“Travelling gives me a sense of relief that nothing else can replicate,” says Asim Santos Poudel, a 22-year-old travel enthusiast. Though he’s a graphic designer by profession, his true calling is exploring and travelling to new places. Poudel was lucky enough to be able to travel across Nepal since childhood. For him, being a traveller doesn’t mean just sticking to popular spots but daring to go places no one has ever been. “That’s where the real stories are,” he says.

 

His first recollection of a proper trip was visiting the Pathibhara Devi Temple in the hills of Taplejung. The temple is notorious for being a difficult hike. So it was only natural that his parents wondered if Poudel, who was only 14, could complete the hike. “They were convinced that I couldn’t walk the distance. And I wasn’t confident myself,” he says. But making sure to walk one step at a time (and to everyone’s surprise), he reached the temple. “That was quite a thrilling experience. I also realised how much I enjoy travelling,” he recalls.

 

From then to now, Poudel has travelled to most places in Nepal. As his ancestral home is in Jhapa, he frequently visits the Tarai region with his family, mainly during festivals. While en route to Jhapa, he makes sure to visit the surrounding towns and villages to learn more about the local way of life.

 

“As I was born in Kathmandu, any place outside the valley used to feel like an imaginative place because all I ever saw was people coming into Kathmandu and not many people going out,” he says, adding that hearing about different anecdotes, dialects, and cultures of the people he met in Kathmandu made him want to explore the country. “There is so much diversity in Nepal. I had to travel, and I had to experience them all,” he says.