Day1 of the trek continued

Here's Haidi, Marija, Danielle, Kes, Steph and more of the crew,
doing what turned out to be one of the very easy parts of the trek.

Here's our camp at Kereri on the first night; beautiful spot by a clear
mountain stream, and nice flat ground.

Back to the Trek - Day 1

Thought I'd better do a little bit about the trek, seeing as it was the focus of the whole trip. Have lots of photos, but they're very slow to upload here so will see how that goes.

Here we are at the point where we farewelled Paul from ATC. Ally on the left, then Maha Devi, me and Haidi.





In image 2 you can see how we were literally in the clouds that morning











And in image 3, we're at lunch on day 1: Marija in the gorgeous haute couture hat is talking to our guide Yangjore (in the baseball cap).

More to come, but as usual the images are slow to load or won't load at all. Enough for today!

Rajasthan

Well it only seemed like a week since I'd done the last entry but it's almost two weeks! After Dharamsala we travelled back to Delhi by overnight train, arriving about 6am Thursday morning, then straight on a bus to Agra where we saw the Taj Mahal that afternoon after a brief rest in our hotel. The Taj of course was sublimely beautiful, though not as white as it looks in most photos.

Next morning we saw the Red Fort in Agra, another sumptuous palace of the Mughal emperors, and then I left the group to head off to Rajasthan with my driver Bihari. Here we are with Ally, just about to head off.
First we headed to Jaipur for two nights, where I met up with Marija from the group next morning. We spent the day touring Jaipur in the car; it was fun to have some company and not be sitting in the back by myself. I did try sitting up front, like a good egalitarian Aussie, but it wasn't very comfortable, and the view nowhere as good.


Here's the Amber Fort just outside Jaipur. From Jaipur I headed off to Udaipur, city of lakes, again for two nights, and full of winding narrow laneways so not having the volume of traffic of other cities such as Jaipur and Agra. Udaipur was one of my favourite places, and like everywhere else had marvellous old forts. Then for one night each to Jodhpur, Bikaner and Mandawa. I was disappointed that we didn't get to Jaisalmer - my driver miscalculated and thought we had an extra night, so we should have stayed only one night in Udaipur or Jaipur. People have told me since that Jaisalmer is the most beautiful of all the Rajasthani cities, so looks like I'll have to see it next time.

Delhi

Another cyber cafe in McLeod Ganj
And now for a bit about Delhi that I didn't have time for before. We arrived about 2130hrs on Sunday to an airport that was vastly different to super clean, super efficient Changi airport in Singapore, but that is somehow more human, certainly more in touch with the realities of our basic humanity.

A bus to our hotel, through the traffic that was like peak hour in an Australian city but totally chaotic. The hotel, which seemed to be one of the better Delhi hotels, was nevertheless, like so much of India, in a state of undisguised renovation and repair. It was a welcome respite after our many hours of travelling, but we were up relatively early next morning for breakfast and sightseeing tour of some of the major sights of the city - Humayun's Tomb, Masjid ... can't remember its name, but probably the major mosque in Old Delhi I think. A rickshaw ride for a short time through the old quarter was an eye opener, if not heart stopper as cars, vans, and tuk-tuks hurtled towards us at various times. But miraculously nobody seems to get injured, and the drivers are all so patient and good natured, though sometimes you wouldn't know it from the way they sit on their horn.

A visit to a "State Department Store" where I spent way too much on a beautiful silk carpet... but what I'll remember in the future is not how much I paid, but how beautiful it is. Other Delhi sights: crowds of men outside any store with a television to watch the India-Pakistan cricket match, and the lack of traffic on the roads later that night as we made our way to the railway station, again because everyone was watching the cricket.

Then the overnight train to Pathankot, an experience in itself though we were in second class AC sleeper. Taxis from Pathankot to McLeod Ganj, with a stop on the way for breakfast, and then booking into our hotel, the Surya Resort. After lunch we visited the Tibetan Children's Village, where the tiny children in that section melted our hearts, running up to us with big smiles and just being generally adorable.

And then the next morning we started the trek, stopping the first night at Kereri, with a great camp on river flats beside a mountain stream. Next night we stopped at Baal, and then we had 3 nights at Triund, before heading back to McLeod Ganj yesterday. There's much more detail of the trek to write about, but suffice to say that by the time we had our rest at Triund, we so needed it. It was only when we stopped that we realised that we had been going pretty well nonstop since leaving Australia, so that rest was very welcome, and the setting is absolutely spectacular, with the 5000 metre Dauladar range sitting straight in front, and looking totally different at different times of the day. An added bonus was the full moon - the major peak is known as 'Moon Peak', presumably because the moon comes up over it. The setting could change by the minute, with clouds rolling up from the valley, and the air temperature dropping quickly when the sun was obscured by the cloud. An awe inspiring place to spend a few days. Enough for now; it's getting late and I'm tired, and tomorrow we get the train to Delhi, overnight again, and then bus to Agra the next morning.

When I get the chance I'll be adding some links related to the Tibetan situation, but enough for tonight!

Meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Awasthi Cyber Cafe, McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala
Where to start! We finished our 6 day trek yesterday, and what a luxury it was to have a hot shower after all that time of hard physical exertion most days, with just a bowl of warm water for a wash in the morning. But more of the trek later, and the wonderful madness and chaos of Delhi.

Today has been the most extraordinary day. Last night when we arrived, Paul Bourke from the Australia Tibet Council informed us that we would be able to meet His Holiness this morning as he walked from his residence to the teachings he is giving currently. Some of the group had felt for a long time that such a meeting would happen. I had wondered and hoped,but not known whether it would really happen. So it was a time of excitement for us all to have that great privilege to meet His Holiness this morning. While we were there, His Holiness suggested to his staff that we meet with some recently arrived Tibetan political prisoners, and that happened at 5pm today.

It was extraordinarily powerful for us to sit opposite a table and hear the stories of these brave men and women, persecuted, tortured and jailed by the Chinese authorities for simply asking for justice for their people. There were many tears from members of our group, deeply moved by the stories we heard, and especially the grief of Ka-nying Lobsang Dekyl, who escaped from Tibet in 1985 - her father was jailed for 18 years.

I have heard some of the stories of Tibetan political prisoners previously, from the Australia Tibet Council and other sources, but nothing can compare with hearing it directly from somebody who has experienced that torture and deprivation.

Enough for now. I'm emotionally exhausted after the two hours of that meeting, but also inspired, as I think all of us there were, to do all we can to publicise the plight of the Tibetan people and the outrageous behaviour of the Chinese authorities.