EKbana Outings- Mobile Team

With an office of over 150+ members, our yearly team outings have become almost impossible to manage. As such, this year it was decided that we would do team outings. The Mobile development team comprised of iOS and Android developers, 12 team members were on their way to Sikles.

Sikles, located in the Kaski district of Nepal around 40 km away from Pokhara is a hidden way area with a view to remember. The journey began with an eight-hour overnight bus ride to Pokhara. We arrived early the next day and took a 6 am car ride towards Sikles village.
The journey to Sikles village was filled with interesting views and sites. There was an amazing waterfall on the way, crossing rivers and streams and nature abound. It had been raining recently and the water level of the river was higher than expected, having to cross the river by placing stones and with excellent driving skills shown by our driver we made our way forward.

By the time we reach Sikles, it was close to noon, a 6 hours ride through rough terrain did not come close to marring our excitement in reaching our destination. We were welcomed by a beautiful GURUNG village hidden in the mists of the Annapurna range. We then ate a wonderful meal and rested for a few hours. At around 4 pm we hiked to a nearby viewpoint called RISIN Danda. It took us around an hour to reach the top of the hill. The path was stoned paved stairs reaching up sometimes above the clouds. The view from the top was hampered by thick fog but with our friends and colleagues in tow, we were glad to have made the journey. We then returned back to Sikles and planned for a BBQ party for the evenings' entertainment. We sang songs, played games and drank and danced. Once the drinking game called 369 went underway the laughs and claps could be heard throughout the village I am sure. If you are not familiar with 369, it goes something like this.

Step 1: Sit in a circle.
Step 2: One person will start by saying a number below 70
Step 3: The person sitting to the right of the initiator says the next number serially, and so on.
The twist of the game was that everyone had to clap instead of speaking when their digit contained the numbers 3,6 or 9 and the number of claps had to be the number of these 3 digits that was to be said.

And of course, the final rule, anyone who missed with the clapping took a shot of a drink. We played the game till midnight until the owner of the hotel had to request us to be less noisy because we were laughing too loudly and disturbing others in the area.

The third day saw us wake up at 4.30 am ( I have no idea how) with a massive hangover and general laziness due to the cloudy weather some of our more enthusiastic team members encouraged (read goaded) the others to wake up and head to a viewpoint on the way to Kapuche which was around 3 hours away. As luck would have it, after only a 30 min away from the village the clouds got clear and we were welcomed with amazing view of Annapurna II, IV and Lamjung mountain. We went to a nearby river and click some pictures on the bridge. Then we hiked to a nearby hill and sadly, got bitten(read ATTACKED) by lots of leeches on the way. Then we returned to Sikles around 10 and after having our meal departed towards to Pokhara PROMISING TO COME BACK AGAIN TO KAPUCHE LAKE.