It’s almost been two months since I joined Deerwalk Family and this was my first outing with my colleagues. As I was told the main purpose of the outing is for team building, and from my experience, it has well served its purpose.
It’s always exiting and entertaining to move on from our daily office routine and go for something that really eases all of our stresses. As it was my first outing so I was bit more excited for this event.We were a total of 15 members for the outing to Dhulikhel. The Van left the office at 1 pm and we headed to our destination picking up other team members on the way. Everyone was singing and having fun, before reaching the destination at 3:15PM to Mirabel Resort, Dhulikhel.
The concept of hiking has always eluded me. I happen to believe that walking is not the best way to travel. As such, this hiking was a completely new experience for me. So there I was in our office premises, waiting – excited, but a little nervous. The month being Aasad, monsoon was just arriving; and one could argue that it was not the best time to go on a hike.
One fine Sunday morning, some Deerwalkers were still in their bed. They were reluctant to get off the bed early, as there were some unconfirmed rumors of bandh (shutdown) in the capital. When the hands of clock struck eight, all of a sudden my cell phone buzzed. It was a call to join a hike. “Hey! Where are you? We are heading out for a hike. You want to join? “, the voice on the other end said. It was too good an offer to pass!
I have always loved to go to new places and experience local cultures and traditions. As such, I was really excited to join the Deerwalk hike team. It was my first hike since joining the company.
The planned route of the hike was from Dhulikhel to Nagarkot. As planned, we gathered at the office premises at about seven in the morning. We left the office at 7:30 AM by office van. Before leaving, we took a head count – and it was seven – excluding Kedar, who was driving us to Dhulikhel. At 8:25 AM, we stopped at Banepa to pick up Rosina – the eighth hiker of our team.
Sunday started out cloudy but by the time the team of highly motivated. Deerwalk hikers made it to the summit at the peak of the centuries old temple it had cleared. Lava took the crew on a side trip to Kathmandu University where they were treated to a nice breakfast of chapatis, parathas and eggs rolls at one of Lava’s old haunts. Although more than 12 years out of university the team heard tall tales of student misadventures and of early morning ascents of Lava through the jungle where cheetahs roamed around.
The early morning was damp and gloomy, and it was not until the sun shone through that we were hopeful of doing our mystery climb. Reminiscing about older times, and going back and forth about destinations, we had Rudra Dai join us. Finally we were to hike to Nagarkot from Dhulikhel.
It was 9:15 AM when we reached Dhulikhel and we had a quick breakfast at the D Newa Kitchen. After that, it was time for the Deerwalkers to walk up towards the hilltop near Taludada, Dhulikhel. That part of our walk was interesting and easy going. At the Rotary Club, we then began to take on the heights. Around 10:30 we reached the place and rested for a while.
Hiking with a Difference
Date:2010-07-18
November 22, 2009
Jai Jiri
Although Newton’s second law of gravity came into play, serene sky & bright green field illuminated with resonating light mesmerized us to reach the destination. As we stared over the edge of the mountain with a feeling of awe, our hearts were jocund. The place had an aura of .. ammm “photo session”, soon everyone started giving pose. It was the hunger that pushed us more towards the Cheese factory literally, since we forgot to have breakfast at Jiri, we needed to have ‘Mahi’. Later we had to satisfy with cheese as November is not the season for Mahi.
Dhulikhel- Namobuddha- Panauti
Date: Sunday, July 31, 2005
