November was rough as we were working hard at work. After that came the cool-down period, and one fine day, out of the blue, everyone decided to take a company trip for 2 days. Before we could let it sink, Shubham was ready with the itinerary and cost estimation. The very same weekend we left for Pangot, again in the mountains where you don't even get cellular networks(that was the best part).

Driver was sleeping on wheels

We left around 10 PM for an overnight journey. The weather forecast predicted heavy snow and it had just snowed the day before we left. Thanks to Abhik, I got good boots and jackets for snow before I left, else I would have got frostbite for sure. The fog was too dense, and it was hard to see anything ahead of us. Not sure why we were going to the mountains in winter, but I was excited about it. It was our first company trip.

Around 3 AM almost everyone was asleep on the bus except me(yeah driver slept too). I was looking at the speedometer and suddenly I would see speeds dropping from 80kmph to 20mkmph and the vehicle getting a bit imbalanced. What I saw next, blew my mind away. The driver of the bus was dozing off at regular intervals and when I confronted him, he denied the allegations. I started keeping an eye on him. He knew I was onto him and tried to stay awake for a long time, but eventually started dozing off again.

For me, that was it. I woke Abhik and Shubham up, and we pulled over the bus. We took a 30-minute tea break and went on with our journey. He didn't sleep after that(thankfully).

Snow drive

Due to heavy snow the day before, the roads to Pangot was closed and we had to take a detour. The detour was scary. Roads were treacherous, narrow and broken. Most of it was covered in sludge and driving through them would become too dangerous and troublesome very often. We had started losing our cellular signals and it was getting difficult to navigate. Luckily for us, it was a single path, no turns no confusions.

We stopped around 3 km before our camp because of heavy snow on the road. An open jeep from our camp had come to receive us. We put all our stuff in the back, boarded it and was on our way to the camp. The best part of the trip was our ride in the jeep. It was fun and chilly. We were driving on the snow-covered mountains and it felt so relaxing. It was my first experience on snow and it exceeded my expectations by miles. We were hooting, shouting and singing till we reached the camp. The ride along with the sceneries along the way was breathtaking.

The stay

The camp was beautiful with nice cute little cottages. Each cottage had two double beds. One of them was little elevated had was accessible via a ladder. A bunk bed!!!. I love bunk beds. I wanted to sleep in one.

It was morning already and we headed to have our breakfast. The food there was surprisingly good, and best of all, there was no cellular connection. The camp had a wifi facility(only in the dining hall) which was more than enough to keep our families informed.

I always loved the water quality in the mountains, it makes me feel good and it works wonders for my tummy. After breakfast, we dispersed and some of us headed to sleep, some of us went for a bath and explore the mountains while most of us started playing a game of cricket. We played for a whole 4 hours till late afternoon and went for lunch only after we were forced to. Food again was really good and was followed by a long company meeting. We brainstormed for quite some time about our future strategies until the bonfire.

The bonfire

The bonfire was fun, people were drinking and eating and singing. I was mostly curled up in a blanket and sat as close the fire I could. Some of us sang well. It was an evening well spent and we retired to our cottages after dinner. I got to sleep on a bunk bed.

I got up early the next morning and found out a couple of others were too. We went for a walk and came across a really cute dog nearby. It was fun to play with him. He was tripping over snow and that sight melted my heart.

I always wanted a dog, and this sight made sure, I'm getting one sooner than later. I played in the snow for some time and was thankful to Abhik and shubham because those shoes were a lifesaver. The rest of the day went just like the last one, games and good food. The cold weather was taking a toll on some people and we started worrying about their health. Luckily it wasn't anything very serious and everything worked out fine eventually. In the evening we had another gathering where we socialized a bit before retiring to sleep. I got a bunk bed again.

The return

We left for Delhi the next morning. We got to aboard the snow train again and it was fun again. I'll admit the drive in snow was the best part of the trip. Following that, we boarded our bus and left for Delhi. We all reached our homes, safe and sound and that concluded our 3-day fun-filled trip to Pangot.

That is it for this one guys, stay tuned and I'll see you around in the next one where my biking group went to Jim Corbett national park for a 2-day bike ride.