SHE didn't like the place initially. There were no modern facilities and she couldn't even get a proper shower.
But on the night before she left the Nepalese village, Linda Liao found herself in tears.
The Taiwanese celebrity had spent a week at a facility called Future Village in a remote part of Nepal, teaching English to under-priviledged kids and showing them magic tricks.
The glamorous MTV VJ - who was runner-up in a sexiest woman poll conducted by Singapore lad mag FHM in 2006 - even washed the toilet.
Future Village, 100km north of Kathmandu, was set up by a visitor from Hong Kong in 2004 with a vision of educating Nepalese children for a better future.
Linda suddenly realised she had developed an affection for the mountainous area.
She had volunteered to step out of her comfort zone and go there in May for the Singapore TV show Stars For A Cause.
This is a show where celebrities join volunteer organisations to spread their love around the world.
The episode featuring Linda's trip will air on Channel U at 8pm on Thursday.
Despite all her complaints about the place, Linda found she was reluctant to leave when it was time to do so.
The Canada-educated singer and actress, who acted in Channel 5 shows like Chase and After Hours, told The New Paper that she suddenly had a feeling of losing something she never knew she had.
So what kept her going and climbing the hills? She said it was 'the children and something in the air'.
And strangely, two weeks after she returned from Nepal, the feeling of wanting to go back kicked in.
She said: 'It wasn't until I had spoken to all of my friends about the trip and relived the moments by telling stories to people that I realised I had changed for the better, all because of Future Village.
'I never knew how good it feels to give. I am learning more magic tricks, reading more books and practising more songs because I think one day, I'll show up at the village to 'give' myself again.'
Linda celebrated her 28th birthday at Future Village with a surprise party that got her crying.
The children gathered around her and sang her a birthday song, though not exactly the one we are all familiar with.
Birthday surprise
'Yet, without a clue of how the melody goes, they managed to put together the simplest random notes they could come up with to wish me a happy birthday.'
Despite her volunteer work, Linda admitted that she sometimes felt powerless and not good enough to make a difference and improve the things she saw.
She also wished she had taken more food, snacks, gifts and stationery after realising that the children needed those resources desperately.
On her blog, she wrote that their gift of a notebook costing a mere NT$7 (30 cents) could bring immeasurable joy to a Nepalese child.
'How I wished I had lugged 100kg of gifts for them,' she added.
Months after her return, she treasures things as simple as tap water.
In retrospect, she added: 'I have learnt a lot, not from people with greater knowledge or better abilities, but from children who taught me how to take on life, always with the best effort and always with love and care.'
Linda also declared, quite seriously, that she wants to be Asia's Angelina Jolie, not just doing voluntary work but even adopting orphans from other countries.
She told me she intends to do it not because she wants to follow Jolie but because 'it just seemed like the right thing to do'.
She added: 'Jolie inspires me and I will do what she did and more, differently. I am so fascinated by the world that I sometimes just cannot stop watching the Discovery Travel & Living channel.'
During the trip, Linda also visited the children's families and painted a wall of the school building.
The trip also gave her the very belated chance to relax and get in touch with herself.
However, she denied that the volunteer work stops when the camera stops rolling.
'I volunteered just the same with or without camera,' she said. 'A good deed comes in many forms. I could have just done it by putting change into donation boxes.
'However, I chose to do this because I believed that I will see and understand more with what's going on in the world. And only by doing so, I can become more useful and contribute to the world.'
Linda told The New paper she could never forget the sight of the children lingering around the school until it was so dark one could barely see.
'The magical feeling of being the focus of people's lives triggered me even more as a performing artiste. And I have never seen so many stars in front of me.'
This article was first published in The New Paper
