10 APRIL 2023 MONDAY & 11 APRIL TUESDAY - DRIVE FROM POKHARA TO KHATMANDU & FLIGHT FROM KHATMANDU TO MUMBAI

Today (10th April Monday) morning Yogesh, Shubra & Bany were scheduled to take an early morning flight to Khatmandu. The others had booked seats in a luxury bus. After tea & breakfast at the Hotel we reached the bus stand by 845 AM & boarded the luxury bus. The bus left at 9 AM sharp.


The drive from Pokhara to Khatmandu was a repeat of the same trip we did on 1 April 2023 from Khatmandu to Pokhara. Except that this was a luxury bus against the semi luxury bus which we had taken on our onward journey. We were 7 of us in the return trip - Swamy, Sumathi, Aditya, Alekar, Karmakar, Sridhar & myself. After a long journey punctuated with bio breaks, tea breaks & a lunch break we reached Khatmandu by 5 PM.

The hotel which Swamy had booked for our overnight stay at Khatmandu - Backpackers - was a short walking distance from the bus stand. But we had luggage with us. Alekar was agreeable to travel to the hotel in a motorised vehicle with the luggage. We hired a cab and loaded everyone's luggage in it. The others walked down to the hotel & checked in to our rooms. The hotel was situated in the main road, narrow but bustling with activity. We spent the next 3 hours shopping to ours heart's content. Trekking gear, woollen items, fridge magnets, locally printed t shirts, & other misc items that caught our fancy & was within the budget! Dinner was made available at the terrace restaurant of Backpackers. The food was good, but the kitchen team took a very long time to get it ready. On enquiring we were told that the regular pantry staff were on leave & some temporary staff were handling the kitchen

Next day we had to take our return flight to Mumbai. Swamy ordered the break fast & packed lunch for the next day the previous night itself.

Time permitting, Sridhar & myself decided to visit Pashupatinath temple once more the next day morning.

Accordingly we got up early had a bath & took a cab to Pashupatinath temple. We reached the temple by 8 AM. The ambienece was totally different. 10 days back on 31st March when we had visited the same temple - it was evening time, it was drizzling slightly, the climate was very cold & the temple was quite empty, we had quick darshan. Today at 8 AM the sun was up in the sky, the weather had started becoming hot, the temple was crowded and we had to wait in a queue for over half an hour to get darshan. But though it was crowded, we got a very good darshan. We thanked HIM heartily for the success of our trip & returned to the hotel by around 930 AM.



                  Terrace restaurant at Backpackers

After a good breakfast we packed our luggage, and left for the airport by 3 cabs. Post security check & immigration, we reached the boarding gate. We had another hour and half for boarding. We had our packed lunch here. Alekar & Karmarkar were to take an Air India flight to Pune. Swamy, Sumathi, Aditya, Yogesh, Sridhar & myself took the Indigo flight to Mumbai. After boarding the aircraft, the take off was delayed by around half hour - technical reasons.

At 430 PM we landed at the terminal 2 of the CSMT international airport Mumbai and reached home with memories of our trip.....

On the last day of our Markha trip (last year - May 2022) after completing the same safely, I felt I probably would never every try another Himalayan trek. 

Now after completing another Himalayan trek, the current one, that too at Nepal, I feel enough of this. 

But only time will tell.....

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Comments

  1. radhaMay 4, 2023 at 6:45 AM

    Each and every day in and day out in the blog I felt as if I'm also one among the trekkers..Avery detailed vivid writeup which I loved a lot..Imagined when I'm so much impressed with reading this What would be your feeling when you actually went through this.
    All saying and done still my wish for a small trek remains un fulfilled!!!!!
    Excellent is only a way to say it!!!!!

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