Praveen Shrestha Not only just to skip regular schedule but because hiking has the myriad of benefits for the body, mind and heart with bounty of perks like nice view, fresh air, the sounds and smell of nature; I had predicted this trip was going to be memorable one. The plan was from Pokhara to Dhampus. The office van was scheduled to leave at 6.30 am for the hike. As it would be easy for me, I had requested Umesh to pick me from Kalanki, terminal of the capital. We were 14 hikers along with our transporter and were all thrilled to hike to Dhampus. By 8.45 am, we had already taken light breakfast at Dharke and hiked up the energy for the journey. As soon as, we drove to Muglin, the junction where the highway bifurcates, South to Chitwan and West to Pokhara. On the way my fellow friend Anil was so excited to describe about his hometown that falls on the way. Well, that provided us good information about the places like Abukhaireni, Dumre, Bandipur, Damauli and their specialties. On our way, we had a lunch in Damauli. After 2 hours drive from Damauli, we reached our destination city Pokhara. From Pokhara a drive of 45 minutes more lead us to Phedi, the spot to begin the hike to Dhampus. We bought all the necessary energy food and drinks from the local shop there, to ease our hike. Then, we were all set to hike. On a trail, we would enjoy with scenery of surrounding wood, locality and jokes among our hikers. As the time skipped, the hikers were decided into two groups: one seemed to be in such a great hurry to place their victory flag at the top and the other one was slow. However, I guess both the groups enjoyed the sight of rhododendron flowers, the hillside, the play of sunlight and shadow through the woods, birds on the trail. After three hours of walk, we were finally at our destination, Dhampus. I wiped off the sweat from my brow and took a deep breath for we had finally arrived at Dhampus. The entire Dhampus village faced the Himalayas that fascinate the village. As to prevent late evening, we searched for a suitable lodge where we could rest at for the night. This was no difficulty as Dhampus village has great hotels and lodges with all modern facilities. That night we enjoyed drinking, singing and dancing. The lodge owner really served us a delicious supper. Except the early sleepers, the others must have experienced ghost hunting at midnight. Unfortunately, I was among the early sleepers.  The next morning was very comforting to our eyes; I must admit that the spectacular view of Annapurna and Machhapuchhre is still fresh in my memories. Then we had tea and few photo snaps and were all set to go down the hillock. By one and half hour of downhill, we reached Phedi, and had our breakfast. As we still had enough time to return to Kathmandu, we decided to take a short visit to Begnas Lake of Pokhara. We spent about one hour boating and returned back to Kathmandu at 5pm. It was really a great hike. I had a great time with my fellow hikers. Thanks to everyone. 

Narayan Prashad Kandel Hiking from Phedi to Dhampus was one of the most entertaining and memorable hikes for me. This journey became more entertaining by a series of jokes and funny moments. We started our hike from Phedi at around 2:30 pm. We all were excited about the journey and the trail added more excitement. There were steep slopes, dense forests, difficult pathways we had to cross. While enjoying the hike, we reached our destination at around 4:00 pm. The view of Machhapuchhre from there was so wonderful that we all forgot our tiredness. The view of Pokhara valley with all its natural loveliness, Fewa Lake, world peace stupa and the view of the overall landscape was just mesmerizing. It was really entertaining when all of us started singing, dancing, sharing some funny jokes. At night, some of the guys started telling horror stories of posters that were at the windows and doors. The story was that the Ghosts usually came out from the pond, which is located in front of the hotel we stayed in. Some of the members went Ghost Hunting at night, walked around 1 hours could not find any signs of ghostly activities. In the morning, we had some photo sessions. We were unable to watch the sunrise due to the bad weather. Finally we left at around 7:30 am. We reached Phedi within an hour, had some breakfast there and headed to Begnas Lake. It was really an amazing boating experience at Begnas Tal. Then we headed back to Kathmandu with lots and lots of wonderful memories.