Hello everyone, my name is Sashwat Mandal. I am a 7th grader, and I live in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. I am going to share my experience of my recent trip to Manang. It was the month of Chaitra, and my final exams were going on.
Day 1: Thursday, 12th Chaitra, 2082
It was the final day of my exams. After the exam ended, I went to my mom’s office and had lunch there. Then we returned home. At that time, I still didn’t know where we were going.
Soon, my mom and I got dressed and headed to the airport for our flight to Pokhara at 5:05 PM. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed by 30 minutes. When we landed in Pokhara, it was raining. We met my dad at the airport and went to the hotel where we would stay for the night. After having dinner, we went to sleep.
Day 2: Friday, 13th Chaitra
We had booked a package trip to visit Manang. There were two other couples in the car besides us. Early in the morning, we started our journey.
We had breakfast near Dumre. After driving a little ahead, we faced a big problem. There was a huge traffic jam on the road. At first, a dozer was repairing the road, and just when it cleared, we saw a damaged bus stuck in the middle. This caused even more delay, and we were stuck there for more than 45 minutes. Finally, with everyone’s help, the bus was pushed out of the way, and we resumed our journey.
We reached Besisahar at around 1 PM. We were very hungry, so we had lunch there. While we were eating, it started raining heavily, and we had to wait for about 20 minutes.
Our target for the day was Chame. On the way, we saw many beautiful places, including Boong Waterfall and Octopus Waterfall.
We reached Chame at exactly 6:30 PM. After resting for a while, we had dinner and ended our second day of the trip.
Day 3: Saturday, 14th Chaitra
The third day of our trip began early. We woke up at 6 AM, got dressed, and prepared for the day. Then we went to the hotel’s restaurant to have breakfast. After breakfast, we continued our journey.
After about 30 minutes of driving, we reached a place called the Apple Farm. Unfortunately, there were no apples at that time, but we still took many photos before moving on.
After a few more kilometers, we came across Green Lake. We hiked for about 15 minutes to reach it. The lake was beautiful, and of course, we took many photos before returning to the car.
Next, we visited Blue Lake. We arrived there around 12:30 PM, and the view was amazing. We spent about an hour walking around and taking pictures.
By then, we were getting very hungry, so we stopped at a place called Mungji, which is about 3470 meters above sea level. We had lunch, placed our luggage in the hotel rooms, and then went out again to explore the Manang Valley.
We first visited Gangapurna Lake. The water level was low, but we still enjoyed the scenery. After that, we went to Khangsar, one of the highest villages in the Manang district, located at around 3800 meters. The trek to Tilicho Lake and Moon Lake begins from Khangsar.
Later, we visited Manang village and took some photos. After completing our sightseeing, we returned to Mungji, where we stayed for the night. We had some snacks, relaxed at the hotel, and later had dinner before going to sleep, marking the end of our third day.
Day 4: Sunday, 15th Chaitra.
The fourth day of our trip was the best among all the days not because it was the last day, but because of one special place we went to explore. That one place made the day unforgettable.
We visited Ice Lake (Khicho Lake), which lies at an altitude of 4630 meters above sea level.
Our car dropped us at the base camp, and we started our trek at 7:30 AM. The trail was very steep. At first, I was very confident and walked faster than others, even though it was my first time trekking.
The entire hill was covered with snow. It was slippery for many people, but I was well prepared with my futsal boot, so I didn’t slip at all. As we climbed higher, I slowly started to feel uncomfortable.
I reached a lake first, but later we realized that it was not the real Ice Lake. The actual Ice Lake was even farther and higher up!
Even so, we had a lot of fun. We made snowman, played snow fights, and enjoyed the snowy surroundings. We even climbed a steep snowy hill and slid down toward the lake. At one point, we were a bit scared that the ice might break and we could get hurt, but luckily nothing happened.
While returning to base camp, I started feeling very sick. I had altitude sickness. I felt dizzy, had a severe headache, and didn’t feel like eating or drinking anything.
Even though I felt unwell, I was happy that we achieved our goal. We returned to Mungji, had lunch, packed our things, and started our journey back to Pokhara. We reached Pokhara at around 7 PM, went to Lakeside for dinner, and then returned to the hotel.
With that, our amazing trip to Manang came to an end.
This trip to Manang was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. It taught me about nature, adventure, and the importance of being prepared. I will always remember the beautiful mountains and the exciting journey.
Written By:
Sashwat Mandal, Class 7,
Ideal Model School, Dhobighat, Lalitpur.
