Right before the lockdown put a screeching halt to normal life, we were fortunate enough to be invited by Ford Nepal on their Ford Adventure trip, where the company took their Ford 4×4 vehicles on a road trip to Manang. Not the ones to shy away from an adventure, we dropped everything and worked out a schedule for the trip.

DAY 1

Our trip kicked off from Ford’s service center in Swoyambhu. Leaving Kathmandu well past the scheduled time meant that we had to deal with a lot of traffic in the two-lane roads that our government has christened as the “National Highway”.

Switching gears and overcoming traffic, we headed for the first destination: Besisahar. The roads were straight and uneventful until we made the turn for Lamjung. That’s where we started climbing up the twisties, winding down the windows, and taking in the atmosphere.

Our first stop was the Gateway Himalayan Resort in Besisahar; we arrived there just before it got dark. One by one the cars started lining up in the parking lot. What particularly caught our attention were the two Ford Ranger Raptors and a white Ford Ranger decked out with all the off-road equipment you’ll ever need.

This is where most of the participants got to mingle with each other. Soon after, it was time to eat. This was our first long trip after the lockdown, as was everyone else’s so it was no wonder that everyone was in a celebratory mood and eager to wind down. A small debrief followed a hefty dinner. Here, we were given information about the roads we would be traveling, and what sort of weather we would be dealing with from the next day, and how best to tackle it.

We would be driving to an altitude north of 3000m so the risk of altitude sickness was inevitable, which is why we were already put on meds from our very first night. Everyone listened, and asked what they had on their minds and then went to bed to rest up for what tomorrow had in store.

DAY 2

Everyone woke up early the next morning with high hopes of an adventure that was to follow. We all gathered for breakfast, then we packed all our bags and loaded them on our Ford Ranger Pick up Truck. Then after a short final briefing, we were off.

After a 2-minute tarmac run, the black asphalt disappeared and we were quickly reminded that this wasn’t exactly a walk in the park… Or a… Drive through a parking lot.

We started climbing as the roads started getting more difficult and the landscape started getting more picturesque. We stopped for lunch and were quickly on our way. We finally reached our destination for the day, Bharthang, after a 6-hour drive.

Most of us, too drained to party, had dinner and hit the hay.

DAY 3

The next day we woke up early and excited because our next destination was Manang. We started climbing even higher up but to our surprise, the roads weren’t as bad as we thought it would be. There were mostly graveled stretches while some were even paved! The better roads cut our driving time significantly.

And there lay before the gates that said Manang. Our cars couldn’t go to our hotel so we parked at Manang’s outskirts. As soon as we got out we experienced cold, dry wind welcoming our faces. Then began one of our most grueling adventures of the whole trip – carrying all our luggage and camera bags and walking to the hotel.

The high altitude was already making it harder to breathe, on top of that, there was a lot of stuff to get to the hotel. In no time we were stumbling and panting like dogs gasping for oxygen. We had to rest a good while after reaching the hotel. The lunch was amazing although it had been the same since we left Besisahar. It is just daal bhaat and aalu (potatoes), the staple diet here; lots of aalu. Eggs if you were lucky and meat if you hit the jackpot.

After lunch we spent the rest of the day exploring Manang, getting expired chocolate bars from the local tourist shop, and walking around to get a feel of what life was like there. We also went to Gangapurna Lake which was a sight to behold as the rays of sunset were turning the entire body of water into a lake of liquid gold. It was a sight to behold.

Having caught our breath while admiring the lake, we headed back to our hotel for dinner. After some delicious food, we spent our time talking and getting to know more about other participants on the trip before finally going to bed. We were staying in Manang for only one day which isn’t enough, to be honest, but we had to stick to the schedule. The night grew cold and we soon fell asleep while talking to each other about the day.

DAY 4

The next day we woke up early in the morning, and the first thing we did was breakfast. We needed an early start to our next destination which was Khangsar, a village situated at an even higher altitude. Now, Khangsar isn’t far from Manang, a 30 to 60-minute drive at most. But the participants were also trekking their way to Tilicho base camp the same day which is why we had to start early.

We ate a wholesome breakfast which, you guessed it, had potatoes. And we were off. Upon arrival at Khangsar, the trekking team quickly started gearing up for their trek to the base camp while we filmed and did all we could to help them. The trekking team carried their backpacks and loaded all their essentials on ponies and left for the base camp in less than an hour.

They would be gone for 2 days and we would be at Khangsar with all the Ford vehicles along with the Raptors all to ourselves, for filming purposes obviously. So we did what any excited car journalist would do… We went for lunch and took a nap.

The weather had suddenly gone sideways on the day we arrived at Khangsar so we thought the best solution would be to wait it out and start shooting early tomorrow. We still had half a day to cover so we explored Khangsar and came back to our hotel in the evening. The thing about Manang, basically onwards from Chame, is that the hotel rooms are dirt cheap. They start from 100 rupees… 100 rupees! It’s the food that dents your wallet.

Anyway, we came back to the hotel for dinner, daal bhaat aalu, same old same old. However, this time, the waiter casually mentioned that there’s Yak Sukuti in the house. Having never tried it before we asked for 3 servings for the 3 of us.

It was good. Chewy, not packing a lot of flavors, costing Rs. 300 for like 6 cashew sized pieces, but good. One of us had a sound sleep while the other two had yak-induced trips to the bathroom all night.

DAY 5

The next day we started with breakfast and immediately got on with the shoot. We took 3 cars, the white and blue Ford Ranger and a Raptor. And we went up all the way till Manang, and then some. to get our footage.

It was an amazing drive. We put the two Rangers and the Raptor through their paces, we crawled over rocks and drove across the Marsyangdi River and the off-roaders from the blue oval took all the obstacles like a piece of cake. The Raptor impressed us particularly, all the off-road equipment aside the Raptor comes with Fox Shocks and a Baja mode that is geared towards high-speed off-road driving.

Which meant, every time we came across a flat graveled road all the cars had to slow down, if they didn’t they’d end up deflating their tires or worse; breaking their shock absorbers. The Raptor on the other hand flew on those roads hitting speeds over 100 kph. It was simply astounding.

There are so many cars in the world. There are powerful cars, there are practical cars and there are luxurious cars. And out of all, we believe that the Ford Ranger Raptor is one of the most exciting cars ever made. The day was coming to an end. We were happy, excited, and pumped but tired. We had our dinner and went to sleep.

DAY 6

With most of our duties attended to, we woke up late on the sixth day. We had our breakfast and waited for the folks to return from the Tilicho Trek. Soon, they arrived with a sense of accomplishment. It was heartwarming to see them so happy. We talked and conducted on-the-spot interviews to capture their raw emotions. After that everyone packed and drove off.

Our destination was Chame, so we had a long drive ahead of us. We drove off reminiscing all the memories we’ve made. After reaching Chame we checked into our hotel, freshened up, and took an early rest. We ate our dinner which was a proper daal bhaat with chicken curry and no potatoes. After that, we spent a while talking to each other in the hotel dining hall and then hit the bed.

DAY 7

The seventh day was also a late start, but today was the day when we would be driving the most. The entire team was driving all the way back to Besisahar and our media team would then drive back to Kathmandu on the same day on a car provided by Ford. This day we ate a lot of breakfast so as not to feel hungry too soon. After breakfast, all of us regrouped and left for Besisahar.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Tal. It was a location that you’d only see in your dreams. A small village by the Marsyangdi River encased between two hills. A picturesque location to say the least. We had a lovely lunch at a family-run hotel and we were back on our way to Besisahar. And eventually, just before dusk, the entire convoy was back at Besisahar.

Everyone started to wind down and got into a celebratory mood with drinks all around. We couldn’t stay because we had pending work back in the Capital. So we loaded our bags into the car, bid our farewell to the convoy, thanked Ford for this a once in a lifetime trip, and left taking all our memories from one of the best places we have ever seen.

After we came back to the city, one of our editors, who was also with us couldn’t help but writing a monologue to word out what he felt as he drove us back to Kathmandu from what was a truly amazing trip. Give it a read.

“I left from Besisahar with my two boys in a blue Ford Ecosport diesel arranged by Ford Nepal. The afternoon had turned dark, the sound of thunder could be heard echoing through the clouds, flashes of lightning could be seen from miles away. Heavy hailstorms & rain were bombarding the surface while the wildfires on the forests grew a deep crimson with ferocity. It was as if nature itself had declared war amongst her inhabitants.

All I could see through my windshield were streaks of wildfires, the dense rain that prevented me from seeing my own bonnet with the occasional flash of lightning that let me know that I hadn’t veered out of the road and fallen off a cliff sentencing everyone in the car to fatality.

With my boys panicking in the back seat looking at the scene around them that was stripped straight out of the pages of Armageddon all I could think of was Manang. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I think it wasn’t all about what I had seen but more about what I had felt.

You see time… Time flows differently up there in Manang. Time pulls you out of bed and shoves you into a workplace frenzy in Kathmandu. There, it’s different. It flies by and caresses your cheeks and gently nudges you. Between an entire year in lockdown, and possibly going into another, being there had been the only moments of calm in my life.

And as the cataclysmic hailstorm metamorphosed into a downpour, I was happy and sad at the same time.

Happy, that I got the chance to experience an off-road drive of a lifetime and got to see a place where even time simply comes to a gentle stop just to marvel at its beauty.

Sad, because the drive there is soon changing. 5 years ago the only “roads”, if you can call it that, were just tracks made by rocks. One slip and you’re done for. This year we got to see mostly graveled roads. Even paved roads in a few places. Now, I stand with the belief that people in Manang deserve the same, if not better infrastructures than what people have in Kathmandu. These roads will play a tremendous role in uplifting the condition of Manang and its wonderful people and these roads must be, and inevitably will be built.

Yet, there’s a part of me that’s sad because we are losing roads that frighten you, that gets your adrenaline going. The road to Manang didn’t frighten me at all. Yes, I was careful, but it never made me think twice about how to drive on this type of terrain.

We are losing roads that are synonymous with death and keeps your foot hovering over the brake and one fist grasping the handbrake. And for a car guy who especially gets high on the thrill of off-road driving, it is utterly sad. Soon there will come a day when all the roads at all altitudes will be paved, soon there will come a day when every form of infrastructure will reach every corner of the country, soon even a measly pretend front-wheel-drive “SUV” will reach some of the highest towns. And when that inevitable day finally comes, the car guy in me will shed a tear.”