A trip to the Unknown

Who plans a trip in a whim? We did.

A trip to Kalinchowk is one of the most memorable trips that I have ever gone to. It was also because of the circumstance we planned it around. It was during my bachelor and we needed to start our project, but as always we didn’t had the topic. And this trip gave me the idea for our semester project, so it was fruitful to say.

I was sleeping without any care in the world when a friend called me and said that we were travelling to Kalinchowk tomorrow, be ready and he hung up. I was, how? I haven’t asked my family, and I was broke. So it was almost impossible for me. But then again I called him and asked about details. After that I was excited myself but still skeptical as it was April 1st the day after, so it could have been a prank. Bazingaaa could have been applied.

Did I tell you it was during the Trade embargo placed upon Nepal by India? And fuel shortage was at the highest point ever. But we still managed to complete the trip without any hitch.

The next morning, I packed my bags and went to the meeting point. I was the first one to reach, and well the first thing that came to my mind was someone would call me and APRIL FOOL. Thankfully that wasn’t the case, one by one every one came and we started our trip towards Kalinchowk.

We were in a group of 12, riding 6 Motorcycles, so transportation was not the problem, the fuel was. But the good luck was on our side. On the way to Dhulikhel, someone spotted an Oil tank unloading the fuel. So we lined up and fueled up our ride and off we went to our destination.

At 3 pm noon, we reached Charikot and Kuri Village is 18 km offroad ride away. So it was not feasible, so we took a detour to Jiri another 80-100Km away from Charikot. The ride form Charikot to Jiri was one of the favorite moments of the whole trip. The road was clean and the mist covered the hills. The view was breathtaking and also the hotel rooms were cheap too. The food was great and detour was all worth it.

The next morning, after breakfast, we headed back to Charikot and started our off road trip towards the Kuri village. I still get the chills when I think back to the day. As it was raining the day the before, the ride became unbearable. The road was slippery and the mist covered whole forest. We had to stop our ride time to time, and wait until the mist cleared. The chirping of the birds inside the mist provided us with the calmness we required. And luckily we got to witness some of the wild animals too, the highlight was a fox chasing a deer. When we reached Kuri village it was already 7 pm and it was cold. We were all tired, but we still gathered together around sipping the local wine. It provided the much needed heat and the rest after whole day of ride.

Now the time was to climb up to the Kalinchowk Temple. When we asked locals, they iterated it won’t take more than 1 hour to reach the top but we weren’t locals. We have never climbed that high up hill, so we guessed it will at least take us 3-4 hours.
We started our climb leaving behind Kuri village in the background. The route to the top were all stone paved, so it was not all struggle but it did take us more than 2 hours to reach the temple including the photo time. The view from the top was just enthralling, the snow covered rocky mountains, the village down the hills, the forest, it was just peaceful and then I realized that this was the highest point I have ever reached.

While returning back, I wanted to share my experience but defining to everyone would not have been feasible. Then it hit, the topic for my project. Why not create a platform where you can share your experience to everyone connected. Yes the idea was similar to Facebook, but a dedicated platform to all the travellers. I shared my idea to my team members and oh the applause I got. As I said this trip was worthwhile.

The trip to Kalinchowk was one of my first long route travel and it was everything that I had wished for, company of good friends and a travel to the Unknown. A full Package.