Reminiscing my trip to Nuwakot

I teach Social Studies in Grade 8 and after teaching two lessons about Óur Past', I came to the conclusion that it was getting very boring. So me and my colleague decided to do a quick tour to Nuwakot and gather some more information by talking to the locals there and collect some photographs and videos to show the students in the zoom class. I knew that the palace was destroyed by the earthquake and it still hadn't been reconstructed so we were not sure if this was going to be a productive trip. However, the school management was very positive about us doing the trip and made necessary arrangements for us to go. 

We designed a pre-trip sheet for students to fill in so that we could check their pre-knowledge about the place and its poilitical and historical significance in Nepal's history. It took us about 4 hours to reach the durbar square and upon reaching there, we spent about an hour talking to the priestess, Gyani Dangol, at the ancient Bhairabi Mandir and an offical working at the museum/ palace. Afterwards, we stopped for lunch at The Famous Farm and spoke for about half an hour with Mr. Tilak Bhandari, manager at this very beautiful farm/ resort about the socio-economic activities of the people in Nuwakot. In a nutshell, we spent roughly about 3 hours gathering insightful information about Nuwakot's past and present and headed back to Kathmandu. On the way, we stopped at Devighat which is an important historical and religious site. Prithvi Narayan Shah was cremated at Devighat which is also where two rivers, Tandi and Trishuli meet. 

Honestly, this whole working from home and online classes and meetings had started taking a toll on me. I was starting to lose focus and motivation to work and everything about this trip was uplifting for me. I met my colleagues after almost a year. I left my kid home and went on a trip like this for the first time and although I did miss Chora a lot, it was a very refreshing trip. I totally enjoyed the drive with the windows open and wind on my hair and stopping on the highway for coffee and chana aloo brought back good old memories of traveling the same route with many loved and some lost friends. 

Let me know if you want to talk more about conducting similar activities/ tour of Nuwakot for your class and I'd be more than happy to talk about my trip in detail. 


Picturesque Famous Farm

View of sunset just before we reached Kathmandu

Cremation Site of Late King Prithvi Narayan Shah

Listening to Mr. Tilak Bhandari

The Famous Farm

Saat Taaley Durbar

Priestess Gyani Dangol

Bhairabi Mandir


View from the palace (before 2015)

Saat Taaley Durbar before the devastating earthquake of 2015


 

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