We started the day with an early morning drive to Nagarkot..
Ngarkot is a famous place for its spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. It is also home to a prayerful statue of Peace Run founder, Sri Chinmoy.
The statue faces towards Mt. Ghenge Liru in the Langtang Range, which was dedicated as a Sri Chinmoy Peace Mountain in 1994. Unfortunately the weather was overcast, so today we could only use our imagination to visualise the spectacular panorama.
Nepal is a Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossom Nation. On this plaque are the beautiful words to a song Sri Chinmoy wrote for Nepal.
Our team spent some time enjoying the profound beauty and peace of the surroundings.
Krishna, one of the main coordinators of the Nepal Peace Run.
Our two Nepalese runner friends, Mahendra Bajracharya and Dinesh Maharjan, joined us again today to help us carry the torch to Bhaktapur. Our run will be 22km in total!
Our wonderful, always smiling team all together!
Shivani, Sweta, Gautami and Harita at a local cafe to fuel up before our big run!
Ready to run! The route to Bhaktapur was 19 km, fortunately mostly downhill!
The beautiful road ahead.
These boys do not really have the capacity to run slowly, and they never stop until they reach the destination!
Our support vehicle was always right behind.
We ran through the most beautiful scenes of multicoloured rice fields, forests and small villages.
Finally we arrived in at our destination, the ancient city of Bhaktapur.
Shivani happy to be holding the Nepalese flag.
The non-locals on the team were wishing we had a bit more time to look around this unique and charming city!
At one of the famous landmarks in Bhaktapur, the Nyatapol Temple.
The sight of us all drew quite a crowd!
So we decided to sing the Peace Run song for the intrigued onlookers.
Local children.
One of the youngest members of our team, Prerana, leading the way.
It is hard to tell, but this temple has ancient statues of animals lining the steps, so we are sitting on lions, tigers, horses and even rhinoceros!
We were surprised and thrilled that some representatives from Rajarshri Gurukul, a school in Bhaktapur that we were on our way to, came to meet us with a banner. They also led us 3 km to the school!
The kids all came out to meet us, many holding quotes on peace by Sri Chinmoy and other great world figures.
The children were all very attentive, well behaved, and adorable!
It was easy for them to guess Harita was from New Zealand when she told them that someone from her country was one of the first two people to climb Mt Everest..Hillary and Tenzing are household names in Nepal.
Prerana and Gautami performing skits on peace gave the children a lot of joy.
We are the oneness and fullness of tomorrow's sun!
Sweta asked the children to take a moment to feel peace in their hearts.
Peace is quite easy to feel when you are a small child in Nepal.
We were extremely honoured that we were able to present our Torch-Bearer Award to Lakphuti Sherpa.
Lakphuti Sherpa has been part of many expeditions in the Himalayas and works very hard to bring awareness to environmental and social issues related to mountain climbing. She led 9 government officials to the summit of Mt Everest in 1999, helped to open a school in her small mountain village, runs an orphanage, has done much to empower women Sherpas, and has recently written a book. Her book, 40 years in the Mountains, is the first book published by a woman Sherpa.
One of the Nepal Peace Run Coordinators, Suman, presents the Principal of Rajarshri Gurukul, Dilip Rana Magar, with our certificate of appreciation.
passing the torch...
Too cute!
Lakphuti Sherpa, the School Principal, Dilip Rana Magar, and two of the teachers.
What a wonderful team!
Running around the field was so much fun!
Some of the children were chanting peace when they were running!
Babita representing Nepal!
Sweta and Shivani encouraging the children.
Dinesh never gets tired!
In the spirit of the Peace Run, Sunita is always smiling.
Even the teachers ran for peace...
So much fun!
Holding the torch high!
Dilip Rana Magar kindly gave us a tour of this most progressive and inspiring school.
The logo of the school is in the swimming pool! Look hard and you can see a figure in meditation.
Sujal, the youngest member of our team, was pretty keen to jump in the pool, as were the rest of us!
After 22km of running and visiting so many inspiring children and teachers we were ready to have a delicious Nepali meal, and we were not disappointed...Thank you Nepal for another wonderful day!
Peace is Precious.
-Sri Chinmoy
