Namaste, people

That’s “hello” in Nepali.

I’m back! Since a week ago, really, but was too caught up with all the festivities.

Borong Polok is a slice of heaven on Earth. That place has absolutely no technology beyond phone lines; no heater for our rooms and water (yes, we bathed in 15 degrees weather in even colder water); the people there are far less educated, but it made me fall in love with its simplistic beauty far more than Singapore can ever do.

I didn’t want to come back so soon.

The beautiful surroundings;
The hospitable people;
The surprising bond that our team built;
The even more surprising happening stuff we did;
Our long walks and treks;
The simple life.

I took about 2,000 photos in all.. gosh! I’ll go slow.

Day 1  15-hour overnight wait in Kolkata Airport; 1 hour flight to Bagodra (I’m quite sure this is the wrong spelling) Airport; and a 6-hour jeep ride up to Borong Polok.

 
The mad-frenzied last minute packings.

Check-in. Anticipation sets in..

Off we go!

This is how we spent our 15 hour at Kolkata Airport; sitting/dozing off on lugguage trolleys.

Me and my favourite spot

And Debs in her favourite sleeping bag, perched on another trolley

Our walk to the domestic airport

Convoy of jeeps

(= The team

Our brief meet-up with the other Sikkim group, before we parted ways

Stopped at the roadside by a passing train

The night turned colder, and we welcomed a cup of hot milk tea with open arms

We’re finally at Sikkim border!

And this.. is what we see every morning as we step out of our room.

16 days of it and still yearning for more.

Realising a Dream

Yes all the exams are finally over. I shan’t think about anything academic; don’t have time to anyway.

This week had been absolutely hectic, tying up the many many loose ends before we embark onto the trip that we’ve been planning for the entire semester.

Onward to Borong Polok, Sikkim, India! Sadly, the village that we’ll be staying in is not reflected in this map, but we’ll be somewhere around that big clump of destinations in the middle.

To many, this might be just another trip that I’m going on; but to me, it’s a trip that I’ve been dreaming of for years – an overseas community service trip. Honestly, it’s not so much of the helping people part, but it’s really the entire experience – from planning to realising.

And YES, the trip is finally here. Gonna be away from Friday for 16 days; gone to realise a dream.