This is Day 8 of Nepal Travelogue (May 20, 2013)
 |
| Manakamana Cable Car |
After 3 days
of jungle excursions, it was time for us to go back to Kathmandu to explore
capital’s cultural treasures. We had two options; either to go directly, the
same way we came here, or make an enroute stopover to visit the Manakamana
Temple.
This Hindu
temple is one of the major ones in Nepal and attracts a great number of
devotees. Located in Gorkha Hills, it can be approached through a steep cable
car; main reason why we were interested in the pilgrimage.
And a
pilgrimage is not complete without a sacrifice. Ours was to wake up in the wee
hours to catch the pre-dawn microbus; the only reasonable alternate to the
afternoon tourist bus from this logistically cut-off town. But that was not the
only sacrifice as after an hour of smooth sailing we got stuck in a land sliding
on the Narayanghat-Mugling Highway disrupting the traffic for 2-3 hours.
It was
getting more humid with every minute and with the AC turned-off and two kids in
the tow, it looked like Gods were not happy with our sacrifices.
From Sauhara
to Kurintar, cable car’s base station, we did 70 km in ~5 hours, showing that
traveling in the hill country can be frustratingly slow on a bad day. From the
drop-off point the base station was also an extensive walk so I deposited the
heavy backpack to a roadside shop first thing after getting alight from the
hi-ace.
The gentle drizzling
was a welcome change for us. Green hills were adding holiday flavor to the
surrounding while the ambiance was also festive and colorful. Enthusiastic local
families – lined up at the ticket counter – were enjoying best of both worlds;
religious journey and the picnic!
The ride
itself was an experience worth the post morning hassle. The coupé elevated from
250m to 1,300m, an amazing 1,000m, in ~10 minutes. Interestingly there was a
cloud cover, both above and beneath! Change in temperature was also remarkable;
in fact the quickest in my life. It was like moving from humid Karachi to
chilly Naran in 10 minutes!
Uphill it
was more joyous and sacred. Devotees were pushing themselves towards the temple
with fervor while the vendors on both sides of the walkway along with photographers
were distracting the devotees with even more fervor.
Unfortunately,
we could not make it all the way to the temple and had to come down, through
the same chairlift, because of the drizzling was getting heavier and then we
wanted to make it back to Kathmandu before sunset – which proved not an easy
task.
After a some
effort and Urooba’s resilience we managed to reach Budhanilkantha’s Family
Kitchen where we would stay for one more night before starting Part 3 of Nepal
trip from the next day.
 |
| It Was This Early That Even Hotel Gates Were Closed |
 |
| Stuck in the Land Sliding |
 |
| Long Queue |
 |
| Reached Kurintar - Cable Car's Base Station |
 |
| Vendors on the Main Prithvi Highway |
 |
| Deposited the Backpack Here |
 |
| First We Had to Go Down |
 |
| Sign Board |
 |
| Devotees Started Coming In |
 |
| Rush at the Ticket Station |
 |
| Aesthetic Walkway to the Cable Car |
 |
| Manakamana Ticket: NPR 475 for SAARC Nationals |
 |
| We Were Waiting for Our Turn |
 |
| Now Seated Inside |
 |
| Raindrops |
 |
| It Was Really Steep |
 |
| Add caption |
Traveler’s Tip
# 16: Manakamana Cable Car Enroute Chitwan or Pokhara
If either of
Chitwan or Pokhara is there in your Nepal itinerary, then stopping by at
Kurintar for Manakamana cable car is highly recommended for a rich combination
of natural and cultural experience. It is advisable to reach the base station
as early to avoid the rush of followers which grows as the day passes and can
result in long queues. Two-way ticket price is NPR 475 for SAARC nationals and USD
15 for foreigners. And if you would also like to take a sacrificial goat along,
keep NPR 180 extra bearing in mind that you may not bring it back!
Logistics is
a challenge though because both Chitwan and Pokhara are best done by direct
tourist buses from Kathmandu and breaking the journey for Manakamana means you
have to do the onward travel at your own which might not be the easiest thing albeit
it is located right on the Prithvi Highway. We also found it difficult to find
a couple of seats in the passing-by microbuses, our best bet, as other buses,
especially coasters, were more of a tourist trap and should be avoided at all
costs.
Getting a transport from Chitwan was also not easy, especially when we wanted avoid the afternoon tourist bus, due to time constraints. We had to do a little effort to find out that there would be a hi-ace early in the morning which would be our best bet. The extra effort was more due to the unavailability of information as everyone we asked looked like making a commission rather than directing the relevant person, whom we finally found around Rhino Chowk. Just to mention, they charge the full ticket to Kathmandu, i.e. NPR 400, no matter we dropped off half the way, but we didn't mind that due to no other options. Good thing was that the hi-ace came to pick us up right from the hotel. It is another tail that it then picked every other passenger from their homes!
No comments:
Post a Comment