http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/AnnaOldfield/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from AnnaOldfield en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:25:37 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:25:37 +0000 Weekend on my ownOn the weekend between the old group leaving and the new volunteersrsquo arrival nobody was up to much really but I couldnrsquot bear the thought of staying in the house. I decided to take a bus and see where I ended up with a vague aim of heading towards a ruined temple which according to Lonely Planet resembles Angor Wat. The first bus took me to Dharamsala bus station where http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Kangra-Valley/blog-356842.html Since my last blog the previous volunteers has left and the new group arrived. At Malainta we have two new guys Scottish Chris in Daycare and English gentleman Patrick down at the school. In fact as is the way of the world I mentioned to Patrick he reminded me of Freddie who it turned out hersquod met in Paris and spent some time with. Wersquove had a good time introducing them to India http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Kangra-Valley/blog-356679.html A consistent theme of India seems to be contradictions and the idea that a different perception can entirely change the way something is viewed. Visiting the Jalianwala Bagh and then watching lsquoRang de Basantirsquo a film which showed how media presentation can entirely alter perspectives and the struggle against government corruption placing the concept in a modern perspective... The qu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Kangra-Valley/blog-352997.html Weekend blogLast weekend was pretty relaxed because people have been ill and out of the workplace so frequently we now have Saturday mornings off for lesson planning. I think a lot of it is the fact it goes from very hot to freezing in the course of one day and also because people eatdrink dodgy things most notably the dogbrain pakora one guy ordered last weekend bad quality meat and unfil http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Mcleod-Ganj/blog-350947.html Until my weekend in Amritsar although I'd seen some amazing things nothing had equaled the mountain views and the valley just outside my house here the scenery and the sunsets...We left for Amritsar in Punjab State on Friday afternoon driving past the usual eclectic scenery terraced fields dotted with brightly coloured figures temples shrines and a bizarre umbrellacovered totempole type o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Punjab/Amritsar/blog-350655.html India the first month Irsquove come to the conclusion that Irsquom not going to be able to keep this blog chronological or find time to include much detail and if I did Irsquod have no stories to tell so herersquos a review of my first month or sohellipIn Country Orientation After flying in to Delhi we had about a week of in country orientation talks and workshops on the country http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/blog-349968.html I've finally sat down and decided that today I will start my travel blog. I wish I'd started this sooner as I'd like to include Burundi and KL as well as other minor adventures but don't know if I'll vere find the time or motivation. Due to a rather problematic dialup connection and large images I may have to leave uploading photos until I get home though...I would like to introduce this as a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/blog-348198.html