Well, I finally got to see some high mountains by booking the Everset flight at the last minute, so the weather didn't know I was going as my name wasn't on the ticket and consequently it behaved itself! I did have my doubts though, as it was very misty first thing in the morning (5.45am). We sat around for hours and hours at the domestic airport waiting for the visibility to impove and when we finally took off (11.50am!) it was still murky. However, as we rose above Kathmandu we suddenly got above the layer of smog into clear blue skies [View Full Entry]

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Many things in Bhutan were beautiful, except the weather - we had a lot of cloud on the days when we were supposed to see the 'most beautiful mountain in the world' (according to our Guide), and other big mountains and the like - I am beginning to think I'm jinxed about seeing views from high places! (maybe I shouldn't book the flight around Everest...) It is the complete opposite to Ladakh in that it is very green everywhere - and we found out why as it rained on many nights, but luckily only a few times during the day. However, [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Last week the staff & students of SECMOL embarked on a major DIY project - replacing the roof of the eating area adjacent to the kitchen. The original roof was constructed of 12ft poplar tree trunks spanning from the ends to one central beam, supported by a single column. On top of the trunks, at 90o, were laid lots of shorter, thinner, willow sticks. Over these was a layer of dried twigs for insulation finally topped with a thick layer of dried mud. The problem was that the trunks were too thin and too widely spaced, so the weight of 2-4ft [View Full Entry]

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Life is still going well in Ladakh, so here are a few snippets of the things I have been doing recently - After years of not calling myself an engineer at work, (in case someone asked me a technical question) I am happy to be considered an engineer in Ladakh - partly because it is too complicated to explain what a project manager is, but also because I realised that I do have quite a lot of practical engineering knowledge, so could possibly be of help to them. On the back of this ‘expertise’, I was invited on a trip to [View Full Entry]

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In the last few days I've seen lots of traditional Ladakhi culture during the Ladakh festival. It runs for 15 days from 1st September and is aimed at Tourists, although the Ladakhi people enjoy the events too. They have taken tourism on board in a big way, and don't seem to mind people sticking cameras right in their faces! They also seem to tolerate some Westerners walking round half naked, whereas the Ladakhi people find it offensive and keep themselves covered up. The festival started with a parade through the streets of Leh, with groups representing various villages/areas dressed up in [View Full Entry]

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I didn't race the mountain and went up it at snail's pace so it didn't defeat me, but there is no accounting for the weather... Catherine and I joined two others to do a four day trek to climb the local mountain, Stok Kangri, which is 6130m high. We had a Guide, a Cook, and a Donkey-man with about four donkeys to carry our heavy stuff. We trekked up stunning valleys of coloured rocks to a camp at about 4450m the first night (which was the full moon and perfectly clear), then to 'Base Camp' at 4900m for the second night. [View Full Entry]

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This week the SECMOL students went on a 6-day field trip to the Zanskar area, which involved 2 days on a bus each way, so I opted to go on a local trek with Catherine, another volunteer from Quebec. We did a 'Home-stay' trek which involved walking between villages and staying in the homes of local Ladakhi families. It was a great way to see both the scenery and to see inside Ladakhi homes and meet the local people. We just bought a map and set off. The Home-stays provided bedding and food, so we needed very little and carried our [View Full Entry]

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Here's a little problem I'm hoping some of you might be able to help me with - SECMOL pump water for irrigating the land up from the Indus river, which is very fast flowing, with lots of silt and small stones in it. They keep having problems with gravel getting into the mechanical seals. My idea to reduce this problem is to pass the water through a kind of sump prior to the pump, made from a metal barrel so that the heavier stones will fall out of the water flow. The inlet pipe would go halfway into the barrel to [View Full Entry]

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SECMOL - Students Educational & Cultural Movement of Ladakh Well, I’ve been at the SECMOL campus for more than a week now and haven’t been asked to teach any quadratic equations yet, thankfully! I have been trying to teach the Juniors how to add fractions though, which has been quite a challenge for us all - for me to explain fractions in simple terms and for them to understand not only my English but also the concept. At SECMOL at the moment there are two groups of students plus a few staff and some volunteers, along with a few cats, 3 [View Full Entry]

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