Wonderer in Wonderland
As the feet lifted I felt more than climbing the hills. I was leaving a state of mind, a chaotic mind. The beautiful deep blue sky and the woods whispering the tales of all the path untouched, complemented each other perfectly to create an incredible scene. The low fog before sunrise and the beautiful light after it was leading to the land of spectacular landscape, the Mardi Himal Base Camp.
The journey started from Kandey, Kaski. The trail went along small winding paths through peaceful and quiet woods. After first two hours of continuous uphill we reached to beautiful place of Australian Camp. This trek of me and my six close mates was going to be so adventurous and memorable. Without letting any seconds waste in vain we continued our journey to Pothana then to Deurali where we had our first meal. We spent few moments admiring the beauty of nature. The air was cooler and the view was to die for. We had an strong urge to rest more and enjoy that incredible beauty but we were more conscious about the time we had set, the destination we had aimed. One of the great thing about the way through the woods were the way of light cutting through the trees, with two sun flares on either side. We sometime rested, filled our bellies and exchanged travelling stories. Completely restless we stumbled into Forest Camp right before the sky went black.
The next vibrant day, we woke with heavy eyes and body all exhausted. We raced to have our cup of tea and departed from Forest Camp. After few hours of walking, we reached low camp. The magical Rhododendron forest became a sigh of relief to our tired bodies. Since we were hiking during the autumn season, the vibrant reds, oranges, yellows, and browns of the trees were breath taking. Yaks were busy grazing in the grassy pastures by the trail. With the presence of mountains high and low, the atmosphere was so soothing. Though our heart was palpitating, it was all filled with buzz and excitement and we set off to High Camp. By the time we reached High Camp, the sun had gone down. We spent the night over there. The night was colder but we slept well after our meal.
The next day was very important as we were going to witness more heavenly mountains. We arose tired but after some sips of tea we all were filled with enthusiasm to make our way toward Mardi Base Camp. The fog had lifted on this brand new day. On the way, we witnessed brilliant sunrise. It was a moment of pure serenity. We stopped for awhile, rested and grabbed a bite of chocolate and again proceeded to move up. We were restlessly on the way to our destination. By 10:00 am we had reached our destined point, Mardi Base Camp(4500 m). Our heart was dancing with triumph of happiness and we were feeling proud of this achievement to experience that peace like we had never felt before. It was incredible with mountains all around. We enjoyed the stunning view of Mardi Himal, Machhapuchre and Annapurna in the south. After spending some peaceful moments it was time to leave for the night’s stop at Low Camp back from High Camp. The early next morning we bid farewell to Low Camp and we came back out of the region using a different trial of Sidhing. As we lost more altitude, the forest became thinner and we began seeing village. We reached Lwang Ghale from which we took a bus back to Pokhara.
Back from this travel I have been releasing nature is filled with so much serenity and yet we have no time to behold them. We have been brainwashed with the technologies all around and have not been realizing the freshness of nature. Our generation is too caught up in instant gratification which are all artificial and temporary happiness. Through this journey I realized I need to start venturing out more and not hide behind the walls because the nature is so beautiful and fascinating to travel, explore, dwell, discover and make this life excitingly adventurous.
