An Outing to Wonderful Jiri

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Same thing applied to us when we made a tour to Jiri. The due day marked with excitement. We were more than 20 people so we divided into boys and girls team. After grouping we made arrangements for vehicle. It was decided that we borrow one of staff ’s vehicle owned by his father. After that we boarded the vehicle and started our tour. Since the journey was long we were enthusiastic and sang from our seats. On the road our driver almost hit a motorbike that accidently stopped. We erased the bad incident and went on. We were travelling on the highway to Sundarijal. We anticipated reaching Jiri by 7 to8 P.M. We had brought stocks of food items knowing that we had a long distance to cover. We began eating and sharing food to eliminate hunger. Home cooked food was delicious and snacks were gratifying. The highway along the banks of Sunkoshi river was captivating sight of landscapes. We were worried that by the time we reach hotel the owner might have slept waiting for us. Finally we reached Jiri at 12 P.M. What met our eyes was the owner was awake to receive us. We had some happy hours before we hit our beds.

Jiri is a municipality in Dolakha district in the Janakpur Zone of north-east Nepal. It lies at an altitude of 1905 meters. It is the trail head for many treks into the Mount Everest region. Trek to Lukla takes 7-8 days. Jiri is cited as “Gateway to Mount Everest”. Ethnic group of Jirels and Sherpa’s are residing in Jiri. Our next agenda was trekking along the trails of mountains. We left after 9 a.m. although we thought of making it early. We wrapped food supplies and took them with us, we also used walking sticks on the trail. We enjoyed flora and fauna, higher we ascended more beautiful were the scenes. We didn’t notice that time was passing quickly; we were only half the way when dusk arrived. Clouds were gathering above us. With fear of rain we decided to step down and thought we will make to the top next time. Our heavy heart constantly reminded of our empty stomach. We saw beautiful plateau and we sat there and enjoyed our food. As we descended lower the sky got darker and downpour of rain started. We were able to make it to our hotel. Few hours of trekking were momentous for all of us. However our tour did not end here we managed to take detour while returning back to Kathmandu through Charikot-Mude-Khadichaur. Overall, it was more pleasant trip to remember.

Quick Facts:

Best Time to Travel: Month of December.
Travel Route: Kathmandu- Sindhuli –Manthali-Jiri
No. of Days: 4 days are the best

• Day 1: Travel to Jiri (Breathtaking view of Manthali in the route)
• Day 2: Trek (may feel snowfall)
• Day 3: Reaching Charikot and spend a day or two)
• Day 4: Return back to Kathmandu through breathtaking view of Mude (may feel snowfall).

Best to travel with: Couples, Family, group of College Students, Office team members.