’ walk from the hotel, and for the first time, we could get a glimpse of Naini Lake. Ducks were swimming in it and tourists were clicking themselves at the bank. Market was a simple one like any other places. Big departmental stores were not seen till the walk of about 30 minutes. Mostly, food shops could be seen with varieties of items, starting with local chana fry to Domino's Pizzas. The latter became very popular among our students.

After some light shopping, it got dark and we returned back. We had our dinner and decided to go for a night-show movie at the Mall Road, the same way that we had walked through in the evening. The movie was Kingsman. The hills nearby the lake looked magnificent with lights at night. Once seated inside the hall, many of us were seen to be dozing off initially until the plot got interesting. By the time we slept at the hotel, it was 2:30 a.m.

I was glad to find out in the morning that there was no rainfall. It turned out to be a better day. The day happened to be my colleague’s birthday, one of the travelers. So we appreciated the way the weather had decided to turn out. After having our breakfast and packing our luggage, we started for sightseeing at 9:30 a.m. It consisted of viewing Suicide point, the Naini Lake, Khurpa Lake and a fountain. By the time we reached boating zone of Naini Lake, it was already noon. The lake was similar to Phewa Lake of Pokhara where I had been a few years ago. Scared though I was of water, I was bound to boat as everyone else started getting into it one after another. While boating, we could see houses in the hills nearby the lake. The experience was pleasant setting a meditative mood. But it passed by very quickly and we were already towards the end of our boating. The clouds and the mist reappeared.

We rushed towards the hotel, had lunch, grabbed our stuffs, boarded the bus and headed towards our homeland in the afternoon through Kath Godam, Haldwani and Banbasa. We went through the same process in the border area as before and reached the hotel in Mahendranagar at about 9 p.m. After having our dinner and enjoying the birthday cake, we slept at around 1 a.m. to get up in the next morning at 6 a.m. As our Nainital plan had been disrupted by the weather conditions, it was decided that we visit some places of Nepal.

So, we started by observing the suspension bridge of Mahendranagar called Jhulunge (Dodhara Chandani bridge) over Mahakali River. It looked awesome, first one that type I had ever seen. For some time, I felt it was no less than the Eiffel Tower. It is the second longest suspension bridge in Asia and is nearly 1.5 km long. After breakfast, we left Mahendranagar in the noon. On the way, we came across a lake called Ghodaghodi Tal, a simsar area. However, the students seemed to enjoy chana-chatpat sold in front of it more than the lake itself.

Tikapur Park was next destination but due to shortage of time, we had to satisfy ourselves with lunch and a group photograph in the garden of one of the hotels there and continue with our journey.

The bus stopped in Chisapani, Karnali Bridge where we had more group photographs. Karnali fish is very popular there and we tasted some. A big empty land next to the bridge attracted us all there. Continuing our drive through Bardiya, Kohalpur, Butwal, Kawasoti, Narayanghat, we reached Benighat the next afternoon. We were able to beat the midday heat looking at the cool Trishuli flowing beside the restaurant. Such a nice respite for travelers!

Luckily, the road was jam-free and we reached to the point from where we had started in the evening.

While driving to and from Nainital, the driver had taken a break once for about 30 minutes in 36 hours’ journey both times. I then realized that being a driver was not that easy. In the first journey, he had slept for about 30 minutes and in the second journey, he just had a cup of tea along with other drivers for the same duration but did not even sleep. I wondered how he could do his duty without a proper sleep.

Despite the change of daily routine, unusual dining and sleeping hours, tiredness, the visit turned out to be an experience worth remembering teaching me one week is too less for India tour.