Sundarijal, meaning 'beautiful water' is about 15km northeast of Kathmandu and is one of the entry points for the Shivapuri National Park. It's meant to be incredibly rich in biodiversity, but I'm not going to talk about that, since my short visit late in the afternoon didn't allow me to see any first hand. Most travellers enter further to the west from Budhanilkantha, but my guides wanted to see the waterfalls and have a picnic at the reservoir further upstream (there's a reason why it's called 'beautiful water').
The area is also important because it provides water for people in the Kathmandu metropolitan area. Along the main hiking route is a large water pipe which carries water down to the valley. The sentry warned us not to swim in the river and reservoir, though the main reason for this wasn't to prevent water pollution but rather because most Nepalis (my friends included) can't swim.
Me with the guys, whom I dubbed the '3 Musketeers' (though they didn't mind the term '3 Idiots' after last year's smash Bollywood hit starring Aamir Khan.)
Walking uphill for 30 minutes was a good (if completely insufficient) warm-up for all the hiking I'll be doing once I land in Lukla this coming Sunday. The problem is, I've been in Kathmandu for two and a half weeks, leading a rather sedentary existence. I suppose I'll have 2 weeks up in the Khumbu region to get fit. And if not, I'll just hide out in Namche eating apple pie.
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