One reason why I love travelling, love being on the road is because I really have the time and chance to reflect everything that was taught to me by my master many years ago. I have the time to disconnect myself from many things that bother me. Life is so simple on the road. Instead of worrying about the upcoming election that is happening at totally the other side of the world that doesnt effect me directly, the only news that I really pay attention is the weather forecast, since the weather can really affect my mood compared to political situation of a country which is thousands of kilometers away that has nothing to do with me. After my short journey in the Everest trail, I took more than a week rest in both Kathmandu and Pokhara, spending my time writing my diary, the script of my film, reading many books and think about many things that interest me on a deeper level. Sometimes… well most of the time, my mind travels to realms that are much more interesting compared to places that my physical body goes…

view of Pokhara and the Annapurna Massif from the balcony of my hotel

Staying in Pokhara, near the lake of Fewa really calms my soul down after many days being in a super crowded and dusty Kathmandu. No sound of honking here and I get to see clearly the Annapurna Massif right from the balcony of my hotel. While in Pokhara, I also stayed a few nights in Sarangkot, a small village located on top of a hill not so far from Pokhara and there… I get to see the magnificent view of both the Annapurna and the whole of Pokhara city and the lake as well. This place immediately becomes my most favourite place in Nepal now.

Sarangkot village

Sarangkot under the mountains

“Guide us to the straight path”… a prayer that is repeatedly whispered by the hearts of billions of people every single day. Such an uncomplicated, straightforward and simple phrase yet requires thousands of words to truly describe its meaning. A simple phrase which has a very deep meaning like the ocean, it looks so simple when we look at it from the surface of the ocean but it marvels us when we dive deep into the ocean floor. After years meditating only on this simple phrase, we will always get into a totally new level of understanding each and everytime we try to comprehend it.

Begnas Lake and the Annapurna mountains

Begnas Lake

A path, which also means a road or a trail that leads towards somewhere, to another place let it be within space or time… which means we are on the move, always travelling, always a musafir. I always questioned myself why it doesn’t say “Guide us to the destination” instead. But when we look everything around us, there is no absolute destination in this realm of space and time… only temporary destination, more like an R&R. When I was walking on the Everest trail, my destination was the Everest Basecamp. But once I reached the basecamp, I stayed less than an hour there and I found myself back on the trail, walking back towards the small village of Gorakshep. The next few days I still found myself on the walking trail walking towards Gokyo and beyond and keep going in a circuit until I reached Lukla. It never ends, a few days later I was back in the busy and dusty Kathmandu and now I found myself in a beautiful city of Pokhara. In a few days time I might be on the trail in the Annapurna mountains.

Village life of Sarangkot

Filming the sunset from Sarangkot

Nothing in this lifetime as our soul travels in the human journey has an ultimate destination. A man who’s dream to become super rich, will realize that becoming super rich is not the ultimate destination. He will not feel content with what he has and will find himself trying to become even richer. A man who struggle to get the highest qualification will realize that the path never ends once he gets his PhD. There are so much new things he needs to learn. If the man stops learning once he get his PhD, he will slowly be left behind… his knowledge will become outdated and no longer useful at some point, decayed by an entity called time. He will eventually lose because he stopped walking on the path, standing still in the middle of the road, in the middle of nowhere. Same goes to the super rich man, if he stops earning and keep spending, he will slowly lose his wealth. He needs to keep walking on the path he chose. Scientists keep finding answers yet there is no ultimate answer… always new things are to be discovered everyday, always walking in a path. We are always learning, always researching, always getting new experiences. There is no true destination in the human journey… only temporary destination. Everything is in motion… a motion that seems endless…

A straight road is always the fastest road towards a destination… and often the easiest. A straight road is usually less risky and less dangerous compared to the winding road. Billions of people praying to be guided to the straight path all the time, so that they will get to the destination the fastest, the easiest and without much risk. And that destination doesn’t exist here in the human journey, in the realm of space and time. That destination is the same place where we came from… where we belong. We are here temporarily only to experience being in a human body and to understand our choices… just like water that origins from the ocean. It evaporates, goes high in the sky to form a cloud. At some point it will fall on the land as rain and makes it way through streams and rivers, experiencing and travels to so many places before finally makes it way back to the ocean… to where it belong… to where it came from…

Pokhara and Fewa Lake seen from Sarangkot