28-old-year Rajat Khadka never actively seeks travel companions. He rather likes making friends along the way. For him, traveling solo is a way to explore his own limits, weaknesses, and strengths. And that is one of the reasons why Khadka calls himself a ‘travel-junkie’. He is almost addicted to traveling, with friends or without. Ever since he was a teenager, he liked traveling to different places of Nepal. He recalls one of his first solo trips when he was just 18 years old. “I used to love traveling on my motor bike, mountain bike, or by foot. I was never scared or apprehensive before any trip. I would just be excited about the adventures ahead,” says Khadka.
His journey into the tourism business
Although his Instagram feed (@Himalayanjunkie) may seem out of ordinary to many, Khadka’s life story is almost identical to many of us living in Kathmandu. To cut a long story short, his parents wanted him to become a doctor. He was even ready to go to Bangladesh to pursue his higher studies in medical sciences. But before he turned into a ‘boring medical student’, he wanted to make his last trip in Nepal and make it a memorable one at that. It was the trip that ultimately changed everything.
He traveled from Kathmandu to Pokhara on his mountain bike on that trip. He calls it one of his most extraordinary solo trips because that made him realize the importance of happiness in life.
“My life was already pre-planned by my father. He wanted me to become a doctor and then work at a hospital in my hometown Pokhara,” says Khadka. According to him, that was a wise decision taken by his father. It would help him lead a secure life but he would never have been as happy as he is today.
On that trip he also went around exploring small places such as Sarangkot for paragliding and also went bungee jumping. That trip made him realize that he could spend an entire lifetime chasing one adventure after another.
For some reason, his Bangladesh plan did not work out and he started pursuing his bachelors in Dental Surgery in Kathmandu instead. In his final year of Bachelors, Khadka told his father that he wanted to enter the tourism business. After a lot of initial reluctance and then ample support from his parents, Khadka was able to open his own venture Rustic Himalayan Adventures Pvt. Ltd.
This venture reflects Khadka’s hunger to explore untouched and rustic places. His long time dream of becoming a tour operator also came true through this venture. He claims to be in love with the mountains and challenges himself every time to meet new people, explore places, understand nature, and make some amazing memories in the process.
Russia warns US, NATO of 'unpredictable consequences' over weap...
The philosophy of traveling
Khadka takes his job as a tour operator very seriously and sensitively. For him, traveling is all about exploring new places that have not been touched before. It’s also about finding out the meaning of happiness and the purpose of life.
“When you are traveling you also realize the true meaning of self love and personal space,” says Khadka. According to him, the best part about traveling is that he can be himself. One is not bound by societal restrictions while traveling and that is what he looks forward to before every trip.
Adventures and memories
Khadka considers his motorbike trip to Leh in India as one of his most memorable adventures. He went there with one of his very close friends. The trip started from Manali and Khadka was ready for the journey with his bike – the Royal Enfield Himalaya. But the bike was not very comfortable for such a long journey. The roads were icy and treacherous and the tires of his bike kept slipping.
However, Khadka says that such unpredictable situations are a part of the adventure, and exactly what make trips even more memorable later one. “One should learn to handle those kind of situations and adapt,” says Khadka. On his way he saw many famous Bollywood shooting points and inscriptions that marked the presence of Bollywood actors at that place once upon a time.
After hours of traveling, they finally reached the starting point of Pangong lake. According to Khadka, this was one of the most mesmerizing views he had ever seen. It was a huge lake and only 30 percent of it is in India.
Khadka describes the lake as ‘majestic’. The best part about it was that the color of the lake kept changing frequently. In the evening, they found a good tent just beside the lake and fell asleep there.
After that, on the next day, they embarked on their journey to Leh. The beautiful landscape, grazing yaks, and friendly people are what made the place so special. The two friends rested at Leh to boost themselves up for the ride back to Manali.
When they were on their way back to Manali, there was an earthquake near the Tanglang pass. “Thankfully I had the presence of mind to hide behind a truck so that we would not be buried by the snow and could also dodge the rocks that came raining down at us that way,” says Khadka.
They also saw a person who was trying to help the traffic get hit by a rock. Fortunately, people around him helped him immediately. “The first thing that came to my mind was that I had escaped the Kathmandu earthquake and I did not want to die here,” says Khadka. So they tried to find a safe place for themselves and that night they stayed at a place called Keylong.
The next day they had to cover a distance of 100 kilometers until they reached Manali. Because they were tired and exhausted, those 100 kilometers seemed unending. On their way back, they crossed Rotang where Khadka saw people skiing for the first time.
At Manali, they finally got comfortable beds to sleep in. They also had to say goodbye to the bikes that they were already very attached to. But nevertheless, like at the end of every journey, Khadka was looking forward to going home and also made a silent promise that he would be back again.
