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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2008
29 December 2008
Hi all,
Namaste!
It’s been a truly rewarding and exciting year for us in 2008 at Divine.
For a start, more of you avid travellers and trekkers seeked us out to plan your trips to Nepal and around the Himalaya. It was our pleasure to have you travel with us and thank you for trusting us with your travel and trekking plans. It has been very enjoyable discussing your trips with you and even more so when you returned to share your travel tales with us. Thank you very much for all your feedback, photos, gifts and most of all, friendship. To those of you who recommended your friends and families to us, we thank you deeply for your support and hope we have served you all well.
To all teachers, despite the hefty planning, admin and operation work for each of our projects together, we salute you for your professionalism and tireless enthusiasm! Thank you for your constant feedback, sharing and trust. It is always a great learning experience as we work together to shape programs, learning objectives and travel needs for our students. Your insights are invaluable and we hope to incorporate more of them in next year’s programs. Besides, sports and CIP in the village schools, we are exploring cultural exchange programs and arrangement with the local Nepali schools in the city. We will continue to refine and explore new programs so they are customised to meet your objectives and remain relevant to your students’ learning needs.
This year we incorporated Divine as a private limited company and moved our office from Paya Ubi to Serangoon Avenue 4. We obtained our travel license and are working from a fully equipped home office. We always try our best to keep our office in pristine condition until the arrival of new travel brochures! Well, right now, the Kashmir collaterals are sitting in one corner right behind Deepak’s space. Interestingly, most of you are keen to check out our new office and we most certainly welcome you! I am trying to learn how to brew a good cup of masala tea so we can welcome you with a touch of Nepal when you next visit us.
At the end of year 2007, Deepak was appointed the Honourary PR Representative of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) in Singapore. We got real busy managing “Naturally Nepal Evening”, a roadshow and networking session for tour agents and operators at Traders Hotel. We had the pleasure of the Singapore Women Everest Team joining us at the event and introduced the iron ladies to the NTB officials. We helped organised a Nepalese song and dance item for Fairfield Methodist Secondary School when the school celebrated International Friendship Day. In August, NTB participated at the inaugural ITB Asia 2008, the largest travel trade show held in Suntec Convention Hall. Again, we helped put together the exhibition booth and had a successful presence at the event. In between events, Deepak played host to the Tourism Minister, NTB CEO and other NTB officials who came by Singapore.
On the media front, it has been an exciting time for us too. In 2007, NTUC Lifestyle magazine featured Nepal as the travel destination in its November issue on both its Chinese and English magazines. We met up again with the Chinese editorial team this time. We shall not reveal the content of the feature article but you can watch out for it in the February 09 issue of NTUC Lifestyle. We also appeared in ST Life! Travel to advice on last minute getaway to Nepal. You can view these articles in http://www.nepalexplore.com/media.asp. We were also approached to assist as a fixer for an episode on the ‘Culture X’ series in September (shown on Arts Central, now known as ‘OKTO’). It was great fun for our team in Singapore and Nepal as we made travel arrangements, co-ordinated the project, arranged for acting cast and even our staff doubled up as the main cast! Some of you may have recognised Subas and Tshering and wondered how come they were on TV…you were not seeing things, they were indeed filming for the documentary series! You can view the process here at http://divinesingapore.blogspot.com/2008/08/filming-in-nepal.html
Since the inauguration of our blog, many of you have shared that you enjoyed reading our blog. Thank you for visiting our blog. Despite running crazy schedules at work, we will continue to keep the stories coming in. Guess what, the best part of maintaining the Divine Blog is that we never run out of stories! As much as we enjoyed writing it, the constant challenge is to ensure consistency in uploading them. Usually we are not able to do so in Nepal due to extremely slow uploading speed. Hence, the lapse of inputs while we are away. :P That said, although our inputs may not be real time, the contents are certainly REAL and heartwarming. So, keep reading!
Moving on to 2009, while we work on other tourism-related projects and look to extend our marketing efforts to more parts of Europe and Asia, we also hope to open up more destinations. We also discovered many of you first timers favoured doing the easy trek route in Nepal. We will explore more easy treks so you can enjoy the great outdoors and nature in a stress-free manner. Obviously the toilets and showers will not be as comfortable as home but hey, ain’t this what adventure is all about? :)
That said, we do hope you would graduate from the easy trek routes and take the step to explore the other popular treks around Annapurna, Langtang and even Everest regions. If you talk to those who have been, the gleam in their eyes and the excitement in their speech will definitely spur you with a “Why not?” With a good sense of humour, some curiosity and belief in your ability, you can certainly achieve what many of us have. If you have been dreaming about doing THE trek and are unsure or have no time for guide books, talk to us. Let us help you turn your dream into reality and look back with a smile.
As for corporate clients, we are happy to continue customising your travel itinerary for that very important corporate retreat! Well, the price of air tickets are not exactly in our favour now. However, we are optimistic for next year as we begin planning new corporate trips in Spring (March to May) and look forward to falling ticket prices to the Himalayan countries!
As the end of the season and the year draws near, we are also looking forward to a much needed rest over the yuletide holidays. It is always good to be home – of course we meant Singapore – we look forward to meet up all of you either for good food or kopi and most of all, we would love to spend some time with our family and usher in the new year. Of course, for those of you who have been waiting for our return to discuss your trips, it is business as usual at our Serangoon office. We are closed on public holidays but will be contactable anytime. We will be away before the Chinese New Year but no worries, we will update our travel schedule when it is near.
Till then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. Enjoy your holidays to the fullest and see you soon!
Yours truly,
Deepak and Alice
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Our Travel Schedule in December 08
30 November 2008
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
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Journey to Island Peak
20 November 2008
On 13 September, our team of four – Deepak, myself, Ham and Jenifer, embarked on our dream excursion to Island Peak.
Deepak has trekked around the various regions in Nepal but has never been to Island Peak. Ham is a regular in Nepal and has attempted Dhaulagiri (8167m, seventh highest mountain in the world). Jenifer has trekked around India, Sikkim, Tibet and Nepal. I did not intend to climb Island Peak but tagged along for pure fun!
Our trek took us to Lukla – Phakding – Monjo – Josalle – Namche Bazaar – Tengboche – Pangboche – Dingbuche – Chukung – Base Camp – High Camp – Island Peak. We returned via the same route.
Lukla, the gateway to Everest, has since developed into a small town with nicely built houses, german bakeries coupled with a proper airport and control tower. Porters were queueing for assignments at the airport when we arrived due to many flight cancellations on previous days.
Every turn around the National Park brings new visual surprises, be it waterfalls, yaks, field plantations, snow peaks, rivers, bridges, towns or even the locals going about their daily lives. At Monjo, one of our porters injured his leg as he had gone drinking the night before and was not walking properly in the day. We became instant paramedics at the lodge – bringing cold water for him to soak, applying medication, bandaging and finally serving him his lunch.
The road to Namche was so long and winding that I almost gave up. Along the way, I probably became an interesting sight as other trekkers who passed by me must be thinking I was rich enough to hire two handsome Nepali guides to bring me to see Everest! (Well, who would have thought one handsome Nepali beside me is my husband and the other is our Chief Guide Rinji?) Along the way, we met a gutsy Isreali lady doctor who panted equally hard along the way to Namche and advised me to drink more ginger tea. It was always interesting how trekking brings people from different parts of the world together. It turned out we also walked a large part of the trek together from Tengbuche to Pangbuche later on.
We also had coffee and pastries at a german bakery in Namche. I would recommend the chocolate cake and hot Mocha the next time you are there. They are yummy!
The journey towards Tengbuche was rough was we encountered heavy rain and thus muddy paths. I was tired and walking with a heavy jacket on a steep slope and each step was agonising. However, the pain disappeared as soon as I arrived and saw the Tengboche Monastry standing right before my eyes. This had been what I was looking forward to in this trip. So this was where Edmund Hillary and Tenzing had come for blessings on their expedition and successfully summited Mt Everest in 1953. I came only 55 years later in 2008! We did not manage to enter the Monastry due to prayer sessions in progress. What a pity.
At Chukung, most of us experienced some headache and loss of appetite. I had a terrible headache at night and was not able to sleep. By 5:30am, Deepak decided we should go out and take in the fresh mountain air. And what a sight we saw at dawn! With the sun firing its first ray of light at the peaks, the surrounding mountains looked awesome. Turning my body from the left, there was Lotse, Island Peak, some range that looked like the Western Cwm and Ama Dablam. I stood in awe in the cold, snapping away with my camera.
Anyay, Deepak decided I should head back to Dingboche and they attempt Island Peak. In my three days of waiting at Dingboche, I met Michelle, an American who is globe trotting in the midst of work and has stayed in Singapore before. I also had a long chat with a nice Canadian guy who was into his eleventh month of his Gap Year trip. Well, you never run out of travel tales to share! I also discovered the great tasting apple pie at the lodge when five of us were having dinner one night. Out of boredom, I started to instigate the lodge owner to include curry puff as a menu item and worked my way in the kitchen with his chef to deliver the first curry puff in Dingboche. Our culinary experiment was pretty successful. Although the puff may not match our Old Chiang Kee in Singapore, it tasted really nice considering I missed home food so much! Guess what, an American-born Chinese doctor popped in the lodge just in time to taste our curry puff. He was going around the lodges to distribute flyers on free medical seminars on altitude sickness at Pheriche.
On 23 September 2008, the team left High Camp at 0200 hours to attempt the 6190m Island Peak at freezing temperatures. An arduous 14-hour climb later, Deepak and Ham, with the help of our climbing Sherpa Minma, successfully made it to the summit. It was Deepak’s 35th birthday. He has given himself the birthday present of a lifetime. Down at Dingboche, I had the apple pie ready for a post birthday-cum-summit celebration!
Upon our descent, we were lucky to get a clear view of Mt Everest before reaching Namche. By the time we reached back to Kathmandu, all we wanted was a big steak, a nice shower and our very own bed.
You can view Gallery for photos of our trip.
Read our Blog to see what went on behind the scenes!
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ITE College East at Island Peak
30 October 2008
Eight students and three teachers from ITE College East went to scale Island Peak (6160m) in Nepal this April. It was a memorable experience for everyone even as Deepak and I were stationed in Singapore tracking their progress everyday. Six of them eventually reached the peak and we were really proud and happy for the students who made it despite the cold and weariness in the long trek.
We got the pictures from Trevor, one of the lecturers who led the trip, recently and this is the one that touched me.
How did it feel like to sit on top of the peak and view the world below? You probably have to climb it yourself to get the answer.
Read about their after-thoughts in the college's newsletter.
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