Dharamasala

The 10 hour bumpy local bus ride here has been worth it. I am in McCleod Ganj (near Dharamasala) and the atmosphere here is quite buzzy and pleasant. There are predominanatly Tibetan people/monks (who are just LOVELY), here as a result of Tibetans in Exhile in I think it was 49' but haven't done my homework yet(will find out soon all history no doubt). Looked out for the Dalai Lama, but he is in the Czeque Repub. at mo, so don't think will bump into him unless he gets back before I leave! There are many street venders selling amazing jewellery, shops with gorgeous clothes I feel like I could spend all my money here (but then would have to come home early!). There are also so many things/courses you can spend your time doing here, meditation, yoga, massage, cookery, painting, trekking... Climate is milder than Manali which is a pleasant surprise. I have also been reuninted for a couple of days with Mayaan(the girl I spent 10 days in Parvatti Valley with) which has been such a pleasant surprise as we get on so well and also another really lovely gal called Aurora who I met in Vashisht. Its nice to see familiar faces! I am going to do a meditation on the 2nd in Tushita a bit further up from here for ten days, and am looking forward to it. You stay where it is held and follow a routine of getting up early, meditation, yoga and from having spoken to others who have done this retreat, its a great way to attain a sense of peace and mellow the mind chatter...

Last Manali News

What a week! I had a brilliant one apart from two days of it where I actually began to want to come home because I felt so ill!

Monday and Tuesday I went into both schools (see pics-younger ones are from rajahstahn school and older ones are at the Buddhist school 5km away from Manali). I was attempting to teach English to both groups, but obviously different approches were required from the age groups!The older ones English was actually very good apart from the tenses (past/present/future) after assessing them, so I spent time working on that, and tried to make it more fun for them by putting them into teams and they gained points for getting it right, as learning correct tense is not the most stimulating of subjects to learn for 16 year olds. Anyway whilst all this was happening I had noticed that for the past few days my stools (for want of a better word) were not as healthy as one would expect (detail ends there). By Tuesday I was feeling nauseous and not enjoying my food. I felt progressively more sick as tuesday went by, took some herbal products to help, but to no avail. I had a banana for tea as I figured I should eat something even though I didn't feel like it. I went to bed, optimistically hoping I could 'sleep it off'. My body had other plans much to my dismay as by 3am I was throwing up. Very pleasant. I felt very sorry for myself at this point and decided I didn';t like India any more and wanted to come home to a land that didn't horribly give you belly bugs! HUMPH! so there.

Next day I couldn't do anything and felt crap as had to cancel the voluntary work in the schools. I ate nothing all day and slept until 4-m in the afternoon, still not hungry and weak cos I hadn't had any food I had some water and a rehydration sachet, and summoned up energy to go downstairs. Everything was too much, I could hear honking, indian men clearing their throats and burping and contemplated on the finer attributes of India. Finally I met God (well, it felt like it could have been to me), a canadian guy, who happened to have some 'belly bug' antibiotics which he gave to me after I had described my symptoms.Two antibiotics later and a day later I felt a bit better and had a little breakfast and managed not to bring it up. YIPPEE! The drugs were working. I slept more and got back in the schools Friday, though was disappointed to had missed a couple of days.The children did their role plays in English (the ones who were able to!) and we sang the ABC song. At the end of the day Dominique invited me to a party with the kids (as she was returning to France). We taught them a couple of circle games and we were lucky enough to get a stereo and played musical statues which was great (36 kids doing the indian dance-change lightbulb pat a dog) and we then had some food and performances of the ones who liked showing off some dances (see pics!). It was a nice way to close the week and I decided I liked India after all!! (just not when I am ill!)

By the way I am heading to Daramasala tonight leaving at 7pm, and looks like I have to get a local bus as the coach seems to have stopped running. 10 hours on a local bus should be fun!

Will try to update soon...

I can't believe my day today, its been quite full on but brilliant and inspiring. Dominique has really done some truly amazing things here in India, as well as setting up a school she is getting sponsors to help another school for children from the north and an orphanage right here on my doorstep in Vashisht. I spent the early afternoon in the school for nomad rajahastan children early afternoon(there are about 25 at present as some families have gone back to rajahstan), and we started doing scenarios in role play in Hindi, and my mission this weekend is to make them english scripts. Ideas for scenarios came from the children themselves. One scenario is ' Selling saffron to a customer, another is 'visiting the doctor' and finally ' getting a dress made for Diwali', which is incidently tommorow! English versions begin on Monday! I also tested out some of the resources I made for the children, and it went okay. No problem with CH words, just a few say ssss instead of SH! The childrens families live near the school under these plastic tents which is hard to imagine right now as its suddenly gotten cold and its been raining all day and doesn't look like its going to stop. Anyway, after this I went with Dominique to the other school I will be volunteering in every day after the first school for a couple of hours to help the older ones come to grips with their English beginning Monday. This is a Buddhist boarding school with children from Spiti Valley and Lahoul. There are a few classes of various age groups, and the building is quite basic and has no heating which can begin to be a problem soon apparently. I met the principle and the children briefly, but will establish more of an idea as to what to teach them when I meet them on Monday. Lastly on the way back (but not least!) we visited the orphanage close to me, and my heart melted. The kids were lovely and the 2 teachers had such big hearts, you could see it in their eyes. They only have 2 sponsors at the moment, (that is, you send money every month-minimal amount of 15 euros), and they are clothed fed and housed as needed. So I will be doing a mail shot soon to try to get 5 sponsors, Dominique will give the info soon. The other thing I found was that they had no reading books at all, so I am going to try to see if its poss to get some from schools I have worked in that are not being used and flown over here. Having been used to teaching in the UK, I feel there is so much to do for these kids, and how little they have is unbelieveable. Also, they are so so eager to learn, its incredible.

Thanks for reading this rant, just had to be done! Jxx

Some random pic moments

Caught in the moment!!!

The Adventure Continues

Back in Vashsisht after a great week away. We left last Monday and I returned here Wednedsday without Mayanne as she is off to Daramasala (though we will hook up again when I get there in a weeks time). Lake Rewalsar was another contrast to everywhere had been before. It is a predominantly Buddhist area and we stayed next to the monastary there. Loads of freindly monks were wandering about. The most incredible part of our stay was when went high above the town to these sacred caves, which had in them shrines of Buddha. Also a place for the monks to do their meditating. One of the caves has in it a footstep(see pic) which is said to belong to Padmasambhava. The view from here of Lake Rewalsar below was spectacular.

We found some Buddhist Nuns there who were really lovely but we had trouble conversing both being unable to speak each others language! They made us tea and we sat with them for a while. At this point, I began to notice and feel the calmness of the place. I also saw here a simplicity of life, and joy in the eyes of these people that needed very little to bring such contentment, bringing me to question my own life...(though I guess what you don't know, you don't miss).

Anyway am now back here in Vashisht, with my lovely tibetan freinds, and I met Dominique (french lady) again, who is in running this school in Manali for nomad children of rajasthan. I visited the school, and it is very very basic, and they have so few resources. I am volunteering there for a week, to help the teachers with some ideas and have spent a few hours making resources to teach english words and phonetics. Trying to find an artist to help illustrate the words! I never thought I would be using my Hindi Phrase book for this! I am today going to find out about getting some reading books. I will be spending a while at this school every day, and then I will spend a while at another school 5km away from Manali, in a Buddhist school to help the kids learn English, some of whom are being sponsored by Dominique.

By the way its suddenly cold here. I feel like I am at home.

PS: Tim that tape you gave me was a godsend. I now have ready made curtains to block out cold and light held up with the magic tape!

Learning about Indian Culture

DRIVING
The only way to overtake a vehicle on the road (if there is a road) is to hoot like crazy, then the person in fron will move out of the way, quite willingly. In England, we would consider this to be aggressive and a huge Road Rage ordeal would be had. Here hooting insanely is completely rational. In fact it is encouraged by the Indians, as most trucks and buses have written on their behinds, BLOW HORN!!!!

WORKING
In most cases it is the women who are doing all the hard work here (minus the higher classes). They do the farming harvesting, cooking, cleaning, childrearing etc etc. It is not a rare occurance to see women here carrying HUGE amounts of wheat or wood on their backs double bent while the men sit on corners smoking. Ahh this brings me to a memory I forgot to mention in Pulga! Mayanne and I met a local Village lady with baby on back and she was delighted to show us her field of beans and marjaurana(shocking I know to the European reader, but completely and totally normal here). After a long trek in the hills on some very narrow footpaths where on missed foot could lead to flying in the air off the mountains, we asked her if she smoked it and she said no, only the men smoked it, she harvested it(uhhuu)! Anyway, we ended up sharing the holding of her baby and helping her picking beans(though with less expertise and speed than she demonstrated). Quite therapeutic work I must say, but we had the choice to walk away if we wanted.

NB: I don't like to generalise-its not ALL men who do nought, I have seen the occasional bloke earning an honest keep.

Eating and toileting
Always shake hands and eat with the right hand and wash your bum after pooing with water and the left hand. That is unless you haven't got over the fact that you are a westerner and pay ridiculous amounts of money for toilet paper (in indian financial relativity).

Entertainment in the Himalaya
If you are a child, get a plank of wood, attach wheels to it and hey presto, you have a ready made vehicle to try and end your life on. The kids love it here. Wish I could join them, but am a bit too scared. Oh yeah, and don't forget about cricket and Kite flying.

Lake Mission

Well after a very relaxing few days in Pulga, we are heading to Lake Rewalsar near Mandi south of here tommorow. Ever since watching the film Himalaya (not a better place to watch it here, as I did in my guesthouse in Vashisht), I have had an absolute obsession to see a Lake in the Himalayas, and Lake Rewalser sounds beautiful and interesting(buddha in cave and apparently tibetan food-my favourite!). We are leaving tommorow morning for our 45 min walk back to nearest transport, then a bus to Bhuntar and then another bus to Mandi, then a jeep or something to the Lake

Watch this space..

Pulga view of himalaya (early evening from balcony!)

Here are the pics of an incredible evening, the light on the himalayas is just breathtaking. I almost expect a poster man to come and rip the picture in front of me down to replace it with advert and have to keep pinching self to make sure is real!

Onward Parvatti Bound

Wow third attempt. I hope this one works. Lesson one, patience is an esquisite gift in India!!
Please follow pics from bottom to top. Here are my lovely landlady and neighbour whom I mentioned before! My neighbor on left taught me about the beauty of communication without words! She is here also making the most incredible socks that keep your tootsies extremely warm in the himalaya night time climate! Its warm in the day but cold at night here and the high season is coming to a close.

Next I am on my way with my freind Mayanne who I met here in Manali. The next bus is boarding as usual in India!

When we got to Manikarn, we found a little place surrounded with colourful flags where Sikhs and Hindus come for pilgrimmage as there is a temple for each religion, and hot spring baths in which to bathe. We stayed here for 2 nights though didn't do much on first day as recovering from local bus journey and a slight head cold, with seats in back being our only option-perserverence was my lesson when we drove on roads with no surface. Also not looking at edge on the sharp turns was a useful strategy too!(see pic with rapids below, and pic of me and Mayanne) before heading on to (it should have been called Chillum more appropriately) Pulga, (so far the best has been saved till last) which is not actually in the guide, but a gorgeous little village with a little school, local folk and a few travellers off the beaten track. Its really peaceful and feels more India than tourist India. We had to walk 45 minutes as there is no transport here, which gives it a more remote village feeling! However there is internet here though not in Makaran which was more busy. All rules of logic do not apply.

Cant fit all pictures here so see next Post


Please see the beautiful views of the himalaya on the early eve! I am here now for a little while and we are planning on doing a little 3 hour trek with a guide soon, will update when can! PS Sorry not able to email everyone, but will always reply if you email me! xxx

PS I have been eating the most amazing food. I discovered tibetan food to be one of my favourites, though the indian grub is lush too. Been lucky so far, belly not been too bad for those who asked(thanks!!)!
PPS Indian people are great!

Manali Update!

You never know what will happen next here in India!!
I booked a coach to Daramasala as I felt it was time to move on, and then I met this really nice Isreali girl who is visiting a remote village on the Parvatti Valley route somewhere, and she invited me to join her, so I am! Luckiy here, cancelling coaches is not such a problem. So we leave Monday!

I am also about to contact a lead of a school of nomad children in Manali, so I will return here to follow this up before I move on to Daramasala(thanks for that Mumsey!)!

I have really bonded with my neighbours and next to my room today a local village lady invited me to her place for tea, and we had the most incredible discourse full of arm gestures and exaggerated facial expression as neither of us could understand each others language! Still, I managed to establish that she came from Lahoul, had one daughter and a bad head!!!

I visited Old Manali today which really was beautiful, full of classic wooden mountain houses. Also I found there a co-operative which make shawls. Shawls are very typical of the region between here and Manali, made from Angora, Yak and Sheep wool. Beautiful and incredibly warm too.

I have also been enjoying the Hot bath in the temple which is filled with the natural hot spring water every day. The womens bath is seperated from the mens and on one side are these taps, with the hot spring water gushing through and as the locals demonstrated to me on my first visit, you wash here (vigourously!!) and then at an extremely slow pace walk down the steps into this very hot bath on the other side. Some people don't like such heat, but I love it!! It is especially nice early morning or in the evening as it gets quite chilly here in the mountains.

I also have a local indian yoga teacher, who is incredibly strict! But a great teacher. He can do incredible postures that I can't ever imagine being able to do!

Well signing off now, will update on my adventures soon! xxx

Dushera Festival, Kullu.

Here are my pics from my day trip to Kullu 2 days ago. The Dushera festival lasts 7 days and is celebrating a story of Rama. It ends on the full moon (3 days away now I think). I had a mad trip on a motorbike which took an hour and a half and 7 lives! Felt like it on the turns anyhow!! The bikes pic is this mad wooden bowl thing which vehicles drive round in! One of the guy was doing all sorts of acrobatics on his bike (sitting in yogic pose not holding onto handles. and mad things like this!).

The beauty of the Himalayas!

Finally the pics work! This is a waterfall a ten minute climb away from me (hiking boots recommended!!) In Vashisht where I am staying at the mo.

Madness of Dehli

Here are my Dehli Pics!