Manisha Lama 22 October, Squad D hike, the most awaited hike for me because I and my teammates were making plan for this hike from several days. It was my first hike and I was super excited for this day. My excitement was not just because it was my first hike, but was because of Jiri, which was new and of course the companions were new too. Traveling always makes me feel refreshed and joyful but this hike was totally different from my expectations, it was full of adventure and thrill. I kept the alarm sharp at 4:45 am so that I could reach over there by time. I did my necessary packing, had tea and took a bus from my home place and reached right on time at the office. Me along with my teammates left office at around 6:20 am on Deerwalk hiace, we pickup Shiwa from Koteshwor and we had a small pause at Banepa to have breakfast. Specially me and my friend Anjana enjoyed the Samosas and veg curry with hot chopped chillies and onions. The trip continued again, we started singing songs and played antakshari Boys VS Girls, the fun parts were, Shishir who used to initiate almost every songs in RJ styles which made me feel as if i was listening to FM radio and Ranjan, Kiran and Achyut used to make their own lyrics to win the competition and poor Vivek dai who never got a chance to put his songs, as soon as he used to start songs other group of boys used to start their own one. It was hilarious to see Vivek Dai's facial expressions. I had never been to this side of my country, I was surprised to see roadways. Oh my God !! It was really eye-catching. There's nothing better than a backpacking trip in the woods at the peak of leaf change. The air is crisp, the colors of the changing leaves brilliant, and the expectation is there for adventure and recreation. We had many stops in our ride just to catch the scenic beauty in our cameras. We had our lunch in Charikot, the food was yummy. We were served with typical Nepali food. I ate till I became full. We reached at our destination enjoying narrow, windy roads, water fountains,rivers and streams and amazing beautiful scenery at around 4:45 pm. The Name "Jiri" is derived from its local ethnic group called the "Jirel". I have heard many things about Jiri from my friends .They said that its geographical structure is quite similar to like Switzerland, I didn't find any new at Jiri might be because we didn't get enough time to render it more.

The actual fun began when we started our hike. I still get goosebumps when I think of this hiking. It was just immemorial and insane .It was around 5 pm when we all got ready to hike.

The actual fun began when we started our hike. I still get goosebumps when I think of this hiking. It was just immemorial and insane .It was around 5 pm when we all got ready to hike. After 1 hour of hiking, it got dark everywhere .I decided to come back because I didn't find safe hiking at night time but my teammates motivated me to join them to reach the destination "the Jiri cheese factory" .The hike wouldn't be so tough if we hadn't taken the wrong turn, this turn led us to to climb high steep hills. I was very scared, I had no hope of returning back .We had only mobile torch light to see the path so that we can climbed properly. Just imagine, no weapons to protect from wild animals, no torch light and dark everywhere and the dense forest. I was having mixed feeling of thrill and fun. I was having a glimpse of all horror movies' scenes. What if we don't find right way, what if some wild animal comes along our way and what if we have to stay in the jungle till morning and many more. Ranjan and Achyut were main to guide us. All team mates were so good and helpful. They said to hold each others hands and to remain in group. With team spirit, we got our destination. We shouted in happiness reaching over there at cheese factory. We had some photos snaps, bought some cheese and got down to hills to return back to our hotel. After freshen up,we had our dinner. I was hungry with hours of hiking. I took my dinner enjoying the fun and scary talks of our hike and went to my room. Every tour has its best and worst part. I had worst time in traveling. I was having headache and nausea. I did vomit as I was not feeling well. I found Dilip dai and Prakritee very caring to me. Sabina Di was best in coordinating, she made the trip very organised .She made sure that everyone is okay.I didn't know much about the things that went on our journey while returning back as I was asleep all along the way but others were having a blast.Jiri Hike added some new friends friends on my list. We reached Koteshwor at around 6:30 pm and reached my home at around 7 pm. Since I had my healthy sleep in hiace, I woke up to late night sharing hiking stories with my family. 

Ranjan Khadka A journey with measurable distance takes much less time to travel than the inner journey one is going through. Nearly 400 KM road travelled to Jiri and back to Kathmandu carried lots of memories and good times that anyone of us accompanying the visit could hardly express in words. Adding the word count in this article won't help to share the feelings that we felt in this two days hike which was beyond anyone's expectation and really was beyond imagination. 22 of October, 6:00 AM was the target to start journey from Deerwalk complex which with no doubt and not breaking the so called Nepalese time delayed by half an hour. We stopped at Banepa, had light breakfast. After re-fueling with hot tea and breakfast, we requested Dilip to buy 2 dozens of Banana before brother Purna restarted vehicle sharing a positive thought to buy Banana. All 15 were in single vehicle but going on their own before we few sitting at last seat of vehicle started cracking few jokes. Few of us at back started humming songs after which we proposed that it should be singing competition between boys and girls. More than hundred songs of different genre we sang really made us forget everything and let us go with the flow of music. The singing style we pursued created an amazing environment where introductory commentary by Shishir for the songs, one of the cool guy with us made an outstanding identity of his creativeness on which Achyut too was adding flavour time and again. Whenever good location came on our way travelling towards destination, we did the same thing that people basically do i.e. photo sessions. With the mesmerizing beauty of nature we literally could think something else than what our eyes were seeing. On our way, we too had fast foods and stuffs inside vehicle which never let our energy go down either for singing or for continuing the journey. But while taking delicious lunch at Charikot some of us looked hungry since days. Beside the chicken the food was 'KA' (categorized as category A). The language 'KA' initiated by our very own Shishir soon became so popular and most of us started rating things with this afterwards. It should be around 4:30 PM when we reached Jiri and without wasting any time we just kept our luggage at hotel's room and started our hike towards Chordung cheese factory which was located at 2,633 meters altitude. Brother Purna rejected our offer to be with us in the hike and the rejection was valid too as he was on the steering of vehicle the whole day. So, 14 of us started the hike with 2 bananas each and couples of bottles of water each. We could have gone hiking the next morning but considering the early arrival back to Kathmandu next evening, we planned to hike the same day we reached Jiri. More than that, everyone looked more energetic and even we heard the team cheering up saying one and half hour would be more than enough to reach the height. For two of our friends, the hike ended up so early due to health issues and both girls were back to hotel to take rest with our suggestion after which 12 of us headed to the destination. We were climbing up following the foot trail in the hill. We came to a rest point to wait all friends lagging behind as dusk already was with us. Who might have thought that the hike Achyut was leading would take a wrong turn few minutes after resuming the hike. We turned towards left and kept walking until we were almost to dead end. We were afraid and soon phoned the person at Cheese Factory to give us light signal who was aware of our late visit there. After getting prompt signal, we realized that we should have continued walking straight from the point from where we took a wrong turn. Then a steep slope hill which should be not less than around 70 degree inclined off us was in front of us. We used all four hands and legs to climb up around 150 meters of the slope to make us reach the Cheese Factory where we reached at 7:00 PM. Again without wasting any time, as we had to return back to Hotel, we observed the Cheese storage and bought around 10 Kg of Cheese all together. Climbing down started at 7:30 PM, I (Ranjan) took the lead throughout our way down as we noted correct direction to get down the hill with the person at Factory and all 12 of us reached safe back to Hotel at 9:30 PM. We had dinner after which laying down on bed at that moment was something like we were going for sleep after ages. Had Achyut not taken the wrong turn, the hiking would never have been such a thrilling and of amazing experience that anyone could ever feel. Those friends reciting hymns when we lost our way up to hill were thankful to Achyut while getting down because of whom the hike became extra-ordinary. Our energy level before we started the hike was so high that we thought we would reach up there before dusk around 6:00 PM and get back before 8:00 PM. We never thought we were to climb up the hill making our own trail.

The next day, we visited the locality around Jiri which was quoted by us being as small as Jiraa (Jiraa: nepali word, tiny little ingredient used in vegetable). We had good breakfast at the same Hotel we stayed overnight after which we started travelling back to Kathmandu.

The next day, we visited the locality around Jiri which was quoted by us being as small as Jiraa (Jiraa: nepali word, tiny little ingredient used in vegetable). We had good breakfast at the same Hotel we stayed overnight after which we started travelling back to Kathmandu. On our way back, there were few children carrying some local fruits in plastic bags and waving their hands and shouting at us to buy. We stopped, bought few, talked about their school, had some camera clicks with them and resumed our journey. To see the children’s willingness to support their family, their innocent smiles and happiness, their friend cicle was simply amazing. We stopped at Tamakoshi river bank and had light breakfast again as we planned to take lunch little late. This time, we were returning being Manthali, Khurkot, a part of Sindhuli road and back to Dhulikhel and finally Kathmandu as the road we reached Jiri was not so good and took more time. None of us got satisfied on Jiri being mentioned as Switzerland of Nepal as there was nothing so special. Dilip so revised the statement as 'while snow falls, Jiri is Switzerland of Nepal else it is lotherland of Nepal (lotherland: Nepali mixed word, reflecting not so special). The point of attraction was Kirni Bazar of Dolkha which indeed was far more beautiful than Jiri (Switzerland). Such a managed place, clean and green, that took a part of our heart there. After getting to Manthali and climbing the hill up of Ramechhap district, we stopped and why not, because the scenery from there was truly like heaven. Green land with crops harvested at left part, tall green hill up straight, Tamakoshi River in between, Manthali airport to the right corner, oh! That was the most beautiful place to remember. We took hundreds of photo from the top of the hill making the healing scene the background. We had lunch at Khurkot around 2 PM and we were back to Kathmandu and arrived Deerwalk Complex before 7 PM, 23rd of October. The fun loaded moments were singing competition while travelling, late evening hike using mobile lights making our own trail, photo session at Ramechhap Hill, cracking jokes throughout the journey, performace of Shishir and the company and the friendly environment maintained by whole team. It was a privilege to be part of this two days journey. Sometimes the feeling will get shared without any words while sometimes all words in the world could hardly express what is felt. And yes words just cannot explain how much we enjoyed this hike. Thanks to all participants of hike, brother Purna for steering safe and thanks to Deerwalk for making this happen.…