at about 1.30 am. The day had been long, and our stomachs were full. The gentle tumbling of the wheels of our primitive vehicle on the gravel laden, pothole infested highway soon put us to sleep. We woke up with a start at about 2 am, with the driver screaming to us to get out of the bus. We thought we were on fire, so we all rushed out. We stood in a grassy clearing in the middle of a desolate landscape. What we saw when we looked up changed our lives forever. We saw flickering green flames playing across the wide skies like tongues of celestial torch lighting the way to heaven’s pearly gates. We felt like puny terrestrial creatures who have suddenly been granted access to the Creator’s universe. Our lives, our strifes, and our ambitions seemed to have reached fulfillment. I wanted to sing, like Tagore “I hear Your music chanting Your name throughout the skies and the stars”. We checked in at a riverside resort in Fairbanks Chena Tribal Village in the early morning and had a good long sleep. We rested that day and took a boat cruise. The stately Discovery III boat had three decks with comfortable indoor seating, and a fourth top deck that was open-air. The large paddlewheel propelled the boat on its journey down the Chena River. The first demo was a bush plane on floats taking off alongside the boat, and banking in a long arc downstream. The next stop was an exuberant sled dog demo at the riverside kennels. Upon reaching the confluence of the Chena and Tanana Rivers, we disembarked for a walking tour of a Chena Indian Village. Native Alaskan guides led groups to see spruce cabins, smokehouses, and crafts created by Athabascans natives. Finally, we returned to our hotel, had a wonderful seafood dinner, and boarded the hotel shuttle to the airport. UPAHAAR 2021 উপহার ১৪২৮ 24
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