Swoyambhu Shrestha Hike – I call it a medicine that gives a good flush to your tired brain and a good stretch to your body. Its like a reset button that freshens you up. I was in desperate need of one, not just for the reset button but also shaping my body that I have built up with time and food (lots of it actually).

I usually heard that hikes with Rudra dai are challenging where you need to walk forgetting that you're tired.

I usually heard that hikes with Rudra dai are challenging where you need to walk forgetting that you're tired. Keeping that in mind, I gathered all the will power that was hiding in corners of my body and was ready for the challenge. After snoozing my alarm couple of time I finally woke up at 7. Had a cup of tea and headed toward Deerwalk office where our vehicle and our handsome driver Deepak were waiting for us. We gathered up and had refreshing cup of black tea made in our canteen and then started our journey. Thanks to upcoming SAARC summit that has brought upon smooth roads in the valley. We easily reached Tokha but our destination was further north. There on started the narrow curved roads with more greenery and fresh clean breeze. After about 45 minutes of drive, that was full of laughter and interesting discussions, we reached our first checkpoint; Jagat Buspark. We had a short break there. The view was amazing and the air was clean. After the break there, we got in our van and traveled about 2 kms complete uphill to reach our hiking start point Gurjebhanjyang. With a little bit of stretching, carrying some water and juice, and fixing lenses in DSLRs our hike started. We walked for about an hour through dense forest. Cool weather, sound of running river and above it all, quite and easy trail (thank god).

On reaching Surya Chaur we all were mesmerized with the view.

On reaching Surya Chaur we all were mesmerized with the view.Had we reached there a little earlier we could had seen the beautiful mountain ranges. Even though clouds covered up the mountain, the scenery from the top of the hill was astonishing. We sat for some snacks on a small khaja pasal (snacks shop) where we had delicious fried beaten rice, toasted soybean, fried eggs and sukuti (dry meat). After a short walk there, we returned to our starting point Gurjebhanjyang but our hiking was not complete. We walked 2km steep down-hill to reach Jagat Buspark. Down-hill might sound easy but it was not. It was quite tiring. On reaching there, we were welcomed by cheerful Narayan dai. We received warm hospitality at his place and had delicious food there. We stayed there for a while and spent some quality time with Narayan dai's family. So summing up all the events, this was a ‘saral’ (easy) hike which was more like a village tour. There was one more additional factor that made this hike really special, and that was our very own WowWowWow Lava Kafle dai. His jokes, talks on fog computing, and talks on so many crazy things helped us throughout the hike. I really wish to have more hikes like this in upcoming future. Thank you Deerwalk for making possible such an amazing hiking culture where you have fun, get exercise and total refreshment. Jay Nepal!!