Title	Deerwalk QA Team Outing
Route	Kathmandu>> Banepa >> Panauti>>Balthali
Date	13-14July, 2012
Total Time	2 days
Coordinator	Saroj Dhakal, Shrijana Tandukar
Participants	Amirjan Nepal, Ashish Shrestha, Awanish Ranjan, Balakrishna Pandey, Bibek Lal Shrestha, Biman Shrestha, Jeevan Timilsina, Lava Kafle, Mani Raj Gole, Manila Raut, Nabaraj Paudel, Neeraj Sharma, Prajwol Shakya, Prakrit Joshi, Prativa Shrestha, Rajesh Singh, Rinesh Bajracharya, Sagar Raj Adhikari, Samrat Karanjit, Saroj Dhakal, Shrijana Tandukar, Sulekha  Bhandari, Suraj  Pant
Photos By	Awanish Ranjan, Prajwol Shakya, Mani Gole
Report By	Saroj Dhakal, Shrijana Tandukar, Nabaraj Poudel
Captions	Saroj Dhakal, Shrijana Tandukar
Creative Support	Dambar Thapa
Edited By	Himalaya Kakshapati

Saroj Dhakal, Shrijana Tandukar
Being the organizers of the first ever QA Team Building Outing from Deerwalk was a wonderful experience in itself. The much anticipated Team Building outing with high expectations of fun and games was scheduled for 13th- 14th July, 2012.

Finally on 13th of July, we headed towards Balthali Village Resort from the Deerwalk office premises at around 4:00 pm. Passing through the dusty roads of Kathmandu, we reached Panauti, where we were welcomed by a little drizzle. We made our way through the narrow slippery road to Khopasi and reached there at around 5:30 pm. Far away from the noise and chaos of Kathmandu, we slowly started advancing up the hills to Balthali. With the chirping of the birds all around and the murmuring of the streams, the hour-long hike was truly rejoicing and rejuvenating. We finally reached Balthali Village Resort at around 6:30 pm.

After a short refreshing round of drinks, we entertained the team with an entertaining game called “DO NOT TOUCH THE TIGER’S EYE”. Then the merriment began with singing, dancing, drinking and eating till 10 pm. The first day thus ended with lots of fun and excitement.

Our second day started with a warm morning tea. We enjoyed walking down to a stream nearby with a local guide. We had fun playing with the cool water and teasing crabs and other creatures in the stream. The team perspired climbing up the hill on the way back to the resort. We had a refreshing breakfast at the resort. Nabaraj’s backbiting game was great fun indeed.

Finally, it was time for us to head back home with everlasting memories in our minds. We all, of course, had a great time and thanks to all the participants for making the outing so special.

Nabaraj Poudel
As it was my first outing from Deerwalk, it was a different experience for me. We got ready to leave for the outing by 3 PM as scheduled. We had reserved two office vehicles and they were almost full. Few of the participants preferred to use their own bike to get to the destination – Balthali Resort.

We arrived at Banepa at 4 PM. One of our vans had already got there before us and they were waiting for us. After around 15 minutes of ride from there, we reached Panauti Bazar – a small bazaar with a dense Newar settlement with its own religious and geographical significance. Next stop was Khopasi. There stood a splendid dam powering Khopasi Hydroelectricity Plant, one of the fist hydroelectricity plants in Nepal. We decided to spend some time there and take some pictures whilst waiting for the other van to arrive.

As Balthali Village was visible from Khopasi, it was apparently closer. But it was a steep climb up the hills for about an hour. Ride was cumbersome, but full of adventure, laughs, jokes and amusements. On the way we crossed two suspension bridges. While we were afraid of crossing the bridge, the locals were crossing with loads on their backs. While we were having a hard time walking on the narrow, slippery roads, the local people had no choice. Although it was not that far from Kathmandu city, it was completely a different place – perfect archetype of rural Nepal and hilly landscape. Newly constructed non-blacktopped roads and suspension bridges seemed as if they were there just to welcome us.

After reaching the resort we were offered drinks to refresh us. We sat down for a while. We then chose our rooms and then placed our baggage in respective rooms. After taking a shower, we headed out. The resort was a real paradise with greenery all around – a modern resort in the middle of a rural settlement.

While the green corns just harvested from the field were being roasted, we were asked to come out for the Team Building Game. The game was called “Don’t Touch the Tiger’s Eyes“. It was all about teaming up and making the member of another team touch the ‘tiger’. Finally the team with the larger number of participants left would be the winner. At the center stood a chair, symbolizing a tiger, and we stood in a circle around it. Members of the different teams sat next to each other alternately. Prakrit became first to be out. His leg slipped and he touched the ‘tiger’. Everyone participated in the game and that was really fun.

Fresh roasted green corn just harvested from the field nearby was the first staple that we ate. Corn was really tasty, the reason might have been that we were very hungry. The quantity of the corn was big but did not appear to be sufficient to the “Deerwalk Battalion” .
Barbecue, team building games, jokes, songs and dances turned outing into a great party . Balkrishna’s songs, Prakri’ts Madal and Saroj’s dance turned all of us into artists. After dinner we went to bed. How could we forget mentioning Lava and his jokes without which outing merely would have been a formality. Card game till late night was another mentionable thing that took place that night.

It was Lava who woke up first the next morning. I heard Lava’s voice outside my bed room in the corridor. It was a great view that morning, as the valley down below filled with the fog appeared as if it were filled with cotton and the sun was just rising on the horizon.

After warm tea and coffee we decided to walk down to the river. Walking down the meandering road in the steep hill and crossing another suspension bridge, we reached there. Along the way there were bushes of different plants and nettle.

I was thinking about a team building game and waiting for a suitable time. It was a great time for another team building game after the breakfast. The game was called “Backbites”. In this game each one got a piece of paper attached on their back and other team members would come and write a word or so about the person in the paper . Finally each one would get a list of backbites in the paper. It was great fun to read all the backbites received aloud in front of the all the team members.

Place chosen for the team building was a great place to be – full of fresh air and far away from the chaotic city life. But it was a time to head back to the base.

There were three interns Amirjan, Balkrishna and me, comparatively new in Deerwalk, but we never felt alone. It was a proud feeling to be part of such a cohesive and caring team. We are really thankful to one and all in the team for making the team building activities all the success and quite memorable.