From the Ashram to the Home of Many Tibetans

Namaste everyone!

We happily left Delhi long ago to journey to the wonderful land of Rishikesh/Laxman Jhulla, located right on the banks of the mighty Ganga. Our first train experience was quite luxurious, complete with padded individual seats, air conditioning, and food service. Once arriving in Laxman Jhulla, we all dispersed for accommodation hunting. Carrie and Amy found a lovely guesthouse on a side street off of a somewhat busier main road. While in Laxman Jhulla, we enjoyed a thrilling rafting adventure on the Ganga (with our guide, Isaac from Montana, who later met up with us for both lunch and a nighttime pooja). The following day, we hiked up to a riveting waterfall where many of us took the refreshing opportunity to splash around in the water. Our time in the city of Laxman Jhulla was short, as we left the next day to travel to the Phool Chatti Ashram. The ashram was an amazing experience for all of us. It was situated right on the Ganga (we were often able to swim during our free time) and was simply a beautiful, tranquil place to be. Daily, we woke at 5:30 am to meditate, chant mantras, and participate in yogic cleansing, breathing exercises, and morning yoga classes. Although we were told that breakfast would be incredibly bland, it was the highlight of the day for many of us. We enjoyed unlimited porridge, bananas, and tea (with as much sugar as we could possibly consume). After breakfast, we went on daily contemplative walks to unbelievable landscapes such as waterfalls, streams, and beaches. Lunch was just as satisfying as breakfast, with buckets of dal, supte, rice and chipati at our fingertips. Following lunch, we had interesting discussions with the Guru, more breathing exercises and afternoon yoga classes. As darkness fell upon the ashram, evening prayer and song sessions occured each night, followed by another scrumptious meal similar to that of lunch. Evening mediation was our final activity, often preparing us for a restful sleep (with the exception of Eva's insomnia). On our final days, we were graced with an evening bonfire and a morning fire ceremony. We said goodbye to our fellow ashram-ers and headed to the train station in Rishikesh. Our journey to McLeod began with a train ride (proceeded by downtime on the platform with cows and an obscene amount of flies). Our train was quite the experience: 10 hours with the 8 of us spread out throughout various compartments and seller after seller walking through the aisles offering cups of chai or small snacks. Some of us were able to sleep, some of us weren't, but we finally arrived in Chakki Bank at about 2:30 am. We then stuffed into a jeep that took us up to McLeod Ganj after a bumpy, swerving 3 hour ride. Finally, we were in McLeod, home to many Tibetan refugees and the Tibetan government in exile. We each were placed into a homestay with a Tibetan family, which we all currently LOVE. Our homestay families treat us like their own children, as they try give us warmer clothes before we leave the house, constantly refill our tea classes even if we're already full, and cook us delicious Tibetan meals. For most of us, this is just another amazing highlight of our trip. During the days, we are all participating in various internships and classes of our choice. The freedom we are allotted here is wonderful. Our days are filled with a wide variety of activities, such as jewelry making, cooking classes, art lessons, yoga, and volunteer work including teaching English to Tibetan refugees. We are all finding our time here extremely rewarding so far. We don't want to leave at the end of the week!

That's all for now...

-Ariel and Carrie

Back in Delhi and Getting Ready for Rishikesh

Hi All =]

We are back (and for the most part healthier thankfully) in Delhi after spending 5 glorious days trekking through Hemis National Park in the vast Himalayan mountain range. In what has been the highlight of the trip so far for many, we typically hiked a few hours each day while spending the rest of the time partaking in Himalayan homestays. The people we met and lived with briefly were very genuine and warm; and despite the language barrier, we were able to still determine where the bathroom was and inform them their food and tea was delicious. Briefly stopping in on these families' lives for a day at a time was a fun and educational experience. Along the way, some of us acquired culturally unique goods such as homespun yak wool and exquisite, hand-crafted copper spoons to bring home to....YOU! After these 5 days of trekking in the mountains that followed the banks of the Zanskar and Indus rivers, we returned to Leh to spend a night in a guest house before returning to Delhi. In a very sentimental moment for most of us (tears could be seen in Topher's eyes) we stopped in at SECMOL for one last round of tea and goodbyes for all. The next day we said our final goodbye to our amazing guide/mother/everything one would want in a host aka. Mama Kunzes and departed on an early flight granting us one last view of the majestic Himalayas before an abrupt arrival into the smoggy skies of Delhi. Soon, we will be heading to Rishikesh via train to do activities such as rafting on the Ganges, as well as a week of yoga and the accompanying ashram lifestyle. More updates to come soon. May peace and love grace all of you in your daily lives, despite the lack of our presence (and presents).

~Topher and Amy

Leh, Ladakh

Hey Hey Everyone!
Since the last post more than not of us have been rather sick with the altitude and other maladies. Things at SECMOL have been going great, playing games and getting to know the students better. Today we came into Leh around 10 and visited the Tibetan Children's Village (tibetchild.org). It's a very beautiful clean campus they have set up to house, and educate ~2000 children in family units of 20-25. The students range in age from barely older that toddlers to high school age. Many are orphans or their parents just cant provide for them. The village also accepts Ladakhi students from the surrounding area.
We've also visited several monastaries and Bhuddist temples. In a few days we are leaving SECMOL to go treking in the mountains.
Love and sunshine from the Himalayas!
Carrie

Jule from Ladakh

We arrived safely in Ladakh after a stunning plane ride, overlooking the Himalayan mountains. Although we had little sleep, there was no way we could close our eyes to the fantastic view of the sun rising over the snowcapped mountains. Once at the SECMOL campus, we were able to rest, meet the amazing students and begin to adjust to the high elevation of about 11,000 feet. For the most part our daily activities include eating all meals with the students, helping during work hour and with individual responsibilities, participating in the English conversation classes, and getting to know the students via volleyball (and various sports), dancing and day-to-day conversations. We have also been learning a little of the Ladakhi language. Right now we are wandering the streets of the town Leh which is about a half hour from SECMOL. The locals are generous and kind and we have really enjoyed learning about their culture and way of life.
Look out for more updates as we continue on our journey!
Jule,
Eva and Ariel

Safe and Sound

I wanted to post something immediately to let you all know that all of the students in all Carpe Diem groups are well, in good spirits, and bedding down for the night without incident. I'm sure some parents have noticed in the news that there've been some bomb blasts in Delhi and the leaders, in their safety-consciousness, have all checked in with me and had this to say:

hey Ethan,
just a quick note to let you know that we are all fine. in case you did not hear, there were 4 bomb blasts in delhi today - less than an hour ago. we have all the students here at the hotel - a little quarantine. nothing happened here in the pahar ganj where we're staying, but one bomb was at connaught place. we're just playing it safe. we will contact the embassy before heading out in the morning just to let them know we're well. sounds like a good night to do some sing-a-longs on the rooftop. or as leaders we can do bollywood interpretative dance. one never knows...

Hey All

Just wanted to say a quick hi. We made it safely to Delhi after several flight complications (making a stop in Canada). We are starting to explore the wonders of our first city in India after a delicious lunch on the rooftop of a restaurant overlooking the busy streets of Delhi. We miss you all and hope to hear from you. Namaste.
Topher, Amy, Carrie, Ariel, Eva, Nalin

Flight Delays

The group is doing fine and as we speak have all their luggage and some good meal vouchers from Cathay Pacific as they've had to make an unexpected stop over in Vancouver, Canada. There were some minor mechanical issues that caused the stopover and subsequent cancellation, but there's some good news. Everyone for INDIA and SHANTI that were booked on the Hong Kong leg have been rescheduled to depart at 3:10pm today on Cathay flight 839. They are scheduled to keep their existing reservation departing Hong Kong and arriving into Delhi on the 12th at 2:05 AM as shown on their regular tickets ... they will basically arrive into Delhi as scheduled, however missing out on the opportunity to explore Hong Kong.

I've just been on the phone with the Travel Consultant at Global Vision Travel and despite the unexpected hiccup, we both were extremely happy to have the pilot make the call to cancel the flight before being stuck over the Pacific ... this is yet another reason we love working with Cathay!

Yours,
Ethan Knight