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A weather favored Hike to Sanga

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When Kathmandu’s weather favors, what do you do? You hike. You travel. You explore and get lost. Lost we did get when we set out on a day’s hike to Sanga this past Saturday. It had been a long hard week, with an inconsistent weather mid-way through the month of May. Sometimes hazy, cloudy and raining in a snap and at times the sun would embellish its heat every so often. But that was not the case this time around, cause folks were in town and up and running for a great tour!

Sanga is not a new place to trip to for a regular Kathmanduite with its famous landmarks like the parks around the famously huge statue of Lord Shiva, greenery and a beautiful hill walk; but for a dozen of foreign students the place had enough to offer at first glance. The purpose of this hike was to give the students a glimpse at and study the local lifestyle of indigenous Tamang community which is one of the dense communities in Nepal. Also, there are enough sights and remarkable destinations around Sanga that are worthy of visit and attention. With what was about to be one of their best hikes ever (and they knew it because of our past pictures and reports), we set out with our students at about 10:30 A.M after a light breakfast. We hopped onto a local bus from the station that would take us straight to the bus stop at Sanga itself. At Sanga where our hike officially started, is a community hike path that goes from Sanga to Panauti and is about 5 kilometers. Our bags were packed with water and some light snacks but we were in for a different kind of treat.

That being said, our students were obviously struck by the comparatively primitive lifestyle of local people there and the scarcity that exists although called “the outskirts of Kathmandu”- the prosperous capital that we know of. Agriculture is still the main source of family income in a place not far away from clanks of machineries and an overall industrial halo. Of course, we helped students communicate with the understandably humane and delighted local people. Around all this time something was missing and that was the views! Nepal is synonymous to beautiful landscapes and views. We got to see some beautiful sights of huge plots of cultivated farming dedicated for mainly commercial purposes with crops of all kinds. And boy was the breeze pleasing to the skin!

Rest apart, our students seemed to enjoy their fullest throughout the hike as we sang and danced at lunch as well. The trip will forever be cherished as the day that weather didn’t turn the tables on us, the tough 5 kilometers hike and yes, the brilliant breeze that accompanied us all the way along.  

-Report By: Rajat Acharya