Dinner with Singapore Women Everest Team in Nepal

A rare kodak moment for Nepal and Singapore Women Everest Team

Everyone enjoying themselves in the traditional Nepalese dinner setting

Two Everest team exchanging mountaineering tips and experience

Deepak with NTB officials

Non-stop conversation among the climbers

Deepak with Kim Boon, the SWET’s coach

A toast to Summit Success!

A wonderful demonstration of the Nepalese dance

Dancing with popular Nepalese folklore Resham Firiri

Group photo with NTB officials, Nepalese & Singapore Women Everest Team

The amazing ladies

Joanne, Esther, Lihui, Alice, Deepak, Jane, Yihui, Peigee, Kim Boon
The Singapore Women Everest Team (SWET) made their way to Nepal on 21 March. While in Kathmandu, the team was busy with preparation for their camp supplies and trip arrangements. The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) hosted a welcome dinner for the team the next day at Bhojan Ghar, a restaurant which serves traditional Nepalese cuisine with cultural performance. That evening, Deepak and I met up SWET. The six ladies looked good and were looking forward to the dinner. Kim Boon – their beloved coach and the seventh member of the team, was present as well. We had one more Singaporean guest – Tse Liang, an NTU student on internship with The Nepali Times, was invited as well. It felt more like a Singaporean gathering in Kathmandu!

The dinner was really happening. The NTB had invited some mystery guests to the dinner. Guess who turned up? It was the members of the Nepal Women Everest Team who had summited Mt Everest in June 2008. (See previous post)We were honoured to have them join us for dinner. No prizes for guessing what happened next : the ladies from the two teams were happy to meet one another and could not stop talking about their experiences. All of us had a hearty time over dinner and the cultural show was a great hit with everyone. The ladies really had a good time dancing with one another and I guessed it was the first time they had sampled traditional Nepalese cuisine in such an environment. They were always busy with trainings when they were in Nepal previously.

When it was time to leave, there was a hint of nostalgy in the air. Over the dinner, new friendships were forged and the team would be leaving for Everest soon. We ended the session with the essential group photo for momento and had them sent back safely to their hotel.

Click here to track the SWET’s journey to Mount Everest.

Jane, Yihui, Joanne, Lihui, Esther, Pei Gee:
All the very best in your summit bid and most importantly, return safe and sound.