Category Archives: Travelogue

Why I love traveling in Nepal

Let me tell you what I like about traveling in Nepal. It is not always the overtly romanticized natural beauty of this country. Not because it is comparatively cheaper than traveling to other parts of the world. Not because majority of Nepal is still untouched by the world outside. Well, yes, all that plus – what I like the most is the warmth of the people.
It helps me connect with the place much faster and makes my travel a more meaningful experience. This is something I really miss when I go outside of Nepal especially in the western region. They have a great tourism industry, very well developed infrastructure. They have everything you need to make your travel a luxurious experience. But they lack the intimate connection I seek when I’m traveling, which has nothing to do with money. It is something I feel from inside that I cannot explain.

Chisapani, Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park

Ghandruk Trip

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I had been wanting to go to Ghandruk forever. This time when the opportunity knocked in, I wasn’t going to say no. So, when we finally got there unfortunately, we missed out on seeing the mountain range thanks to a thick fog that wouldn’t buzz. But we did get a few seconds view of Annapurna, that alone was enough to make the trip worthwhile. The fact is – Ghandruk is such a beautiful, peaceful, clean place to be, for someone who’s coming from Kathmandu-it’s nothing less than a piece of heaven.

On the way to Ghandruk

The view only gets better as you go up.

It’s a mule’s world in Ghandruk

I was very impressed with the community coming together to preserve traditional Gurung culture. There are a couple of museums dedicated to its Gurung natives if one wants to check out. The first thing I noticed about this place is how clean it is. Not surprisingly, it’s the women groups who regularly organize cleaning campaigns here with a special focus on recycling non-compostable materials. No matter where you stay in Ghandruk – it will cost you pretty much the same, as it’s run by a single entrepreneurial community. I thought hotel stay was extremely cheap – Rs 300 per night for a room with three beds. But food price was quite something else. We stayed at Hotel Sakura – it was extremely clean. I’m pretty sure it was cleaner than most of the hotels I’ve stayed in the US.

I found Ghandruk to be a great mix of old and new world. World is so ahead of Nepal – but here is this tiny village located 1939 meters above sea level. They finally have direct access to road. It’s almost so remote that it seems almost unreachable but at the same time it is so well equipped with the modern amenities. They have their own hydro plants that keep the electricity running, solar power to heat water. Women groups who actively participate in embracing sustainable development. On top of all this mule’s still provide the primary transportation service for this place. If that’s not cool, I don’t know what is.

Hello world!

Given below is a few snippets from our Ghandruk trip:

Ghandruk Experience from Shailiza Manandhar on Vimeo.

Road Trip: South Dakota (SD)

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Road trip across America is seriously an adventure of a lifetime. The vastness of this country gives you a myriad of choices to explore and experience new places and culture. Your American journey is incomplete without the great American road trip. Having traveled across the east and west coast, I wanted to take a major road trip across the Dakotas. To appreciate the beauty of the flatness of the American midwest and, also due to a slight influence of Robert Pirsig’s cult classic ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’.

South Dakota is best known for Mount Rushmore National Memorial monument. The rocky mountain carved with four faces of the most prominent US presidents. Namely: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. If you came all the way to South Dakota just to see Mt Rushmore, you would be highly disappointed. The good news though, there’s more to Southwest South Dakota than simply the Mt. Rushmore.

Rapid City

We began our journey from Rapid city. It’s the main city in the tourist area also known as the Gateway to the Black hills. With the inflow of international and local tourists flocking this region, this place gives a really cool small town, rich cultural vibe.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Located in Keystone, SD this memorial is about 30 miles from Rapid city. Interesting facts about this monument: Over 450,000 tons of rock were removed from this mountain to carve the four presidential faces. It took 14 years (1927 – 1941) to complete the sculpture. Inside the monument they have built a nice park to walk around the mountain including museums with historical information about the details of the building/sculpting process. And information about each president.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Crazy Horse Memorial

After spending an hour or so at Mt. Rushmore, we made our way to Crazy Horse which is approx. 16 miles away. The memorial dedicated to a native american warrior – Crazy Horse, depends entirely on visitors fee with absolutely no federal government help. That’s why it has taken more than 60 years to finish carving of the face alone of the crazy horse. If completed, it could become world’s largest mountain carving ever. Interesting fact: The face carving of crazy horse alone can fit all four of Mt Rushmore’s presidential heads.

Custer State Park

Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park

The natural beauty of this park allows you to reflect, reconnect and introspect. This park is spread across 71000 acres. Offers a variety of activities: kayaking, fishing in the lakes, hiking, camping as well as rock climbing.

Main highlights of the park:

Sylvan lake
Needles eye
18-mile long wildlife loop

Badlands National Park

Badlands

We ended our journey with a breathtaking drive through the scenic Badlands National park. Badlands of south dakota makes you feel so insignificant in this world. The beauty of our mother earth, the universe, this unknown power all coming together – to form structures so massive and awe-inspiring. There are many things to do here; from camping, hiking to learning about geologic formations. But I bet, nothing would beat stargazing on a clear night sky.

I managed to shoot a few snippets of our road trip. Given below is the compilation:

Trip Across the Heartland of South Dakota from Shailiza Manandhar on Vimeo.

More pictures from this road trip can be found on my instagram (@shailza) account as well.

Charikot, the headquarter of Dolakha district is about 130 km from the capital city, Kathmandu. Besides offering a stunning view of the mountain range; domestic tourists flock this region to pay respect to Dolakha Bhimsen which has its own religious importance. Our initial plan was to hike to Kalinchowk the next day from Charikot. Not surprisingly as life would have it – didn’t exactly turn out the way we expected.

Accompanied by my brother, cousin, and an awesome driver (along with his kick-ass hindi movie song playlist), our journey began early in the morning at 7:30 a.m. from Tinkune. It was my first time witnessing 6-lane highway in Nepal that leads all the way to Suryabinayak. Possibly the only bump-free non-existent-traffic-jam ride I had experienced in Nepal.

As we bid farewell to Kathmandu valley we were greeted by an utterly breathtaking sceneries. Despite the heavy rain, it didn’t quite affect our scenic drive. Leaving behind Bhaktapur, a long stretch of Banepa, and Dhulikhel, soon started a winding road to Dolakha.

A must do on your way to Dolakha is to stop by Dolalghat; to try out some fresh local fish. There are quite a few eateries around. Nomatter where you choose to go I guarantee an excellent tasting fish with a lot of Nepali dish choices.

Sunkoshi river (Dolalghat)

Picture above: Dolalghat eateries

After an appetizing meal we made our way to Khadichaur. Quick note: about half-an-hour drive from Khadichaur the two-way highway is reduced to one lane, making the trip all the more adventurous. Picture below: Khadichaur bridge.

Near Mude, closest town to Charikot.

And we finally reached our destination. Picture below: Charikot downtown

Reached Bhimeshowr temple area around 1 p.m.
In the picture below: Bhimeshowr locals

My brothers running ahead of me. At the end of this stairway lies the temple.

Bhimeshowr Temple

Hello! Hello! smiling mini goat 🙂

Thaali for lunch. Great food outside the vicinity of the temple.

It was a cloudy rainy day, didn’t get to see the mountain range. Still was a memorable trip.A goat casually walking by.

On our way back it seemed to be snowing in Mude. Upon a closer look we discovered it was a small pea-sized hail. **Majestic**

With that we said goodbye to Dolakha.

San Francisco (SF) Chinatown

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If you’ve lived your whole life in a place like Kathmandu, you would fall in love with what they boast as the largest Chinatown outside of Asia in San Francisco. The layout is strikingly similar to Thamel including the ambiance. Except, the air may not ooze the aromatic smell of incense – which if I can remember is totally a Thamel thing. But that’s still okay, cause trust me contrary to most reviews this place does not stink! 28% of the populations living in this city are Chinese; they all came during the gold rush of the 1848 that lasted for seven years. Now giving people like me the opportunity to enjoy the Asian influence.

Talking about what you can discover in SF Chinatown, pretty much everything and anything under the sun. From dried snakes to all kinds of spices and herbs. Including big souvenir shops full of South Park action figures to squirrel underpants. Seriously, squirrel underpants! what’s that for? I don’t know, a real under-pant for squirrel I guess. I still don’t know the real purpose. But if you ever need ‘em, you know where to find ‘em.