Well, sort of. Our half of the group is in Ladakh, which is at around 10,000 ft. elevation. The four of us agree that this is one of the coolest, most amazing places we've ever been to, hands down.
To get here we took an overnight bus from McLeod Ganj to Delhi, which wasn't exactly fun, but was actually more comfortable than some (much longer and less nice) trips I've taken on the Greyhound bus. We got to Delhi and our favorite hotel, the Shelton, in early morning, took naps, and set out for our day. We went to the Baha'i Lotus Temple, which was pretty spectacular. It's designed by the same person who designed the Sidney Opera House in Australia, and the Experience Music Project in Seattle, and the acoustics inside were mind-blowing! We sat inside the Lotus for a bit, heard some prayers and a woman singing this amazing song that seemed to reverberate all through the temple. After the temple, we went to go see a movie (Monsters Vs. Aliens) which was hilariously ridiculous, and ate at Ruby Tuesday's, which I would not recommend doing in India!
The next morning we got up super early for our flight to Leh, the main city in Ladakh. It was short, but one of the most beautiful flights ever! Looking out the window, once we got out of the smog of Delhi and up over the mountains, there were high, defined snow-covered peaks as far as the eye could see. It was a pretty awesome experience flying over the Himalayas!
After our arrival we spent the first two days exploring the city of Leh. It's super quiet and clean, and there are awesome trees. The people are so friendly. It is really like nowhere else in the world, at all. I don't know if words would do it justice. Ladakh was an isolated place, with almost no contact from civilization until recently (maybe within the last fifty years or something? I watched a video about it seven years ago, can't really remember the specifics), and is in the northernmost Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir. The elevation makes it pretty cold at night, but warm and toasty during the day. It's now a heavily touristed place, but we are here before all of that begins for the year, which is pretty nice.
Yesterday, we went with two other travelers we've met (one from France and one from Israel) to Pangong Lake. To get there we drove through a snow-covered pass on the third highest motorable road in the entire world. It was breath-taking, driving through soooo many mountains like that. As Karen put it, it felt like we were driving through a painting. And the elevation was insane. We were at 17,586 ft! We stopped for a bathroom break, and the bathroom was actually covered in frozen pee! This was at an Indian army stop, and they had tea and (disgusting, supposedly boiled) water for us to fill up on. We drove through lots of checkpoints and made our way to lower ground to the lake, which was pretty deserted, and still a bit frosty at some parts. The lake is right on the border of Tibet, as in a quarter of the lake actually belongs to Tibet, and so we walked/drove to the point, also called the Line of Actual Control, which was pretty much deserted and uneventful. It was cool to know we were that close to Tibet, that now makes two borders we've been super close to.
We headed back on a wild ride through the same snowy passes and back down to Leh, at which point 10,000 ft felt like nothing. On the way back we had some English pronunciation lessons with our Israeli friend which I can't repeat on this blog but which Karen caught on video. Never-ending laughs.
When we arrived back in Leh, we watched a parade for Tenzin Gyatso, the fifteenth Llama, as it was his birthday.
Today we're going to a palace that's up in the mountains and possibly to a monastery as well, and might visit the Tibetan Medical and Astrology Center where our friend Norbu's sister's husband works. I can't wait to check it out!
Tomorrow we are headed to the Nubra Valley for a few days and nights. To get there we will be on THE highest motorable road in the entire world! It's going to be an adventure. While there we're going to do some trekking and camping. Desmond still has his cast on, so he and I might ride horses instead of hike so we can keep up. Oh, and my glasses got broken while being tossed around in the back of the jeep on the ride yesterday, so that is a bummer, but we're going to see if we can make them last a few more days.
Our homestay is awesome, in beautiful rooms with an awesome family, who cooks us delicious Ladakhi meals and makes some of the best tea we've had in India. We've only felt really minor altitude affects (minor headaches and lightheadedness) and really wish the other half of our group was with us to be experiencing this most amazing place. All of us have talked about wanting to come back someday.
That's all for now, I'm sure we'll have more to report about our adventures after we return from the Nubra Valley.
~Chrysanthemum
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Varanasi, one billion degrees
SO!
we just finally landed in Varanasi
the previously lush land of FAR too many people
is now dusty and deserted.
although still amazing.
we are currently staying in the plushest and poshest hotel any of us have stayed in, while in india
it is AIR CONDITIONED!!!!!!!!!!
let me repeat that AIR CONDITIONED!!!!!!!!!!!
and it is so hot here that nothing could be finer
except perhaps attractive people fanning us with palm branches
but that just didn't fit into our budget.
we do have to say that we miss the other half of our group during this most rouge of traveling times.
and nina too!
its strange having this separation but traveling is far easier in small groups!
we miss you crazy guys and gals
hope free travel isnt kicking youre arses!
peace out from Varanasi!!
~Swamp Butt
we just finally landed in Varanasi
the previously lush land of FAR too many people
is now dusty and deserted.
although still amazing.
we are currently staying in the plushest and poshest hotel any of us have stayed in, while in india
it is AIR CONDITIONED!!!!!!!!!!
let me repeat that AIR CONDITIONED!!!!!!!!!!!
and it is so hot here that nothing could be finer
except perhaps attractive people fanning us with palm branches
but that just didn't fit into our budget.
we do have to say that we miss the other half of our group during this most rouge of traveling times.
and nina too!
its strange having this separation but traveling is far easier in small groups!
we miss you crazy guys and gals
hope free travel isnt kicking youre arses!
peace out from Varanasi!!
~Swamp Butt
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Rogue Travel Begins (aka Free Travel)
Ok, lets get down to business.
We finished our time at Deer Park, doing our volunteer work, meditating, hiking, watching sunsets, sitting in the sun and finding a bit of a haven from the madness of India. The boys, aided by Willa, Chrys and Hilary, made a compost system. All in a days work. Karen made a huge statue out of trash for Earth Day. Some of the projects were really far reaching and demanding, but we still did get a lot done, which they were grateful for. Most of us were pretty sad to leave the calm and beautiful confines of Bir Colony, especially me.
Then on to McLeod Ganj, home of the one and only; His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. We stayed with Tibetan families, our Amalas (moms), Pallas (dads) and whatever kids they had. It was so nice to be in a home, even though our Amalas were really protective. It was out of love. We all got stuffed with excellent Tibetan food and watched a lot of Hindi or Chinese soap operas. Some of us (aka Hilary) got really into them. We took classes of various kinds. Yoga, massage, Reiki, and jewelry making. It was so strange to go a day or two without seeing the whole crew. It made me realize just how much time we spend with one another. We did check out the Carpe Diem restaurant, which lived up to its reputation as being pretty great. There's a lounge area with an insane view of snow-capped mountains (one of which Andrew slept on to celebrate his birthday). And a sign that says "no outside food or drinks. no hashish or drugs." hmmmmmmm.. I think, though, we all kind of grew tired of the tourist-y nature of McLeod Ganj and Dharamsala. So many many many Westerners.
The Carpe Diem India family/tribe is now far flung to three different corners (not really corners) of the country. In a last minute turn of events, Willa Rose, Graham, Hilary, and Andrew are going back to Varanasi for free travel. Its going to be over 100 degrees every day, but they were itching to return. Hilary is going to do some serious sitar work. Andrew is probably going to bathe in the Mama Ganga (no fear, just do it!). Desmond, Ben, Chrys, and Karen are going to Ladakh where they are going to get personally shown around by our friend Norbu's sister. Des said he found archery and hunting there and he's been wanting to do some damage, even with his cast, which is now new and fiberglass. They are going to get themselves into some unbelievable trekking, I think. And as for me, as of sunset last night I am technically no longer affiliated with Carpe Diem. I realized that the peace of Deer Park, the incredible beauty of the Kangra Valley (and the opportunity to paraglide) were all too worthwhile to ignore and tomorrow I am going back to spend a few weeks meditating and what have you. Everyone was really supportive of my decision and I'm really grateful for that. So, for whatever reason and in whatever place, we've pretty much all gone rogue in our own ways.
I think that's all for now. All you free-travelers/turkeys/party people/whatever else Drew calls you: i miss you already, but in the happy kind of way. Make some bad decisions. Have adventures. Live it up. I love you all. Thank you for everything.
Word.
Nina
ps. I don't think I'll eat the Spam. Sorry guys. Maybe if we all find each other again in the real world, we'll bust it open and have a feast. That's pretty much the only way. Thanks, though. And don't YOU forget "do not be afraid of greatness" as the can states.
pps. now i really am done. peace out.
We finished our time at Deer Park, doing our volunteer work, meditating, hiking, watching sunsets, sitting in the sun and finding a bit of a haven from the madness of India. The boys, aided by Willa, Chrys and Hilary, made a compost system. All in a days work. Karen made a huge statue out of trash for Earth Day. Some of the projects were really far reaching and demanding, but we still did get a lot done, which they were grateful for. Most of us were pretty sad to leave the calm and beautiful confines of Bir Colony, especially me.
Then on to McLeod Ganj, home of the one and only; His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. We stayed with Tibetan families, our Amalas (moms), Pallas (dads) and whatever kids they had. It was so nice to be in a home, even though our Amalas were really protective. It was out of love. We all got stuffed with excellent Tibetan food and watched a lot of Hindi or Chinese soap operas. Some of us (aka Hilary) got really into them. We took classes of various kinds. Yoga, massage, Reiki, and jewelry making. It was so strange to go a day or two without seeing the whole crew. It made me realize just how much time we spend with one another. We did check out the Carpe Diem restaurant, which lived up to its reputation as being pretty great. There's a lounge area with an insane view of snow-capped mountains (one of which Andrew slept on to celebrate his birthday). And a sign that says "no outside food or drinks. no hashish or drugs." hmmmmmmm.. I think, though, we all kind of grew tired of the tourist-y nature of McLeod Ganj and Dharamsala. So many many many Westerners.
The Carpe Diem India family/tribe is now far flung to three different corners (not really corners) of the country. In a last minute turn of events, Willa Rose, Graham, Hilary, and Andrew are going back to Varanasi for free travel. Its going to be over 100 degrees every day, but they were itching to return. Hilary is going to do some serious sitar work. Andrew is probably going to bathe in the Mama Ganga (no fear, just do it!). Desmond, Ben, Chrys, and Karen are going to Ladakh where they are going to get personally shown around by our friend Norbu's sister. Des said he found archery and hunting there and he's been wanting to do some damage, even with his cast, which is now new and fiberglass. They are going to get themselves into some unbelievable trekking, I think. And as for me, as of sunset last night I am technically no longer affiliated with Carpe Diem. I realized that the peace of Deer Park, the incredible beauty of the Kangra Valley (and the opportunity to paraglide) were all too worthwhile to ignore and tomorrow I am going back to spend a few weeks meditating and what have you. Everyone was really supportive of my decision and I'm really grateful for that. So, for whatever reason and in whatever place, we've pretty much all gone rogue in our own ways.
I think that's all for now. All you free-travelers/turkeys/party people/whatever else Drew calls you: i miss you already, but in the happy kind of way. Make some bad decisions. Have adventures. Live it up. I love you all. Thank you for everything.
Word.
Nina
ps. I don't think I'll eat the Spam. Sorry guys. Maybe if we all find each other again in the real world, we'll bust it open and have a feast. That's pretty much the only way. Thanks, though. And don't YOU forget "do not be afraid of greatness" as the can states.
pps. now i really am done. peace out.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
deer park
hey there party people-
After a long week of traveling we have finally made it to Deer Park in Bihar colony. There is a lot to recap since our last post was from sikkim. So here is goes...
From sikkim we took a taxi to darjeeling. Darjeeling was pretty rainy and cold, but we tried to make the best out it. We visited the tibetan self-help center where they sell hand made products (shawls, shoes, coats, hats etc.) for tibetan refugees. We got to see them sow leather shoes, spin wool and weave carpets, which was awesome. Another fun group activity was catching the sunrise over the himalayas from tiger hill. We got up at 4:00 in the morning to make it to tiger hill before sunrise, which we pulled off easliy (performing). Willa did her infamous introduciton to our taxi driver which got everyone laughing and has kept us laughing to this day. When we got there, however, there were tons of tourists and the sun was lost behind a haze of fog and rain- double bummer. We managed to enjoy oursleves anyways. The sun peeped out for a breif moment and we were all satisfied with that little glipse of heaven. The taxi ride back was great- we listened to a cassette tape tittled peacock and pretty much jammed out the rest of the ride home. It seems like Darjeeling just flew by and we were already planning our way back to delhi to head to amritsar.
We took a 2.5 hour taxi ride to the airport which was pretty uneventful. When we got to the airport it turns out they wouldn't let drew take his peanutbutter and nutella on the plan so we all hoovered it down at the security checkpoint... huge sugar buzz for the three hor flight to delhi. The flight was uneventful as well. When we got into delhi we headed back to our very first indian home, the Shelton Hotel. We were all amazed at how different everything felt. We don't know if the city had actually calmed down a bit or if we just weren't phased by it anymore... either way we all noticed a change. We spent the night and then woke up for an early train to Amritsar to see the world famous golden temple.
The train ride was long, but enjoyable. We got into amritsar late afternoon and quickly settled in and grabbed some grub. The next night we headed to the golden temple for an out of this world experience. The temple was huge and absolutely amazing. It felt like we were stepping into a time warp. A part of the sikh religion is they don't turn anyone away... which means this temple is always packed with people. It's said that the kitchen serves anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 people a day (24 hour service too!). The dinning experience was crazy. We all grabbed plates and were hearded into a long hallway were they let you into a dinning hall that have long matts laid down on floor for you to sit and eat on. We were pretty much the only white people there so we definitely attracted alot of attention. All throughout the night people came up to us to talk and to ask us questions. Many of the men there asked us to find them some good american wives! so funny. Their curiosity and friendliness grew tiresome and a bit frustrating when it came time to sleep because they wouldn't leave. Eventually we got the point across and laid our heads to rest in time for a few horus of shut eye. Some of us just decided to give up on the idea of sleep all together and pulled an all nighter. The next morning the group decided to split up- healf waited to stay another night at the golden temple and the other half wanted to head out to deer park. So we went out different ways and began a long a crazy day of traveling to Bihar Colony. The group that left first got to deer park later that night after a 6hour cattle-like train ride and a few more long hours in a taxi . We were grateful for deer park's hospitality and flexibilty as well as thier dry, warm beds. The rest of the group joined a day later, tired and exhausted
from their travels. Once the group was reunited, we went about planning our days at deer park. As a group we decided to spend ouur mornings (9-12) on volunteer work, which includes earth day preparations, ecology survey, organic gardening and building a compost. The afternoons are off, giving us free time for whatever we want to do (going to town, checking emial, hiking, reading, meditating... anything is possible). Then at 4:30 we have meditation class with a deer park staff member, Malitas, for about an hour. We've had two classes so far, that were focused on basic sitting positions and breathing techniques. Today, we are going to try out walking meditation, which sounds awesome. All in all, Deer Park has been a sancutary for all of us- mentally, physically and emotionally. namaste, graham
After a long week of traveling we have finally made it to Deer Park in Bihar colony. There is a lot to recap since our last post was from sikkim. So here is goes...
From sikkim we took a taxi to darjeeling. Darjeeling was pretty rainy and cold, but we tried to make the best out it. We visited the tibetan self-help center where they sell hand made products (shawls, shoes, coats, hats etc.) for tibetan refugees. We got to see them sow leather shoes, spin wool and weave carpets, which was awesome. Another fun group activity was catching the sunrise over the himalayas from tiger hill. We got up at 4:00 in the morning to make it to tiger hill before sunrise, which we pulled off easliy (performing). Willa did her infamous introduciton to our taxi driver which got everyone laughing and has kept us laughing to this day. When we got there, however, there were tons of tourists and the sun was lost behind a haze of fog and rain- double bummer. We managed to enjoy oursleves anyways. The sun peeped out for a breif moment and we were all satisfied with that little glipse of heaven. The taxi ride back was great- we listened to a cassette tape tittled peacock and pretty much jammed out the rest of the ride home. It seems like Darjeeling just flew by and we were already planning our way back to delhi to head to amritsar.
We took a 2.5 hour taxi ride to the airport which was pretty uneventful. When we got to the airport it turns out they wouldn't let drew take his peanutbutter and nutella on the plan so we all hoovered it down at the security checkpoint... huge sugar buzz for the three hor flight to delhi. The flight was uneventful as well. When we got into delhi we headed back to our very first indian home, the Shelton Hotel. We were all amazed at how different everything felt. We don't know if the city had actually calmed down a bit or if we just weren't phased by it anymore... either way we all noticed a change. We spent the night and then woke up for an early train to Amritsar to see the world famous golden temple.
The train ride was long, but enjoyable. We got into amritsar late afternoon and quickly settled in and grabbed some grub. The next night we headed to the golden temple for an out of this world experience. The temple was huge and absolutely amazing. It felt like we were stepping into a time warp. A part of the sikh religion is they don't turn anyone away... which means this temple is always packed with people. It's said that the kitchen serves anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 people a day (24 hour service too!). The dinning experience was crazy. We all grabbed plates and were hearded into a long hallway were they let you into a dinning hall that have long matts laid down on floor for you to sit and eat on. We were pretty much the only white people there so we definitely attracted alot of attention. All throughout the night people came up to us to talk and to ask us questions. Many of the men there asked us to find them some good american wives! so funny. Their curiosity and friendliness grew tiresome and a bit frustrating when it came time to sleep because they wouldn't leave. Eventually we got the point across and laid our heads to rest in time for a few horus of shut eye. Some of us just decided to give up on the idea of sleep all together and pulled an all nighter. The next morning the group decided to split up- healf waited to stay another night at the golden temple and the other half wanted to head out to deer park. So we went out different ways and began a long a crazy day of traveling to Bihar Colony. The group that left first got to deer park later that night after a 6hour cattle-like train ride and a few more long hours in a taxi . We were grateful for deer park's hospitality and flexibilty as well as thier dry, warm beds. The rest of the group joined a day later, tired and exhausted
from their travels. Once the group was reunited, we went about planning our days at deer park. As a group we decided to spend ouur mornings (9-12) on volunteer work, which includes earth day preparations, ecology survey, organic gardening and building a compost. The afternoons are off, giving us free time for whatever we want to do (going to town, checking emial, hiking, reading, meditating... anything is possible). Then at 4:30 we have meditation class with a deer park staff member, Malitas, for about an hour. We've had two classes so far, that were focused on basic sitting positions and breathing techniques. Today, we are going to try out walking meditation, which sounds awesome. All in all, Deer Park has been a sancutary for all of us- mentally, physically and emotionally. namaste, graham
Monday, March 30, 2009
hello out there in bloggerworld,
This is one of the old farts here in India, Andrew, checking in. "Hello?! Can you hear me? Is this thing on?" Crazy, crazy, cyber-bloggerworld...
anyways, I just wanted to pass on a few informational websites for any and all who may be interested. I am always subjecting the group to random articles and websites about myriad hot topics, so I figured I would spread the love onto you. As you may know, we have spent the last two+ weeks in the amazing northern state of Sikkim, which is surrounded by Nepal, Tibet (China), Bhutan, and the Indian state of West Bengal to the south. Here in this tiny, mountainous state, there are many pressing issues that the land and it's people face. One of which, is the issue of large government sponsored hydroelectric projects on some of the most wild rivers around, in some of the most pristine environments, in the homelands of some of the oldest and original inhabitants of the area. While progress is not necessarily a bad thing (I am not about to dive into a philosophical rant or debate), many people and the environment in the local area are being effected by these projects. And it would appear, at least from our view, mostly in a negative way.
As the post on the 'weeping sikkim' blogspot (see below) quotes the timeless Cree prophecy:
"Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."
Here are some websites to check out for more information. I hope you are all well, and many thanks for sharing with us in this amazing experience...
http://weepingsikkim.blogspot.com/
...Peace, love and understanding...
Trekkin'
Hey everyone, Chrys here, reporting for blog duty.
Since we last corresponded, our group went on a five-day Himalayan Trek. The night before we left, we got a photo preview of last semester's trek, from our main man Arthur who coordinated all of our activities while in the state of Sikkim.
But before we left, there was a little misfortune as a result of the soccer game, described in the post by Ben and Willa Rose. During the game, Desmond hurt his foot, and so when the group left on Monday morning, he stayed behind with trip leader Andrew to get an x-ray. He found out his foot was broken, got a cast and a set of crutches and is healing quickly. Because of the injury though, Desmond and Andrew stayed behind, hung out, ate great food at our homestay with Sherap's family, watched thunderstorms and went to the gym where they dbefreind the three-tdime Mr. Sikkim champion!
Meanwhile, the rest of us took a long drive up into the moutains. It took pretty much all of the first day. We stayed in a small village, that was actually home to the sisters of our homestay family. We ate great food and enjoyed the village but were a little saddened that the villagers kept themselves separate from us adn didn't sit down to eat with us = we were hoping for a more in-depth cultural exchange. There was a cool rooftop there where we were staying, and we watched thunderstorms and later, were able to see the stars, so freakin' clearly. Being up in the Himalayas was magical.
The next day we did some light hiking around the village, past a school and up to a monastery. While there, we goofed off, and demonstrated weird talents to our guides (mine was doing headstands), and started a fun trend of yelling as loud as we could into the mountains, trying to get an echo and just for the fun of it. We hiked back down, and had the rest of the day for a free day, and spent that night in the village again.
Oh I have to say that Ben played a big part in our dinner that night. We had some chickens from the village, and Ben was the one to actually kill the chickens that were then cooked up for our dinner. There was no electricity in the village at this point, so deverything was cooked over fires, and we ate outside and told riddles around a fire. Afterwards, there was a cultural exchange program where the villagers got together and sang some of their traditional Lepcha songs and dances. In return they wanted us to show them some song and dance from Americad, which was pretty much a disaster! We didn't find out about it until about an hour beforehand, and we had a hard time thinking of anything we had in common that we all knew! We ended up singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat in rounds, adn singing along to "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison and "Cecelia" by Simon & Garfunkel as they played on an iPod with portable speakers! Like I said, it was pretty embarrassing, but it gave some people a pretty good laugh. Then Karen and Graham did a hilarious skit called "Amelia" which, if you ask me, stole the show!
Day three started with a short drive, some very easy hiking, basically up a road pretty dmuch, a stop for lunch on the side of the trail, and then a trail up to another village, where tents were pitched for us and we spent the night. A lot of the other members of the group were much faster, but for those who are reading this and don't know, I am visually-impaired, so the hiking was a bit more challenging for me. As others went on ahead, stopping periodically so we could catch up, I hiked more slowly, with group leader Karen, and with Pema, brother of our homestay host Sherap, who helped guide me and make sure I didn't fall or slip. Most of the time we were walking on narrow uphill trails, rocky and muddy at times, on the sides of cliffs. There was one time that we all stopped, and I stepped forward to take a picture, not realizing at all that I was on a cliff (it just didn't look like one at all to me, even after I was told it was later on) and started slipping. Luckily Karen and Pema were to the rexcue. I also used trekking poles (procured by Arthur) which made a huge difference in the hiking.
So we arrived at the village in late afternoon, and it had started to rain. We hung out in our tents and I did numerology readings for everyone present, then we went to dinner, where again the villagers ate separately from us and we felt like we didn't get to really know them, then hung out by a fire and went to bed. It was pretty cold and wet.
We woke up on Day Four to rain, thunder and more rain. The plan was to hike down to where we had been dropped off the day before and then either do another steep hike to another village, or go back to the village we spent the first two nights at. Group consensus was to go back and forgo the other hike, because of the weather. Our tents were practically in moats! So after packing up, we set off down the way we had come, in the pouring rain and ongoing thunderstorms, and ended up hiking through some thick clouds all the way. In the slippery wetness, I was even slower than usual, and hiking downhill was a lot harder than hiking up, at least visually, so it was a bit slow-going, but Karen, Pema and I plodded through, rescuing each other periodically from slips and falls. We were again on the edges of cliffs on narrow paths, soaking wet and cold. It sounds kind of miserable and probably was to some of our group members, and definitely wasn't ideal condition for anyone. I felt like we would never, ever reach the road, but then we finally did, and still had aways to walk. We actually ended up walking way past our original drop off point, and ate lunch at a pavillion near a waterfall. It was a long, wet day of hiking, we didn't have lunch until after 4pm, but we all arrived in one piece, and I felt awesome just for having completed the hike. Ask anyone in the group, I was pretty giddy and saucy after that!
Our main ambassador Snoop (aka Sanchen) drove us back to the village with his usual door to door serviced, and we spent our final night in the village. This time they did have electricity, and I actually kinda missed having everything by candles. The next day we packed up for the long drive back to our homestay with Sherap.
Back there, at HQ, we had a few days to do laundry, write articles for the local Sikkim paper, spend time with Sherap and family, dhang out in the town of Gangtok and prepare for our next adventure. On our last night, after having great meals prepared for us for so long, a few in our group, namely Karen, Nina, Desmond and Ben prepared an American meal for our host family. We had cheeseburgers, mashed potatoes, pumpkin soup, delicious veggies and improvised mac & cheesed. Sherap, Choden, Pema & Co claimed the meal was "totally awesome!" and said they were in Little America.
Yesterday morning, after giving gifts to all the people we had made connections with while in Sikkim, and a heartfelt goodbye, we piled into a taxi, (and spent a long time piling all our stuff on top) and took off for Darjeeling, where we arrived last night. THe adventure never ends.
So, stay tuned for the next update!
Since we last corresponded, our group went on a five-day Himalayan Trek. The night before we left, we got a photo preview of last semester's trek, from our main man Arthur who coordinated all of our activities while in the state of Sikkim.
But before we left, there was a little misfortune as a result of the soccer game, described in the post by Ben and Willa Rose. During the game, Desmond hurt his foot, and so when the group left on Monday morning, he stayed behind with trip leader Andrew to get an x-ray. He found out his foot was broken, got a cast and a set of crutches and is healing quickly. Because of the injury though, Desmond and Andrew stayed behind, hung out, ate great food at our homestay with Sherap's family, watched thunderstorms and went to the gym where they dbefreind the three-tdime Mr. Sikkim champion!
Meanwhile, the rest of us took a long drive up into the moutains. It took pretty much all of the first day. We stayed in a small village, that was actually home to the sisters of our homestay family. We ate great food and enjoyed the village but were a little saddened that the villagers kept themselves separate from us adn didn't sit down to eat with us = we were hoping for a more in-depth cultural exchange. There was a cool rooftop there where we were staying, and we watched thunderstorms and later, were able to see the stars, so freakin' clearly. Being up in the Himalayas was magical.
The next day we did some light hiking around the village, past a school and up to a monastery. While there, we goofed off, and demonstrated weird talents to our guides (mine was doing headstands), and started a fun trend of yelling as loud as we could into the mountains, trying to get an echo and just for the fun of it. We hiked back down, and had the rest of the day for a free day, and spent that night in the village again.
Oh I have to say that Ben played a big part in our dinner that night. We had some chickens from the village, and Ben was the one to actually kill the chickens that were then cooked up for our dinner. There was no electricity in the village at this point, so deverything was cooked over fires, and we ate outside and told riddles around a fire. Afterwards, there was a cultural exchange program where the villagers got together and sang some of their traditional Lepcha songs and dances. In return they wanted us to show them some song and dance from Americad, which was pretty much a disaster! We didn't find out about it until about an hour beforehand, and we had a hard time thinking of anything we had in common that we all knew! We ended up singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat in rounds, adn singing along to "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison and "Cecelia" by Simon & Garfunkel as they played on an iPod with portable speakers! Like I said, it was pretty embarrassing, but it gave some people a pretty good laugh. Then Karen and Graham did a hilarious skit called "Amelia" which, if you ask me, stole the show!
Day three started with a short drive, some very easy hiking, basically up a road pretty dmuch, a stop for lunch on the side of the trail, and then a trail up to another village, where tents were pitched for us and we spent the night. A lot of the other members of the group were much faster, but for those who are reading this and don't know, I am visually-impaired, so the hiking was a bit more challenging for me. As others went on ahead, stopping periodically so we could catch up, I hiked more slowly, with group leader Karen, and with Pema, brother of our homestay host Sherap, who helped guide me and make sure I didn't fall or slip. Most of the time we were walking on narrow uphill trails, rocky and muddy at times, on the sides of cliffs. There was one time that we all stopped, and I stepped forward to take a picture, not realizing at all that I was on a cliff (it just didn't look like one at all to me, even after I was told it was later on) and started slipping. Luckily Karen and Pema were to the rexcue. I also used trekking poles (procured by Arthur) which made a huge difference in the hiking.
So we arrived at the village in late afternoon, and it had started to rain. We hung out in our tents and I did numerology readings for everyone present, then we went to dinner, where again the villagers ate separately from us and we felt like we didn't get to really know them, then hung out by a fire and went to bed. It was pretty cold and wet.
We woke up on Day Four to rain, thunder and more rain. The plan was to hike down to where we had been dropped off the day before and then either do another steep hike to another village, or go back to the village we spent the first two nights at. Group consensus was to go back and forgo the other hike, because of the weather. Our tents were practically in moats! So after packing up, we set off down the way we had come, in the pouring rain and ongoing thunderstorms, and ended up hiking through some thick clouds all the way. In the slippery wetness, I was even slower than usual, and hiking downhill was a lot harder than hiking up, at least visually, so it was a bit slow-going, but Karen, Pema and I plodded through, rescuing each other periodically from slips and falls. We were again on the edges of cliffs on narrow paths, soaking wet and cold. It sounds kind of miserable and probably was to some of our group members, and definitely wasn't ideal condition for anyone. I felt like we would never, ever reach the road, but then we finally did, and still had aways to walk. We actually ended up walking way past our original drop off point, and ate lunch at a pavillion near a waterfall. It was a long, wet day of hiking, we didn't have lunch until after 4pm, but we all arrived in one piece, and I felt awesome just for having completed the hike. Ask anyone in the group, I was pretty giddy and saucy after that!
Our main ambassador Snoop (aka Sanchen) drove us back to the village with his usual door to door serviced, and we spent our final night in the village. This time they did have electricity, and I actually kinda missed having everything by candles. The next day we packed up for the long drive back to our homestay with Sherap.
Back there, at HQ, we had a few days to do laundry, write articles for the local Sikkim paper, spend time with Sherap and family, dhang out in the town of Gangtok and prepare for our next adventure. On our last night, after having great meals prepared for us for so long, a few in our group, namely Karen, Nina, Desmond and Ben prepared an American meal for our host family. We had cheeseburgers, mashed potatoes, pumpkin soup, delicious veggies and improvised mac & cheesed. Sherap, Choden, Pema & Co claimed the meal was "totally awesome!" and said they were in Little America.
Yesterday morning, after giving gifts to all the people we had made connections with while in Sikkim, and a heartfelt goodbye, we piled into a taxi, (and spent a long time piling all our stuff on top) and took off for Darjeeling, where we arrived last night. THe adventure never ends.
So, stay tuned for the next update!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
ROCKIN IN SIKKIM
greetings earthlings. we are still IN-dia. we are staying with a very precious family. they have a little baby boy named chew-dock. and a smiley cute grandma, the main character is sharab. he is full of life, dancing all the time, and singing "its chill time its chill time. " choden is his wife and is so sweet and some what shy. sharab is allways there to break the silence with song and laughter. he is funny. they cook us amazingly healthy, nourishing, and tasty as @$#% meals. for example in the early bright morning we have coffee, tea, one hard boiled egg each, bread with PEANUT BUTTER! ( or homemade butter), butter biscuits, and then dinner is a variety of potatoes, chapaties, rice, dall, sometimes the delicasy of meat, veggies fresh from their one-foot-out-the-door garden.
TODAY! sharab put together a soccor match (fully lagit.) we had the full uniforms of neon orange jerseys with ballin white shorts and a big smile! we played against journalist who were good sports at the of 35. put up a good fight. had quite the local extravagent (cute kids) audience. it rained a bit. anyways to get to the point WEEE WOOONNN! at the end of the game we jammed out to some banging beats.( on the field mind you) and the people gave us each a gift of a velvet diety on a scroll.
last week we spent 4 days volunteering in a small village in the mountains, one hour drive and a 30 minute hike to a stream, where we repaired/built (i.e. hauling huge rocks and forming frustrating walls) channels to divert water (pani) towards the micro-hydro-electric building about the size of a truck. which goes to powering about 2 lightbulbs in each house in the village. we got the opportunity to stay a night in the village so we split up half the group and ate uuber spicey food. they were very nice to us and it was fun to get to know them and the way they live. BK had some real good times, good laughs playing soccer and trying to communicate on a very low level with local kids/teens. back up back up. first of all the ambassador SNOOP-A-LOOP, our driver to and fro volunteering location is just amazing. he has become one of us and helps out. we have a good time with him.
yesterday, we had an amazing day. we went to a well renound bontonist here in sikkim about 5 minutes from our friendly home. (accompanied by snoop, whos real name is sa-tim, but looks like the hindu version of snoop dog. connect the dots.) he showed us around his legendary, glorious, just drop dead spectacular plantation of flowers, citrusy fruits, plants, and smells. we had a awesome lunch with icecream and mandarien heavenly oranges. it was good. as you hopefully know yesterday was the spring equinox, so willa rose, chrys, and nina put together a lovely ritual with a candle in the middle of the circular group (on the roof) and lots of reflective (good) silence.
TODAY! sharab put together a soccor match (fully lagit.) we had the full uniforms of neon orange jerseys with ballin white shorts and a big smile! we played against journalist who were good sports at the of 35. put up a good fight. had quite the local extravagent (cute kids) audience. it rained a bit. anyways to get to the point WEEE WOOONNN! at the end of the game we jammed out to some banging beats.( on the field mind you) and the people gave us each a gift of a velvet diety on a scroll.
last week we spent 4 days volunteering in a small village in the mountains, one hour drive and a 30 minute hike to a stream, where we repaired/built (i.e. hauling huge rocks and forming frustrating walls) channels to divert water (pani) towards the micro-hydro-electric building about the size of a truck. which goes to powering about 2 lightbulbs in each house in the village. we got the opportunity to stay a night in the village so we split up half the group and ate uuber spicey food. they were very nice to us and it was fun to get to know them and the way they live. BK had some real good times, good laughs playing soccer and trying to communicate on a very low level with local kids/teens. back up back up. first of all the ambassador SNOOP-A-LOOP, our driver to and fro volunteering location is just amazing. he has become one of us and helps out. we have a good time with him.
yesterday, we had an amazing day. we went to a well renound bontonist here in sikkim about 5 minutes from our friendly home. (accompanied by snoop, whos real name is sa-tim, but looks like the hindu version of snoop dog. connect the dots.) he showed us around his legendary, glorious, just drop dead spectacular plantation of flowers, citrusy fruits, plants, and smells. we had a awesome lunch with icecream and mandarien heavenly oranges. it was good. as you hopefully know yesterday was the spring equinox, so willa rose, chrys, and nina put together a lovely ritual with a candle in the middle of the circular group (on the roof) and lots of reflective (good) silence.
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