INSIDE HIMALAYAS | NEPAL | TIBET | BHUTAN
INSIDE HIMALAYAS | NEPAL | TIBET | BHUTAN
Gateway to Rolwaling:
Two Weeks with the Thami in Chokati
By Michael D. Smith
The village of Beding in the Rolwaling Valley. Photo: Herman Thapa.
Locating Chokati on a map can be difficult, as many
maps of the Rolwaling Trek don’t extend far enough
eastward to include it, and until recently the village
did not even have a gravel road.
In September, I accompanied a group of North American teenagers to stay for two weeks in the farming village
of Chokati, located in Sindhupalchowk District. Our team of three instructors and eleven students enjoyed
homestay accommodations with families throughout the village, spread out along a sweeping, undulating
valley. Chokati is one of the few villages mainly populated by the Thami (Thangmi) ethnic group, who have
preserved their indigenous language and identity despite their low numbers. Thami is a Tibeto-Burman
language closely related to Newari, and the people believe they migrated from an area bordering Tibet.
Bahrabise Bazaar is the nearest town to Chokati. It’s roughly 80 kilometres northeast of Kathmandu, and takes
four hours by bus. Local buses regularly depart in that direction from Koteshwor on the Kathmandu Ring Road,
and proceed along the beautiful Araniko Highway via Bhaktapur, Banepa, Dhulikhel, and through the lush
countryside of Kavrepalanchowk. The highway meets the Bhote Koshi River at Dolalghat, passes turn-offs to
popular trekking destinations Helambu, Jiri, and Rolwaling, onward to Bahrabise Bazaar, and follows the Bhote
Koshi all the way to the Friendship Bridge, which crosses the Tibetan border at Kodari.
After reaching Bahrabise from Kathmandu in time for an enjoyable local lunch of dal bhat, we were met by one
of our local hosts, Ram Bahadur, who led us on a gradual four-hour walking ascent along a dirt road and foot
22
www.insidehimalayas.com | By Royal Mountain Travel
www.insidehimalayas.com | By Royal Mountain Travel
23