Prakrit Joshi

It was the most awaited moment in my life as I finally decided to go hiking. I was excited hearing the plan to go to Panchase, our hiking destination. I reached the office premises at 6 am, and I along with other participants left from there at around 6:15. The remaining hikers got picked up along the way. We stopped at Naubise for some breakfast. The trip began with laughter and greetings. Moving forward in our journey, we kicked off with a musical session, where our friends were requested to sing and dedicate the song to their loved ones.

We reached Pokhara at 1:00 pm followed by Kande at 1:30 where we stopped for some food. Our team coordinator, Jeevan, set the way to begin our hike. We marched ahead, following our coordinator and hoping that he would lead us rightly. I enjoyed the ravishing views of the surrounding and the village settlements were eye catching. Every time we saw a beautiful place, we stopped and took some photographs. Finally, after 2 and half hours of walk, we reached a place name Bhadure at around 5:30 pm, which was about midpoint of our planned journey. We decided to stay there and continue the hike tomorrow. We took rest for some time and prepared for the camp fire. We started dancing and singing songs on the beat of the madal which I was playing. Just as the fun had begun, the rain started to pour on us interrupting our party. But still we were enjoying the moment. Dinner was about to be served and we sat around the table continuing our musical session. Bibek, the rockstar, set the tempo and everyone followed the queue. After having our dinner, the hikers got busy with cards and casual talks before they hit the bed.

Good morning to all, was the noise I heard when I woke up. It was really cold outside as the rain was still continuing to fall. I could hardly see anything outside as the surrounding was covered with fog. As we prepared to leave I could sense a bit of intimidation amongst the fellow hikers due the weather outside. Starting the trip, we left the place at around 7:00 am. Walking steep uphill through sparse forest, clicking pictures and singing songs was really great.

It was becoming really uneasy to walk uphill, and hunger made it more difficult to continue the march. In that desperation for food, the Charles Darwin theory came to mind ‘Struggle for existence’. We compromised on some fresh rhododendron for the time being. Finally, we reached the top and found a small temple there. Passing through the tower we finally reached our destination, Panchase. I was really excited to see the panoramic view of the mountains, Annapurna and Macchapuchare. We cursed our luck when weather disallowed the entirety of the view that the vantage point we stood on permitted. Our quest was finally over then, and we took some time off to rest. We met some Russian tourists who were hanging out nearby. Finally some snacks were available for purchase and we helped ourselves till the overwhelming hunger was assuaged. Bibek Lal enjoyed the moment the most as he munched through packets of waiwai and biscuits in no time.

After a short break we climbed down following the same route. Marching downhill was as difficult as the climb up. After an hour of walk we reached a guest house where we took rest and drank hot tea to boost our energy.

After that we descended to Kande where we called for the Deerwalk van. We had lunch at Pokhara before heading back to Kathmandu. The fun was not over yet, we carried it on. This has been a memorable hike for me and the memories of the trip shall stay with me for a long time.

Neeraj Sharma

This was my first hike from Deerwalk and the one to remember for lifetime. I was always afraid of hiking so this time I decided to shed my inhibitions and go for hiking to Pokhara (Panchase) . Travelling with the QA team is always great fun. The journey from Kathmandu to Pokhara was filled with songs and jokes on everyone. We started our hike from a place called Kande which is 28 km from Pokhara. Our hike was a wet one as the rain was relentless .The total journey from Kande to Panchase was very tiring with steep hills to climb. After walking for about 8 hours uphill, the contentment of conquering the distance was a bit subdued by the overwhelming hunger and thirst the hikers felt; albeit to be standing above 2500 metres from sea level was amazing. Never knew I would ever be so desperate as to eat Laliguras for “temporary” survival. In total if I were to summarize this hike in one word, it would be “WET” :P.