The train journey was mostly ok. I probably managed to get about five hurs sleep before being woken by people talking noisily at 5.45am. At least I'd managed not to get disturbed by the people snoring. Not long after the tea man re-started his walks up and down the carriages calling out 'Chaichaichai' - a great tactic. Wake people up and what will they want?! We actually made it into Delhi more or less on time - back to the chaos (although ti's not as though Amritsar was free of noise and pollution). My feelings about Delhi have changed. It's too [View Full Entry]

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Our second day in Amritsar started (for me at least) with a proper Indian breakfast, which I'd developed a liking for in Orchard Hut - parantha (a stuffed flat bread) with curd. Then a trip with our cycle rickshaw guys to the Mata Temple (Hindu) - a cave temple honouring a female saint, where women wanting to become pregnant go to pray (thank god I didn't take any blessed food this time, although one priest did insist on blessing me, opps). The temple reminded me of Disney World and involved crawling through short tunnels, wading through water and looking at [View Full Entry]

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We woke up earlier than we had become used to and after another hefty breakfast, got our things together and walked off down the mountain to where we had jeeps waiting for us. Drove into Chamba Town, stopping at a couple of temples on the way (one which included a church bell). In town, we stopped into the hospital to see Prakash's daughter and first born grandchild who was born the day we arrived at Orchard Hut. Very small. Then we departed on the long drive down from the mountains and out of Himachal Pradesh. We finally reached the town [View Full Entry]

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The time in Orchard Hut was amazing relaxing, away from the intense heat and hassle of the cities. On the second day there I chose to do a trek up the mountain to where they have another building which people can use as a base when walking. Three hours up, which was hard because of the heat (it was still hot there!), but I was rewarded with great views of a Himalayan Ridge which begins with 'P'! Also was nice walking past the houses scattered on the mountain side and receiving curious, but not unfriendly, looks, which always turned into [View Full Entry]

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Ok, desperately trying to catch up before we go to the border ceremony (in Amritsar now). So on the 4th we commenced our second day's trek (with Canadian Boy, Dog and now Dog 2) to Chamba, which is, surprisingly, in the Chamba valley. We were all pleased to leave the hostility of Khadjir (besides Horseboy, the general atmosphere was quite unpleasant). An easy walk, pretty much downhill (Chamba is significantly lower than the places we'd been in Himachal Pradesh previously), with a stop at 'Biscuit Point', where the Britishers use to stop for tea and biscuits, back in the day. [View Full Entry]

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I'm going to have to back-date these a bit. It's not really April 3rd. However, let's pretend it is... We did our first day's trek, which wasn't really that hard, although did involve quite a bit of up. The scenary was incredible. When we started out from Dalhousie (we drove to our start-point), we were fairly high up and there were even piles of snow! However, by the time we stopped for lunch by a river, it was hot and sunny. We were joined on our walks by a dog and a Canadian named Tim. It took us perhaps five [View Full Entry]

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We are now in Dalhousie and I am on one of the slowest computers of all time, so I think there will be no photos this time, which is a shame! (Perhaps I'll try and add them later.) I really liked Dharamsala. It was far too touristy, but it was interesting seeing the Tibetan community in exile. We made it to the Tibetan Museum on Sunday as it was closed on Sat, what with it being the fourth Saturday and all... It was incredibly informative and moving (of course I cried!), reading the history of the Chinese invasion and the treatment [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Dharamsala! We left Mandi early yesterday, getting the public bus here (six hours). The journey itself was ok, never too crowded. I did have one guy who sat next to me for a chat, which included questions about my salary and telling me that Westerners are all materialistic and have no peace of mind. Oh, and apparently we English are full of rage. The scenary was magnificant. I think Dharamsala is lower than Shimla, but we had to go up quite a bit and Dharamsala itself has these fantastic Himalayan mountains topped with snow right behind it. The [View Full Entry]

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Opps, I accidentally deleted my last two entries. Had the Shimla one saved in my email though... Hello all! We are now arrived in Shimla. Sunday I took an exciting autorickshaw drive to Taru's aunt's (Sangita) house. Cows in the middle of the motorways (apparently they escape from their sheds and are everywhere), more shocking driving and far too many cars honking. Somehow made it alive and had a refreshing coffee and chat with Sangita and her daughter. Then Sangita took me on a sunglasses hunt, where we got delayed for a good hour by the opticien who wanted to [View Full Entry]

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Well here I am in Delhi after the most stressful start to a journey. My tube decided to break down on the way to the airport. I still arrived 2 and 1/4 hours before my flight was due to take off, but then spent an age queuing to check in and then discovered the longest queue I have literally ever seen for security. Finally got rushed through that as my flight was to take off shortly, discovered that they now make everyone stick their shoes through another x-ray machine (I really think that if Heathrow is going to insist on [View Full Entry]

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