02-May-20
We are in isolation due to Coronavirus Disease or COVID-19. Technically in the ‘Lockdown’ over the past 15 days. And it has been hitting hard on every aspect of human life. Well, there is always silver lining over the dark clouds. Try to help the government in every possible way. Staying inside the house is the demand of the time. And stop stigmatizing, it won’t be helping any way instead it will add fuel to the fire.
And I am pretty sure everyone is feeling as bore as me, with the repetitive schedules. Just to spice up the isolation, I have been trying different things inside my room. And I feel incredibly thankful for this privilege. This short Pharping hike blog is one of a few things to spice up my isolation. Luckily, I and my friend had made a day hike to Bhangyanj, Pharping before Lockdown.
I was accompanied by my few friends. We reached to Pharping at 9 o’clock in the morning and had breakfast over there. We started off our hike from Bajrayogini Temple. The stoned paved path will lead you up to Pema Ösel Monastery. Thereafter, a natural trail will start. If you walk inside the Monastery, you will see Asura Gufa (Asura Cave). Monks meditating over there. As we walk up a distance from a Monastery, there is a small praying dome and Lung Ta (praying flags) hanging around it. Contrasting colors of praying flags had added serene and beauty to that dome. Air was waving them up high. It is believed that higher Prayer flags fly, longer the peace reverberate. From the hill, you can view the beautiful scene of dense Pharping, hills, and mountains peaks as well if you are lucky enough. Since we had reached in the morning, it was foggy on average. We followed the natural trail. On reaching the top, there you will see Old Dakshinkali Temple. And further you walk the wide rough trail, you can spot football ground in the middle of the coniferous forest. Beautiful ground to play football, isn’t it?
As we ascended, the trail was narrower and colder. I could feel cold air touching my bare skin. Walking around the lush canopy Pine forest was a very beautiful experience. Pine was widespread in the forest. The chirping of birds had added a beautiful ambiance. However, water bottles and plastic on the trail made us think about us; we human. How careless can we be regarding nature? What an audacity we possess, throwing empty water bottles and posting to save nature over social media? How could one live in peace with a subliminal mind? Anyway, we had to walk a walk. After a few hours of ascents, there was a plain trail that added relief to our fast-beating heart. The struggle didn’t go in vain. After an exhausting ascent, the scene was worth watching. Now we were walking Champa-Devi Trail. Followed the trail. From the hill, we could see the entire valley and the mountain range. Looking at the dense valley at one point I was flabbergasted to see the beautiful valley. And at the same time, it was unpleasant to see the city overwhelmed by the cement. ” The city of Cement “. However, it was beautiful scenery. Now we could see fellow people walking the trail. I could see some quotes on the board hung around the way and below was written: ” Mira Rai Initiative “.
I googled and found this. Founded in 2017, Mira Rai Initiative (MRI) is a non-government organization (NGO) committed to supporting trail-running and trail running community in Nepal. Followed the stoned paved Champa-Devi Trail until we found the grass-covered hill and rested over there. It was about 2:30 PM. We were pretty exhausted by the walk and wanted to leave soon, so we decided to take a different trail. The hidden trail. The less-traveled road.
In fact, it was a hidden trail. Not mentioned on the google map. You might be wondering how I came to know about it? I had been here already with my three other friends a week ago. When we had asked them how to get to Guru Rinpoche Monastery then they mentioned the hidden trail. However, the guide was not precise. Initially, looking for the hidden trail we landed over the path full of bushy prickly plants. Deeper we went, denser the trail. So returned to the normal trail. Before we had rested on this same grass-covered hill. Searching our path we descended down the hill and landed under the tall pine forest. It was a beautiful forest, tall pine trees aligned vertically. Somehow, we found our way to Guru Rinpoche Monastery.
At my first hike, there were a lot of dogs escorting the foreigner, But no dogs were seen when we were hiking. I was wondering where did they go? Don’t they value Nefoli ? I remember….a dog was guiding us from down to the uphill and one foreigner cracked a joke
“ Dogs are better guider then human, at least they won’t ask for money”. Which was positive indeed.
Since I already knew the hidden trail, I guided the descend. However, what I witnessed made me feel bad about it. The hidden trail was widened. Visible. No more hidden. I felt like somebody opened the Pandora’s box. Why would I not worry anyway? Anywhere we have stepped in, we have ruined in every possible way.
Back to the journey. We had landed into a beautiful Pine forest, tall Pine trees aligned vertically. Grass up to our knees. Small wildflowers glowing under the gray grassland. At the moment, the smell of dry spikey pine leaves was the best perfume in the whole world. I was indulging myself in the Pine forest in every possible way. And I assume everyone was falling in love with the ambiance. The slippery path of the dry spikey pine leaves was fun to walk. Well, it was a great relief to lie under a deep blue sky. It was embracing us. It was loving us. We rested for a while and slowed down our heartbeat. Praising nature, we descended to the Dallu.
