“You are going to climb if you are from Nepal.”
As soon as you get up, you will always be ready to experience some enthralling adventures if you are in Nepal. Every day you will have new stories and new memories to remember, and all of these depends on you; to create a memorable story or just miss a wonderful opportunity.
I was lucky on this particular day as my father was ready to hike through the hills of Banepa. There is a beautiful saying that says: one sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak. And this particular day proved the quotation true. Banepa is a valley with different hills surrounding it, but from here we can hardly see the hilltop Tanchowk.
From Banepa, early in the morning, we were ready to go out for a walk, we walked through a beautiful hospital that was built during the seventies. Through the hospital, you can see one of the few temples, where a Goddess is considered more powerful than the Gods. The captivating temple of Chandeshwori is an eye-opener if you do want to conquer the Tanchwok hill. Behind the temple, there is a dusty road from where a bus can travel, but the bus route will only take you to a nearby village, so walking is the only medium to reach the top.
The road is slopey and there is an existence of various ecosystem, you will see numerous types of bugs and butterflies and mostly, domestic animals. The villagers believe that there are leopards and tigers but I did not encounter any of these wild beings throughout my travel from the small valley to the top and back. The distracting thing that you might see are snakes, which I did, but these beings are harmless until you try to interact with them physically. Also, the people are different, as per those who live in different places of the route from Banepa to Tanchwok. Most villagers are very much helpful, they smile at you when you look at them, but some people might be having a bad day and maybe a bit disrespectful. The houses are mostly traditional houses with a slanted roof.
“To see the beauty, you must accept the beast”, the walk is very tiring as I left the valley early in the morning with a simple tea and bread, and reached the top at around 12 P.M. it was like about 6 hours walking from the valley. The hilltop is foggy and usually very cold. The cold is bearable with thick clothes and sneaker shoes.
Once you reach the highland, you will breathe one of the most soothing airs in the world, with different plantations around you like the spinach and the yellowish mustard plants. Something extra about this place is the ridge, which is a curved topography so you can look at the mountains by sleeping on the ground and be thankful for what you have accomplished in the whole day. A night out camping would even be a better idea, as the top of the hill has less number of people living there. While walking, you will find some friendly dogs who will follow you to the top, which I did.
The top is not an isolated plane, there is a store or two, which do provide food. The sweet and fresh spinach is the main dish that provides a sense of drooling to every people that smells the food. With this, they provide the local food set, which usually consists of rice, vegetables, pickles and meat if non-veg food is ordered. Hence, it is a great idea to have breakfast in the valley, have your lunch at the top and come back to the valley for dinner.
This whole writing is not based on my experience but is an idea to travel to the same destination again with better preparation.
