Sanjay Ranjit Day 1 Saturday March 02, 2019 The excitement of my weekend schedule, which would include a hiking to Kakani and camping overnight, kept me from going to bed peacefully on Friday night. I was restless the entire night. Even though it was Saturday, I got out of my bed at 5am the next morning. It was still quite dark outside, but I was ready and waiting for the office vehicle to pick me up by 5:45. While waiting I could see the morning getting brighter. After a bit of a wait, the vehicle finally arrived and I got in. Then, one by one, everybody else was picked up near their residences and we got to Deerwalk at 8:30 am, where we loaded all the necessary supplies in the vehicle and got ready to move out. Our planned hiking route was from Gurje Bhanjyang to Kakani. We set off from Deerwalk in the office vehicle at 9 am. On our way, we stopped by a place to have a little breakfast to store up energy for the hike. Then we headed towards Gurje Bhanjyang. Unfortunately, the road to Gurje Bhanjyang seemed to be under construction and was too bumpy at some places near Jhor. The road was too bad for the office vehicle, so we had to carry our backpacks and take a public bus from Jhor to Gurje Bhanjyang. Once we reached Gurje Bhanjyang, the road signs pointed us in the direction of our destination. And just like that, we officially started our hike around 10:00 am. Everyone was excited and full of energy. Along the way, we took pictures, made videos, played in the snow, talked with the locals, played pranks on each other and sang humorous songs. We all had a lot of fun. We had to rest from time to time as we hiked along. At one point, we had to cross the Para Commando Training Grounds, but were not sure whether they would let us pass. It was our lucky day, though, because there were not many soldiers posted there at the time, so they let us pass through and even gave us directions to Kakani. We also had to walk through the scout training grounds as well. By the time we reached Kakani it was already 4:00 pm and we were all tired and hungry. The whole trip was very satisfying, but most especially when we reached our campsite and got a breathtaking view of hills and mountains. The Himalayan vista was so awesome that I find it difficult to describe. We took more pictures, then started setting up tents. A barbecue and bonfire were up next. After having some barbecue, we called it a night and went to our respective tents to rest. Day 2 Sunday March 03, 2019 Spending the night in the tent was not so great for me. It was my first time camping, so I did not sleep well that night. I woke up at 7am, and was welcomed by a chilly morning breeze. It was cold, so we had to add a few more layers of clothing to stay warm. We had breakfast at a nearby hotel. Around 8 am, it started raining. The whole place was so wet and cold, that we stayed in the hotel until it stopped raining. Once the rain stopped, we could smell the earth, and it got a little foggy for awhile. After an hour or so, the sun shone over the horizon in its full glory, leaving a clear sky and a view to die for. It was very refreshing. At around 1 pm, we had lunch and then we soaked ourselves in the sun for awhile. We spent the afternoon singing, dancing, playing games and resting. We all enjoyed ourselves a lot. When it was 4 pm, we started preparing for another barbecue. It was delicious. Everybody was full from satisfying veggies and chunks of buff, pork and chicken. Later that evening, we started a bonfire and danced around it until 10:30 pm. Then, we headed to our tents with tired, but smiling faces. Day 3 Monday March 04, 2019 It was ‘Maha Shivaratri’ and the day for us to return to our homes and work. Everybody got up earlier than the previous day, had breakfast and then started packing up camp. Around 9:30 am, we left the campsite. When we got to Kakani Junction, we stopped to buy some fresh and delicious strawberries. Our ride back was full of jokes, music and fun. At 12:00PM we got to Balaju. By then, everyone was hungry, so we stopped at a place in Sifal to have lunch. After that, we took leave from each other and went home.