2022
Before we start up writing, we, all Nepalese Local Guides, want to express our hearty congratulations to all LG’s around the globe who had Conoributed in Worldwide Geo Walk thus making the mission full of success.
I started my day by taking blessings form lord almighty of Kathmandu – Pasupatinath, so everything was bound to be wonderful.
We started gathering in front of NEA building at around 10:30am. @BishowvijayaP being the first one to arrive followed by me at 10:30 a.m. While we were waiting for others to arrive we introduced ourselves. @Sarojdhakal, though eager, could not join us as he fell sick.
Our first destination was Taudaha as announced in our RSVP post. After confirming that all willing attendees were there, our team of seven reached the aforementioned destination in about an hour using a public vehicle. After buying tickets, armed with our smartphones and determination to find as much hidden gems as possible, we started our Geo Walk.
There is no doubt that Kathmandu is a valley and is filled up from lacustrine soil. This gives a proof that once the valley was filled up with water. Valley was once a lake full of serpent and other creatures with a hillock in middle which is known today as Swayambhu, atop which Swayambhunath Stupa resides. Believe it or not, the water of valley was drained out by the god Manjushree (a Buddhist character) by cutting a gorge at a place which is now known as Chobhar Gorge and the civilization started in the valley. So what about the creatures belonging to that huge lake? All the homeless creatures were left homeless after the lake was drained out. Thus Taudaha was a lake built to dwell for the all creatures under the ruling of serpent King Karkotak. The name Taudaha comes from a combination of Newari words 'Ta', meaning snake and 'Daha', which means lake.
The hidden gem Taudaha, harbours 40 species of birds living in wetlands (reaches up to 100 species in winter). As this is a sacred holy place, you are allowed to pray or venerate the place but strictly prohibited to swim or wash. Nowadays the hidden gems inside the lake are variety of fishes. One can buy food to feed the fish but fishing is not allowed. The very interesting thing about this lake is, among its five corners, one corner is always missing while viewing from ground level. This is the hidden fact of the lake.
As an icebreaker we filled up stickers and distributed educational flyers among the attendees. We talked about past events organized by Nepal local guides and shared our experiences as local guides.
After that we started exploring the area. @BishowvijayaP and @RupendraNeupane found my places that were not added to google maps.
After taking photographs of fish in the lakes, scenery of the surrounding area and after taking a group photo we bid farewell to Lake Taudaha and started towards our next destination.
The other gem on our way was Jal Binayak Temple. One cannot expect its wholeness in beauty since, the temple itself was damaged by the earthquakes and repairs were ongoing. Jal Binayak Temple is a temple of Lord Ganesh which is among the four Binayaks scattered around Kathmandu valley. We took photographs at the bank of Bagmati River and headed for Manjushree park to hunt for more hidden gems.
Manjushree Park is a park made upon the same hill which was cut by Manjushree to create an opening for the water to drain out. Entering the garden we were surrounded by many flowers and plants. The view we got from the summit was mesmerizing.
We saw a lot of people going in and out to the park but missed the foreigners one. After getting few snaps for our memories we headed down to see various cave openings.
The hidden gems inside the park are The Rock Garden Area, Statue of Shiva and of course the Barahi Cave. The cold steam emerging out from the opening of Cave and the reverberation of sound of river gives people a sheer pleasure. Exploring and experience a lot, we can't say it's our misfortune but we had to satisfy ourselves entering the small openings of the cave but not the main entrance. Of course it was the off day schedule. Crawling through the tunnels of cave was a very different feeling. There are many caves in and around manjushree park longest one measuring 1250m.
Finally, we smelled the nature very well. We saw the gems via our eyes. We wore the gems in our memories. We collected the gems in our camera. Now, we exposed the gems with the world. The nature has given a lot of gems openly. Just we need a good sight. Gems are yelling that we are not shown up to them.
We ended our meet up with a group photo on manjushree park and bid farewell to each with promise to meet soon.
But wait up, that was not the end of our meetup we also played Bingo. Though nobody knew how to play the game @RupendraNeupane
was the winner and was awarded with a chocolate which he shared with us. Everyone was busy with the game and so couldn't capture this wonderful moment.
Finally we said our final goodbye.
Thanksgiving:
Our hearty thanks goes to all the Google team for providing such a wonderful platform 'localguideconnect', the event designer of Worldwide Geo Walk Osama 'the king @OSAMA and all who inspired us directly or indirectly to make the event successful.
THE TEAM of GEM HUNTERS
Organizer: Amit Bhandari @Jnjoe
Authors: Amit Bhandari @Jnjoe / Bishowvijaya Pandey @BishowvijayaP
Members: Amit Bhandari @Jnjoe , Bishowvijaya Pandey @BishowvijayaP, Milan Ghimire @MilanGhimire, Pushpendra Khadka @PushpendraKhadka, RupendraNeupane @RupendraNeupane, Sovita Dahal @SovitaD , Surendra Shrestha @Surendra
It's looking awesome Geo Walk @Jnjoe @BishowvijayaP amazing place and pictures. Perfect Recap your photos showing great event 👏👏👌👌🙌🙌
Congratulations for your successful Geo Walk.
JAPAN LOCAL GUIDES