The Assamese Nepal Trip 2019

Ne(w)pals!

We were supposed to go to Assam.  We were about 11 of us that had agreed to go on the trip.  The destination had been chosen a year ago when the SMHS (Stella Maris High School) trippies went to Vietnam (A trip I was, unfortunately, not able to join).  Plans were set, and then suddenly we were going to Nepal instead. Poonam and Reena had spearheaded the trip itinerary and worked hard along with Subbu to secure the travel arrangements with her agent.  Sangu stepped in and closed the circle by ensuring flight tickets were purchased etc.

Pretty soon it was April and time for me to travel to India!  It was going to be a short trip for me to visit and spend a few days with my in-laws, a few days with my father and most importantly a few days with my tripping SMHS friends.  Unlike the previous trip, I didn't have any apprehension or trepidation.  This time it was pure excitement.  Three of the trippies were girls I had traveled with to Goa.  Three of them had traveled as a group before and only 2 were new.  Our number had whittled down to 9 as Jyo and Shree couldn't join us anymore. Although I'd miss Asha (and the pouting selfies!), Shaila, and Adi (from the Goa trip), I knew we'd be fine as this was a cohesive group of seasoned travelers.

The travelers (in no particular order) were:

Poonam (aka Foons or Poons) was our trippy that likes to take charge and conduct activities.  It was easy to go to restaurants as she would take the responsibility for ordering and we could just sit back and take the ride!  Her prolific memory astounded us as she would regale us with prose and poetry from our High School English classes!  Her memory of Hindi song lyrics put us all to shame.  It was easy to start a song and let her fill in the blanks :)  She showed us how good bargains are made by cleverly dealing with shopkeepers to get the best deal.




Raichel (aka Raich) was the ever smiling angelic mediator of the group. Her pristine clothes showed up again this time (with even longer van rides!)  She very willingly sang songs she used to sing in the school choir to keep us entertained.  She was my singing partner while we belted out tunes travelling in the van.  I was amazed by her patience with all the temple visits we made.  While I went to some temples as a tourist (as opposed to a devotee), I saw that she faithfully accompanied us without complaint.



Sangeetha (aka Sangu among other names) was the invariable diplomat and leader of the group.  While others in the van pestered our driver/guides with questions and suggestions, she would converse with them in her broken Hindi.  They'd look to her for guidance, or to update the group if a suggestion wasn't possible.  She, of course, was  missed back home, and was on the phone all the time as people would keep calling her for advice on various matters (especially her beau!).  Being the fisher-woman (fishing for compliments) she would constantly put herself down so we'd prop her up.  We didn't buy it :)

Anitha (aka Ani) was my roommate.  We got along quite well and found that we had a lot in common through our late night chats (we are both Sagittarians; both dog lovers; both love long walks).  She is one of the most generous people I know, and a joy to be around.  She is an independent businesswoman and was much sought after at her work as she was also often on the phone providing answers and advice when she was contacted. I found out towards the end of the trip that she had privately talked to Sangu about me prior to the trip and asked if we'd get along after which I gave her an aggrieved chiding!

Reena (aka Reens) was our clown and would very easily have us rolling on the floor with laughter.  Her hilarious quick witted observations kept us wanting more.  She was in full form except for the day and a half when she caught a stomach bug.  Her clowning around provided some much needed relief especially in cases where we were waning and needed a pick-me-up.  She was a willing "poser" in photos and came up with some of the best pouts of us sorry pouting lot.

Subhashini (aka Subbu or Subasic), was the radio jockey and unmatched life commentator with her garrulous remarks.  As the tallest among us,  she would tease us by standing up front for photos eclipsing us folks that had a lower center of gravity until we pushed her to the back.  She was also easily teased about her "Kanna" and seemed to attract quite a few men.  Poor Ganesh (her hubby) must have had his ears ringing constantly!

Revathi (we didn't yet give her a nickname) was a new trippy and, to me, the unknown.  She was

quite quiet in school.  Moreover she had recently traveled extensively (Scandinavian cruise, Las Vegas, The middle east, Japan etc) and so we weren't sure how she would rough it with us uncouth trippies!  Much to our surprise, not only did she enjoy herself, she participated wholeheartedly in our activities.  She too, was in much demand with her active legal cases needing a lot of attention.  We were in awe of some of her caseload stories.

Shipra (aka Ship), was another new trippy.  However, she was a little more active in the SMHS group and so we felt like we knew a bit about her.  She has tremendous stamina and had the presence of mind to chide us when we were engrossed in our electronic devices as opposed to chatting with each other.  She is extremely pragmatic and has an appetite... for shopping that is!   There may be a couple of things left for other tourists in Nepal :)


And finally Moi (writing by Sangu)
Sujatha (aka Suju or Suji), the nightingale of the group and the only one who added the extra nuances to the songs, was welcomed back into the fold after she missed the last two trips, Vietnam and Daman.  She's a very controlled shopper and knows exactly what she wants.  She was, in between our bus ride and sightseeing, patiently coordinating with her dad preparing him for his holiday with her in the US.  She replaced Asha as our in-house selfie queen, but only temporarily!  She, fortunately, got along with her roomie Ani especially since Ani had been reassured that she's easy to get along with... Phew!!

Subbu's Antics

It was 3:30 AM when I reached Subbu's house on Monday the 22nd of April.  Our flight out was at 6 AM.  We wanted to be at the airport with time to spare because Monday's were usually busy travel days.  Raich and Reens joined us too, and we reached the airport in good time where we met with Ani, Ship, Sangu, and Revathi. Lots of excited chattering and a short flight later we were in Delhi switching terminals to finally meet  up with Poons for yet another boisterous reunion!  

Catching up with Poonam!

Pretty soon we were landing in Kathmandu where we were met by the travel rep who was to take us around for that day.  They were very sweet and gave us all a gold scarf to wear.  We got to Hotel Shambala and were able to quickly freshen up before heading back out to PashupatiNath temple.  

At the Hotel in Kathmandu

Poons had talked to her neighbor on the flight who advised us to go when all four mukhas (faces) were visible (they usually aren't).  Sure enough, we went at the right time and were lucky to see the grand aarthi and all four were visible much to our delight.

The next day we packed ourselves into our 12-seater and headed to Chitwan.  We found, to our surprise, that the roads getting out of Kathmandu were quite bad, and so we got jostled around a bit.  We passed the Bagmati and Trishuli Rivers en route which gave way to some picture taking sessions including selfies. We tried to mimic Asha's pouts but failed miserably yet again without the maestro.  In the van we truly got to know one other and our likes.  This is where games of Antakshari etc. started (and continued in various forms throughout the week).  This is where hilarity ensued as someone would make an observation or talk about a memory from school resulting in excited chatter and laughter.  A bevy of Dahlias greeted us at our resort in Chitwan which had a beautiful garden. 
We were given a little bit of time to refresh ourselves and then went to watch the sunset over the Narayani River.  More time was spent in taking pictures of ourselves than the sunset!  The rest of the night was spent walking around the garden and chatting.

We had to get up slightly early the following morning as we were to take a canoe ride to watch for animals over the river.  We saw Gharials and crocodiles besides several types of birds.

The helmsmen of the canoe were scrawny looking but able to push with ease our canoe with almost 20 people!  The most enjoyable part of the ride was the peace on the river (it helped that we had to be quiet so as not to scare animals).  Once the ride was over, we went into an elephant breeding center and then to a village of the Tharu tribe where we learnt about Nepalese artifacts and structures and even saw a hut that was trampled over by wild elephants.  After lunch and a brief rest we were out again - this time for a safari.  We saw quite a few deer which made us go "Oh dear" towards the end.  But we also saw an incredible array of birds.  We showed our disappointment that we hadn't yet clearly seen a Rhino when our guide asked if we wouldn't mind taking a short trek to another area where we could sight the Rhinos.  Ani and I jumped at the opportunity before anyone could object.  While the 1/2 KM felt much longer, we were rewarded by the sight of 2 gorgeous Rhinos - the whole point of our expedition!  Feeling very happy, we returned to the resort to once again get ready to go into town to watch some traditional Nepalese dances performed by the occupants of the Tharu village including an opportunity to participate in the dances.

View from the cable car

The following day was a travel day.  We were to travel to Pokhara.  However Krishna, our driver, had advised us to take advantage of the weekday and travel to the Manakamana temple (including a cable car ride up a mountain).  The original itinerary had us checking out this temple on our way back to Kathmandu on Saturday.  This was the best advice as Saturdays are one of the busiest days for this temple visit (it would have taken an entire day and the queues were interminably long).  We had a beautiful 10 minute ride up the 1,302 meters (4,272 ft) mountain on the Himachal range with a gorgeous site of the Trishuli river and gorge below us.  The line to get on the Gondola was deceptively short and so we didn't expect that there would be a

ManaKamana Temple Square

queue to enter the temple.  It took us waiting in a 2-hour line to enter the temple.  Unlike other temples, devotees are not asked to hurry up.  So people go at a pace that suits them.  Each devotee is also given a generous Prasad of the red prayer cloth and sticker bindi etc.  Our way back from the temple offered several shopping opportunities and we could now see the shopping/bargaining prowess of Revathi and Poons come to the forefront.  The rest of our trip into Pokhara was quite uneventful.  Once we arrived into the city, we had our first glimpse of Annapurna Range of the Himalayas and especially the Machupuchre (Fishtail) mountain.  The view of this imposing range that overlooked the city made us feel quite insignificant specially because we had to crane our necks to catch the sight of the beautiful range.  The snow caps were mesmerizing even though there was a cloud cover which allowed for mere glimpses of the range.  It had started to rain by the time we were checked into the Kutti Resort and so we decided to partake in the hotel's restaurant and then hang out Sangu&Ship's room to chat for some more time.  This is when Subbu decided to enlighten us about the Bollywood gossip (and shattered my image of some of the stars and their lives).

The next day we woke up really early to make it to Sarangkot to watch the sunrise of the Himalayas. 

Sunrise

David's Falls

We were meant to watch as the suns rays shone on Annapurna, and light up the snow caps.  We had perhaps high expectations and so the sunrise itself was a bit underwhelming as we couldn't see much due to cloud cover.  However, the fact that we were able to view the sunrise, and the eerie clouds that gave the place a supernatural aura made this a very memorable experience.  We then went to the VindhyaVasini temple which sits atop a small hill, and had the most vibrant colors of bougainvilleas we had seen resulting in many more pictures.  Since we had an early start, we came back to our resort to have breakfast and then step out again.  This time we went to David's falls (waterfalls that cut a tunnel through the hill).  Some of us went on to climb down to the Gupteshwar caves (caves carved due to the water with stalactites and also a Mahadev temple at the recesses of the caves.  We climbed further down past the temple to see the bottom of the fall which pooled into a serene pond.  What a sight this was!

Phewa Lake

Gupteshwar caves

We then had Krishna drop us near Phewa Lake so that we could walk around.  We stopped at a place for a late lunch, and then went for an amazingly peaceful boat ride on a pontoon style boat.  The scenery was most enjoyable and of course we had more photo sessions from our zealous photographer, Sangu.  We had a marathon shopping expedition (this time it was Ship that showed her shopping stamina) after a short rest for chai, and ended up eating dinner in the hotel's restaurant.  There were singers and dancers who provided entertainment, and this time most of our girls joined in the dancing.  Next stop, kodava dancing!

Nepal Nonuplets

The next day, Saturday, was again a travel day when we made our way back to Kathmandu.  We started with a raucous photo session on the terrace while wearing the T-shirt Sangu had procured for us.  As we passed the area that led to the cable car and Manakamana temple we thanked our lucky stars that we went earlier in the week, as cars were lined up on the other side of the river queued up for entry!  We seemed to reach Kathmandu in record time.  Either the inbound roads were much better, or we were used to the jostling!  Once in Kathmandu, we stopped by

HariHara or NeelKanth

Thamel (a tourist shopping area in Kathmandu).  Subbu had been told of a Neelkanth open air temple in Kathmandu, and organized this delightful detour for us.  We had a great view of the sleeping idol before heading back to Hotel Shambala.  This round of rooms were our best lot for the trip which made it great!

Our last day in Nepal seemed to come too soon but it was here nevertheless.  We had all purchased a Nepal T-shirt which offered the opportunity for yet another photo session.  We were to sight-see around the capital city before heading back for lunch and

At the Swayambunath Stupa

checkout.  We were taken to the Swayambhunath Stupa in the hills by the Kathmandu valley.  There were a tremendous variety of trees besides the world famous architecture.  On the way down we had more opportunities to shop in the stalls that lined the steps.  We then headed to Durbar Square where we could view the King's Palace and Kumari Ghar along with the Hanuman pillar.  Durbar Square, for me, was a disappointment as there were still buildings under construction to be repaired after the 2015 Earthquake.  This being a UNESCO World Heritage site should have been repaired already.  Moreover, many buildings had a wooden prop to ensure no further damage would occur, sullying the architecture.  We also found that our sight of the Kumari would remain in our memories for a long time.  She was barely 4 years old, and bore so much responsibility.  A sobering thought indeed.  Our group got quieter because our wonderful trip was coming to a close and the thought of Kumari played heavily in our minds as we made our way back to our Hotel to repack and head out.  The flight

View from flight

out of Kathmandu gave us a final glimpse of the great Himalaya mountain range and we soaked it in.  Pretty soon we landed in Delhi and had to say bye to Poons.  Our flight to Bangalore was delayed and so it was a smaller, quieter, introspective group that landed in Bangalore.

We were meant to go to Assam but Nepal called us, and we just had to heed that call!

Thank you for reading.