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Title	Deerwalk Services Team (A, B and C) Outing to Sarangkot
Route	Kathmandu >> Sarangkot >> Kathmandu
Date	Jan 5, 2013 – Jan 6, 2013
Coordinator	Niraj Thapa
Participants	Aawart Adhikari, Bijay Gauli, Bikal Bhattarai, Laxman Adhikari, Mahendra Duwal, Manoj Shrestha, Niraj Thapa, Nhurendra Shakya, Prabim Manadhar, Prakash Acharya, Pratik Manandhar, Prince Hamal, Pritesh Acharya, Shrada Pradhan, Rajendra Prasad Gyawali, Renu Dangol, Sajjan Shrestha, Saban Singh, Ujjwal Manandhar, Uttam Man Karmacharya.
Photos By	Aawart Adhikari, Niraj Thapa, Pritesh Acharya, Sajjan Shrestha, Ujjwal Manandhar
Report By	Bijay Gauli, Pratik Manandhar, Prince Hamal
Creative Support	Kanchan Raj Pandey, Rinesh N Bajracharya
Edited By	Rinesh N Bajracharya

Pratik Manandhar

On Jan 5, 2013, only a few days after the new year, the Deerwalk Services team were off for their “team building” outing to one of the most popular destination of Nepal, Sarangkot. Everyone was at the office premises by 7 am. We had made up our minds to make the drive as interesting as the outing itself. Our team was really excited to reach Sarangkot and make the best of the team building program. Guys enjoyed every single moment inside the van singing and making pranks.

We reached Pokhara at around 3:30 pm. Then we headed for the resort at Sarangkot. Our office vehicles humped through difficult and dusty off-road trails before finally succeeding to reach the top; Kedar dai and Ram dai maneuvered extremely well with the gears. It was around 4pm in the afternoon when we made it to the resort which was almost at the summit of Sarangkot (only fifteen minutes of walk to be precise). We settled into our rooms before having a brief tea session. We all went to watch the famous views of Machhapuchhre and Annapurna mountains, and what we saw truly took our breathe away. Everyone was thrilled, amused and started describing what they saw. Our colleagues had D-SLRs and SLRs ready to capture the images and were busy angling themselves to click the best pictures.

We all went to watch the famous Machhapuchhre and Annapurna mountains, and what we saw truly took our breathe away.

Without much delay, everyone got back to play the team building games. Rajendra and Uttam were responsible for organizing the games and they got the teams started on “Chinese whisper” and “knowing each other”games. Their unique and funny presentation was worth a watch, like “Rajendra reporting…” and more. Team building session was followed by snacks and drinks. We truly felt the absence of “Arjun Dai” at the time and we rang him up to let him know that.

Enjoyment went on further; Prabim was on guitar, ready all the way from Kathmandu. We all sang chorus together while he played. We really enjoyed singing with him. Niraj was extremely good on the grills; he broiled good barbeque for us.

After a long time I saw a clear sky full of stars that night, it was amazing. We chatted about astronomy, constellation and wished we had telescopes up at Sarangkot. We had dinner at around 9pm and some came back for bon fire while others hit the bed. It was warm around the fire, and after a while we were visited by a familiar foe, load shedding. After guys got warmed up,they started dancing. They set up an improvised disco atmosphere using their mobile phones and torch light, “deerwalk brains” after all. By the way Mobile Disco rocks. I watched from a distance sitting beside the bon fire, laughing and enjoying every moment of it. Only few of us were left when we all started talking about myths of ghosts, horrifying unauthenticated incidents; the atmosphere was very scary around the fading bonfire. As one of us started going “abhiiiabhiii”, we knew it was time to go to bed.

By the way Mobile Disco rocks.

Next morning my roommate and I woke up at around 6:30am and went for a walk up to the view point. We saw the spectacular morning scene of the Himalaya with dense fog covering the valley beneath. I wished I could stay longer.
After returning and finishing breakfast, we headed to the lakeside for boating. Our guys were never tired of over-night enjoyment; for them, it was like “party has just begun” .We took paddleboat, and paddled taking turns. The guys sang all the way long while sailing; for a moment I felt myself amidst real singers. After boating we had lunch and packed up for return.

On the way back we enjoyed fish at Malekhu before continuing on our way to Kathmandu. This was indeed a zipped up teambuilding program; enjoyed fast and furiously within the quick 36 hours time period. I would say it was like enrolling in a crash course like “Learning asp.net in less than two days”. I wished it was longer, but I know there will be more outings in the future.

Bijay Gauli

Travelling has always been a passion of mine and when it comes to beautiful city like Pokhara, any force can hardly stop me. On the early morning of 5th January , 22 of us from the Services team of Deerwalk Inc. headed towards our outing destination ,Sarangkot . It is a hill point at Pokhara, famous for its sunrise view and scenic beauty of the Himalayan range. After having breakfast at 8:15 am nearby at Naubise, the journey became more interesting with music, jokes and laughter that continued till we reached Sarangkot at 4:30 pm. The team building games then organized by Rajendra was a real fun as it revealed so many secrets of our friends. Camp fire, BBQ, snacks and drinks made the evening more delightful. Photo sessions were always there to keep us occupied on capturing the sceneries. The view of sunrise from the top of Sarangkot next morning was a pleasing moment .The reddish reflection of sun rays over the Annapurna and Machhapuchhre Mountains were the best of it. Boating at Phewa Lake that day was another center of attraction. Pritesh’s team versus Uttam’s team, set themselves for a boating race that required a real team work and entertained us all. After a walk at the lake side and the delicious lunch, we returned back to Kathmandu with tired body but an energetic soul.

The main goal of this team building was to get attached to the team members more personally than professionally, which I think has has been achieved. This culture of outing gives freshers like me a chance to get to know each other. I will always be looking forward to these kinds of opportunities. Finally thanks to Deerwalk and a high five to the team!!

Prince Hamal

The day was 5th January 2012, and I was very excited for my very first outing to Sarangkot since having joined the company. In the cool morning, I arrived early at Koteshwor to join the journey. We were only three to begin with, Pritesh, Ujjwal and myself; and we picked up the others at their respective locations before a congregation at Kalanki, from where the trip started officially.

During our journey, we enjoyed a lot of good music, dance, jokes and the scenic beauty all around the highway. We got more excited when we reached our destination, Sarangkot, at the top of the hill from where we could get the terrific view of Himalayas and Phewa Lake. Since I love photography, I couldn’t stop myself from taking the photos of the amazing scenery. The team building activities organized by Rajendra and Uttam added more excitement, and we got to know the team members more personally. Then a campfire was set with chairs around; and with the BBQ, drinks and the songs, the party was rocking!

The next early morning after having breakfast, we all had a group photo session before going down to Pokhara. The moment while rowing the boat and taking photos at Phewa lake with Pritesh, Mahendra and Nhurendra was awesome. We had a boating competition with Niraj and the team. All in all, we enjoyed the moment. Then around 12 pm, after having lunch at Mahili Hotel, which is famous for delicious Nepalese food in Pokhara, we left for KTM. The memories we made will stay with us for some time to come. Thanks Deerwalk for giving me this beautiful opportunity and I look forward for other such outings.