Who does not like to travel? Traveling to new places means gathering new experiences. A new journey gives you the opportunity to broaden your thinking, knowledge, and experience. Traveling is an opportunity to get to know new places, connect new relationships, and mingle with new experiences in life.

It is very difficult to try to put the experiences and learnings of travel into words. However, every time I visit a new place, I get into the habit of writing about the experience of that visit. Perhaps the words of the article will always keep that visit fresh. Today in this blog we are going to take a look at the one-day Manakamana Temple trip.

Trip Overview

Read Also: Mana Kamana Cable Car Ticket Prices, Discount Policy

About Manakamana Temple

Manakamana Temple is a famous religious, historical and tourist place in Nepal. Manakamana is located at a distance of about 120 km from the capital Kathmandu. This famous temple of Bhagwati is located in Sahid Lakhan Thapa Rural Municipality of Gorkha District of Gandaki Province. Devotees from different parts of the country and abroad come to worship here every year. This temple is geographically at a high place. Therefore, one can see the mountains like Annapurna, Lamjung, Manaslu and others from here. A cable car has been constructed from Kurintar to reach here.

Legend of Manakamana

According to various legends, the Mankamana temple was built around the 17th century during the reign of Gorkha king Ram Shah and Prithvi Pati Shah. The Queen of Gorkha King Ram Shah is said to have the divine power of desire "Mana Kamana". Only Lakhan Thapa Magar knows this. One day, the king sees his queen in a state of amazing divine power. When the king told this to his queen, the king died. According to tradition, the dead body of the husband should be burnt along with the living wife. This practice is called Sati practice. According to this tradition, the queen is also burnt along with the dead body of the king. Before leaving for Sati, the queen told the king's secretary Lakhan Thapa that she would come back again.

About 6 months after Rani Sati passed away, a farmer saw blood and milk flowing from the stones in his field. This matter was known to Lakhan Thapa. He believed that this queen had divine power. Of course, it is believed that the queen was reborn at that place. And, to prevent the blood and milk from flowing, various tantric rituals, laws and rituals were performed. Along with that, Thapa built a temple at that place and started worshipping Mankamana. Therefore, it is customary to have Magar caste priests in this temple. This temple is an important place, especially for Hindus. Every year Dashain, there is a big puja here. Mankamana means the desire of the mind. It is believed that those who visit here will fulfil their wishes.

Our Trip to Mana Kamana

Four close friends of ours (Puajn, Sujan, Madan & Pawan) participated in this one-day Mankamana trip. Although we had planned to go to Mankamana long ago, it could not be completed. Our long-awaited visit, which could not be completed due to various excuses and time constraints, now we have an opportunity to complete it. Coincidentally, our new year studies were just starting, and on top of that, our close friend Madan Ji was sure to go to Japan for foreign studies. After that, what we needed and this became another excuse to complete our dream trip.

We decided to go to Manakamana on Friday, September 22. It is easier to go through a travel agency than to take a local bus to reach Kurintar and get a cable car ticket. Different travel agencies from Kathmandu are publicizing different types of packages for Mankamana tours. Such packages include bus, Haice, car, etc. And even the cable car ticket is taken online by the travel agencies. Therefore, those who do not have their own vehicle can easily reach here through a travel agency.

We also booked bus and cable car tickets from Manakamana Travel and Tour in Satobato Lalitpur. We paid Rs.1850 per person for the two-way bus service (Satobato to Muglin) and four tickets for the cable car (Two way). If you are a student, travel agencies also give you some discounts on cable car tickets.

The Journey Begins

At 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning, four of us gathered at Satobato. At the time of taking the ticket, it was said that our bus will depart from Satobato at 5:30. However, our micro bus was a bit late. We boarded the micro bus around 6 o'clock. And, our journey to Mana kamana began.

We pass through the ring road, which is waking up with the light rays of the rising sun. Picking up two more people from Balkhu, the micro bus again took the route to the destination. Leaving the ring road from Kalanki, our micro bus proceeded towards Thangkot. A micro bus filled petrol at a petrol pump in Satungal. At that place, the person from the travel agency handed us the cable car tickets. And we paid all the remaining money to that person. We had already paid Rs 1000 while booking the advance ticket. After that, our micro bus started towards the destination.

At about 6:40 minutes, we left the Thangkot checkpoint behind and descended. It was completely foggy below. As the monsoon is active in Nepal, it looks like it will rain. However, the rising sun was challenging the trend of monsoon rainfall. While going down to Thangkot, the road was completely damaged. There was also the work of widening the road in some places. It might have rained at night, the road was completely muddy.
The road was like that until we reached Naubise. The road is small, and the number of buses is high. Looking out the window at the under-construction tunnel route from Naibise to Kathmandu, we moved forward. One mind was saying, the country has entered the age of tunnels.

Naubise to Muglin

After a rough road trip for some time, we reached Naubise. Prithvi Highway journey started from Nowbise. Madan Ji, who was sitting next to me, kept asking the driver to play the song. We moved forward observing the external scenes at our own pace. Our microbus passing through Khani Khola, Mahadev Besi under Prithvi Highway stopped at a hotel in Thakre. It was around 8:00 at that time.

We were going to pray for the purpose of worship. So we didn't eat anything at the hotel. At the time of stopping, we freshened up by washing our faces. And, we took some photos. After stopping for about five minutes, our microbus again headed towards Mugling.

Around 8:30 we reached Galchi. The road to Nuwakot and Rasuwa also diverges from Galchi. Looking at the nearby markets, rivers, ditches, farms, schools, hotels, bridges, we moved forward enjoying the journey. Madan and Sujan used to hum different songs every now and then. That also made the trip worth it.

I had travelled many times via the Prithvi Highway to Muglin and Mugling - Narayanghat Highway. When I used to live in Chitwan. However, it has been almost 5 years since I have travelled this road. While traveling through this road I noticed one main change before and now. That is a suspension bridge and a fixed bridge. When I used to travel this way 5 years ago, I saw suspension bridges at many places to cross the Trishuli River from the highway. However, now most of the suspension bridges have appeared. However, concrete bridges have been built in many places.

Muglin to Mana Kamana

We reached the cable car boarding place at Muglin around 10 o'clock. The cable car ticket was already booked for us by the travel agency, so we went straight to sit in line. Although it was Friday, around 100-150 people were standing in line to board the cable car ahead of us. This was the first Mana Kamana trip of me and Madan ji. However, Sujan and Pawan have come before. They were saying that this line is normal. There are twice as many lines as this. After waiting in line for about 20 minutes, we boarded the cable car.

Manakamana cable car is in operation from Kurintar in Chitwan to Manakamna in Gorkha. This cable was constructed on November 24, 1998, with the objective that the devotees could easily reach the famous Manakamana Devi temple. This is Nepal's first cable car. Mankamana can be reached in about 10 minutes by cable car, which is only 28 kilometres long.

Along with four of us, there were two other people in the cable car. This is not the first Cablecar experience for any of the four of us. I had also taken the Chandragiri cable car experience before this. Although the instrument was of the same type, the location was different. And the time was also different. So our experience was also very different. We reached Mankamana in 10 minutes, looking at the Trishuli River flowing below, Muglin market, forest, and villages. A very pleasant experience was taken in the Mankamana cable car, which was not even in Chandragiri.

Mana Kamana

We have already mentioned everything about Mankamana above. However, what is the reality of Makamana? Manakamana, located at an altitude of around 1300 m above sea level, has been developed as a market. As soon as you reach here, puja shops offer you to buy puja items. While going to the temple, the hotel staff says "After the puja, you have to come to our place for dinner." It's a very competitive market here. As you reach the temple, you can understand about the market here. If the Mankamana temple was not here, this place would probably be just a deserted hill. The temple of Mata Mankamana located here has helped this place reach the pinnacle of economic and cultural development. The sight of traders selling their services in a more artistic way than others was very exciting.

Worshipping in Mana Kamana Temple

We reached Mankamana around 10:40. In a shop near the temple, all four of us bought one piece of puja material. And put bags and shoes in the shop where you bought the puja materials. It was around 11 o'clock when the line started for the puja. Before us, about 100 people were in line for the puja. We sat in line for about an hour and a half and worshipped. While standing in the queue on the temple premises, Madan was saying that the artistic carved in Mankamana are even better than those in the Krishna temple.

The Mankamana temple was damaged by the earthquake. The reconstruction of this temple was completed only a few years ago. It is not allowed to burn incense and crack coconuts inside the temple premises. A part outside the premises has been allocated for this. We also cracked coconuts and lit candles outside the temple premises. And our puja was completed. By that time, there was a huge crowd of devotees in the temple premises.

lunch Time in Mana Kamana

After the puja, we were busy taking photos in the temple premises. By the time the photo was taken, it was around 12:30 in the afternoon. After this we felt hungry. And we were in a dilemma whether to go to Muglin to eat or to eat Manakamana. The cable car will be closed from 12 pm to 1 am. So we decided to have dinner at Manakamana. What we knew was that everything here is expensive. We chose a hotel that has a rooftop for dinner. We got the information from the staff that the food rate is only Rs 350. After that, we sat on the rooftop and ate the Thakali set chicken dinner. Aha! The food was very tasty. The hot ghee enhanced its taste even more. We added twice or thrice. The empty stomach since morning started to feel happy. Apart from Madan ji, three of us also drank a cup of milk tea each after the meal. We stayed at that hotel for about half an hour while resting after eating.

After eating we went to the counter to pay the bill. Our total bill was Rs 2500. However, in terms of Rs 350, it was impossible to have so many bills. According to the staff at the counter, the price of the Thakali Chicken meal is Rs 550. The Rs 350 rate that was told to us before the meal is for a simple meal. The price of two bottles of mineral water, three cups of tea and four sets of thakali food was Rs. 2,500. At once we felt a scam. We could not do much bargaining at the counter. Because the food was very sweet. After paying the bill, we headed towards the cable car ride.

Return to the Muglin

We even took photos when we came to the side of the cab. After all, photos are the only way to remember the journey. After that, we took the cable car to go to Muglin. There was still a lot of crowd at the cable car boarding place. After waiting in line for about half an hour, we boarded the cable car at 2:35. Our microbus was going to leave for Kathmandu at 3 o'clock. So we came down to the Muglin market soon. And, we wandered towards the edge of Trishuli for some time & also took photos.

Return to Kathmandu

It was 3:15 p.m. We boarded the microbus to return to Kathmandu. On the way back, we had fun singing songs and gossiping. On the way back, we stopped our microbus at the hotel where we stopped in the morning. We bought some food. After staying at the hotel for about 10 minutes, we left again towards Kathmandu. By the time we crossed Thangkot and reached Kathmandu, night had already fallen. It was around 7:30 pm when we got down to Satobato. And we went to our rooms.

Conclusion

This was my first visit to Manakamana. And the first visit is always memorable. This visit was a faith visit. It was a religious visit. And more than that, it was a visit that added intimacy to intimacy. Such visits should be done with close friends. It makes the inner feelings very wonderful.