I love to travel the Himalayan areas of Nepal. Last month when travelling to Pokhara, one of the incredible cities on planet earth. Suddenly, Ghandruk came into my mind so without much delay I along with my brother decided to explore the magnificent beauty of Ghandruk. We started our journey early in the morning from Pokhara with a 55 km drive through the Pokhara-Baglung Highway passing the beautiful towns of Hemaja, Phedi, and Naudanda. First, we reached Nayapul, the trail goes up a steep slope leading to the suspension bridge over the Modi Khola. After half an hour of hiking, we reached the beautiful and crowded Bhirethati.
At the point of Bhirethati, the path divided into two. The path going west led to the trail to Ghorepani pass and the right path that we took led to Ghandruk. On the way, we saw many beautiful hotels and tea spots. You don’t have to worry about having a simple lunch. As you pass the trails, you will listen to the sounds of river on the sides and chirping of birds. This trail is famous for ‘Mules on the Trail’ where you will see hundreds of mules passing through. The distinct peals of the bells hanging on their necks produce a melodic hymn on the way. They are used as a medium of transportation to supply goods to the villages of Ghandruk.
Heaven
With the flows of the river, we continued our journey taking lots of beautiful pictures on the way before finally reaching Syauli Bazzar. The village is home to a limited number of Magar people who reside here. Syauli Bazzar is a famous old preferred route for most trekkers. The trail goes around the mountain to the right and Modi Khola on the left. You will see lots of paving stones on the way, and naturally, it looks beautiful. All you have to do is focus on the stone pavement so that you don’t step on huge piles of mule droppings.
As we go up on the trails, after walking for some hours we reached Kuine Danda. The naturally scenery all around us was breath taking. After walking all those steps and trails, a small Kimchi village can be seen. This is the perfect place to take some rest and to have some food. From Kimchi till Ghandruk, you won’t get many places to eat some food. So, the villagers recommended us to have food here and take some rest before resuming the trail. We did the same. The more higher you go, the much closer majestic Machhapuchhare peak on the north side amazes you. Trust me you will see heaven, the must outstanding view on the planet. The path began with some rough and paved off when we reached Chhane.
After some half-an-hour of walking, we finally reached our destination Ghandruk. The traditional houses built on the hillsides make Ghandruk one of the favourite tourist destnation. There are plenty of lodges and homestays around the village. It was 4:15 PM when we reached Ghandruk and still the views were amazing. I took a long deep breath and calmed myself for some time to have a good look at the place. I had an amazing view of Mt Machhapuchhre, Annapurna III, Gangapurna, Hiunchuli, and Annapurna South. Of all, Machhapuchhre definitely held the pride of the place in this impressive line-up.
In my heart, I patted myself for being able to reach such a majestic destination after a very long and adventurous trail.
