RGHS student's Himalayan adventure

Rotorua Girls' High School student Karamea Ratana shares her Himalayan adventure.

My first time out of the country-my first time on a plane. My trip to Nepal was the most exhilarating and life-changing event of my life so far.
During the last school holidays, I set off on an 18-day adventure to Nepal along with 12 other students and adults from across New Zealand.
After an 11-hour flight to Singapore and a five-hour flight to Kathmandu, I was agitated, ready to get there but also unsure of what to expect.
As I glanced out the window, I gasped in amazement. As we flew among the clouds, I could see the snowtipped peaks of the Himalayas.
As soon as we landed, I knew immediately Nepal would be a drastic change to what I was used to.
Exiting the airport, straightaway we were faced by the continuous beeping of horns and the grey haze of pollution.
Driving through the streets was like a mad rush.
Raging traffic driving to what, I'm sure of, are no road rules and even driving around the odd cow sitting in the city's main intersections.
Along the sides of the streets, people walk or sit beside little stalls selling their goods, among masses of dirt and rubbish.
It all seemed so surreal, straightaway I realised how good we all have it here in New Zealand.
On our flight to Lukla, I witnessed some amazing views and experienced a very exhilarating landing, flying in between mountains and landing on one of the most dangerous airstrips in the world.
We spent 12 days in the mountains and, on our first two nights, slept down the valley in a village called Muse.
This camping experience was where our group bonded hugely, sharing the experience of very basic living.
Below our campsite, we helped plant 600 trees, which was a great achievement and an awesome contribution to the re-establishment of the conifer forests.
From then on we trekked, regularly passing yaks and people carrying huge loads on their backs, also groups of people from all over the world on expeditions.
We passed many mani, which are big stacks of rocks with words carved on them.
It is custom to always walk clockwise around them otherwise you will get bad karma.
Some days, we would walk up to seven hours with three-hour, non-stop hill climbs, ascending another 700m above sea level.
Air was noticeably getting thin and, boy, was that a struggle.
Luckily, we would arrive at our destination just before lunch or else stop for a lunch break, which consisted of Raro, noodles and some type of bread (it always varied.) Tibetan bread was a favourite of mine.
In the village of Khumjung at 3971m above sea level, we visited the school which Sir Edmund Hillary built.
The school now has many new buildings donated by different organisations from all over the world, with a new cafeteria currently being built.
There is space for 500 students of which many come from surrounding villages, walking hours each way to attend school.
We played a big game of soccer and were in awe of how fit they were and how easily they beat us.
The celebration of the school's 50th anniversary took place at the end of May.
We also visited the hospital Sir Edmund built in Kunde, a village about 500m from Khumjung.
It was only a small building but I was amazed at how well-equipped it was.
Kunde also is the home village of two of our three Sherpa-Chhepal and Tashi, who are cousins.
It wasn't until we reached Rivendell Lodge, (named after the place where elves live in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) in Deboche, where we got our first glimpse of Mt Everest one early morning from the dining room window.
Our highest point was Pangboche, just over 4000m above sea level.
We had a day trek from Deboche to Pangboche, stopping for a break somewhere in-between.
We sat among a 360-degree view of mountains-Ama Dablam to the right and the peak of Everest behind the Lhotse hills directly ahead of us. It was an extraordinary setting.
In Pangboche, we visited Lama Geshe, who gave us a blessing and prayed to Buddha for us.
It was a humbling and memorable experience.
Learning about the culture and religion of the Nepalese people truly opened my mind and I have come to understand and appreciate their way of living.
No words will ever be able to sum up this trip. It was simply indescribable.
Something an individual would have to experience themselves to truly understand. The best thing about the trip were the peopleImet.
The Sherpas were awesome and have made a huge impact on my life.
Imade amazing life-long friends and life-long memories.
In Kunde, we were given the privilege of meeting Chhepal Sherpa's mother, whose home is a traditional old, cold Nepalese home.
Chhepal is the only male in their family and is responsible for looking after his mother's needs, although this is difficult for him.
In Kathmandu where he lives, he has awife and new-born son who he also needs to support and-tomake things even more difficult-Sherpa have only a short season of work in the mountains.
Our group is now planning on raising money to go towards the renovation of his mother's house.
We would also like to bring him to New Zealand and find him short-term employment.
This will help him to earn money to support his family, improve his English and learn about and enjoy Aotearoa.
We are determined to help Chhepal out. He is an amazing person and we want to make his life easier.