Opportunity Box - Hiking to Bethanchowk

Recently, a group of 7 of our team and students headed to Narayanthan, Bethanchowk, for a hiking escape from Kathmandu. As part of the experience, they were each asked to complete 2 writing activities.

Here are 10 lessons Sarita, our Special Projects Leader, learned from the trip.

Bethanchwok Hike (Narayanthan)

Ten things learnt

1. The foremost thing I learnt about was my fear because the place we went to and the people there were new to me and I am not good in coping with new places and with new people unless there’s someone with me. Also, the other reason I was nervous was because we also had our students (kids) and we needed to make sure they were all well and doing good. 
2. The name of the temple we went to is Narayanthan and we were told few of the legends about the temple. According to the name of the temple we thought that the temple was of Lord Vishnu but the temple at the destination happened to be of Lord Shiva which was totally different from what we had expected and imagined. 
3. I also got to learn about our kids’ nature i.e. I got to learn how loving, caring and helpful our boys are (Sudip and Sushil). I don’t know how they will be when they grow up but they succeeded in making me imagine them growing into wonderful men also, because of them I was able to push away my negative thoughts on men. It was also surprising to see how fun loving our girls are, I hadn’t seen the fun-loving side of them, but I am glad I got to see and their dedication to reach the destination anyhow. 
4. I thought there’s nothing that special about the special but then I realized I was wrong because even though people have to walk for hours they go there it could either be religious or fun purpose but people do go there because the place has secret specialty such as fresh and nice air up there, the clouds or the temple that makes people to forget about their stresses and chaotic life. 
5. Seeing our kids’ skill to take photos amazed me because they knew how to take photos from different angle making sure the beauty of nature and the person posing for photo is captured properly. 
6. Kaley the dog who hiked with us was attacked by two of the dogs while we were climbing down the hill because while we stopped at one of the places he had barked at one of them who later teamed up with another and came to attack him. So, this made me realize teamwork doesn’t only get implemented in human life but also animals do. Realizing this I was happy but seeing Kaley being attacked, wasn’t a good incident for any of us. 
7. Seeing the moon rise was a first time for all the seven of us which was amazing. The moon came out from behind the hills slowly was a very beautiful moment. 
8. While we were coming to Panauti from Dhungkharka by bus there was an old man who kept on offering his seat to old people and women who was carrying either child or heavy stuffs so, he helped me realize there are people with kind heart whom we often ignore. 
9. Before we went on hike we had met one of the staff from the retreat center we were planning to stay the night and he had told us it would only take us 45 minutes to reach the retreat center but it took us almost 2 hours. So, it was frustrating but made me to think of how the others feel if we tell them the wrong time to reach certain places like we were told. We also spoke about one of the incidents about our friends who took the guests on hike and telling them they would be reaching the destination in one hour but took more than the mentioned time. So, we should not mention the wrong time is the lesson I learnt from it. 
10. The hotels in Dhungkharka are affordable such as the prices they charge for local tea, vegetarian food and other food items are quite cheap and it was unexpected. I am not sure about others, but it did give me a reason to go back to the same place because it is affordable and worth visiting. 

Three things I will do differently 

1. Make sure to wear proper shoes while hiking depending on the place I am hiking to. 

2. Make sure to either take the power bank to charge my phone or to keep my phone close to me so that the battery will stay warm and doesn’t die then, I will not only be able to take photos but also be able to be in contact everyone I am supposed to. 

3. Make sure to keep the record of the expenses properly.