SNOW!!!!

It's yet another day of excitement. After such a long wait, I've finally seen SNOW!!! I know I sound like sua gu, but OH MY GOODNESS, it's SNOW!!!! Haha!!! The snow was actually unexpected. Vinay brought us to Rothang Pass, the second highest motorway in the world (13000 feet) and also a tourist attraction. Being so high, the entire mountain was already covered beautifully in clean white snow, but the sky was clear and sunny (my sunglasses came to good use).Then suddenly, it rained...or so I thought. And soon, I realised that my jacket was covered in white flakes and I knew this was for real...It's SNOWING!!!

Haha, now I can finally understand what dagu meant when she walked in the snow when she was in England. Snow is really slippery. Thank God for the good pair of trekking shoes. We had great fun making snowman, having snowball fights and just enjoying it. Wasn't daring to do wat Ben did when he was in Swiss, lie down and make angel, cos there were many animals ard, and I realised that the snow may not be as clean as I imagine. Plus snow here is really wet and sticky.

Oh, did I mention that snow is really COLD!!! Didn't expect it to be that cold. Nearly got frostbite of of making the snowman and all the snowball fights :P

Left to right: Xian, Vinay's bro, Vinay, Dr Jacob, Me

Ah, I'm really beginning to find home here in Manali. Honestly, I don't feel like leaving. Have just got to settle into the lifestyle eg I know here to get the cheapest and nicest chai, get my groceries, wash my clothes etc. Plus, have built really great relationships with so many ppl that I'm feeling part of the community here already. It's really sad that I'll be leaving in less than 7days and I'm sure I'll miss the place. Well, if God willing, I'll come back...and even bring my family on a holiday!!!

Ah, wild dreams :P But really thank God for blessing us for the past weeks. Everything has been going so smoothly (except that I just lost one of my rechargable batt, so sad, must have dropped out of my pocket or sth), we've had so many ppl blessing us along the way, giving us precious advice and guidance. God has kept us safe and healthy, despite all the bad stories of India. Praise the Lord!!!

Faith in danger...trusting God

I just came back from Jibhi. It's one of the community outreach clinic outpost that the hospital has set up to serve the people who can't afford to come to the hospital. For the past 3 days at this outpost, I've been through dangerous moments and experienced God's faithfulness! We trekked for hours at 10.800 feet above sea level, through steep and treacherous mountain roads. When the sun set, we trekked in complete darkness, our path illuminated by only a dim light from the torchlight. It was extremely dangerous as it was snowing in the mountains and the road was slippery. If we missed a step, we would literally plunge down the cliff. I was tired, hungry and cold. During the trek, there were moments that I slipped and could feel no solid ground where my foot slipped. But thankfully, we had an amazing guide who was always there to hold onto us when we fell.

As we groped in the darkness, I was reminded of the verse "Your word is a lamp before my feet and a light to my path". Indeed, the ray of light from my torch shone the immediate path before me. I could not see the left or right to me, just the path ahead. Yet I knew, if I took a step to the sides, it would be certain death.

This is life. As we journey in the darkness of the fallen world, God's word shines the immediate path before us, and not beyond. We do not know how long more the journey may take, but know that there is goal and all we need is to faithfully follow the light. Yet, we are often tempted to fall to the left or right, consciously or not. But we have a faithful Father who promised never to leave us or forsake us. He will hold our hand when we fall aas long as we trust Him!!

This short trek in the Himalayan range has made me realise the truth behind such Christian clique. It's been a precious experience that God has allowed me to learn. Praise the Lord!

Water fun!!!

The past few days have been exciting!!! Sat afternoon we had to cook for Vinay and I was rather stressed and apprehensive. I hardly cook and all my cooking experience were from sec1 n 2 home econs + occasional training here and there from dagu/ergu/grandma/mummy. But thank God the lunch turned out fantastic!! We cooked potato soup (using the chicken bone, which was sth new to the Indians), fried rice, vege dish (peas/carrot/chicken) and chocolate fondue (the highlight of the day!!). Everything was based on theory, but thank God all went well (just tat we took bout 3h to prepare all that :P )

Yesterday, me and Yingxian went for an unexpected wide water rafting trip. Vinay n Hersh was going down to another city for some family event and decided to bring us along. Halfway, (that city, Kullu was bout more that 50km from the hospital), he randomly suggested we go rafting, (the main road ran alongside the main river which has alot of rapids) and we randomly agreed, thinking that he was planning to bring us another time. Little did we know, he suddenly stopped the car, called a friend (who owned a rafting shop) and then, we were into the water!! But it was a truly exciting experience, riding thru the fast rapids and fighting occasional powerful waves. Other than the adventure, the scene along the river was beautiful, many of which can only been seen from the river. It was indeed worthwhile. Thank God for such a precious opportunity.

However, all our clothes that we wore were soaked, including my waterproof trekking shoes :( So I'll be spending the rest of my time today cleaning and washing my clothes. My jeans are glittering with sand. Washed our shoes yesterday liao, thanks to Xian.

Time passes really fast here. Can't believe it's already into my second week here. The US team and the other Canadian student left last Sunday, so the campus is now rather quiet. As they left, I oso felt a little homesick, but am ok now :)

Day 3 in Manali

I've been very good!! Just had dinner in a great Tibetian restaurant, complements of the nice anesthetist and his wife. Really thank God for blessing us with many nice and friendly people along the way. They have been so helpful and kind to us. It's been such a blessing.

So far, life has been very relaxed here. Every Tue and Thu are operating days and we get to assist in the operation. Mon, Wed and Fridays are outpatient clinic days and we get to sit beside the doctors and join in the consultation process. But language is a great barrier, yet thank God once again that the docs are willing to spend time to translate for us. Am learning a few Hindi words here and there. Yesterday, I had a chance to do a spinal anesthesia (ie stick a needle into the spinal cord and inject anesthetic), something that in SG I'll only be able to watch. (Poor patient thou :P ) The docs here are really patient in teaching and guiding us. We're learning alot, but also feeling so inadequate. There's so much I need to know but still lacking...ah, that's why we are students eh...It does scare me a little to think that I'll be a doc in a year's time...God's grace I guess...

I've been taking care of myself, wearing lots, taking my vit regularly, avoiding anything that looks suspicious, trying to drink lots of water, sleeping earlier. But I've been getting a little adventurous lately. We are shifting from eating at the safe but boring hospital mass (which serves dal and rice/chapathi for every meal) to exploring food from outside (which is what everybody else does). We've tried the bakery, the fresh fruits (which we wash in KMnO4), and some indian sweets. Occasionally, nice people wld bring us out for treats and I feel really bad cos they always don't accept our money...

Blessings after blessings. Giving thanks to God!!!

Greetings from Manali!!!

Dear friends whom I have not managed to email, greetings from the beautiful and freezing cool Manali :) Hehe, was only just reminded that I've got a blog where I can tell ya all bout the excitement here in India

It's been such an exciting journey!!! Me and Xian arrived at Chennai airport (after a rather bearable budget flight) to be surprised by the barren airport. But thank God that was only the international airport. The domestic airport was very homely and cosy. We had a good cheap supper of snapple n puffs. Then YingXian took his really cool camara (DSLR) and we attracted alot of strangers who came to talk to us. And so we made a few really nice Indian friends who were mostly photography enthus. So we talked from photo to camera to life in Singapore and India.

Then the flight from Chennai to Delhi on Jet airways was superb. It is really as good as SQ!!! The food was excellent and the service was great. We totally enjoyed the flight :) Then landing at Delhi airport was another adventure. We were stuck with the decision whether or not to check into a hotel to dump our heavy luggage or go straight to the bus place to get a bus. Then we decided that it'll be too expansive to get a hotel (cos all the hotels near the bus place was the 5 star ones). So we got the pre-paid cab to take us to the bus place (which was another blessing cos we went to the tourism counter for help and they really did + try to convince us to buy their service).

So we took the cab, who, by God's was a very responsible one. He didn't know the place but went the extra mile to help us find it. He could have just dropped us off anywhere. So by God's grace, we found the bus company in a lonely quiet corner of a building. We got our tix and MORE. Yes, another blessing, the person there upon us asking bout touring Manali, drew us a map, from how to get to the hospital to all the nice places to visit, all in detail. What's a greater blessing was that we were able to leave our bags with him in the office. Thank God!!! We didn't have to lug our heavy bags with us :)

So we went to explore the streets of Delhi. Cut short all the detail (we had lunch in Macs :) ate this big mac but instead of beef, it was something like otah chicken. Quite nice). Here, we had been "cheated". But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise :) God's really good and YingXian is really street smart :) Thank God for him. Anyway, I found this Medical bookstore that sells original medical books at much less than in Singapore, like 60-80% cheaper. I bought on S$50 book at S$10 after conversion.

The 16h bus ride wasn't that bad either, better than the budget air journey. Had our first off-the-Indian-street meal of butter toast and hot "chai" (which is sweet spice Indian tea). In the cold morning of 5am, it was very welcoming and delicious. The sun only lit up the land bout 7am and then we were awed by the great beauty which surrounded us. Manali is REALLY beautiful. Peaceful clear waters, majestic mountains, white stones, beautiful trees...All creation truly testifies how great the Creator is!!! Wish you were all here to enjoy what my eyes have witnessed :)

We found the hospital without much difficulty. The locals seem to hold the hospital with great respect. Cos when we asked for directions, ppl were so willing to direct us the fastest way instead of taut us. Really thankful for that. We managed to catch the Sunday service. Once again, I was surrounded by such a crowd of witness. Indeed, how amazing it is to be amongst people worshipping the Lord from different nations and tribes. All praise and glory be to Him!!!

Oh did I mention that it was really supposed to be snowing here in Manali!! According to the locals, this year is weird cos there is no snow, but it's still cold. Thank God for Dagu's jacket and Dad's weisheng yi. Thanks Joyce for helping me get it. But it's really nice weather, not so humid. Almost like being in a natural air con room.

Oh, we met this US couple who are missionaries serving here. A group of US students from their church back home were here to join them in a 1 week missions trip too. So they brought us out for a superb Indian lunch and even let us join their trekking trip. This was a great great blessing!!! We could not have dared or known the trekking route, but now we were able to go with a group of 10 who were quite experienced trekkers along a beautiful, yet-to-be-destroyed-by-tourist route. It was really God's blessing!!! And the trek while tiring and even dangerous (according to the guy, who is serving in the hospital as a paramedic, said that a British girl fell off the cliff and was sent to the hospital via helicopter) was indeed gorgeous. Yingxian has taken many nice photos, so wait for him to upload them. Oh yes, thank God for the trekking shoes, saved my life quite a lot today :) Money well invested.

So far, we have really been holidaying and under such comfortable conditions. Tmr, our actual medical work starts. I'm a little reluctant to start work, but yet excited bout the work to come. We've been treated so well by the locals and staff in the hospital we feel a little bad. Xian says we're only medical students yet we're treated like kings (even got another student from Canada help us to borrow heater, which was really out of her way). I'm sure that the rest of the month here will be exciting and fun!!!