Mandala

 

A Day Trip to Phulchowki

 A Day Trip to Phulchowki

 

It was a Friday on Oct 14, 2022. Shradheya, out of nowhere, asked , “Can we go somewhere, tomorrow, dad ?”  “Hmm,” I replied, without giving a definite answer. He further said, “ Soon it would be Tihar, and then after I will be more busy…. And we haven’t been out for awhile…” he wanted me agree with him. “Where would you like to go ?” I wanted to know what he had in mind. “What about Phulchowki ?” he blurted, only half sure of what he had said. “ Oh, Phulchowki…good idea, let me think about it.” I could not give him an answer.

 

While going to office, Shradheya’ s  idea of going to Phulchowki, again came back to my mind. We had several times in the past talked about Phulchowki. We knew of its location – that it rose high above Godavari, the place of my alma mater. We had several times visited Godavari, and near by surroundings like the Naudhara, the place with 9 natural water sprouts, embedded in the forests of Godavari. I had also narrated my school-days experience of climbing Phulchowki, when I was aged 10/12 – a memorable outing event for the school kids. I knew Shradheya and Shuvanjali both liked to hike to Phulchowki some day – and this time has finally come. But it needed some planning to be done.

 

The Phulchowki Hill

Phulchowki, is a popular destination for hikers. The hike would start from Godavari, which is about 11km from Satdobato at Ring Road. From Godavari to Phulchowki, it is another 12km by road distance. Up to Godavari, a smooth black topped road exists, and the driving time is only 20 minutes. From Godavari, one can take a 4-wheel drive Off-road Pick-up to ride the winding, bumpy, gravel road with a steep average gradient of about 30 degrees, and average speed of 15 kmph, and 1 hour drive with occasional stoppages to see and enjoy the scenes and sceneries on the northern side. For the more enthusiastic hikers, it would take about 6 to 7 hours, 1-way uphill, to walk along the motorable roadway, and about 5 hours to those with stronger legs, who can hike through the fairly steep walking trail, that exists at several locations. At several locations, these walking trails are paved with concrete steps, making the hiking very easy, but at most of the lengths, these walking steps are not yet complete – which makes walking sticks very handy to avoid slippery falls.

 

Phulchowki is the highest peak within several peaks that surround the Kathmandu valley – it is at an elevation of 2757m from mean average sea level – which means it is 1427m above the Kathmandu valley’s average elevation. The Phulchowki peak can be clearly seen from any place in Kathmandu, on the southern eastern side of the valley. On a clear day, the peak can be seen with a pointed tower, which is a communication tower atop the hill. All the hills that encompass the Kathmandu valley is covered with forests and very little human activities can be seen within these forested hills. In the north eastern to western hills, the hills of Shivapuri exists, which is conserved as a National Park. On the western side, the hills of Chandragiri exists, where recently a cable car is operated for the ease of reaching atop the hill. The southern hills of Phulchowki is a very well preserved forest areas, with thick vegetation of hill trees species. Phulchowki – means ‘Hills of Flowers’ in Nepalese language, and it is very flora and fauna is well preserved. The naturalists have identified a wide variety of trees, flowering plants, butterflies, birds and wildlife – and is a haven for nature lovers.

 

Trip to Phulchowki

We finally decided to go to Phulchowki the next day on Saturday. We had to do some preparations too. Even though in Kathmandu, the rains have stopped, it was not predictable in the hills around the valley. Looking towards the hills, we could see the dark clouds that cover the hills and assume that rain is falling in those hills, even though the valley was having sunshine. For a hiker, the rain is the least thing to be expected, and they must always be prepared for rain, while hiking through high hills. And rain in high hills means the ambient temperature would falls drastically – in addition to natural drop in temperature due to elevation gain. So we prepared to take our warm, water resistant jumpers, and non-slippery hiking boots, an umbrella for each. We knew that after reaching the hill top, we would be hungry, so packed our lunch and bottled water. We also included our wooden walking sticks that would be very handy later on. In one of our previous outings, we forgot to check if our digital camera was loaded with the SD memory card or not, and could not save our photos in our camera – so this time we made it sure it was working well. Sometimes while travelling, Shradheya and Shuvanjali would get car-sick, so they took their tablets to be on the safe side.

 

Before leaving, I warned my kids, “Guys, God forbid, but any best car on earth, can also break down, and so if our car breaks down in the middle of the forest, we might have to camp overnight, till help can be received. So be prepared for the worst.” Shuvanjali was smart to gather some firewood, and packed them in a cardboard box, with a khukuri knife and a match box. “Dad, we might need to light a fire, and we cannot use to the wood from the forest,” she said. “Then, why don’t you add a teapot, and some tea, so that we can boil some tea, in such a case,” I suggested. The idea of the likelihood of spending the night started to make us feel creepy. “Shuvanjali, add some packets of instant noodles in our bag,” Shradheya smartly remarked.

 

Finally, we departed by 11 am, in our pick-up van. I suggested, since there was plenty of space in the pick-up, we load Shradheya’ s bike, so he can enjoy his ride downhill. “We are going for a hike, not a bike ride. And I don’t think my bike will withstand the rough and rugged road surface…” he opinioned. On our way I asked, “Guys, would you prefer to buy a bottle of Cold drinks, or some yogurt ?” Both the kids wanted yogurt and so we got some.

 

The ride to Godavari was much smooth because of the road surface was finally blacktopped – a year ago, the rough and dusty road to hardly bearable to pass through, even in a vehicle. Surprisingly fast, we reached Godavari in 20 minutes from Lagankhel. We alighted at Naudhara – the 9 natural water sprout – had a quick darshan at a small temple, and saw some fish in a small kunda in the premises of the Naudhara. We finally started our journey to our destination to Phulchowki hill.

 

The kept all the windows of the car down, so we could smell the fresh vegetative smell of the forest and also could watch the thick forested hill sides all around us. The car slowly moved forward along the twists and turns and gaining its height. There were no other vehicles, and only occasional bikers and hikers were to be seen.  We make several stops to see the hills and forests and also to stretch our legs. At one of the stoppages, our driver, Ganesh Dai, was itching his foot. He took off his socks and started looking closely – and there it was ! - he plucked off a black earthwarm-like leech, who was sucking his blood, of 2cm length. He said he had briefly gone inside the jungle, to take a nature’s call, at Naudhara, and the creature had gotten to his shoes. It can creep inside the sock and suck blood and fall off after it is saturated. We were surprised to see how much this small creature had devoured human blood, in such a brief time, when he angrily crushed the creature with a sharp pebble. Seeing the leach, we were all queasily uneasy. I had totally forgotten to prepare against this unwelcome creature. When we were kids, while we hiked on these hills, especially during rainy seasons, leech attacks were very common. No matter how tightly we wore our shoes and socks, we would see bloodied leeches fall off after removing our socks. Some leeches fall off from our neck and shoulder areas – especially when we used umbrellas on rainy days. We were told by our teachers to rub some kind of leaf-paste, with strong offensive smell – to ward off the leeches. We also used powered salt, and kerosene, and other things too. To make sure we were not already preyed by this creatures, we took off our socks and checks very carefully. We did not have any leech-repellents but had carried our mosquito-repellent – so I advised to spray the mosquito-repellents to our feet – to repell them, incase they wanted to attack us – an alternative that we were not sure if it really worked or not.

 

As we gained altitude, we were frequently checking the sky. The hills above us were hidden in the clouds and we could see the misty fog moving across the hills just close above us. We were not sure if it would start to rain. Some people were returning from the top, and they told us that it had not yet rained, but can rain at any time. We just could hope that it remained rainless until our trip.

 

The road was not too bad – at some places, the road had been maintained recently – especially the sharp turning bends were concreted pavements for easy turning – but rest of the lengths were only graveled road. Due to gravelling of the road, there were only few large putt holes and washed out section, or muddy areas. So the ride uphill was “smooth”.

 

Shradheya is a walking man than us. He had been insisting that we should walk up, than ride. I was not sure, if it would rain, the walking would be very difficult so could not allow him to walk. But at 3km ahead of the top, we all decided to walk. Shuvanjali also said she would like to walk. So we all three started walking, with our walking stick and advised Ganesh Dai to follow us. Even though the road was steep, it was not as steep as the short-cut walking trails with steps on them. We enjoyed walking by seeing the vegetation, and occasional view on the north-side of the below hills, settlements and the mountain ranges with Ganesh Himal, Lakpa Dorje and other peaks. But the Himalayan peaks were not fully visible due to sheets of clouds. Shradheya walked at double the speed than Shuvanjali and myself. He would walk ahead and take a rest and wait for us to catch him. We could, surprisingly not see any birds or animals nor their sounds. The forest is serenely quiet, cool, calm and tranquil. We  had only been away from home for an hour, and we have reached the peaceful place, away from the busy, noisy and polluted environment of the city. This is the best part of our trek.

 

We slowly ascended, savoring what nature has given us. The three kilometer uphill hike was just ideal for Shuvanjali and myself even though Shradheya would have been happier if he could have walked longer.

 

On Top of Phulchowki

We finally reached the top !! We were the luckiest people that day ! There was no rain, no fog, no cloud, no wind either. It was a perfect day. As if we were important people and the nature had welcomed us with its best possible weather !! We were so thankful to the mother nature. Even at the height of 2757m, there was no chilly winds, and only a cool, refreshing breeze. Oh, what a pleasant feeling to reach the top ! It a feeling like you have conquered your destiny. Even with this small hike, reaching a destination after expending our efforts is rewarding. We congratulated ourselves for making it to the top. Reaching to the top of a pinnacle gives a different feeling – there no other hills above you – there is only you and the sky above you - all the creation was is below you. Unknowingly I was humming to myself, “ I’m on the top of the world looking, down on creation…” I wondered, how would a mountaineer feel, who have risked their lives, after standing on the top of the world. Only the person who have gone through the hardships in their lives would understand the true meaning of the rewards from his/her efforts.  

 

We had reached the top at 1.30 pm after walking 3km in about an hour. The top of Phulchowki was a small place, with lots of Tibetan prayer flags hanging low. There is a small shrine with different idols of gods. The top had many protruding rocks and looked like a small rockery. There top had an army battalion stationed to protect the electrical communication antennae towers that are erected on the hind side of the top. The tower was about 50m in height and had many disk antennas that faced both Kathmandu side and the south side towards the terai. This was the tower that is clearly visible from the cities of Kathmandu.

 

At the top, we met students from a school, who had hiked half the length. Some people had hiked all the way from Godavari and they reported that it had taken them 7 hours to reach the top, and another 4 hours to descend. So an entire hiking for both ways will obviously be quite strenuous and should only be undertaken if you have a backup plan to be helped by a vehicle, in case of need. Every year young teenagers undertake the hike without knowing its details, especially during winter season, in wanting to enjoy and have fun in the snow. The incredible cold, slippery road, and losing the way, has led to many mishaps and large scale search operations, every year. There is no safety instructions to hikers given by any agency, or recording of details of entrants nor any means to report rescue calls, in case of emergency. The entire trip is a trip on your own, and it should be well planned, without overlooking possible hazards.

 

Downhill from Atop

After bidding a warm adieu to the magnificent Phulchowki top, be descended after spending a hour and having our lunch. Prior to reaching the foothill at Naudhara, there is foot trail. Shradheya and myself started downhill through this foot trail, which had fine concrete steps constructed. The downhill was easy, but the concrete steps ended abruptly and we had to walk on slippery, steep, mud tracks for about 15 minutes. Here our wooden walking sticks were a great support for trudging downhill. We were glad to reach Naudhara, the foot hills of Phulchowki hills. We cleaned and washed and got fresh in the cool waters of Naudhara. The continuous flow of water from hill springs were collected and avoided from being wasted and supplied to the people of Godavari. While trekking in the hills of Phulchowki, we were surprised not to find any streams or water falls anywhere, except a small muddy water pond at one location, unlike the Sundarijal area.

 

We had a plan to take a different route while returning. We wanted to take a trip through climbing another hill and reaching to Lakuri Bahanjang, which is on the eastern part of the valley, and finally reaching Lamatar, Lubhu area and then finally reaching the Ring Road at Gwarko Chowk. But as we were not sure of the quality of the road, and it was already 4pm, we decided to take this road another time. And by 4.30 pm we were comfortably at our apartment in Lagankhel. Tired as we were, we took a nice rest and savored the memories of our one day trip to Phulchowki.   

  

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Oct 14, 2022