The first month, January of the year 2017 ended in style for me. After that trek to Chitlang-Markhu (view it here), I was searching for a nearby destination to trek, which could be wrapped up in two days. Then, one of my colleagues suggested me this place called ‘Chisapani‘. As discussed, the reason of sunrise view from there had an immediate impact on me. I made up my mind though the name of the place suggested that it’d be quite harder to stay their during winter season.
Before we move on for the trek story, I’ll just provide you a few important details:
Route:
Kathmandu-Sundarijal (1.5 hrs via local bus)
Sundarijal-Chisapani (4-5 hrs walk, mostly uphill)
You can extend your trek to Nagarkot from Chisapani if you want that can be done in around 5-6 hrs.
Cost:
Around Nrs. 2000
Speciality:
Shivapuri National Park
Sunrise and Langtang Himalayan Range view
Trek Story:
As the plan was made in haste, our trek started pretty late than it should be. It was already 12:30 PM when we reached Sundarijal via local bus. Firstly, our empty bellies and secondly, the suffocation inside the overloaded bus, sucked up all our energies and excitation. We had a fine lunch there, fuelled up ourselves and we were ready to kick-off our trek.
It actually started exactly at 1:00 PM. We asked few locals out there about the time to reach Chisapani and all they could say was, “You are going Chisapani at this time? I’m afraid you’ll make it till the dusk.” It was quite de-motivating for us but we didn’t care. We had this belief that we would make on time.
As expected, the steep route started right away. It was actually constructed that way for the sake of the Sundarijal Hydropower station where the water needs to run down with a greater force. The route to Chisapani includes ‘Shivapuri National Park’. Everyone has to get an entrance ticket which is conducted by Nepal Army there. So did we.
The initial phase of the trekking was kind of dull as we had to walk through the jungle with not so much enchanting views around. We reached the Sundarijal hydropower plant where there was a reservoir relatively smaller than expected. But, our trek started to become interesting as we hit the way ahead of that.
It was a sunny day. We were climbing uphill . The scorching sun was sucking up our energies and enthusiasms. But, what kept us alive was the beautiful views up from the hills, green mountains, tiny villages seen far away, the talk with the locals on the way and their lifestyles.
The turning point:
After climbing uphill almost like 3 hours, sometimes enduring the heat from sun and sometimes the moistness through the thick forest, we were shocked that we unexpectedly started to climb down the hill. The moment was so relieving. We were literally like “Phewww! thank god”. The icing on the cake after few minutes was the Himalayan ranges just in front of our eyes. No wonder, we forgot the pain in our feet and our mouth was left wide open “ohhhhhhh!”. Those beautiful scenes made our troublesome walk worthwhile. Our lenses were happy to have them to capture.
Afterwards, the walk was much easier. On one hand, we were walking downhill with the cool temperature and on the other hand, the Himalayan ranges were accompanying us. What a lovely time that was. We were chilling indeed.
Then, within an hour, we reached our destination, Chisapani, small yet beautiful place. It was exactly 5:00 PM. We were astounded that we reached there all the way from Sundarijal in just 4 hours which was quite not expected by others. As we started roaming here and there in search of accommodation, we observed that a lot of the houses/hotels were demolished. It was so unpleasant to know that the huge earthquake of 2015 left its effect there too and plus some of the hotels were pulled down by Shivapuri National Park as they were located in their land.
Well, getting accommodation in Chisapani had quite a different and strange story for us. You can find the link at the last of this article if you want to read the same.
The next morning, we gained this new experience of viewing the sunrise for the first time in our lives. We were damn delighted. The view was completely pristine and pure. It was like witnessing something coming to life. Truly blissful.
We did not know about this but the map there showed Nagarkot was 18Kms away from there and it would take around 5-6 hours of walk to reach there. Then, what? We made our mind, we were trekking to Nagarkot the second day. We had lunch, checked out, packed our bags and left Chisapani for Nagarkot.
Unlike the day before, the route was with fewer hurdles (mostly straight). The Himalayas did not leave us that day as well. We were cherishing the moment to the fullest.
The continuous walk for around 3-4 hours was hurting our legs literally. Our feet were so damn tired. So, although we planned to reach Nagarkot and get a local bus to Kathmandu, we thought we couldn’t make it. As we reached this place called Jarsingh Pauwa, we were happy to find a local bus that would take us straight to Kathmandu. We got ourselves in, let our restless body to distress the fatigue. Not my friends, but I dozed off immediately after the bus started to hit the road.
The story I mentioned above:
