चक्षु विक्रम मल्ल

"Bhai, I have a work for you", said Sahasnath dai an EIA consultant, "this time for Dhankuta and Sankhuwasabha". Well, I was more than happy to accept this job, an EIA surveyor for roads. He gave me survey map previously done by the engineers. This time I have to survey two roads one from Dhankuta another from Sankhuwasabha. Sahasnath dai called the engineer who is working on this road and gave me the idea how to get there. First, I have to finish the Dhankuta road.  Early morning at Bhedetar from Charles view point. After a bus ride of more than 15 hours I reached Bhedetar on a sunny morning.This small town on hill was the place where my survey should begin. Charles View point was the first thing that came on my mind upon reaching Bhedetar. It was a really cool view, 360 degree view of Mt. Makalu, Dhankuta, Terathum and the plain Dharan town.  Bhedetar as seen from the road to Rajarani. According to plan I should have hired a motorbike fro...

Four of us, Pramesh dai, Diwash dai, Nivesh and myself got ready for ABC trek. We left Kathmandu on October 11. We picked our one foreign friend from Pokhara and headed to Phedi on a cab. We were lucky, cab driver was damn funny always cracking non-veg jokes and within no time we reached Phedi. At Phedi, before starting the trek. This was the place our trekking should began. According to our itinerary we have to reach Pothana on same day. But, we only reached up to Dhampus(1650m). We found a good lodge there and had a good time with Machapuchhre, spent hours clicking the beautiful peak! After watching the good sunrise and having a quick breakfast we started our trekking. Today's destination was Chomrrong. A very good morning at Dhampus. Diwash dai was carrying a SLR camera, so he was little slower then us. Nivesh was our time keeper, we bought a map for him at Dhampus tourist check point. His guesses about our speed were matching correctly! Pramesh dai was natur...

Yesterday around 10 AM Shardool bhai called me on cell. We had planned for short mountain bike trip for Pharping Hattiban, a popular hiking and biking destination on Southeast of Kathmandu valley. Finally we headed towards the south at around 1 PM. Narrow road, hurrying jeeps and buses it was tough ride although the road was tarred until we caught the off road to Hattiban. It was a tough uphill on stone paved jeep track. But we were used to with that kind of uphill. We stopped on several places for the photo shoot. It was fun filled trip. The Crash Site visited today. While returning back we took the same track until a recently made stone steps. We followed the new track until and joined with the Dakshinkali highway. It was downhill up to the Taudaha. Due to the last night rain road was slippery on Hattiban section because its always covered with the trees. We were gaining speed, I took the lead. We entered the Hattiban section. After few minutes it must be BANG!!! I got an acci...

The sunset. Two guys, two mountain bikes and endless trails around the valley. Raghu on casual dress, no helmet, big hiking boots, jeans and long jacket, me too on jeans but with helmet ready to explore mountain bike trails. Destination? Not fixed only we knew was we are heading west of Kathmandu Valley and it was already 2 pm. From Kalanki chowk I took the right turn and asked Raghu about Dahachowk. He agreed with little disagreement because he had already been to there. Green fields, typical traditional houses, off roads, single tracks and finally uphill. Crowded Kathmandu is left behind now and we can drink water directly from the tap!!  Before reaching Dahachok village we again met tarred road. We had a quick lunch at a small tea shop and then headed towards the top of hill. Final destination, cemetery of Kaji Kalu Pande which is at the top of the Dahachok. We followed the off road jeep track for about 20 minutes until Raghu was welcomed by one big surprise!! ...