Kripa Bhandari

The long-awaited outing of the Class of 2021 was finally held from November 12 - 14. The trip was composed of 24 students from both the sections and 2 teachers, Nirmal Poudel sir, and Samyo Hangma Rai ma’am. We began our trip by first meeting at the Deerwalk Complex on the early morning of November 12 and boarding the bus. The road trip to the destination was made even more fun by dances and singing by the students. We took our first break a little further from Naubise where we had tea. Our next stop was at Anmol Foodland, Dhading where we had our breakfast which was awesome! We were all aboard the bus and while some of my friends were really energetic after breakfast and started dancing again, I along with a couple of other friends took short naps as the weather was a little chilly which turned to sunny once we headed towards Pokhara from Mugling. We were greeted by the mesmerizing mountains when we were about two hours away from Pokhara. We could see the Macchapucchre range and were thrilled to reach Ghandruk to see the sunrise the following day. We reached Pokhara soon and had our lunch in Hemja. It was dusk when we reached Nayapul when the frightening journey to Ghandruk began which was a completely off-road trip where we were bouncing about our seats every now and then. We finally reached Ghandruk at about 7 PM and had our dinner at The Old Village Inn. After dinner, we had a campfire along with music where we danced and had a really good time.

On the morning of 13th November, as everyone got out of their rooms, everyone was astonished seeing the mountains up close in front of their eyes. The sunrise was mesmerizing as the tip of the Macchapucchre slowly was changing from white to yellowish and the whole range was shining. We had our breakfast soon which was composed of Gurung Bread, Eggs, and Curry, and then headed down towards the parking lot where we got on the bus and continued to Kaade. Along the way, we had our lunch at Highway Restaurant which was really good. We carried our bags as we got off at the starting point of the trail that led to Australian Base Camp and then continued on the steep trail. It was about a 2 hours hike when we reached Gurans Hotel at Australian Base Camp where it was really cold with fog at 4 PM. We changed our clothes and sat around while some of my classmates played football there as there was a really big field. Later that day, we had our dinner followed by BBQ. Everyone sat around the fire and shared stories about different events and talked about various topics. The mountains were visible even when it was not a full moon night. Well, they were not clearly visible but you could make out the shape distinctly. The stars looked amazing from up there and we tried to make out constellations as well.

On the morning of November 14th, everyone was awestruck looking at the surroundings. The mountains were even closer than Gandruk and there was a layer of clouds below us. We watched as the sun slowly rose and lightened everything up. We took a lot of photos and then had an amazing breakfast. After breakfast, we started our descent down the hill along the trail. We reached Dhampus where our bus was waiting for us and then headed back to Pokhara where we had lunch at Airport Thakali. We then roamed around the lake-side area for some time while some went boating on the Fewa Lake. We continued our journey back to Kathmandu then and had snacks along the highway. We reached Kathmandu at about 11 PM on the night of November 14th. The whole trip was really memorable and we got to see amazing places!

• Kripa Bhandari