Last Ladakhi snippets

---

Glad to hear that the postcards are getting through, with amazing speed. I was a bit dubious as to whether they would arrive as the postage is so cheap, and you hear accounts of people steaming the stamps off, so I would stand at the post office and insist the guy franked them infront of me. Mind you, I reckon they keep the postage costs down by not putting any glue on the stamps - so it's a tedious task at the post office gluing all the stamps on, with glue that varies from a watery mess to a thick gelatinous glob, with only a wooden stick to apply it.

After having had such a good haircut last time, I went back to the same barber's shop for a trim before leaving Leh. Unfortunately in his delight at seeing a return customer, the little guy got a bit carrried away - I think I got a special '2-for-the-price-of-1' (haircut) deal - it's not quite as severe a haircut as the Nuns have, but not far off! Still, it will be easy to manage while in Bhutan and will last for several months back home I reckon (and thereby save me a small fortune).

My last day at SECMOL was quite eventful - we made our volunteers movie and had a great laugh in doing so - I just wish I could be there to see the students reaction to it. (Hopefully Rodrigo will film that too and send me it). I bet they don't understand a word of our Ladakhi!

Then in the afternoon the students had their 'Presentation day' which various important people attended. The students and staff were all dressed up in traditional clothes and looked very handsome / beautiful. They all gave presentations about the responsibilities they've had for the last 3 months (i.e. the jobs around the campus). They spoke in Ladakhi, but had written out bullet points on flip-chart sheets in English, so we could just about follow what they were talking about. The presentations themselves dragged on for a while, but luckily were interspersed with them doing modern versions of traditional dances, which were very good. At the end the General Manager gave out traditional buddhist white silk scarves to a few honoured guests and they also gave one to me in thanks for my help at SECMOL - I was touched. After a really scrummy meal the students and staff then spent the rest of the evening dancing to modern pop music and I joined in. It was great to see them all dancing, boys and girls alike, having a great time and not being at all self concious (how many 16 year old boys would be seen dead on a dance floor in the UK?).

I'm sad to be leaving SECMOL, as I really enjoyed my time there, especially the last few weeks. It's a shame we didn't manage to get the pump improvements finished, and I'd really like to spend more time ensuring the students understand the maths. I'm already planning on when I can go back...

This morning I got up at 5.15am to catch a taxi to the airport. Luckily it was quite a chilly morning, as I was wearing 2 pairs of trousers, 3 blouses, and 2 coats in an effort to keep the weight of my baggage down! Leh airport security are strict about passengers not taking more than is absolutely necessary on as hand baggage, so my normal trick of having 10kgs as carry-on would not work. Luckily the weigh scales I'd used from the vegetable store at SECMOL must have been over-reading (I thought I had about 35kgs!) and the check-in staff were not bothered that I had 7kgs more than my allowance.

I arrived in Delhi to find that it is a National Holiday in memory of Ghandi, (today was his birthday), so most things were shut. I had hoped to get a new pair of spectacles, as I sat on mine and bent the right arm, so it hung at about a 45 degree angle past my ear. For weeks I've had a natty piece of thread attached to the arm which I looped over my ear, but the arm finally fell off the other day. My glasses actually sit on my face OK, but they are prone to falling off if I am not upright - I've had a few near misses in the long-drop toilets!

Tomorrow I've got to try and get my excess baggage to Nepal by whatever means possible (but not by wearing lots of clothes or I'll die of heat exhaustion at this end). I meet the others in Kathmandu, then we fly to Paro on Thursday, so no more blogs for three weeks while I trek in the mountains of Bhutan.

Ju-le, as the Ladakhis would say

Helen

---

Comments

[Trish]

Hi Helen, Enjoying your bloggs, sounds like you are having an amazing time. Hope the last trek went well. You are probably incredibly fit by now so I think I'll have to decline any invite to bike with you when you return home. I've sent you an e-mail about windsuring next year but not sure whether it went, let me know if you haven't recieved it. We are doing the usual stuff at home. We are going to a wedding in New York in Nov though, which we are really looking forward to although we're not particularly excited about the 8 hour flight with Amy. Love Trish and Tim