Comfortable Fancy Camp Life at Conscious Impact, Sindhupalchowk_May 2, 2019
Comfortable Fancy Camp Life I had in Sindhupalchowk at Conscious Impact ; Like the ones in Hollywood Movies
I had seen in Hollywood movies that I don’t even remember the name of; people going for camping and staying there overnights in the middle of the jungle, sleeping in a small tent. A cozy bedroom with no bed but comfortable bed sheet and a sleeping bag where people would perfectly fit in. I never thought that I would go to the real camp one day just like them and spend my whole three days in the jungle. Even sleeping in a tent in a dense forest in such a tiny space and I would experience fancy camp life.
Comfortable Fancy Camp
Two members of Word Warriors Travelling to Fancy Camp in Sindhupalchowk
Me and Yukta didi, are two members of Word Warriors, a Spoken Word Poetry collective in Nepal. We have traveled together many times with our other members of Word Warriors to organize poetry slam, workshops and poetry intro tours in schools in different parts of Nepal. This time, we both were going to experience a new adventurous trip. We were travelling to organize a poetry workshop in a different setting, in a forest camp in Sindhupalchowk. The workshop was happening in collaboration with Word Warriors and Conscious Impact. We were going to be guests at their Volunteers Camp for three days.
Comfortable Fancy Camp Life at Conscious Impact Imagination
At first I had difficulty to imagine what the Volunteers camp would look like. Maybe a bamboo building, a single bed and blankets and pillows like Alyson had shown me in her mobile phone and like the details she gave in her email. But still I wasn’t able to picturize the location properly because I have never been to such places. Our day started from a strange bus park in Bagmati Bridge, Jorpati at 6 am in the morning. Dozens of people without lining up asking for tickets from the small window. I was so tiny and I fitted myself in the crowd asking for tickets to Takure, Sindhupalchowk for me and Yukta didi. We only got two cabin seats where 7-8 people would sit in the ideal seat of 5 people.
The Journey for Comfortable Fancy Camp Life Begins
The journey begins from an unpitched and congested cabin seat that we both were not fitting into it comfortably. The crowd from the ticket counter followed us to the bus. The bus left for Sindhupalchowk. Passengers were shouting, some doing fun, talking about their villages and there was excitement for returning to their village. Road was really scary, narrow and bumpy. We were in the bus for the first 30 mins but we both didn’t find the bus ride safe. So we decided to get off from the bus and arrange a jeep to make our travel safe to the Conscious Impact. We had tea while we were waiting for the jeep to come pick us. Once the jeep arrived we put our stuff and our journey began once again on a fancy Jeep with AC and that also has enough space for me to sleep and relax. The greenery view, thick jungles, people walking on the road, the feeling of enough cold water with your eyes, pretty small houses, birds chirping were amazing that we saw on our way. It gave us a different vibes of traveling and the realization of real beauty of Nepal in the western part. We ate a delicious lunch ‘Chicken Thaali Set’ before we reached Takure.
Conducting Poetry Workshop at Conscious Impact Volunteer Camp
After 6 hours of jeep ride through winding and bumpy roads, the jeep brought us to a place nestled amidst Chilaune trees, graced with songbirds that sing through the nights, kind hearted humans and magical fireflies. We camped at Conscious Impact in Takure, Sindhupalchowk and conducted the first ever poetry workshop in a forest camp. The camp was really a real camp, like the ones I saw in the hollywood movies. A cozy sleeping space where your belongings fit perfectly inside the blue, green, yellow and red tents, placing in 4-5 meters away and surrounded by the tall trees in between the jungles. We were like neighbours now. We can ask them if we need anything. There was an open shower, composting toilet, beautiful garden for fruits, vegetables and pretty freshly grown flowers. All planted and grown by the energetic volunteers there. Hammock was my favorite place to hangout with my book. Sometimes I would fall into deep sleep. Every evening the whole family members at the camp share gratitudes in a circle before dinner. And the western food in the dinner was just wow!!!
