Hike up to the holy lake of Gosaikunda., Lantang National Park

 If you are a photographer.,

Hiking up to the altitude of 4610m, with 18kg bag strapped on you and you can't take out your Camera out because its raining like crazy and weather turned into gloomy mode..

What would you do.?

Well here is my experience and the things we went through

Though i couldn't take the shots i wanted, i did managed to take some shots

No matter what the conditions is you've gotta make the best out of it

So, here it goes .!

Thursday - August 11th, 014

Ever so exited about the trip, though i had to attend my partial exam that day "finance" it was.

Well i didn't even touched any books., still i did managed to attend 50marks or so in 1hr and took off of the exam center..but i am happier the way it turned out...!

Strapped the bag pack and off to bus station me and my pal Santosh.!

On to the micro bus at o'1550 hour.

three hours later we reached to Gangatae.Where Santosh's Mama(uncle) came to pick us up on a bike

we were three in a bike, it was a night ride to remember..

Rain..Bumpy Flooded road.Heavy Bag Pack..
at o' 1932 hour..man the road was flooded and well the water was up to our knees and force of the water nearly took our bike with it.

the road was all flooded and sorry for the less clarity of the photo

We finally reached Samundratar at o'2003 hour to Santosh's mama ghar where we had our dinner and went to seep plus eager to tomorrow to come

Friday - August 12th, 014

 Woke up at o' 0527 hour and packed and left at o' 0628 hour we started hiking up the hills of Karneni and our destination to Magengoth at the altitude of 3420m

This was our group..from left.. Me, Saroj., Basanta Mama., Santosh., Samip dai., Kishor and Bhagwan Mama

the path ways we walked were filled with small water falls like this..ah.! lots of them

Kids were paying on the streams on the small water falls. Well who dosent love water in a hot day

i noticed a bug in the grass and well here it is

we reached at Purano Gaau at o'0752 hour.

they were eager about the camera on their faces. .

the size of the cucumber was a foot long and we couldn't stop ourselves but to eat it

aunty there provided us the paste of spices which made the cucumber ever so tasty and refreshing as always

you might be wondering it's the color in the leaf but its the natural color that cane in the leaf

Feeding Bamboo .. Chickens are fed in the Bamboo made feeding place.. .

Custom made BagChal board game.. where the corns act as goats and the stones tigers.

It was an refreshing stop eating the cucumber and a bit rest we took off again.

  

These were the views i saw on the hike up the hills...

 

  While walking our Uncle's said that all the views of the hills you saw above we are gonna hike through them.

I was like huh.! SERIOUSLY

don't belive me..i didnt belive my self too

but dang.! we did get pass 3 hills all ups and downs..

this was the type of the path ways we walked most of them were all flooded. but we kept on going

we then reached to the hills of Kaneni where we stopped to eat and restore our energy

in a house of Sherpa family where potatoes were the delicacy

Sherpa's place..the place where we rested

Potatoes are the delicacy there..people hike all the way up just to buy potatoes 

they let us cook the rice we had in our bag pack

our Basanta Mama and Santosh.. chopping the chicken pieces

have to admit the Potatoes were more delicious than the chicken

She cooked us the chicken and served us the food...man have to admit..Sherpa have the heart of gold

 Sherpa's carry the long Khukuri..and i asked them why they are so long

then he replied for protection, in jungle many people face wild animals specially Black Bears

Khukuri aka Sirupatae

 

WEFIE before we left the place

  We were so hungry that i forgot to take the shot of the food we just ate.

We didnt knew it was the last smiles we had that day.

The hike, then was like hell after we reached the jungle of Kaneni

i call it "The Jungle of Raining Leaches"

 Rain falling down like crazy..into the up stream hike..Rain..Rain..Rain..

all members in our group including me were super wet

and top it off leaches..! man they were everywhere..

Gosh.! tick one off three more attaches in your body..!

it was a freaking Hell

Man i never missed my Mum that much., that i missed her that day..! i nearly cried..!

The Rains and Leaches kept on falling..!

All we could do was KEEP WALKING..!

Finally we reached to Magengoth at the altitude of 3285m at o'1805 hour.

HEAVEN..!

 The hectic hell day of my entire life came to an end..

GoodGodGracious, i couldn't be this happy, tick off all the leaches and rest..!

had dinner and we all eight slept in one room but it was damn uncomfortable.

So, Basanta Mama and Samip dai went to sleep in other place.

Saturday - August 13th, 014

we woke up at o' 0553 hour

ah.! i even saw the leaches in my dreams. gosh.!  

sipped up hot cup of tea and then took off at o'0613 hour...

This was my first shot of the day the window view form our room

the official map from here to Gosaikunda

View from the guest house. the top of RAUCHULI..we reached there too.. :)

The view of the hotel we stayed last night

The view was mind blowing and the sun was just WoW

The sun took off and the weather was back to gloomy and rain started its day job.. -_-

Our Basanta Mama. Hero as always.

The hike up to the hills were ups and downs

and the more you hike down, the double the way it was hike up..!

gosh.! but it was way better day in compare to yesterday.

The weather was amazing and the views were just simply WoW

We reached at Thadepati at the altitude of 3630m at o'0851 hour.

we had our Breakfast there..

The food was delicious.. i just fell in love with the potatoes..love them all

Window..Widow...on Ray Ban..!

we had our breakfast and took off at o'0851 hour
off to Ghopte

our pack

 wished for a better weather but today was the same., but much better than yesterday

little water drops still dropping but did managed to take some shots of

the pathways we walked., the waterfalls we saw and all the water scape

this is the kinda pathways we walked

hiking up was way to hard with 18kg bag strapped on and i can't take my cameras out because its raining and even the rain stops the weather is a crap

Seeing the wooden steps after a long hike was like a wish come true

Rested ourselves at Ghopte at altitude of 3430m at o' 1151 hour

rehydrate and rested we took off at o'1220 hour

Weather got better and so did my mood., all i ever wanted was to take shots

and have a cam time.. ^_^
lots of beautiful water scapes

Our Bsanta Mama and Kishor Bhanja

 

 

Across the bridge and on to the hike to Phedi

 Reached to Phedi at 3780m from where the Thai Air bus crash site can be seen

it was o' 1503 hour

finally we are near

marked on the back side of the sign

View from the point of Phedi

we were off to Gyaje just couple of hours down to Gosaikunda

we reached at Gyaje at o' 1730 hour

Rain started to crash down again.

We slept in a tent made by Sherpa's at the height of 3780m

they were called "Tharpu"

the place was not that cozy but the almost 8 hours of hike., i was heaven to us

dinner was not that appreciable but we did managed to get some sleep

Sunday - August 10th, 014

Woke up at o' 500 hour and stared to hike up towards Gosaikunda

The weather was awesome in compare to past days and i did managed to take some shots while hiking up..

all i wanted to see was the view like this

the sun rise and the colors in the sky was just mesmerizing

 

The clouds look like a Phieonex

Mountain Sparrow peeping

 

This was our top destination. Lauribina pass in the altitude of 4610m

Me and Sir reflected in Ray Ban

 

Reached at the top of Lauribina at 4610m at o' 0848 hour

felt extremely happy seeing the view from there

it was simply sensational didn't wanna get off the place..gosh.! it was AWESOME.!

never felt this Alive

i so wished my pals were with me at this point and enjoy the view what i was seeing

The left side of the mountain from the Lauribina height

top of the lauribina height where people offer prayer flag and rest the stick here which they used to hike up

I am gonna make memories, write names and reach all over the world.

 

Achieved

 

Glorious SURYA KUND

Surya Kunda another angle

Hello Santosh

Surya Kund another angle

in the memory of my buds i wrote their names in stone on the banks of Surya Kunda

passing the mesmerizing surya kunda

Bramha..Vishnu..and..Mahes Kund

Ganesh Kund

 

Dudh Kund

Dudh Kund

 On the way down to Gosaikunda., the weather turned into crap mode again..!

Gosaikunda...the weather was super bad..! :(

Reached Gosaikunda at o' 0952 hour.

Couldn't take the perfect shot but here are some shots of the holy place.

Took on the way down the lake

People queuing up in Trishul Dhara

loved the reflection of the tents in the lake

people offering Cocoanuts in the lake

 

ah.! id love to ride the horse home

Wizard

 I roamed around on the way to Dhunche to collect some shots

this is what i managed to take

 

A warm cup of water was ever so energy giving and kept our body warm

Gosaikunda

took off at o'1300 hour from the holy lake

Roaming around the rest of the kundas in the area.,
gosh.! the weather was extremely bad i couldn't take the shots i wished to take

Shot from the banks of Bhairab Kund

Bhairab Kund

Raja Rani Kunda

i wrote my buds name and dipped in to the Raja Rani Kunda

all i could do was play on my yoyo and write tags on the stone i missed my friends and thought about all the fun we could had have walking., talking and enjoying

My yoyo and Marker

 

 we reached at Talu at o'1703 hiur and well we had an extra fun by eating a mountain sheep
it was a fun night and cozy sleep

Basanta Mama at his best

 i didn't post the other photos because it hard to see the sheep get slaughtered
Crazy memories to share through out life time.

Monday - August 11th, 014

Woke up at o'0545 hour and geared up to hike the Rauchuli peak.
these are the on the way shots

Mountain Sheep on the cliff of the mountains

 

 

Gorkha Himal Range

left to right Himalchuli, Nagdichuli and Manaslu..

Nagdichul

Manaslu

We reached at Rauchuli at o'1150 hour and ate our morning breakfast and till we reached there gosh the pathways was extremely rough on slip and you can kiss earth goodbye

The way down was all perfect stone stairs but due to rain i couldn't take any shots :(

We were all tired and ended up in our Mama's relatives house.
They offered us a perfect typical Nepali dinner and a cool place to sleep.
gosh.! the trip has come to a end..
Finally..!!!

Wednesday - August 12th, 014

we woke up at o'0534 and We hiked down back to Samundratar
we reached at mamaghar in 3hours or so.
We were ready and packed to leave., but our mama's deliberately made us miss the bus back home
so we had to stay a day in Samundratar
well the AWESOME life of Samundratar deserves a new Blog so stay tuned
SAMUNDRATRA - The people with the heart of gold
will be posted soon.