“Water bike” craze drives tourists to ancient city of Bhaktapur in Nepal

By Binod Prasad Adhikari
Bhaktapur [Nepal], August 29 : Water cycling introduced in the Na Pukhu pond on the way to Bhaktapur Durbar Square is attracting more tourists and passersby to get a new experience of pedalling over the water.
Rojin Lama along with his beloved pedalled around the pond built in the 18th century which came as a new experience for him. He had travelled to Bhaktapur from an outlying district of Nuwakot to tour the ancient city which lately has introduced the recreational activity of pedalling on the water surface.
“It is my first experience cycling over the water (floating on a platform). I only had done boating while I was in Pokhara. I read about it in the media very recently and came here today (August 29) coinciding it with my birthday to experience it,” Rojin Lama told ANI after taking two rounds of the pond which took him about 12 minutes.
The Bhaktapur Municipality had authorized the operation of “water cycling” to a private company following safety guidelines. The influx of people has increased significantly as per the operators.
“On average, we had expected about 50 pairs of people would come to take the service but the influx has become high, especially in day time. There have been situations when we have to cancel the trips for being over-booked. About 75 to 100 pairs of recreational enthusiasts reach out to us,” Sudharshan Neupane, one of the operators and investors told ANI.
The local body has made it mandatory to wear a life-jacket for people who go over the floating raft, insurance for about half a million, professional divers as well and rescuers in case of any unprecedented happenings as the liability of the company.
The hybrid of a boat and cycle enables two persons to operate it over water. Having amphibious floats, the cycle-like structure with pedal and handle would not let the structure drown in the pond and keep it balanced.
“In order to create a means to entertain people and give them a new form of recreation in Bhaktapur itself we are targeting the domestic tourists. These kinds of events are common in foreign countries- especially those having sea outreach, Whenever a Nepali goes abroad they’re fascinated by the sea. Nepal only has water sources like ponds and rivers, to encourage that we came up with this idea,” Neupane added.
Charge of Nrs. 200 per person has been labelled for a 15-minute ride which generally gets over after taking two rounds of the pond 107750 sq ft pond. This new recreational activity has further made the pond popular which previously was unattended and had remained neglected for a long time.