DAY 1
Escape from Kathmandu Valley
Unfortunately, it was the day of strike in Kathmandu valley. With a small discussions with the protestors at Koteshwor, we headed towards Bhaktapur and then Jagati so as to make a narrow escape.

Vehicle Tour to Charikot
It was nothing less than a good tour on the office vehicle. We had the advantage of both hiking and tour in a single package towards. We were all equally excited and curious about reaching the destination. Some jokes and gossips on the way, enjoying the nature and taking wonderful snapshots of the beautiful and natural views of mountains, rivers, streams, we reached Charikot, the district headquarter of Dolakha.

Dolakha, Bhimeswor and Charikot
Charikot a town situated on top of a hill and surrounded by mountains is one of the most wonderful places in Nepal. With little rest, we went to the famous ‘Dolakha Bhimeshwor’ temple. Legend has it that the idol perspires as a warning of a possible disaster in the country.

Charikot to Jiri

We continued our journey towards Jiri crossing beautiful Tamakoshi River, small Maina Pokhari village and savoring the greenery on the highway. Finally, we reached ‘JIRI’ at about 7:00 PM. With little rest and some tea, we decided to start our hike from Khawa. Among 13 hikers, only 9 decided to go to Thulo Patal as it was already getting dark and rest planned to stay at Jiri and hike to the School, paper factory, monastery and cheese factory the next day.

Night Hiking

As compared to previous hiking at D2, this one was completely unusual as the real hike started from 8:00 PM (hiking under night sky). Added, we forgot to take the dry foods that we had bought earlier. After buying small torches for each of us so as to kill the dark and help ourselves to walk in night, we moved ahead towards our real destination ‘THULOPATAL’ to be a one day villager. The supposed half an hour hike did not end even in an hour. All of us started to wonder if THULOPATAL existed at all. “Are we on the right trail? If yes, how far is the destination?” These questions started haunting us. The lights were getting dimmer and the night was getting deeper. Then to our relief, we reached a place called ‘Lahare Mane’ at 9:15 PM. There we came to came to know ThuloPatal was still far far away. Having tea and a little discussion with the local villagers over there, we again decided to continue our hiking over the night sky. ‘JUKA VOKA CHAN’ (leeches are hungry) was the phrase used by villager to lure us to stay in his hotel. But, we had to reach our Dhurba dai’s ghar at ThuloPatal, so we had no choice but to move on.

The Rescuer ‘Tilak Bahadur Tamang’
Moments later we came to know that we actually were to reach DandaKharka, situated in remote hills of ThuloPatal VDC. Our previous assumption of half an hour hike was then a big blow to all of us.
As the clock was ticking towards midnight and most of the people were sleeping in their cozy bed, nine of us were wandering in the forest seeking the right direction towards DandaKharka. We didn’t know we were heading towards the wrong direction until we heard someone cough nearby. Luckily, the man replied to our shouts and decided to join us.

Dhurba
Finally, we reached Dhurba’s house under guidance of Tilak Bahadur. But to our dismay, we came to know that there were many persons named Dhurba in that VDC and the Dhurba we were referring lived at about half an hour’s walk from there. We had no option, but to walk. Everyone was quiet on the outside and equally furious from the inside. Tilak was a great motivator. After 5 hours and 30 minutes of continuous hike over slippery and dangerous jungle trail we reached our destination at 1:30 am (the house of Dhurba Kafle). Dhruba was a cheerful person and he couldn’t believe we had made it to his house under such conditions. We enjoyed the dinner on the top of his house (Buigal) and discussing the earlier events, we then went to deep sleep.

DAY 2
Warming up
We had to wake up early in the morning as the village life had already started. We had no idea where we were, and it was a surprise to look outside and find ourselves in the middle of a cliff. Dhruba’s family members were nice to us and served morning tea to us. It was already getting hotter, and we had a big day ahead. Four hours of hiking lay ahead, so we gathered our belongings and bidding goodbye to Dhruba, we decided to return back to JIRI following alternative descending trail at 8:00 am.

Devi’s house
The journey back was rather interesting. We met different people on the way and shared wonderful experiences with them. One of them was Devi. We reached her house on the way for information on the actual way to JIRI. She served us plums (aalu bokhara).One of us took her photos as if she were modeling. Another one talked to her and he came to know that she was not married yet.

Fulfillment of the theme of the Hiking

We met farmers busy in their fields.. As fulfillment of the theme ’Being a one day villager’, we decided to help them in their work. It was good to give a helping hand to an old lady. We took her photo along with her son and promised to send it to her. We left the village back and continued with the descent. As we were already hungry and no signs of any shops or hotels were to be seen nearby, we asked a young boy named GAMBU BIKA to prepare some food for us. He boiled some potatoes, and provided us wheat, maize and some plums. We thanked the boy and moved forward.

On the Way
We had already been hiking for five hours, and Jiri was still a distant dream for us. Then suddenly it rained. As we waited patiently for the rain to stop, we realized we weren’t going to make it to JIRI if we were to keep waiting. We bought an umbrella from a man who was returning to his home. Then, another man gave us his umbrella on the condition of returning it back to him by dropping it in his friend’s shop in Jiri-encouragement for hiking in the heavy rain.

Get Together
As some of us had hiked faster and some were lagging behind, the hikers reaching JIRI first had to wait. People who stayed at JIRI reached Hat Bazaar at 5:00 PM and finally, all of us were altogether. We decided to journey back to Kathmandu and it was 12:30 am Monday when we reached Kathmandu.

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01 Capital`s crippling life	02 Break, Leak, Smoke, Breathe Time
03 Waiting for breakfast at Zero Kilo	04 Silent Road (Noisy Van) to Nowhere
05 BLSB Time (Part 2)	06 Sub hiking at Mudhe
07 Messing with local children	08 Feeling shy
09 Helping family	10 RajendraB sharing the Load
11 Smile My Little Sunshine	12 Mudhe Bazzar
13 Great Sky	14 NirajS (Read the T shirts)
15 Culmination point of Araniko Highway	16 Entrance to Dolakha
17 Driving into the Clouds	18 Courageus RajendraB
19 Frozen in time	20 Free Flow (Charange Any Time)
21 Stairway to Dolakha Bhimsen	22 Dolakha Bhimsen
23 English speaking Sadhu	24 Sacrificing rate @ Dolakha Bhimsen Temple
25 Riding the Bull	26 Together with Dolakha Bhimsen
27 Bird`s eye view of Tamakoshi from Peepalbot	28 On the Tamakoshi Bridge
29 Swollen Tamakoshi	30 Funtime at Tamakoshi
31 Scaffolds…	32 Sunbathing on one sunny afternoon
33 Tamakoshi Bridge Links Charikot to Jiri	34 Waiting for the tide
35 Pensive	36 SanjeetB and ManojR
37 Lunch at Tamakoshi	38 Serene Khawa
39 Drunken Master…Disaster!!!	40 Jiri or Zurich!
41 Jiri Bazaar, finally	42 Happy to hike at night
43 Midnight Harsh	44 Being lost and yet happy (Spot the Tiger in the background)
45 Ke ho yo	46 Typical shop at Laharemane
47 Traiditional kitchen at Laharemane	48 Rare hotel on the way to Danda Kharka
49 2AM and eyes wide open	50 Good morning
51 Tea time	52 Still moment at Dhruba Kafle`s house
53 (L to R) Sanjeet, Manoj, Dhruba Kafle (House owner), Tilak Tamang (Rescuer)	54 Bajai
55 Farewell	56 Second day`s hike began @ 8 am
57 Lost in the mist	58 ShankarS the Forester
59 Come on Guys!	60 A little rest
61 Enjoying Devi Sunuwar`s hospitality	62 Passing across villages
63 Waiting for fellow hikers	64 The dawn mist glowing, the water flowing, the endless river, forever and ever
65 Lava the Leader	66 They helped us
67 Go this way .. and left … and right…	68 …and up
69 ShankarS and ManojR	70 Wait a sec … Let me take a nap first
71 A march for Haat Danda	72 Long way to go
73 Do we have time to step down	74 Trying hard
75 Did I get it right..	76 Going easy
77 Helping hands	78 Two Maheshes MaheshS and MaheshR
79 Gambu`s small shop	80 Gambu`s hospitality
81 Solely from Gambu I	82 Solely from Gambu II
83 Gambu (on white shirt) saved us with filled belly	84 Towards Sikri
85 Just sown	86 Signs
87 Khimti River	88 Dragonfly
89 Busy day	90 Rain !! Does not matter
91 Villagers with traditional umbrella (Ghoom)	92 Good bye Sikri!!!
93 Final push to Haat Danda	94 Jiri Bazaar
95 Sidelined	96 AashishK and NirajS distribute notebooks and pencils to local kids in Jiri
97 They want more	98 There you go
99 Clearing marks off the yak cheese	100 Nepali paper in production
101 The paper engineer	102 Morning lesson
103 Jhandaa	104 Stupa @ Cherdung
105 The bespectacled warrior	106 The lookout
107 The journeymen	108 Tired journeymen
109 Once an airport, now a meadow	110 Reflection on a stagnent water
111 Not enough rapids	112 Lodges @Jiri Bazaar
113 V Veteran (Mr. Man Bahadur Jirel, High Altitude Porter. 40 times to Everest Base camp)	114 Evening mist over Tamakoshi river
115 The End

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One of them at Durbarmag, organized by Alliance Francaise, named Fete De La Musique, had many artists, local and foreigners, performing in various lingos. Amidst the hot mid day sun, with penetrating heat on the forehead, the spectators were having a helluva time, enjoying genres ranging from rock to fusion to blues. It was certainly a gala day for all the music lovers in Kathmandu.

[I did these pictures with my Samsung SGH F300 cell phone.]

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[Kamal Karki and Prajwal Shrestha]

Everyone was excited for another theme based hiking from Palung To Daman. Palung, which lies on the way to Daman, is famous for its vegetable cultivation. Daman, which is a popular tourist destination, is famous for the splendid view of Himalayan region.

After picking up everyone on the way, we were altogether fifteen ready for a challenging hike to Daman. The morning was clear unlike the evening shower we had the previous day. We had a quick breakfast at Naubise, a place where the Tribhuvan Highway and Prithivi Highway separate. After a two hours ride, we reached Palung at 10:30am, our starting point for the hike. The place welcomed us with aroma of fresh vegetables in the fields. We could see farmers in the fields busy at their work. This reminded all of us the dependency of the Nepali population on agriculture.

The journey started from a simple walk on a highway until we met an old lady who showed us another difficult route to our destination. Since we were there for a hiking experience, we followed the lady’s direction. We climbed up to reach a place from where we could see the beauty of the valley. The fields stretched wide and green, ready for another harvest. On the way, we shared experiences with a World War II veteran who had fought in Japan. The man was in his late-eighties but still strong to walk the ups and downs of the terrain.

Slowly the clouds began to shower, and the hike became more interesting. The rainfall was mild but we enjoyed walking in the rain, occasionally taking the snapshots on the way. Nobody missed the chance of storing their experiences in their camera. We reached Daman, altitude 2322m at around 2:00 pm.
The rain and mist completely blocked the scenic view of the Himalayas. Nonetheless, it added a different experience to our hiking and we decided to extend our hike to Simbhanjyang, altitude 2488m.

We ended our hike by distributing notebooks and pencils to the students of Risheshwor Primary School at Daman. Lack of physical infrastructure, untimely delivery of books and insufficient number of teachers were evident in the school environment. On the way back, we played antakashari which made us forget all tiredness and sweat of the hike. Overall, the hike was adventurous, exciting, natural and memorable.
We would all like to extend sincere thanks to the coordinator and to the team for making this hike a successful one.

[Pawan Pokhrel]

Gathering at D2, a short table tennis session, and a breakfast at Naubise are the regular pre-hiking tasks with which we started our day. We covered a two hour microbus ride and reached Palung at around 10 am. Fifteen exuberant hikers started the hike with a thirst to indulge in the essence of nature and capture every bit of beauty on the way to Daman. “Tapai haru le mero yo halat ma kina photo linu bhako?” a women’s disagreement when ManojR took her snap – made us laugh for a while. At Citiny, we met Ramjee Adhikari who had lots to tell about his service as an army personnel in Japan during World War II but we had no choice than to bid him goodbye and head towards our destination Daman at an altitude of 2322 meters.

The pattering rain made our journey more than blissful. The rain continued till we reached Simbhanjyang. On the way I proposed for a ‘rainy-race’ and PrajwalS and RajK supported me. I was elated for being third in the first ever ‘D2 Rainy Race’. The journey continued with a lot of “guff”, laughter, and photo sessions. The blood donation to leech became an integral part of our hiking. Though, our destination was Daman we couldn’t stop our joyful moment there and further continued our hike to Simbhanjyang. The surrounding was amazing as a thick haze of cloud was hanging above us. Mahesh was overwhelmed and lost in the cloud for a while at a height of 2488 meters.

After spending some time in Simbhanjyang we returned back to Daman. Poonam Pariyar, a student of Risheshwor Primary School at Daman, ushered us to his school. We distributed notebooks and pencils to the school children. They were very excited to have copies and pencils with ‘D2Hawkeye’ printed on it. I asked the boy why he did not attend his school on Sunday and his answer was “I washed my school dress”. “No Dress No Education System!”That was a reality check for all of us.

Finally, we had our lunch at Gauri Shankar Guest House and then started our journey back. The hangama continued on the way back home till we reached Thankot with guys playing continuous Antakshari. Frequent jokes from Hitesh, Sanjit and ShankarS, SitaP and her high pitch laughter along with the majestic scenario made our hike memorable and exciting. The sublime beauty of nature made us completely forget our tiredness. I ended the day in complete peace and with a feeling as if I have returned from different world.

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Please click on the image to see its large version.

01 Thankot Temple	02 Road Block
03 Cloudy Mountain	04 Highway Down the Lane
05 Monsoon Clouds	06 Winding Road
07 Hard work	08 Pine tree cluster
09 Hiking begins	10 Getting started with photography
11 sowing paddy plants	12 vegitable plantation
13 farmers preparing field for plantation	14 ploughing
15 A local church at Palung	16 harvesting potatoes
17 Vegetation	18 Palung to Daman
19 Assending	20 A local residence
21 Hiking Trail	22 Cauliflower
23 Faleko Nashpati	24 Chitchat with World War II vetran
25 makai bari (maize plants)	26 A future Engineer (Self made lorry)
27 A glimpse of palung	28 Cityni village
29 Atop the Rock	30 Ready for rock climbing
31 Moving on	32 Self proclaimed hero
33 twist and turn	34 Centipede
35 Sanjeet-s favourite pet	36 Sita collecting mushrooms for dinner
37 I am taller	38 The panorama
39 misty forest	40 In the rain, on the road
41 lonely road	42 by road ko bato ma gadi gudaudai…
43 Daman - Proposed Destination	44 parkhi basen
45 The terminator	46 CCTV
47 duo drenched in rain	48 mission accomplished
49 Love at first site	50 self proclaimed heros part II
51 Yahoo we did it	52 haunted mountain
53 and the ghost	54 serching for lost friend
55 more ghosts	56 Open source everywhere
57 warming up with tea	58 mist gets denser