During Spring break 2019, I went to Uttarakhand, India for my Grade 9 expedition. When choosing the expedition I wanted to participate in, Himalayan Rafting was one I wanted to join. I thought that this expedition will not only provide me the opportunity to go to a new country, but also that I will be able to go rafting again (which I enjoyed in the Grade 8 trip to Chiang Mai).
Flying to India was only the start of this journey. The night before flying out to India, I was apprehensive- it only dawned to me that I was going to fly to a foreign country! In our middle school trips, we visited places that I’ve already been to and had knowledge about, however, India to me was unfamiliar. This was an obstacle I never knew I would ever face- being worried for the uncertain. The day we flew to India, all the apprehensiveness and uncertainty was long gone, I found great comfort with my friends and found myself immersed in the beauty of the Himalayas.
On this trip we got to try new things apart from rafting. Almost every morning during our stay we would go down to the beach and partake in a yoga class. I never did yoga with a instructor before, I assumed that yoga was only a form of ‘stretching’, I didn’t realise how heavily influenced it is by spirituality. I found this beneficial as a way to relax our tense muscles from rafting and a good morning workout.
I found myself learning about the Indian food and culture. We were lucky enough to have been provided with varied Indian foods- from familiar dishes like chicken curry to Gulab Jamun. Although most of our time on the trip was spent rafting, interacting and communicating with the guides also gave a taste of their culture, through their stories. A moment that I can’t forget was on our last night in the Snow Leopard camp, the owner’s daughter was telling us horror stories, when suddenly 2 men jump out of no where. It gave everyone a real fright, they were actually two of the guides!
A huge part of this trip was rafting. I really enjoyed rafting and was excited when I found out that we will be able to captain a raft. This experience linked a lot to my Geography classes about rivers. In order to be able to captain safely we had to learn about the river, the safe points as well as the dangerous parts. We also learned technical skills, such as language when captaining- if you want to turn left you would shout ‘left back right forward’ and rafting skills like ferrying (crossing across the river).
The lesson that stuck to me the most during this trip was how little power we have over mother nature. If mother nature wanted us gone she can easily do so. Just by being in the rapids and observing the never ending mountainous landscape was enough for me to see how powerful mother nature truly is. Our guides were very skilful in navigating their way through the rapids, but what lingered with me was their acceptance and respect to how powerful mother nature is.
This trip was very eye and mind opening to me. I came back to Singapore with a greater respect towards nature and a desire to visit more foreign countries.
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