Getting to the top of Ichangu.

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There is only so many days that I can stare at these hills around me and not get to the top of one. A planned trip to Thamel ended with me climbing to a beautiful spot on the west side of the Kathmandu Valley and sitting in this shell of a building beside a small Stupa.

Wendy and Alan are coming to visit us at the end of October and I am tasked with planning and booking the trip around Nepal as I have nothing else to do with my days. All 4 of us are spending a couple of nights down in Chitwan National Park as part of our holiday. In the process of booking this I had to pop down to Thamel to pay the deposit in cash to confirm our booking. After booking our stay, which involved giving over a rather large sum of cash to this booking agent who wasn't going to give me any sort of receipt or booking reference until I asked her. (Hoping that she has actually booked this and we do have a bed when we turn up in Chitwan!) I decided to bike up into the hills and see what I could see.

On the ride up into the hills I came across these roadworks in the middle of the road that had been started, the hole dug, half the new drain put in and then just left! A gaping big hole that the mopeds drivers seemed to somehow been able to cross. Next was a driving school that seemed to involve driving around some cones and over a small bump in the road to get pass you test. After passing Swayambhu I crossed the ring road and was out into the hills. This is where it started getting hard! I am ye

Kathmandu lies in a basin and is surrounded by lots of hills that are quite high! Travelling around within the ring road is a fairly easy affair and isn't very hilly at all. As soon as you cross out past the ring road that's when it starts to get steep and hard going. I've bought a 1:60,000 touring map of the Kathmandu Valley so was following this road marked on the map that I hopped would lead me to the top of Ichangu. Well to be honest, I stated on this trail with the intention of seeing where it would take me. By halfway though I was so determined to get to the top that nothing else mattered.

The road sorted ended beside these guys playing cards outside a shop where there was a beautiful view of the valley. There was a trail leading up the side of the hill that I wasn't very sure where it lead to. I asked one person where it lead and the response I got was a lot of head nodding with gesturing up the hill (the typical answer to anything here in Nepal). Knowing what I know now, the sensible thing to do would have been to lock my bike up here and walk to the top. I rather stupidly thought that I might need my bike at the top and decided to try and ride up the hill a little further. I probably got another 20 meters up the hill before the path turned a corner and became steps. Again here I decided to carry my bike up the stairs rather than leave it. At this point 3 lovely German shepherds from the house next door decided to greet me in their friendly manor from behind a 12ft chain link fence. They didn't relent until I had climbed to the top of the stairs and passed their fence.

Where the steps ended was where I came across what I had been looking for, The Stupa. Beside it was this abandoned half built house that had great views from the top of it. It was quite nice just sitting at the top and looking out over the whole of Kathmandu. The ride back was fairly relaxing as it was all down hill, and didn't have to rely on any Nepalis for directions.

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