Nepali Village Homestay
Starting about 9:00 AM from Samthar, Pushpa was our guide as we followed a winding route down through terraces and past Nepali and Lepcha homesteads to arrive mid-morning at Awake and Shine preschool which is the General's project to teach basic english to pre-schoolers with a view to improving their possibilities for employment when they leave school as young adults.
The students are in two brand new classroom buildings (just being finished) and first we we entertained by a song from the 3 year olds and then the 4 year olds sang several songs for us and their teacher read aloud the books that Jane had brought for them.
Our homestay was in a specially constructed apartment on the top floor of the main school building. Pushpa and her family were our hosts.
After lunch, Pushpa walked us back up a short distance above Samthar via a different route to see the local blacksmith at work.
Click this link for a slide show of 35 photos from this section of our trip