The Picnic Spot

The Group headed north to Dhulikel stopping first at Bhaktapur, the City of Devotees, the 2nd of the 3 palaces we were going to visit. It is the most preserved of the palace grounds and restoration has been going on for the last 4-5 years. I wish that the guardians of Kathmandu and Patan Durbar Square would undertake a similar project. We had a fun time looking at the temples and shopping for a few souvenirs plus lunch at the Nyatapola Restaurant right beside the Nyatapola Temple ( 5 story pagoda style temple build by the great Mala King).
This was only a precursor to the wonderful weekend we were going to have at Dhulikel.

The grand plan this year was to take all the children at DNC plus the college students camping on the grounds at Picnic Point, an open area in the heart of Dhulikel. Everest Tours was going to set up tents and prepare the meals to be served at a covered area nearby. Rotaractors were going to arrange for games and music to be piped in. As you know, our DNC parties are never ever complete without dancing!

Donna Eggan also had a special treat for the children! She cut out and brought with her fleece material cut up and ready for making “sit-upons” by knotting the cut up edges a ½ inch apart. We added a square  ¾ foam in between 2 pieces to add cushion and softness as well.  The entire pillow was 10” x 10” when done. This provided a nice interaction between the younger kids and the volunteers, especially when it got pretty hot to run around the park.

Another surprise fun treat was that Doug Kyes brought face paint and started adding beautiful face art on the children. Doug and Sonja Kyes are one of many sponsors and they were with the group that visited in 2008 and have been a loyal supporter all these years. They will get to spend some time with their sponsored kids, (they have 2) when they visit with us in Pokhara for 2 days.  There was such a long line of kids that petty soon Pushkar, DNC’s resident artist started face painting as well. The pictures tell the entire story.
But the best part is that the children had a blast and for the Volunteers, well … the day with the children hit the right spot!