Day 13 - Emily Bao

Having gone one whole week without neither a proper bed nor a shower,
most of us were disgruntled to be woken up sharply at the usual 7:30
time. Nevertheless, it was our last day and we had hours of sight-seeing
around the city to look forward to, as well as adding to our shopping
load.
After getting some food down our stomachs, we got our baggage packed up
and set out for the first attraction we would visit, Bouddhanath Stupa,
the largest area within Nepal for Buddhists, especially Tibetan ones. Our
tour guide explained various features of the stupa for us as we roamed
the site and did the typical tourist thing.
Next up was Durbar Square, which held 43 Hindu and Buddhist temples and
shrines that were preserved as monuments. Many of these buildings were
built between the 12th and 18th century but up till today were they still
used, one such temple housing a young girl of only 7 chosen to become the
‘Kumari’, a living goddess. Disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to see
her as today was the third day of the Deepawali celebrations (Diwali) and
it wasn’t permitted for her to come out on festival dates, but mesmerized
by the fine details of the buildings, we got going taking photos.
However, after 3 hours of walking around visiting several such temples,
the dry heat and pangs of hunger began hitting us. We finished off the
tour on a mystified note, being told that if we could read all the
inscriptions carved on the outer four walls of a particular temple, milk
would come pouring out from an opening out of them. The catch: the
inscriptions were in 15 different languages.
On our return to the hotel, we had some lunch and then had the majority
of us bus to yesterday’s shopping area, Thamel, to lose our remaining
rupees. Originally planned for us included actually visiting a nearby
city, Palan, for more sight-seeing. But living essentially in the wild
for 7 days had taken its toll on us and we could not suppress our
urbanistic urges to shop.
It was a little less than 1 hour later’s worth of hardcore bargaining and
frantic buying that it was time’s up and we returned for the last time to
the hotel to repack our bags with our goods.
Time seemed to zoom past and shortly after a good last supper peppered
with much gossip, we left for the airport, already beginning our
farewells to the people we met and Nepal itself.
Some time later, with a last-minute crazed stampede of spending, a
suspicious number of body checks and more farewells to Pete and John, Mr.
Ensor’s (and soon, our own fast) friends, the original SB team got on the
aeroplane for our last journey: home.

Singing off for the final time,

Emily Bao

Day 12

Day 12 – Helen and Nichole

It was barely day at 5am and Mr. Boyce's echoing voice and harsh
knocks woke us. We didn't want to face the last day here in Nepal,
but we knew we couldn't miss the much anticipated flight from Lukla
back to Kathmandu, where the idea of a shower after seven days of
deprivation, glowed. After a warm hearty breakfast the Sherpas woke
up even earlier to prepare just for us (how can we ever thank them
enough), we dragged ourselves to the airport, still in a sleepy
trance.

Aboard the planes, we snapped our last few photos of the beautiful
ice-capped Himalayan mountains and suddenly realised that we really
missed the trekking, despite the stress our bodies have endured.

Anyway, unfortunately, our much-needed showers back at the Shangri-La
Hotel in Kathmandu were delayed. After three long hours of loitering
around the grounds feeling dirty and restless, we were finally granted
the keys to our rooms and 2 well-deserved hours to freshen up and
revitalise!

Most of us opted to join in on a shopping expedition around Thamel as
our beloved Mr. Ensor and Mr. Boyce sipped coffee at a nearby café.
Notes and notes of rupees were shelled out quickly in exchange for a
colourful compendium of turquoise encrusted boxes, paisley scarves,
Everest postcards, delicate bangles, wooden flutes, embroidered bags,
and even handsomely carved pipes.

Later on, we were led along a softly candle-lit stone path to the back
of the Shangri-la garden where a magnificent Spring Blossom dinner
buffet feast was prepared. It was a beautiful night, perfect for the
finale; the rich Nepalese sky was shimmering and swirling with colour
from Diwali festivities. Faces aglow, we sat back around the table,
the gentle evening breeze tugging at our worn-out SB sweatshirts. We
were smiling, from a sense of accomplishment, but only slightly… as we
knew what was inevitably coming our way. Was this dream really about
to end?

Some stood up for the thank you's. Some sat back down, eyes
glistening. Pretty musical pieces filled the bittersweet night air as
we expressed, heart-to-heart, how much we really appreciated each
other, how much we've bonded as a team. And of course, the Spring
Blossom song was sung as arms linked together each unique member of
the group who helped make this whole adventure happen. Going around
the table, our half-melted candles flickering, each of us summarized
our experience of the trip, and around again we went, flames gently
blown out. We embraced one another, again and again and again, in
denial. But soon, the stars became the only source of light and we
finally retired to our rooms, knowing that it would be the last night
of this amazing SB'08 trip – ever.

Day 11

Day 11 – Jinwoo and Julie

At 7:30 in the morning, we woke up excited to start our last day of trekking from Phakding to Lukla. We began our day with the usual breakfast in the fresh air with eggs, pancakes and lots of honey. After we finished breakfast, others started packing up to get ready for our trek. At around 9:40 we started trekking. Everyone trekked at full speed in the beginning but after a while, some were faster and were able to trek at the speed of the sherpas. Others were a bit slower, some extremely slow who arrived half an hour after the first group. An hour and half later, we finally arrived somewhere between Phakding and Lukla for lunch. After lunch, we continued to trek for another hour until we arrived in Lukla, FINALLY! Most of us were really exhausted, so we quickly sat down in the warm tea house for some recuperation and some card games to relax.

As some of us arrived, we were greeted with a “Oh my god you guys, the tents are so disgusting. There’s yak poo everywhere!” The second group who arrived were shocked and disappointed and quickly made plans such as to just sleep in the teahouse for the night or not sleep at all. As time passed by, all 30 people arrived at Lukla. The first group who arrived clearly knew where we were going to sleep. For a change, we were going to sleep in a ROOM, not a TENT! Most of us got really excited and started running to grab the nicest room possible! We obviously did not want to end up without a room because that would mean we would have to sleep in tents again in the cold night! But as soon as we got everyone together, we had to gather all of our unwanted goods, ranging from clothes to medications, for the sherpas to show our appreciation for what they had done for us. Whilst some people were organising the gifts, some people were able to shop around Lukla. Despite the fact that most of shops were selling trekking gears, there were a lot of merchandises that were very eye catching, such as traditional necklaces, key chains, bracelets. When we got back to our lodges, we had to be at the dining room for dinner. The dinner was touching. The sherpas had prepared chicken meat (in Nepal, Chicken is very expensive) and brought us a humongous yet delicious cake, baked just for us and the occasion. They have spent so much money on us, when we are the more fortunate ones, which shows us the magnitude of their camaraderie. Some of the students were sad that they were leaving another group of people, like the children, that gave such hospitality. As we got near to the end of our meal, we started to give out the presents to the people that had supported and been with us. After doing so, we started dancing on the floor. Everyone was really enthusiastic and the Sherpas wondered what we were doing when we danced along to the Macarena. It was interesting how we were exchanging cultures by learning the way they danced and in return they would copy us as we did the Macarena! The party ended with us dancing and singing along to the song Sha la la…as all of us went back to our rooms and fell asleep straight away due to the exhaustion that the day had brought us.

Day 10

Day 10 – Ryo

After all the ascending and climbing, today we descended back to Phakding. Our day started with usual breakfast and packing. The group was fairly healthy and not many people were sick. But some of the members were a little tired from yesterday’s trek to Khumjung.

Before the trek began, Mr. Ensor gave us some time to shop at Namche Bazzar. We bought accessories, bats, postcards among others. We had some trouble bargaining at the shops but didn’t really mind because we were helping them by paying some more.

After shopping, the trek began. The path was mainly downhill but it wasn’t as easy as expected. We were able to go as fast as we led though. We were surprised at how quickly we reached the bottom of the Everest National Park. We were all very pleased until we reached the final steps leading up to Monjo. We gritted our teeth and pushed ourselves forward. We were all relieved when we reached the site. After we grabbed something to eat and replenished our energy, we resumed the trek down to our destination: Phakding.

Due to the different health levels within the group, we split up into small groups; one of our sherpas and another with Mr. Boyce and Mr. Ensor. Group 1 trekked at local-speed and did not slow down for a second. They easily reached Phakding before sunset. Group2 reached Phakding a bit later and the final group arrived after sunset. We were all exhausted but happy at the same time. We were all proud of ourselves for being able to complete this trek.

We ended the day with hot tea, coffee and dinner. All of us rested and slept early to recharge ourselves for the next day’s trek back to Lukla.

Day 9

Day 9 – Wendy Tse & Krystal Wong

For those who headed to Khumjung, the adventure began with a steep incline of 300m. We had about 3 breaks in just 1 hour due to the intensive trek we had the previous day. When we finally indulged ourselves with the first sight of Everest, all the previous hard-work was worth it. We then walked along a narrow path to the Everest View Hotel. It was then where we truly saw the enormity and magnificence of the world’s tallest peak. Everyone’s breath was taken away by the vastness of the view. Not only did we see Everest, but we also saw other snowy peaks neighbouring it. The weather was kind to us that day as the sky was clear of any clouds which meant the clarity of our vision was immaculate. We enjoyed a small snack at the restaurant whilst soaking up the splendour of the landscape and continued our journey to Khumjung Hillary School. As it was a Saturday, the students were absent from the school. We had lunch in the principal’s office and sang the school and SB song in front of the statue of Edmund Hillary, the first person to conquer Everest. The principal and teachers looked genuinely pleased with our performance.

Afterwards, we visited the only clinic of Khumjung to deliver medication, we, the SB group raised money to purchase. Again, we sang the SB song for the staff on duty and they then showed us around the clinic. We saw that the facilities were of a normal clinic. The doctor explained to us that common sicknesses include gastric disorders (from local people and tourists) and altitude sicknesses (from low land porters). We also learnt that most of the medication supplies came from donations from the city and abroad. At that moment, we invited the doctor to receive our gifts. He was very thankful for them.

Due to the quickly sinking sun and clouds, we hastened our steps back to the village of Namche Bazaar. Slowly, our visibility declined as we were immersed in clouds. The atmosphere was as creepy as horror movies with clothes flapping desolately in the wind. An hour later, we were back at the campsite in the warm teahouse.

Our day ended with the good news that Prateek, Kristen and Mrs. Man were evacuated to Kathmandu in a helicopter. Overall, it was another challenging but rewarding day.

Day 8

Day 8 – Steffi and Ingrid

Today we were woken up at 7am by the sherpas; who offered us hot tea and washing water.
We did last minute packing and then went for breakfast out in the open, as the dining tent had already been packed.
It was really cold; we could see our breath and the tables were covered in frost. We finished breakfast and started on one of our most difficult treks during the trip at 9am.

The beginning of the trek was relatively flat. We had our first stop at the bottom of the valley at 10:30am for an early lunch. We spend some time in this valley, taking photos, eating and relaxing before ascending on our very tough trek. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery while eating lunch that the sherpas provided for us.

Afterwards, we continued the trek which took about 3 hours, from the valley to Namche. The entire trek was uphill and did not have many flat areas, we took fewer breaks in between in hopes of reaching Namche faster.
Even though the trek did hold some spectacular views, we focused mainly on the paths that we took as we were very tired but eager to reach Namche. We were finally able to see the top of Mt. Everest clearly. From our location, it didn’t look that big.

We finally reached our campsite at 3pm, all very exhausted but proud we made it from the long day. We were welcomed with a great view of Namche and our favourite ‘shaka laka boom’ instant noodles as a late snack. We then remained warm indoors with a cup of hot chocolate and tea.

After relaxing for some time, we were then given an unexpected surprise. We were accompanied by Sohee, Krystal, Carlo and Judy who had trekked all the way from Phakding and were able to reach Namche within one day. The fascinating aspect was that it took us 2 days to get here, whereas it took them only a day. That was true determination.

The group was updated of Kristen and Prateek’s situation. After this, we had dinner. Some of us were full from the breakfast noodles and were not as hungry as when we first reached the campsite.

Several of the group members went to bed as early as 7pm, and some of the others went down to the warm lodge to relax for a few hours as it was extremely cold in Namche.

Day 7

Day 7 – Vincent and Carlo

With several SBer’s feeling unwell, today’s plans were slightly modified. For medical reasons a few of us remained at Phakding for another day whilst the majority proceeded to Monjo, 4 hours away, from Namche Bazaar, our originally planned destination for today.

Setting out at around 10 am, the group walked over hills and ridges, along rivers and crossed Indiana-Jones-esque bridges. On our way we were overwhelmed by breath-taking snow covered peaks and the stunning beauty of it all. After 4 hours of trekking we finally arrived at our campsite in Monjo, and immediately we had lunch with the idyllic Nepali landscape as background. Lunch was tomato, onions and cheese sandwich served with curry potatoes and French beans.

Following lunch was free time. Whilst all the staff lay on the lawn enjoying the sun, we students engaged in a massive card game together. The remainder of the day ensued with tea and biscuits and then dinner, consisting of spaghetti and excellent dumplings.

For those who stayed behind in Phakding, the day began with a tough walk to the breakfast table. Afterwards the ground headed to the lodge to rest. Unfortunately this small group enlarged as another SB member had to turn back in the middle of the trek to Monjo. There was only one aim for them: to rest, heal, and be able to move on to Namche Bazaar the day after.

Day 6

Day 6 – Judy Lee & Sohee Kim

Compared to other days, we woke up extremely early as we were making our way to Lukla. We were woken up by a morning call at 3:30 am and went down to breakfast at around 4:30 am. As all of us were exhausted due to the early morning rise and the side-effects from the altitude sickness pills. We started plodding our way to the airport after breakfast.

Once we reached the domestic airport of Kathmandu, all of us were full of excited by the though of seeing Mt. Everest and riding the ‘twin engine aircraft’ which is a famous tourist attraction in Nepal. Even though we were full of excitement as we got in the air, we instantly feared the lack of development in Nepal which caused a recent air-crash. Nevertheless we were all engaged by the magnificent views of the mountains which reached high, as we starred out our windows.
The total flight time was 25 minutes. Unlike ordinary air travelling where we eat and play card games, on this short-haul flight, we were so mesmerised by the landscape that people barely spoke. Having the experience to see such spectacular nature made us wonder why we did not attempt to visit Nepal ‘the fairytale land’.

After the overwhelming journey, we finally arrived at Lukla. The moment we stepped out of the plane, we felt the cool breeze of fresh air, which we could never acquire in Hong Kong. All of us instantly wore our down-jackets to keep ourselves warm and we were welcomed by a warm cup of hot chocolate.

As we plodded along the track to Phakding, we knew our adventurous mountain trekking had begun. We trekked up and down, round and round. Having to go against the freezing breeze, we had to tip-toe along the path to avoid stepping in yak excretions. It was a completely new experience for us. Similar to the yak’s inappropriate behaviours, we had to have countless toilet stops. Unlike Hong Kong, posh white toilet seats, the 5-star toilets in Nepal are squat toilets which smell. A common type of toilet we encountered consisted of two wooden planks surrounded by leafs which holes in the middle. This was heaven compared to the toilets at the campsite in Nuwakot.

We continued to plod for 7 hours having several water breaks and lunch. Although most of us were exhausted due to the lack of sleep, we managed to divert our minds off the weariness and enjoyed the extravagant view surrounding us. It was a dream come true!

Day 5

Day 5 – Emily Ho and Christy Cheung

Our day started early in the morning with the wake up call at six. None of us believed that today was composed of the final moments of our time in Nuwakot with the inspiring children, the stunning scenery and the ever-smiling faces of the local villagers when greeted with a “Namaste”.

After a hearty breakfast of pineapple pancakes and our favourite instant noodles “shaka laka boom”, we walked, for the last time, through the village to the school. Hearts pumping with anxiety, trying hard to hold on to every sweet memory, we stepped onto the school’s stage with sorrowful faces. The children clutched nervously to flowers, posters and cards as we went down to say goodbye.

It was very difficult for everyone as we truly didn’t want to give or receive our last hug. We didn’t want to loosen our tight bonds, we didn’t want to distant our friendship, we didn’t want to forget this experience ever.

After getting the presents ready, the ceremony began. The principal of the school gave a touching speech about our everlasting friendship which bonds worlds apart. Unable to control our emotions, almost all of us Spring Blossom kids cried at the thought of having to separate from these children. Many of us had not imagined how long our attachment to them would be and this experience has indubitably exceeded our expectations. Not knowing whether we will ever meet again, several of us gave a short speech, expressing our gratitude and thoughts. It was an especially emotional moment because by this time nearly everyone – both Spring Blossom and Nepalese children – were crying.

We were given time to go down and be with the children who were crying, realising that we were going through this difficult moment as one. As we exchanged photos, addresses and phone numbers, we knew that this was not goodbye, but ‘see you soon’ or was this not the end of our camaraderie but the beginning?

We then gave out our presents which consisted of toiletry kits, pencil cases and our traditional laisee packets with Hong Kong dollar coins in. All the children were extremely grateful of the presents they received, even though most of the presents were second hand donations from people in Hong Kong.

It was then our turn for receiving presents, one by one, we were presented with the traditional Nepali tikka, hat and choker. After that came the hardest part of the day, it was time for us to leave this magnificent school. Pouring our eyes out, we waved goodbye and headed to the bus to Kathmandu. Children held our hands, crowded around every one of us and walked us to our bus. It was then that we realised that is wasn’t only our friends we were leaving behind, but part of our hearts.
Our memories would stay with us forever and we hope that it would stay with them too. Even on the bus, many of the children would not let go of our hands, many saying “I’ll miss you”, “Don’t forget me”, “See you soon!”

Perhaps the most difficult challenge of this part of our journey is not the long hours of preparation, difficult language barrier or becoming familiar with the kids, but having to put on a strong face and telling each and every one of our new ‘saathis’ that we’ll see them soon again.

Day 4

Day 4 – Caren Chu & Kristen Sha

We think today was the happiest day out of the days we have been with the children so far.

We woke up to catch the sunset that Jin Woo was talking about last night and several of us first went to the temple, then to the school where some children were practicing TaeKwando. We played volleyball and football with the kids as the sun rose then returned to camp. The kids were so open and let us play with them.

After that, we ate breakfast together, the kitchen staff specifically make toast for us.

We then returned to the school. When we arrived, Sapana, our home-visit student gave Kristen and Caren a bracelet and a ring.

We played octopus, yak yak tiger and monkey in the middle with the children. This allowed us to bond with the children (it also allowed us to ask for their names which we tried and tried to remember but always forgot). After the games, we started playing and taking pictures with them. The children were very enthusiastic and a boy by the name of Sushil kept on asking us to take pictures of him and his friends. He also helped us take pictures.

After this we returned to the camp for lunch, some of our group members joined some school girls for lunch at their homes.

We planted trees after lunch. 5 of us were chosen to plant trees in the school. We then walked to an area where there was a FM radio tower close by. At that location, we planted over a 100 trees. The children were very cautious of our well-being. They tightly held our hands to prevent us from tripping down the slope.

After the tree planting, we drew the mural. Some of us did hand-prints. We firstly painted a hand then passed “high-fives” around so that the paint was distributed. We also did an organic challenge where we dance and clapped. People from the village joined in the fun and adventure. A respected older person of their society joined us by playing a traditional Nepalese drum. To add to this, the women there dance with us.
During this time, some school girls took us to see the only radio tower in Nuwakot. This was very nerve-raking as in Hong Kong, there were several towers and networks but here, there was only 1, as though the people didn’t have a luxurious choice.

Straight after, we went to a location where we could see down the valley. The children never let go of our hands as we walked. They were constantly offering flowers and gifts to us. One of the boys led us around the mountains during sunset, to the scenery was absolutely breath-taking.
The most touching thing was that our home visit girl, Sapana, told us that this was the happiest day of her life and we were her best friends.

They accompanied us back to our campsite as the stars shone in the sky. We were all surprised to learn that they had to return to school by themselves in the dark. 4 of the students joined us in our “dining hall” to have tea and snacks together.
At night, we all shared our thoughts and Surya told us about his ambitious hospital project.
The children here are really inspiring and filled with joy and their sincere hearts have really touched us.
At exactly 12:00 am, some of the group members sang “Happy Birthday” to Emily Bao.

Day 3

Day 3 – Emily Bao

An emotional day. Productive too. A group of SBers started out sorting gift packs for the children which went very well as we ended up with extra. We went up to the school and opened up our programme with an ice-breaker with JinWoo doing a Taekwando exercise successfully [as expected], since some of them do a session of Taekwando everyday at 6 am, of which some joined us yesterday. Everyone was very energetic and hyped up with Jin Woo’s enthusiastic instructions and the students all did better than most of the SB group. It was slightly awkward for the girls as all wore skirts and couldn’t kick high.

Next up was one of the Health Education aspects, Nutrition for half of the kids and games including “What’s the time Mr. Yak”, “Musical Chairs” and “fruit salad” for the other. The activity was quite hectic, as we had lots of bibs and bobs of pictures of food for all our food pyramids and our group had to search for several of the missing pieces and use extras instead. As we had 6 or 7 in our group, we split up to teach small groups of children about the food pyramid. This was pretty effective, as it was easy to get them talking to us when we asked them to teach us about the names of the different foods in Nepalese. They clearly showed how knowledgeable they were of the food’s name in English. But it was hard for us to remember them and despite remaining patient with our obnoxious pronunciation skills; ultimately we were only able to remember the few that amused us, such as nuffins as ‘ice-cream’ and candy as ‘chocolat’.

However, what was the most memorable turned out to be the small game we played later to test their memory. Krystal stole the show and really got the kids involved in the game. She would run through what each food group was and what they did for our bodies, always encouraging and getting them to repeat the names after her, incorporating various Nepalese phrases to make them feel at ease. Needless to say, it worked like a charm..

Jewellery was the next arts and crafts activity for the day and that turned out also fairly smoothly, despite a mishap where we accidentally overlooked bag of beads and so decided to donate them to the outreach later. At the last minute, we also decided not to do bracelets, just necklaces because they were more fun to make. Many students cleverly transformed their necklaces into bracelets by folding it twice or three times. However, most of them didn’t take them off after we put them on for them, even when they performed their cultural dance for us.

The time passed by very quickly and we had little time to talk to each student and learn their names. We were also hindered at times when encountering deaf students, since we did not know how to work with them at all. As one of our colleagues pointed out, smile is a universal sign and each of them had a smile enough to power the whole of Hong Kong itself.

On our way back to the campsite, we came upon a pleasant surprise when we were told that home visits to a small number of the Nepalese students had been arranged for the whole group. In groups of 2 or 3, we went along to their homes. It was an amazing experience and we once again experienced the amazing depth of Nepalese hospitality and cordiality, as we were showered with sweet smiles, requests for photos, exchanging addresses and presents.

Clearly achieved was our goal of appreciating and understanding cultural differences.

Day 2

Day 2 – Christine

Today we woke up at 7:00 am, brushed our teeth, showered and headed to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Breakfast was apparently better than we expected. There was bacon, egg, bread, pastry etc.

After breakfast we headed back to our room and packed for our journey to Nuwakot. Before we left we performed our SB song and dance in front of the restaurant which went pretty well. We then finally got on the bus to Nuwakot which took 3 hours to reach. On our journey, we sung songs which entertained us a bit because we were quiet bored. While we were on the bus, we were travelling through the mountainous scenery where we saw breath-taking views. Most of us were overwhelmed.

When we arrived at Nuwakot, we headed to our camp site where we would stay for 3 days. Surprisingly, the tent was also better than I expected. The tent was clean and it was relatively big. However, most of us were really shocked by the insects, especially the girls. On our new campsite, going to the toilet was very inconvenient and an unpleasant experience. It was basically a hole dug up and covered by a tent. We unpacked and headed for lunch, which was good and we enjoyed it, though the food was basic.

After lunch, we walked to the school we were going to teach at. We saw the children and they looked very shy but excited to meet and talk to us. The school welcomed us with their national anthem and one of the students performed for us by playing a flute.

Afterwards we did our opening speech, which did not go so well and we also performed our SB song and dance. We started off with the name game. It felt really awkward and the kids looked really confused. We though that our first day would not turn out so good. However, after we did our arts and crafts and game activities, it helped us interact with the children and they enjoyed it a lot. We bonded with the children and we could already say that they were wonderful kids.

By the end of the day, we all could agree that the day went well. It was a very hot day and we were all tired. By evening, we had dinner and gathered for a group reflection.

Day 2 – Nicole

Waking up at 5:45 am, we got ready for breakfast. Even though it was really early, we were full of energy! Happily, we skipped down the corridor to the cafe and were so amazed by the beautiful garden and cool air that we ate our breakfast in bliss.

Straight after, we surprised the guests with an unexpected performance. They seemed pretty pleased. We took our bows in smiles and laughter and we headed back to our rooms to ready ourselves for the 3 hour bus journey ahead to Nuwakot School. Meeting the kids was only a matter of time away!

The ride was super bumpy and rough, several times we thought we were going to fall off the side of the road!

Finally, we arrived safely and trotted down to the place we were going to stay for the next 3 nights in the tents! Red, blue, orange, green, the tents were set up already with a kitchen tent near by. Excited as we were, most of us were instantly horrified of the toilets! Well, they weren’t exactly toilets, but holes in the ground with tents to allow privacy! Following the allocation of tents, we gathered for a delicious lunch cooked by the kitchen staff. We ate the scrumptious noodles that would soon become our trademark food “Shaka laka Boom!”

After lunch came our long awaited meeting with the children of Nuwakot School! We walked for 10 minutes and entered the school. To our surprise, we were received with great hospitality – with beautiful flower necklaces and welcoming posters.
We settled on the stage for a welcoming speech song and dance from their side, it was awesome! Their mass expression of culture seemed so much compared to our performance of the Spring Blossom song and dance. Nevertheless, the welcoming ceremony ended and we moved on to our programs.

Every single one of the 60 students were split into 4 colour groups (red, green, yellow, blue) and 2 groups played games first with the rest doing arts and craft! Games such as Octopus, cops and robbers, yak yak tiger were played. Most of all, the kids absolutely loved it! On the other hand, t-shirt designing was introduced and the children were allowed to freely express their imagination. These included pictures of the Nepalese flag and toys etc. We never expected that our first day would turn out so good. However, after we did our arts and crafts, and game activities, it helped us to interact with the children and we could tell that they enjoyed it a lot. We bonded deeply with the children; soon realizing that how wonderful they were.

By the end of the day, we all agreed that the day went along well. Although it was really hot and tiring, we gave it our best and regretted none of it. We had dinner at about 7:30 and then gathered for a group reflection afterwards. Even though it was only day one of the teaching program, most of us already felt lost for words. Obviously, the rest of this trip is going to be an amazing experience.

Day 1 in Nepal

I'd like to apologise for taking so long to upload these. Sadly, we did not have internet access in Nepal so we couldn't keep you posted.

Day 1 – Jayne and Zoe

We set out on our journey after days & hours of preparing for our service programme in Nepal. For the past 7 months, Spring Blossom has been practicing and reviewing our games and arts activities, as well as going on the two treks on Lamma Island and Hong Kong Island, along with hosting various charity fund-raisers.

It’s the start of our first half term holiday and while the rest of the school was getting ready for a week off, the SB crew loaded their bags onto the coach at 3pm and waved goodbye to their parents.

The excitement of the voices and laughter filled the bus as everyone prepared themselves for 13 days of living outside their comfort zones. After Burger King and Ben and Jerry’s, we boarded our flight KA102 to Nepal.

The first thing I noticed on the plane was the Nepalese people already seated. There was a mixture of hair and skin colour. Some looked Indian, some Chinese (oriental) and some Eurasian. Yet from what they were wearing it was obvious that they were Nepalese, in their Sari etc. This gave me an insight of the beautiful people we would be meeting in Nepal and all the more added to our excitement.

When we got off the plane in Kathmandu we were greeted with beautifully coloured flower garlands and fresh air instead of the polluted air in Hong Kong. During the bus ride to the hotel, we passed the streets of Nepalese houses and shops. Light was scarce but it was already very fascinating to imagine, see and experience life in Nepal’s capital city.

Everyone was exhausted at the time we reached the hotel at 11:30pm. After checking in we went straight to bed as we all needed the rest for the long, demanding days to come!

First Blog and Intro to Nepal Group

Date: 15th October, 2008

Although it is a bit late to start a blog now, I believe it will help during the trip. Challenge in Nepal is basically about a group of willing students in KGV who want to explore different cultures in very challenging environments. Along the journey, we will experience life as though we were studying there. We aim to develop the lives of students in Nepal. However, this trip is not only about giving. We hope to learn more about their culture. This will inevitably force us to learn more about ourselves. We wish to bond with these students, and each other, and leave positive emotions and memories with everyone for the rest of their lives, using which everyone will enhance their lives.

The second part of the trip will be trekking through the mountainous areas. This part of the trip will be very physically and mentally challenging as none of the students would have competed in anything similar. We hope that this part of the trip will force all of us to bond and work together as a group to overcome this challenge. We will be reaching a altitude of 14,000 ft and will be landing at the "hardest airport to land in the world". These, I can already imagine, are some fascinating aspect of the trek that everyone will look forward to.

Overall, I believe this trip will be very challenging. It will be a new experience for all the students involved and the teachers as not every trip is the same. I hope everyone will be able to say "That was the best trip of my life" when they are 50 (or older for some of the teachers) and telling their friends or family members.

Thank you

Prateek Agarwal