Day 2: The Journey Starts Today...

Pastor Palan was right, you can't possibly wake up late in Nepal! Yes! You'll be "forced" to wake up early and when I say early, I mean 5am! That would be 7am+ in Malaysia. Nepal is 2hrs and 15mins behind Malaysia. The neighbours are up by then, and the roosters crow really loudly! I was the last one up (among the guys, heh) and took a little more time than the others to wash up and pack up. The morning was chilly, and Sister Surya served us more masala tea! I loved it, and drinking it at the balcony of the house, facing a snow-covered mountain really makes it such a perfect morning! Imagine having able to see such a beautiful sight every morning when you wake up! You just can't wait to wake up! Photos captured weren't as good as the real thing, and had it been a better day, weather wise, I would've gotten some really good pics!

A beautiful morning...

Just as everyone was ready, we had our Daily Devotion, worshipping the Lord with Pastor Sam playing the guitar, and singing praises to the King. We did the usual ACTS material that Pastor Sam prepared for the church, and shared our views on the particular verse. When all is done, we prayed for the day, the ride that we'll be taking, and all that is to come... really had to submit all to God cause only He can guide us while we're on foreign land.

I didn't mention breakfast, cause there wasn't any! We got ready, ensured we have all our things packed, and we got off, without the luggage, on a taxi, to the Lakeside. We walked a little as soon as we reached the "town" area... honestly, I don't know which is a town, and which isn't... all looks so "dead" to me, but hey, it's good to be in such a quiet place, and slightly cool too!

Why are we heading to the Lakeside anyway? Pastor Palan thought it'll be good for us to take a look at the lake before beginning our journey for real. Yes, we haven't started ministry yet, but already I feel like I have already begun. I mean, to me, I find it a little uncomfy to be doing Daily Devotion, to be reading the Bible, and praying aloud... yes, I'll be honest with you on that one, I haven't been a good boy, but all these was about to change :)

Anyway, back to the walk to the Lakeside from the place the taxi stopped us... pictures describe better, eh? So here goes...

Pretty, eh? :D I mean the flowers, not the man in blue!

Yes, they have cyber cafes... ;)

Cows are sacred animals. The Hindus worship the cows, so you see them (and their dunk!) almost everywhere!

After a little walk, and a little window shopping, we've finally reached our destination! My, oh my, what a wonderful place! The entrance is so welcoming, all green and flowers can be seen everywhere. The garden is just perfect! The little huts with chairs and tables make it a perfect relaxing place for just about anyone! I've been searching for such a place ever since I got back from Melbourne. There's no such quiet place for reading in Penang :S

Pragas and Becky posing for a great shot of the garden!

I just can't resist this photo!

We ordered our usual masala tea and went right away to enjoy the wonderous view the Lord has given us! It was just awesome, the slight breeze hitting our faces as we stand quietly to enjoy Mother Nature. The sound of leaves swaying with the wind and the sun shone brightly... WOAH! It was just MAGNIFICENT!

The awesome Lakeside!

From afar, we could see a stupa located right at the top of one of the hills. It's one of the Buddhist structures that can be found in Nepal. Apparently, one can climb up the hill to enter the building, but time did not permit us to do that. We settled down, sipped on the hot masala tea, and enjoyed the swing. It was quiet, but there were a few tables of Caucasians...

That's the stupa at the top of the picture, can you see it? It's really small! And that's Becky hiding herself in my shadow from the sun...

Swinging up and down... :)

After all the relaxation, we took the taxi back to Pastor Palan's home, and had our breakfast... yes, finally! Heh, we were served by home-cooked naan with curry chicken! That's the kinda food they serve in Nepal, and that's the kind food I love the most! Got me thinking a little...

Yummy yummy naan and curry chicken!

Soon, the van came and we had to move our heavy luggage bags. As I've mentioned before, it's not just bout the bags that we brought, but also the bags that we brought for the churches. The van was practically packed at the back seat, and only one can fit, and that would be me, right next to the window on the left rear end of the van. There was no aircond, and the journey lasted 2 hours plus... that would be 2hrs+ from now on, alright? ;)

The journey was a tiring one for all of us... sitting in a small van with no space to move your legs for 2hrs+ is painful. You can't sleep too much as well, cause the roads are bumpy, and the honks just kept on coming! Left, and right, the van avoided motorcycles, bicycles, and other vehicles. Oh, by now, it's all hot outside... sweaty in a van ain't all that fun, ya know?

Despite ALL that, we have to thank God for paving the way for us. Just a couple of weeks before we left for Nepal from Penang, we heard from Susan that there'll be a strike around the time when we were scheduled to reach. And had the strike took place, there's either going to be a terrible traffic jam, or the vans will not operate at all, and we'll NOT be able to do anything, but wait... so, THANK GOD for He had cleared the way for us :D I can't imagine what would've happen had He not intervene to stop the Maoist from striking! I remember Pastor Mei said that while she was praying for us in the airport, she saw God giving her a vision, a vision of His great power clearing the path for us, to ensure that we'll have a safe journey there, and voi-la, He's just so great, isn't He? :D

When you can't do much but "enjoy" the bumpy ride, you snap as much as you can! :P

Just some of the structures we see... there's lots more!

Some of the vehicles we see... don't be surprised with the top right one. Apparently it's a common thing, and look carefully at the top right and bottom left, it says, "Horn please"!

*phew* Long journey it was, and thankfully, I did manage to nap a little... it was around 2pm when we arrived. I was still a bit drowsy from the nap, and did not realise that the building is actually located literally in the middle of nowhere! If I could take a photo from bird's eye view, you'll be able to see the building being surrounded by lotsa, LOTSA trees! There's only one path, that leads to the town area, which only had, 6-8 shops. Also around us were village houses... As soon as we got out of the van, we unpacked, scouted the place for a while...

What a grand entrance! :D

It's the place we spend most of our time for the next few days

And that's where we stayed for a few nights. It's just next door to the building in the previous photo.

Eh, I haven't mention the purpose of us being here at this place. It's actually a Youth Camp, where many churches send their youths, and there were about 200 of them, some even brought their kids, yes, you read right, they have kids despite being labelled "youth". It's common for 14-15 yr olds to be having kids, but that's obviously not intended!

We moved out luggage bags to our rooms, and took a walk to the shop to gather some supplies, mainly bottled water! The walk was painful, it was hot, and with my legs both almost failing, we had to even carry a dozen of bottled water back! The only thing satisfying during the walk were the photos taken...

The photos on the left are the village houses nearby. The one on the top right shows a neatly arranged dunk on a farm! And the last one shows this guy cooking "chow meen". Yes, they actually call it like how we call it in Cantonese! :D But note the flies! :S

Cool, eh? Coke in Nepal :D

As soon as we reach "home", which was approx 4pm, the worship team has already started singing. We went up to our rooms, unpacked and washed up a little. It was one tiring van ride and walk to the shop, and I just felt like taking a bath, sleeping in an aircond-ed room, listening to my favourite worship songs and just relax... BUT! I can't, cause there's NO electricity! And obviously we didn't have the luxury of time. We went straight down to the Hall and worshipped the Lord together.

The worship team... yes, there was electricity in the Hall, thanks to a generator, which consumes gasoline that Anil just bought. That's the kinda electricity the Nepalis enjoy most of the time.

While they were worshipping in front, we just stayed behind and enjoyed the songs that were sung in foreign language. I was thinking to myself, "Why, oh why, did I get myself into such situation?" I was very tired, very weak, and totally not in the mood to do anything... but then came this sudden burst of energy! Just when the worship team started to dance, the crowd follow suit! For some strange reason, I was suddenly re-energised, re-vitalised, or however you call it! I just got onto my feet and started dancing with them! Lifting my hands, clapping and moving around in circles among ourselves! WOW! Really a miracle, I would say... the Lord does great things in a very timely manner, aye? :D Suddenly, I feel so much to want to help these people here. They enjoyed themselves despite all that they do NOT have, but yet, they want the Lord, His Word and His presence so much! I'm all up and running again :D

The Nepalis enjoying the worship time with the Lord

We had an ice breaker session soon after, just a game among themselves, and they were divided into groups, and each person were given a file, with several pieces of paper. When I opened mine, my jaw almost dropped off... I was totally shocked! Guess what was in there :S

A piece of paper full of characters I've never before seen in my life!

The group split to two, one stayed back in the Hall and the other went to the Dining Hall. I stayed in the Hall, with Pragas sharing about worshipping. Pastor Sam went off to the Dining Hall to share on the Word.

As the sun set, the groups were dismissed, and they were allowed to take their baths, and some had to do their duty, that is to cook and serve the other groups for the night. Dinner was served right onto the table for us, which was really nice, I meant the gesture... as for the food, hmm, weird I didn't take any photos of our first dinner at the Youth Camp! I guess we were probably too hungry, and just ate anything at sight. I shall share on the food that we eat in the coming days...

After dinner, we took a break in our rooms, and then came Pastor Palan. He asked us for a favour, that is to wash the plates, utensils, etc for the group who apparently had forgotten about their duty! Woah, 200 people's plates, utensils, etc ain't a small amount ya... and it was drizzling too! I told myself, "by serving these people, I'm serving the Lord" and that's why I'm there! That's the whole purpose of this great journey! I shall not say no when there's such an opportunity cause it's a priviledge to serve the Lord! We enjoyed ourselves lots washing the plates in the drizzle :D

Well, someone had to be the photographer, which was why I'm not in the photo! :P

Heh, Pastor Palan's plan worked, cause the group which was supposed to wash up did feel guilty and ended up helping us... and he also spent 10 minutes talking about it to everyone in the Hall. Something bout, "we invited Malaysias from all the way to wash plates for you"... heh, that was funny, but it did hit them.

Pastor Sam went on to preach for an hour plus that night and there was an altar call after that, with many, and I really mean lotsa youth who came in front and knelt down, some were in tears, and a few were crying out to the Lord. It was a sad scene. I wouldn't know what they've been through in life but I could see it from their thirst for God. They so desperately want Him, so much more than I could ever imagine myself wanting Him. It only broke my heart that I have been too comfortable in my life, to be taking for granted all that I have, and not cherish and treasure the priviledges that God has given to me, to us actually...

One of the unforgettable moments...

The day ended around 12am with a debriefing in our rooms, with Pastor Palan reminding us the do's and don'ts when preaching, sharing, etc... thank God for the cold shower, I needed it so much! What a day... what a night... the journey has just begun, and who would've known that it would last for more than just the 9 days originally planned...

Day 1: Selamat Tinggal Malaysia, Sawadee Kap Thailand and Namaste Nepal!

It was 4am when I woke up on the 16th of April. I washed up, did some last minute packing, and ran through the checklist for the very last time. Must've been my 2031082th time! HEHE!

My phone beeped twice, first one from my "bestest best friend" who wished me journey mercy, which really encouraged me. She's one of the very few people who knows about my trip. Maybe some day I'll talk about her here :) The second came from a colleague whose wife just gave birth! Woahhh, and what a timing! Surely it'll be a great day, I knew :D

I drove to Suba's place, and then only realised that I ran out of credits on my phone. I can't call her to let her know that I've arrived! Already a few minutes late, I kinda panicked a little :S I went to the Guard House to ask for a phone. And they said they, too, did not have credits and instead, directed me to a nearby public phone. I'm like, "Err, public phones usually don't work!!!" I drove to the phone anyway, and I really had to pray for the public phone to work, cause I don't know how else to contact her! HAHA, that's my first, and thankfully, it worked! Loaded Suba's luggage into my car and off we went to Louise's.

It was around 5:45am when we arrived. I don't know what time Louise woke up, but I'm REALLY thankful for this friend. It's rare to find such a friend, who's ALWAYS offering to help! Waking up early, driving us to the airport, taking care of my car while I'm gone, and also keeping this little secret. THANK YOU!

We transferred the luggages from my car to hers and usually, car parks are full at this time, but there was one in the FENCED compound at Victoria Heights! WOW! Thank God for that! Had I not able to find a parking lot, I'll have to park outside, and Louise will have to shift my car, and that would really trouble her. Heh, she didn't dare to drive the old junk anyway :P

Reached the airport just a little over 6am and the other car reached just as we were shifting the luggages to the trolleys. The Pastor was already scanning his luggages when we walked to the Check-In counters. *phew* We weren't late!

Some of our luggage bags

My job started there itself in the airport, as I'm the photographer and also the videographer (now that sounds really cool!) of the team. Checking in was easy, and we weren't overloaded despite the extra baggage we carried for the churches over there. There were a few EPCC members who came to send us off too! Thanks people!

The Team (from left) - Suba, Pragas, Pastor Sam, myself, Becky

The flight from Penang to Bangkok on Thai Airways took 1.5hrs. The plane we boarded was an A300, which has a 2-4-2 seating layout. Though our seatings were kinda seperated, it didn't matter cause most of us took a nap and only wake up for the breakfast when they served.

View from the top - Is that N-Park on the right?

Shuttles and the beautiful Bangkok airport

A short flight it was, and when we reached Bangkok, we had to take a shuttle (not a train, unlike KLIA) to get to the terminal building. The Bangkok airport is a new one, opened only last year, and it is all too familiar for me as I was just there 2 months ago during my CNY break. It has this "incomplete", but yet, very stylish and elegant finishing. You can see it in the photos below.

Check out that vehicle! It's like those golf cars, to transport people around the airport. Coooool!

Having to wait for an hour is not that bad, but still we had not much to do. Kinda regretted not bringing a book with me! Bored, I snapped more photos.

The boarding pass and plane ticket

Waiting for the next flight...

The flight from Bangkok to Kathmandu took 3hrs. Ya, kinda long and I was sitting alone, by the window. Good that there was an empty seat on my left, more space is always nice in a plane! I was in awe of the great view. Thank you Lord for your creation! Took photos and videos too!

That's me with the camcorder *shh* I don't think I'm supposed to turn it on!

The most memorable thing in the flight was the FOOD! Yes! I never knew I would LOVE plane food this much! The Chicken Tandoori was just great! Loved it, LOVEDDD IT! They served it with a piece of nan, rice and also some dhal. I thought that would be the kinda dhal I'll be having in Nepal, but I was terribly wrong... you'll see what kinda dhal I had in days to come.

Who would've thought that this will be the one of the best meal for the coming 9 days!?

View from the top - That's Kathmandu. The buildings and road are very different from the ones found in Malaysia

The airport is made of red bricks. Looks old, and very unlike the Penang airport. On the inside, it's very woody and the brownish tiles made it a very "dark" airport. It didn't seem to have enough lights. And I thought that was an "oldie"... wait till I talk about the domestic terminal.

The queue

We had to stand in line to get our Visa which cost USD30. It was a long queue, and the wait lasted 30 minutes or so... tired, I knew the next task would take even more of me.

We moved on to the Baggage Claim section. It was one messy area, with bags on the floor, unattended trolleys here and there, boxes and plastic bags lie as though nobody wants them. And guess what, my bag was one of those on the floor! Good news was that we had all our bags accounted for! *phew*

Before getting to the domestic terminal to take the next flight to Pokhara, we stopped by the Money Changer. The rate was 1USD to 66.5 Nepali Rupee (NPR). That's approx RM1 to 20 NPR. They also charged a 200NPR commission.

The domestic terminal is not on the same building. We had to get out of the building, grab hold of a trolley, and walked to the other building, which is about 10 mins walk. Some of us had to carry our bags because there are people there who "reserved" trolleys, and if you want to use them, you've got to pay them!

The domestic airport is one very rundown building. It looks very much like my primary school hall. The walls are dirty, floor is dirty too, wires everywhere, and I found a bird nest with several birds enjoying their home.

The fan, the wires, the offices and the scale!

Look at the 2nd pic. They use fans instead of airconds. I don't know what are those wires for. Also, the windows are to the office. I don't think they have control towers, and they are probably directing airport traffic from these rooms!

A very rare analog scale

Ya, they use those analog scales, not electronic ones that we always see in the local airports! And to think that this airport is located in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal! Woah! It is really an eye opener!

After checking in our luggages, we had to go pass a security check. They did not have X-ray machines there so we had to open up our bags for them to check. Without metal detectors, they did a body search instead. It felt really weird being touched by a guy... there's this little "room" with a curtain for this body check. Two lanes seperate the male and the female. In the waiting lounge, there was a shop selling souvenirs and a cyber cafe, which charged RM14 an hour!

How ironic! We took the Buddha Air to Pokhara!

We were taken to the plane by a shuttle, and our checked in luggage were loaded into the same shuttle. The Buddha Air plane is a small propeller one. The plane can only house 2 pilots and a stewardess. With only a size of a mini bus (if you remember one), the 20 odd passengers all sit next to the window, with a very narrow walkway. As we climbed the stairs and entered the aircraft, we could actually see the cockpit, with the two pilots discussing and the control panel all lit up. With many buttons and different sized dials, it's one complicated vehicle!

My first flight in a propeller plane

When all passengers took their seats, the stewardess gave out cotton and sweets. Heh, a joke about the cotton: someone mistakenly took the cotton as cotton candy, and he ate it! Haha, honestly, I wouldn't know what's it for, had my friends not tell me :P It's actually for your ears cause it's noisy when you're up in the air! I had my earphones on, so I took only the sweets.

Sitting at the tail end of the plane

Just before we took off, it was cloudy and windy too! The plane went onto the runway and started blasting off. Very quickly, it was already off the ground, and you could feel the plane shake from the turbulence. There was no rain, YET. With so much clouds in the sky, it was all gloomy in the plane, but you could view Nepal from the window, from buildings to fields to hills and then mountains. Guess what, the stewardess actually served us drinks! Haha, it was such a small plane, I didn't expect anything... definitely no food cause the flight was only 30 mins or so.

Rain started to pour just after we touched down! Thank God it started to rain only after we landed. Without lights on the runway and had it been raining, it's very difficult to land such a small plane, apparently... *phew*

Managed to steal this shot as I was exiting the plane

We had to run into the building because of the rain. It wasn't far, just 100m from the plane, and as I entered, the building blacked out! There was no electricity in the airport! Okay, mind you, it wasn't really an airport. All I saw was a control building, and the building I entered was attached to it. It was probably as big as a typical shop lot? That's where we collected our luggage bags, and that was it. Thats all there is in that "airport"!

By now, it was raining very heavily outside. Oh, it wasn't just rain, it was hailing! Ya know, icy stones falling from the sky! :D Reminds me lots bout Melbourne! We were then greeted by Pastor Palan and his family, and our interpreter, Anil. Man, he was drenched! We took a van to Pastor Palan's home, rested a while, unpacked a little, and then went off for dinner.

By now, the rain had stopped, and it's chilly outside. Supposedly, it's still kinda cold at night, and we were actually told to bring our jackets, but I left all of mine in KL! :( Only had a long sleeve with me, but I didn't bring that during the walk anyway. Such weather makes me miss Australia much. Good that it wasn't windy, else it would be cold.

Well, we chose to walk because the restaurant is 20 mins away. I was then equipped with both my camera and my camcorder. The roads may be tarred but it's still muddy, cause it's very sandy everywhere else. Every now and then, you hear the honks of vehicles, whether it's from the cars, buses, motorbikes, etc... it's VERY common, and it feels weird if you actually don't hear any. It's a norm there to honk, you shall see in photos of the coming days why I'm saying this.

One of the houses we see on the way

One of the many shops, heh, check out the "muscle man"...

Nice building, eh? Cold and wet because of the rain...

Yet another...

The dinner was at this very cool, cozy, dim, and well, I would say romantic place... food served were naan, tandoori chicken, cheese balls, some kinda "popiah", also fried rice and we had our first masala tea. Tastes weird, but that's the tea we order for the following days to come... yes, weird, but tastes really good :D

It's a dim place... but wonderful environment :D

Some of the food we had in the restaurant

Having done with dinner, it was already dark outside. There aren't many street lights, and it's dim and dead all around... and it's only 8pm+! Apparently, the Pastor there sleeps around 9pm every night. I guess that's why it's already so dead by 8pm :S It was cold outside, so we hailed for taxis instead. Those taxies there are as big (or as small) as a Kancil. Doesn't cost much since we're quite near, and we had to past by the Red Light District before getting back to the Pastor's place. Hmm, didn't see anything sinful over there, so praise God :D

It's the first night in Nepal, and I was told that I'm gonna be having a cold shower on a cold night. That was bad news for me, cause hot water is all I use when I bathe, for many many years already! Argh, I didn't complain cause I know I shouldn't... it's a Missions Trip! Accept all that you're given... only in the days to come that I realise I should be thanking God for all that we had on this very first night. Going back to the shower, water was cold, and slow, so imagine the difficulty!

Before we went to bed, we had a short discussion on what's going to happen tomorrow, and how we should prepare for it. Honestly, I felt left out cause I don't seem to have a role when it comes to ministry. I told myself that I'll help in any way possible, cause surely God brought me there not to be a burden to the rest, but a blessing :)

The guys slept in one of the rooms and the girls, in another... our "Teacher" took the bed while Pragas and myself took the floor, with mattress... the pillow was so soft, it felt like as though I'm not sleeping on one. Some of you might've known... I can't sleep on soft pillows, I need a hard one, and what more this pillow, which is so very soft! I had to take out my stuff from my bag, and put under the pillow to sleep... Yes, it was a tough night, but thank God I managed to sleep! In the days to come, you'll know how God helped me in this area... :D

*zzzzzzz*

It's a long post for Day 1, cause there's just so much to tell! Hopefully I'll not be so long winded for the coming posts... Enjoy! :D

My First Post

Woohoo! The first post to my first blog!

I never thought I would actually start a blog, but with so much to say about the Nepal trip, I thought I'll start one. It's easier to let people read about it than to have myself repeat so many times! Moreover, I can convey the experience better by typing it out (I'm not a good story teller). Also, attaching photos and videos will greatly help me explain certain events.

Enjoy!