In Conclusion

All the members of the team, band members Mike, Dave and Warren, plus film maker Costa Botes and family, arrived home safely.  Our luggage and gear got back without damage, along with immeasurable amounts of memories and many gigabytes of photo and video footage.

This blog is now closed and we hope that the great numbers of family, friends and fans who have followed our tour to Nepal have enjoyed sharing the experience with us. You can continue following the activities of the Mike Garner Band through Mike's website, or various other Myspace, YouTube and Facebook sites, linked from there.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have made our trip possible, enjoyable and successful. Firstly we thank Mahendra Giri of the NZ Nepal Society, whose support and contacts at Singapore Airlines help make the trip possible in the first place, and, of course, Singapore Airlines for the great fare and extra baggage allowance, along with the great service they provide all their customers.  Samik Kharel is the main driver of the festival; from his original idea it has now reached year three - and it's success is due to his own organising skills and love of the music, along with a bunch of loyal blues fans who work along side him to make it happen. Without one fan in particular, Kabin ("Kevin") who was our minder, transport arranger, tour guide and friend we would never have had such a good time - and he's a good guitar player, too - keep on digging and playing the blues Kabin!! The General Manager and all the staff at the Dwarikas Hotel gave us a wonderful environment to live in, away from home, during the festival. They made us feel just as welcome as the many senior diplomats and wealthy travellers who were also enjoying the luxurious surroundings of the amazing Dwarikas Hotel. Thanks for your welcome and your professionalism.  Finally, it was great to meet Nitesh and his partners at The Music Room, especially since it was contact with home, here in Aotearoa, where Nitesh had seen us play at the Mission Bay Festival - thanks for a great send off and a chance to meet up with Nepal's greatest blues guitarist, Mukti Shakya.

Lastly we thank the Nepali blues fans who came to our shows, had heard our music and seen our videos through via the internet - having you sing along with our songs was the greatest compliment and we are honoured to have shared our music with you all.


On behalf of the band and the team, thank you Nepal!


Mike Garner