Our Travel Schedule in December 08

Hi all,

Deepak and I will be in Nepal from 1 to 22 December. The best way to reach us is via email in our absence. Do include both our emails in your enquiries. We may not be able to check our emails if we are trekking, travelling or managing school trips. Otherwise,we will respond to your emails as soon as we can.

We are not able to check emails on these days :
Deepak : 1 - 8 Dec 08
Alice : 1 - 5 Dec 08

We appreciate your understanding and look forward to hear from you!

Warmest,
Deepak and Alice

Parent Briefing Session at Kent Ridge

Parents and students listening intently to Deepak

Deepak addressing parents' concern

Deepak wrapping up the 2 hour session

Last week, we had a briefing for parents on the impending School CIP trip to Nepal. This is the first trip to Nepal for all the students and none of the parents have been to Nepal. However, they were very supportive and turned up to understand more about the country and what their kids would be doing there. Most of them were less apprehensive about letting their kids go to Nepal after seeing how beautiful the country is and detailed account of where the group will be and the activities they will be involved in. The 2 most commonly asked questions are :

a. Is it safe?

Our answer: It is very safe in Nepal since its general election on 10 April his year. Everyone goes about their daily life as normal as it is in Singapore.

b. How much money to bring?

Our answer: Not much, as everything is included in the package so parents do not have to worry about any extras.

It was really nice for parents to offer to donate items to our Nepalese kids and touching to see the effort students put in to prepare for the trip - be it fund-raising drive, personal handicraft making, relentless online research for materials, planning for on-site activities. Teachers too, are sparing no effort to ensure this a successful trip for students.

We are looking forward to this trip as much as everyone else!

Journey to Island Peak : Behind the Scenes

First day at Lukla before start of trek.

Our room at Phakding.Looks like a typical Chinese Wedding Suite!

Guides and porters having their meals, the usual Dahl Baht (Lentil with rice)

Tin,our assistant guide for this trip,behind the well-stocked counter in Phakding

Porters resting on the way to Monjo

One porter hurt his leg. Deepak and Minma deliberating solution.

Slurping RaRa noodle soup at Shyangbuche

Enjoying tea break at a german cafe in Namche - our treat of the day

Shopping for food in Namche to be cooked at Base Camp and High Camp

Flush toilet in Everest Hotel at Namche!

The most delicious Dahl Baht at lunch point before Tengbuche

Slogging away in the wee hours on the way to Island Peak

Deepak standing proudly with Minma on top of Island Peak with Divine Flag

Specially baked apple pie for Deepak after his summit on his birthday

Everyone of us - trekkers, guides and porters having a celebratory dinner upon return to Lukla

Deepak brushing his teeth early morning at Lukla before fly-off

Retrieving our luggage at Kathmandu domestic airport

Our first meal at Everest Steak House in Thamel immediately upon return to civilization

So, you have read about our journey to Island Peak last month. And you have seen Deepak, Ham and Minma as our 'poster boys of the month' standing smugly on top of the peak. This mini album allows you to peek into what went on behind the scenes of this ardous yet delightful trip.

P/s: For those who wish to read about our journey and view the main photo album, you can do so at our website www.nepalexplore.com.

Dashain in Nepal 2009

Finally, I have the chance to celebrate Dashain in Nepal!

Nepalese people indulge in the biggest festival of the year, Dashain. Dashain is the longest and the most auspicious festival in the Nepalese annual calendar, celebrated by Nepalese of all caste and creed throughout the country. The fifteen days of celebration occurs during the bright lunar fortnight ending on the day of the full moon. Thorough out the kingdom of Nepal the goddess Durga in all her manifestations are worshiped with innumerable pujas, abundant offerings and thousands of animal sacrifices for the ritual holy bathing, thus drenching the goddess for days in blood.

In the first two days of the festival, most families will be eating meat as they offer animal sacrifices to the Gods. We had mutton in the house but we skipped the animal killing process and bought instant meat from the neighbourhood butcher instead.

On the third day, Deepak took me on an excursion to Kathmandu Durbur Square to witness the prayer crowd and soak in the festive mood. The Taleju temple at Hanuman Dhoka is opened for the public only once a year on this day. Thousands of people go and pay their respect to the goddess day. Temples of mother goddess are filled with people from dawn till dusk. On this day the official military sacrifices are held in the 'Kot' courtyard at Hanuman Dhoka. The government allows foreigners to witness this function so hundreds of tourists and diplomats eagerly gather here. Animals mostly black buffaloes are slaughtered by hundreds to honour Durga the goddess of victory and might and to seek her blessing. Military bands play war tunes, guns boom and officers with beautifully decorated medals in full uniform stand there. When the function ends the courtyard is filled ankle deep with blood. On this very day the god Vishwas Karma, the God of creativity is also worshiped. All factories, vehicles, any machinery instruments and anything from which we make a living are worshiped. The locals also give sacrifices to all moving machinery like cars, aeroplanes, trucks etc. to get the blessing from goddess Durga for protection for vehicles and their occupants against accidents during the year. The entire day is colourful.

It was a real eye opener and I bought a new set of Kuta from my favourite local market area Asan Tol. The streets were so colourful! Somehow it made me look forward to Chinese New Year back home where everyone was happy and busy for a common celebration.

The fourth day (actually the tenth day of the entire festival) is the 'Dashami'. On this day we take tika and jamara from our elders and receive their blessing. We visit our elders in their home and get tika from them while our younger ones come to our home to receive blessing from us. The importance of Dasain also lies in the fact that on this day family members from far off and distant relatives come for a visit as well as to receive tika from the head of the family. We were due to return to Singapore on this day, Hence we had scheduled our tika session in the morning.

I was really happy that we were able to spend this important festival with mom as our work and travel schedule always seem so hectic. Now we have to make sure we will be in Singapore for Chinese New Year!

Singaporean dinner in Nepal

Clockwise from left: Edwin, Maria, Jaws, Baohua, Koh Shiuan, Me, Deepak,
Linda, Jennifer, Ham

Deepak and I hosted dinner for 8 Singaporean friends who were in town (Kathmandu). Edwin and Maria had jsut moved to Kathmandu and managed to settle in nicely in a studio apartment -like accommodation right in the heart of the city. Linda, Koh Shiuan, Jaws and Baohua returned from an enjoyable Langtang Trek. Ham and Jennifer deserved a good meal after an ardous Island Peak Expedition with Deepak. We reckoned everyone missed Singaporean food and decided to have the welcome-farewell party at our place instead. The spread of the evening were :

1. Chicken mushroom soup with Bak Kut Teh spice sachet

2. Prawn tempura

3. Cabbage with heh bee hiam (dried shrimp mixture)

4. Cauliflower with oyster mushroom

5. Fried toufu with Heinz bean meat suace

6. Chinese style curry chicken

7. Canned peaches and honeydew for dessert

It was really satisfying to be able to lay the table full of goodies in Kathmandu (although slightly more challenging in the kitchen and getting the ingredients, some 'direct imports' from Singapore! Haa!). However, we got worried when everyone did not arrive by 6:30pm. The vehicle was supposed to pick everyone from the hotel at 5:30pm. Due to bad traffic condition, our guests arrived at only about 8:30pm, mostly famished! The good thing that came out of this traffic drama was that they finished most of the food!

Personally I was looking forward most to my curry chicken and mom's recipe of the fried toufu. We all ate, exchanged trek stories and Maria was filling us with snippets of funny encounters in the period of settling in the city.

It was really nice having friends over at home with lots of laughter in the house. Next we'll be thinking about what to serve when our Hong Kong friends come over to Divine Homestay in December....

Briefing for Annapurna Base Camp Trek

Just two years ago, I met Peter and his group of enthusiastic trekkers and trekked alongside them to Poonhill in Nepal. Both our treks were arranged by Deepak. Last Sunday, I joined Deepak to brief almost the same group of trekkers - friends and families who aimed to complete the ABC Trek this November. It's rather surreal how all of us got together again after two years.It was sure inspiring to see everyone listening intently to Deepak as he ran through the day-to-day journey in one of the most popular treks.

At the Taj

Last month we arranged a trip to India's Golden Triangle for two friends Jana and Tricia. The route covered Delhi-Jaipur-Agra and the highlight being the Taj Mahal. I had a lot of fun sharing my experience from my Rajasthan circuit backpack trip in 2006 with the ladies before their trip. I really love Tricia's idea of wearing a tailor-made Punjabi at the Taj. Check out their gorgeous photos!

All photos courtesy of Tricia.