“Starry sky ko timelapse khichna hineko re Sajjan”
Day First
KTM -> Gurjebhanjyang -> Gurung Gau -> Chhare -> Dhikure -> Trishuli -> Tupche -> Santibazar -> Bhangekhola(Mailung Jharna) -> Santibazar -> Pairebesi
I was woken up to a glaring dawn at Nagarkot and it came to me “Waa Aja ta we’re heading towards Mailung; ani tyo pani we’re camping. Aaich this is going to be an awesome day”. And after having a fantastic breakfast at Mystique Mountain, it was time I hurry back to Sajjan’s. He calls and asks when I’ll be there. “Timi ghar mai basa. Eakchin maa mah timro mai aauchu. Saman haru chai sabai pack garera rakha na ani sangai mero ma gayera sabai ramro sanga pack garera hinamla ni. 4 ghanta ma ta aananda le pugihalincha ni”. Okay, he says and I reached his house at around 10:30, packed up, went to my place, and tied them all on our gadhas. At around 11:45 we left my house.
In around half an hour we reached Gurjebhanjyang, where like always, the armies asked where we were headed. Rasuwa we said and they let us through without any further inquiries. And the scenery began just a bit ahead of the checkpoint. Being monsoon and full of humid air, it was foggy all around. It was dramatic.
Yay, we were enjoying our ride in the fog and then a police checkpoint appeared where we were asked to show our documents. And alas my bluebook had not been renewed for over 1 and a half years and Sajjan’s had just been a year and around 4 months. The police handed each of us a chit and made us pay on the spot.
Frustrated and annoyed because we had to pay double the amount of fine for what we would have paid inside the valley and on top of that being on an empty stomach for the whole time, we decided to rest for a bit and have a punte beer and some food that we had brought from home at the same spot where we used to sit just below the Gurung gau.
Sajjan took some snaps, and we drank and ate a little. It was 2 PM already when we decided to move on. Even though it hadn’t rained the previous night, the road to Chahare was still a disaster
Despite having a plan of stopping at Marco polo for lunch, with thoughts of not reaching Mailung on time and moreover, having to set up a camp while still having some amount of daylight, we decided not to stop anywhere unless it was an emergency.
The weather was boiling hot from Chahare all the way to Santi Bazar. In the middle of Trishuli Bazar which is also known as Dhunge, we bought some food. We had to cross a suspension bridge to get to the opposite of Sole because of road maintenance, which was an experience in itself. It was thrilling.
“Mahesh Mailung sammai ta pugna sakiyekla jasto chaina. Khola hera ta, k bha yo? Feri yo dozar le kaile bato banayera sakini?” Sajjan says after seeing Trishuli flooding over the road.
“Huncha farkim aaile. Adhyaro ni huna lagyo. Aba tent halne thau khojdai hinam baru”. Despite losing what we had left of the daylight, we went to see another waterfall that lay across the Bhangekhola which is also known as Chipleti Khola. We didn’t get to reach the waterfall but enjoyed it from afar as the name already suggests, it’s damn slippery, and being monsoon took it to the next level.
“Sajjan paani parna thalyo yar. Aba baas(shelter) nakhoji basyo bhane dukha paincha. Feri mathi roof bhako thau pani ta chaiyo. Paani paresi yo tent ta purai taal huncha yar bhitra ani bhitra sutne ki paudi khelne?” I said. And at a place called Pairebesi there we saw a structure made for kriyaputris. “Sajjan aja raat yei bitauna parla jasto cha yar ” I said, but his belief in ghosts, spirits, and all kinds of supernatural stupidity he denied despite my efforts of trying to convince him to sleep there for the night.
It was about to rain heavily. “La thikai cha. Teso bhaye yei laidim tent” saying that we were pitching a tent just beside the road when a local came to us and said “K bijog garnu bha yesto bato ma. Hinnu baru mero kukhura ko khor cha yei side ma. Aja raat tyai bitaunu”.
Sajjan came after inspecting the chicken coop, he said “Thik cha Mahesh. Aja ko raat hamro majjale bitcha bhitra”. And when I went to check inside, it turned out to be a chicken coop which was turned into a grain mill and abandoned because of the loss the owner was incurring. The owner was pleasant, humble, and kind. He cleaned a corner and made a livable space for us. It was pouring rain outside and in gratitude, we asked him to have a beer with us, which he denied and went to his home telling us to have a good night’s sleep.
That night we made merry and indulged in food, drinks, and some occasional puffs of the demon plant. And when I asked Sajjan “kasto feel bhaira cha ta Sajjan?“. He answered,”Mahesh, aja hamlai bhagwan aayera bachaunu bhayo. Waha naaaunu bhayeko bhaye aja hera hamro k halat hunthyo?”. It was hilarious with that expression on his face.
Day Second
Pairebesi -> Santibazar -> Bhangekhola(Mailung Jharna) -> Siltanky -> Trishuli -> Bidur -> Devighat -> Khadga Bhanjyang -> Bidur
It was around 3 in the morning, my sleep had left me. I found Sajjan holding me in fear of the roaring Trishuli just beside where we were sleeping. ”Raat bhari light on bhayera power bank ko charge pani sakecha. Sajjan utha hai. Pet khali garna jana parcha. Aaile eakchin ma manche haru hinna thalchan ani garo parcha feri”. “Aaile Sutchu ma. Eakchin ma jamla ni” he said. Saying alright I went to do my business. I returned relieved that the ritual was through.
At dawn, I played my music, cooked breakfast, and woke Sajjan up to have it. He said he doesn’t want to as he’d not been to the toilet. “Timi khau aaile. Ma eakchin ma khanchu” he said and I ate all the food that I’d made for two. He’d suffer for around two hours for he’d not listened while I told him to go shit in the open while it was still dark.
“What in the name of fyackery is this? Byana byana k ko bhid ho yesto? Yaa aja dubki launa paiyela jasto chaina. Uta katai khatra thau cha ki. Eakjana local lai sodum na”. When asked to a tipper driver, he said ”yo bhanda uta ko jharna ma cha dubki marna milne thau ta, tara ali danger cha”. Saying okay let’s check that place, we decided to walk carrying what we had prepared for lunch. Upon reaching the next waterfall, the dubki marne thau that the tipper driver told us about was a vertical waterfall with just a pond at the bottom which was extremely dangerous. One dip and the water would sweep you right to Trishuli. “La bhai bhayo. Yaa dubki subki kei maridaina. Yai side ma yei jharna herdai mero lunch ani timro chai breakfast sakam hai” saying that we ate there.
Sajjan was taking his shots while we were eating and a jeep came with a guy with his head outside the window and a GoPro in one hand. He turned out to be a vlogger named Gorkhali rider. As he sees us chilling on the side of the road, he says ”Sahi ho, Sahi ho”. As we didn’t want to be in the frame of someone who had tons of views, we didn’t react to what he said.
Having had enough of seeing the waterfalls, on our way back, the tipper driver we had a conversation with was found making a pool out of his tipper. Pun intended, lwaal. He was filling his tipper under a waterfall. As we reached him, we asked if we could join in as what he suggested earlier didn’t work out for us. He said okay and we hopped on. Never had I ever done that. That was a different experience. After a while he said, it’s time to leave. He left and we thought of drying ourselves in the sun. I just had a towel on and was changing my undies while a gang of ladies came, some whistling, some teasing, and taunting. Okay, FYAK, this is the universe paying me back for what I’d done in the new year, I thought to myself and quickly got out of there.
We had planned for two days for the trip and now had an extra day. After our plan to camp had turned to waste, we decided to stay at Sajjan’s house in Bidur. Prior to that, we went to Siltanky, where we met some guys smoking pot and diving in the water. “Bhai haru majja garira chau hai” when we said this, a guy said ”Dai Nuwakot bhanya ta khatra thau ho ni. Yaa bhanda freedom ta aru kai ni chaina hola”. And I thought as well “Maybe, yesto khullam khulla, dar lagne thau ma yessai smoke garira ni haina hola. La bhai haru enjoy hai”. Saying this we departed.
Upon getting off the bike and getting inside Sajjan’s house, I felt the heat. It was excruciatingly hot. It was no better than Terai. And on top of that, there was no electricity the whole damned day. I asked Sajjan if we should stay in a hotel instead as I needed to just call my parents and say that I’m fine over there. He insisted on staying at his place and he’d charge my phone at his relative’s.
“Aati garmi bhayo hai Mahesh. Yaa basirakhna bhanda la hina baru ma timi lai Nuwakot ko khatra thau ghumayera lerauchu”. “Aaich waa, jum na ta kaa ho testo khatra thau, majja hune bho”. Having this on my mind, I followed Sajjan. Upon reaching Devighat, he pointed towards a cliff and said ”Tya hera ta Mahesh. Khatra chaina ta thau?”. “Ramro cha yar. Fakine bela dhila hola feri gaihalam” saying that we crossed another suspension bridge which was quite difficult this time as the bridge wasn’t meant to be crossed by bikes.
Upon reaching the other side, it turned out that Sajjan too didn’t know where to reach that cliff from. We asked a lot of locals for information and none of them were helpful. We roamed and roamed but that place never came. In doing so we came to a place called love danda which we thought of spending some time at but didn’t as it wasn’t pretty enough as the cliff Sajjan had shown at the start. ”Dulerai raat parna laisakyo. Aja lai pugyo . Aba maybe some other time”. And it was getting a bit cooler so we went to his house. We made dinner, ate, and had a few drinks. It rained at night, only then the heat was bearable.
Day Third
Bidur -> Dhikure -> Chahare -> Gurje Bhanjyang -> Tokha -> Ktm
“Sajjan paari kasto ramro thau dekhira cha, tya jane ho?” I asked him, pointing towards a place full of solar panels. “Aaile bhyaudaina hola, bholi jamla ni ta tya” he had said the previous evening. Since this was the last day of our trip so I wanted to experience a lot of Nuwakot. We went to that place and as it was unbearably hot, I asked him if there were any waterfalls nearby. “Auta ramro thau cha. Hami paila bachha bela paudi khelne thau. Jam na ta tyai” and I went along.
After about 5 minutes of walking from the road, there came a stream, where people had made a small pond. It was so hot I didn’t care if the pond was made for kids or adults. I jumped right in and didn’t want to waste one bit on the outside. The sun had tanned me so well that it took more than a month for the tanned skin to flake off. “Nuwakot ko gham, maane maile” I was thinking on the inside. Having had enough dips, we went to his house, ate what was left, and headed home through the same kabadi route we’d taken earlier while still soaking wet in the rain.