Advertisement
Published: October 25th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Blacktopped Road
The newly built road to Melamchi Bazaar. Though my five-year stint as a travel writer took me to different parts of the country, I never had an opportunity to travel to Helambu. But the beautiful region famed for its apple (alas no longer) and the ever hospitable Hyolmo people always drew my fascination. Though I was brought up in Kathmandu, I used to visit my maternal uncles in Ichowk VDC -- a day’s walk from Helambu – in Sindhpalchowk district in mid-December when schools closed for winter holidays. Then I didn’t know anything about Helambu. I’d been dreaming of visiting the place ever since I discovered the joys of travelling during my late teens, but it didn’t materialize – sometime I couldn’t arrange leave from my job, sometime my friends couldn’t.
But opportunity came calling last month. Through a friend, I came to know that a group of tourism journalists are organizing a familiarization trip to Helambu to promote tourism attractions in the region. I somehow managed to squeeze in the team and on a fine sunny morning in June, we were off to Helambu.
Helambu is popular among trekkers for its scenery and favorable climate. Located about 72 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu, it extends from north of
The Team
Team members pose for a photo at Melamchi Bazaar Taramarang and borders with Raswua district near the Gosainkunda Lake. The region is home to beautiful Tamang, Sherpa and Hyolmo settlements perched on elevated land on the either sides of the Melamchi River. It is famed for ancient monasteries, age-old culture and tradition of Hyolmo people and stunning mountain views. On both sides of the valley, mountains rise, soaring into the sky. The area is home to beautiful pine forest in lower areas, alpine vegetation in the upper areas, snow-fed rivers, swift streams and abundant greenery.
There are two ways to reach the Helambu region – the first is via Langtang region. Most of the foreign trekkers begin their Langtang trek from Dhunche, Gosaikunda, Tharepati and return via Melamchi Pul bazaar after visiting Helambu. The second option is to start trek from Chisapani near Sundarijal through Patibhanjyang, Kutumsang and Helambu via Melamchi Gaon. But because of time and budgetary constraints, we couldn’t explore either of the two routes. Instead, we embarked on a less popular route which takes us to the Helambu region on the second day itself.
We boarded a 4WD Land Cruiser from Gaushala at around 12 noon and started our journey with the target of reaching Timbu
Fish
Marinating fresh water fish for lunch.. – a small village at the banks of the Melamchi River – by six in the evening. We were 11 aboard – nine journalists associated with different media; a representative from Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and his son. Narayan Bhandari of News 24 television, a seasoned traveler himself, was our guide as he had already been to the region a couple of times. After negotiating with the Valley traffic for about 10 minutes, our journey gained pace after we entered the Araniko Highway through a newly built six-lane road. After an hour or so, we made a brief stop at a tea shop a little below Dhulikhel where a glass of homemade lassi helped us beat the summer heat. We left Arniko Highway at a point called Zero Kilo and headed toward Melamchi Pul. A journey of little less than an hour on a newly blacktopped road took us to Melamchi Pul – the major trading hub for people in north-western part of Sindhupalchowk district. Melamchi Bazaar, which gets its name from the Melamchi River, is a small market similar to market places in other hilly districts. It is situated near the confluence of the Indrawati and Melamchi rivers. There
Bazaar
The Melamchi Bazaar in Sindhupalchowk district. around 200 houses in the bazaar along either sides of the road. Here, we had fried fresh water fish and beaten rice as lunch and strolled around the market place.
They say the fun begins when the road ends, but it was not the case this time. As the blacktopped road ended at Melamchi itself, we had no option but to enjoy the bumpy ride on a graveled road. The road passed through beautiful villages of Terse, Talamarang, Gyalthum, Shera, Chanaute and Kiul before reaching Timbu at around five in the evening. Timbu is a small Sherpa village with about ten houses – two of which are lodges. We selected one of the lodges and ordered typical Nepali Dal-Bhat as dinner for us. The night went uneventful except for the heavy downpour almost throughout the night.
The Helambu region begins from Timbu. There are three routes to explore the Helambu region from Timbu – Kakani and Tarke Ghyang; Doring and Melamchi Gaon; and Nurbu Gaon and Sermathang. Though our plan was to trek all the way to Tarke Ghyang via Kakani, locals informed suggested us to take our vehicle to Tarkeghyang through the newly built graveled road. After having tea
at Timbu, we started journey on our SUV. But we had to return the SUV after just 15 minutes because heavy rains throughout the night had destroyed the road. We had no option but to start hiking. But it didn’t worry us much, as our initial plan was to hike to Tarke Ghyang. Hiking was easy as the trail was not that steep and the occasional drizzles only added to our fun. We could hear mountain birds chirping throughout the hike. The view on the other side of the rivers was quite amazing. Beautiful waterfalls were cascading through dense forests into the Melamchi River. We could see number of small settlements dotting the hills across the river. A hike of about three hours took us to Kakani – a small pass with a newly built monastery, a school and a few shops. We enjoyed our breakfast here and rested for a while.
We started the hike to Tarke Ghyang at around 12 noon. We followed the graveled track to avoid getting lost. The trek passed through dense forests and the walk was pleasing. We passed a micro hydel project at Phatung, just above Kakani. But the project is no longer
Yummy
Deep fried fresh water fresh. in operation. We were into complete wilderness; we didn’t meet anyone for about a couple of hours. We were thirsty, but there no source of water to quench our thirst. After a hike of nearly two hours, we came across a small village with a primary school and five or six houses. When we reached the place, some of our friends, who were ahead of us, had already requested a Sherpa man to prepare boiled potato for lunch. The lunch was awesome and so was our host. We reached Tarke Ghyang at around 4 pm after an easy hike of about an hour. After booking rooms and ordering dinner at the famed Hotel Tarke Ghyang that is in business since 1970s, we enjoyed village walk for a while.
With around 80 houses, Tarke Ghyang is the largest village in the Helambu region. The village gets its name from Tarke Ghyang monastery – the largest monastery in Helambu region. Built around 300 years ago, the monastery is a religious as well as social institution for Hyolmo people. Locals from nearby villages gather in the monastery premises during religious and social occasions. Chiri Ghyang – the oldest monastery in Helambu – is
Melamchi River
A view of Melamchi River just above Chanaute Bazaar. the other attraction in Tarke Ghyang. The monastery can be reached after a walk of about an hour from the Tarke Ghyang Monastery. The monastery was built about five hundred years ago. It got a facelift about a couple of months ago. President Dr Ram Baran Yadav had inaugurated the monastery after its renovation.
The view of Melamchi Gaon across the Melamchi River looks stunning. It is one of the beautiful Sherpa villages in the Helambu region. Trekkers on the Langtang trek descend to enter the Helambu region via this beautiful village. But we couldn’t visit this beautiful village because of time constraints. The trek to another beautiful village in the Helambu region – Sermathang – begins from Tarkeghyang.
Trek to Helambu is comparatively easier due to the fact that the elevations are lower, ranging between 800 meters and 3600 meters offering less climbing as well as warmer temperatures. The most important benefit of this trek is that the area is less crowded as compared to Annapurna and the Everest regions. Besides, this trek offers an insight into the unique culture and lifestyle of the Hyolmo people.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.07s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0397s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb