Toastmasters

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After 500 metres, the slope became extremely steep and fatigue from 2 sleepless nights hit me hard, I almost collapsed. Luckily, my tourguide came to the rescue as a hero. He literally carried my bag and dragged my lifeless body up the whole journey. Without him, I don’t think I could ever make it to the summit. Finally standing on the top of the mountain, my mind and my whole body got totally numb thanks to the freezing cold. I would be a perfect cast for any zombie or walking dead movie.

After taking some pictures with a crying face, I quickly made my descent. I couldn't believe this was the path I took when coming up! It looked so different in daylight. It felt like I was on Mars. Suddenly, the ground was filled with dangerous rocks that could make you slip and tumble down. Surrounded the thin slop was all fatal cliff. When the sight was present in front of my eyes, fear struck me completely. To add in some spice, my tourguide softly whispered to me “Girl, you be carefully ah. 2 weeks ago, a Singaporean guy rolled down that cliff and died”. “Eh, thanks for that information, uncle”

The descent was ALOT more painful and slower than the ascent because our knees had gotten so jelly and instead of fleeting from place to place, we carefully picked rocks and concentrated on the next step.

It was the most physical challenge I’ve ever experienced. I couldn't walk properly and ached for 5 days. We recoiled in fear whenever a staircase came in view.

However, I am very proud of that achievement and learned an important lesson: following my passion requires hard work and perseverance. Before standing on top of the mountain overlooking spectacular scenery below, I have to push myself to the limit and use all my stamina to climb up the steep summit. And as Sir Edmund Hillary once said “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves”, I will continue to pursue higher mountains in my life, metaphorically and physically, with better preparation next time. Thank you.