Travel to the Tamur

A long bus journey was to be undertaken - the bus was late due to getting a puncture en route to us. It wasn't so bad sitting around drinking rum whilst we were waiting. Once some kayaks were unloaded and different ones loaded up we were on our way. We were not going to be getting off the bus until approx 10 am the next day so sleep was pretty much all that was on the agenda. 

We stopped for pee breaks and dal bhatt, obviously but that was all. The road was bumpy and the bus old and battered the music was Hindi rave, techno - boom boom boom...! Yep bus journeys are great! We eventually reached to our first destination where the kit, kayaks and personal belongings were unloaded from the bus. 

We had a few hours in a hotel here to wait for Libby's boyfriend both GRG volunteers from the states. Eventually he arrived and we got on a smaller private bus to take us up to the top of the mountain. This journey was slightly better  as it was just us on the bus but the windy road was long and we just kept getting higher and higher. The views were beautiful though and converstatjon between napping was good getting to know the others on the trip who were all British lads. 

We reached to the top of the mountain and we were staying at the yak hotel - a basic hotel but it was a lot cooler up here than it was further down the mountain. By now it was my birthday and we had spent all the day travelling so it was nice to be at our destination for the evening so that we could relax. 

We had some tumba - some home brewed alchohol with these seeds in - you add hot water, add some strange container and a straw and drink. It's got for up the mountain and your health apparently - just don't stir it otherwise it's going to give you headaches. 

After a few beers and the tumba it went straight to your head - the altitude didn't help at all but it was all fun and not a bad way to celebrate my birthday at the end of the day really. 

The next day we all loaded up into a land rover - all about 14 of us - it was well packed to say the least - and embarked upon our journey even further up the mountain. This journey was to be one of the most epic rides I have ever been on the road was crazy - I say road - more like a track with deep ruts, big rocks and massive drops to the side in places. However our driver was skilled and successfully managed to get us to the top of the mountain without any issues. 

We were at approx 3000ft above sea level - and the small walk up to where we pitched the tents left me short of breath. The view however took my breath away. The view of the lake and the mountains was amazing and one that I'm glad I got to experience. The tumba was welcomed that evening the warmth filling my insides, and the food was good giving us much needed energy before the trek that was to follow the next day. It was cold, the sleep was cold even with the body heat of two of us in the tent. It was only for one night though and it was worth it. 

The sunrise - like the sunset was magical the colors, the cold, the mountains, the view & the company. After a delicious breakfast we left for the trek. From working at Himalayan Outward Bound I had already experienced trekking in this environment so it wasn't too much of a shock to me. However most of us were walking in paddling shoes which were not necessarily the right footwear for the trek - but the trek must go on and after some uphill, some downhill followed. Shortly more uphill followed and some more downhill. The altitude at first again didn't help but we were not the ones carrying the weight - the porters were so it was a case of one foot in front of the other and keep going. 

Most other trips do the trek in two days - we did it in one and we reached in the darkness. It was a beautiful trek through and it was worth it when we finally reached camp. The sore feet, blister and hurt knee were soon forgotten after more delicious food and some beer. After this sleep we would be rafting and kayaking - excited much?!

It's like being on pause....

So when you spend a lot of time writing something and then done save it. It's one of the most annoying things that happens to me. It's my fault - or is it? I think this app should have an auto save feature for people like me.

Oh well these things happen. It's trying to remember what I was writing about. I was in one of those emotional days where everything and every emotion was being experienced. 

How to handle pre travel nerves. Are they really nerves or waves of excitement? Well it depends how you want to view them! (According to reversal theory anyway.... But I'm not going into that). I am just trying to ride the wave out and see where it leads me but am trying to not let it overwhelm me. It's a big event in my life - flying half way round the world mostly for a guy but also for amazing adventures and experiences. However my Nepalese man has stolen my heart and I'm intrigued to how it will go. Besides nothing ventured, nothing gained. I have nothing to loose it's just another one of my whirlwind adventures. It's not as if I haven't done this before. 

Emotions are good they help me push further to get to where I want to be. Saying that is one thing and when the slightest feeling of excitement comes along and it freaks me out a little bit. It's hard staying grounded. It's really not long 24 days. It's a little crazy to be honest. I'm ready though, it feels as if it has been a long time coming. I remember that feeling I had when I came home. That overwhelming feeling of not wanting to be here, not wanting to leave what I had. A beautiful surreal life full of happiness and breathtaking scenery. I didn't want to leave. Now I guess i'm just excited to be going.

First Programme

So we were off to Dharamsala again! A few bus journeys was all that stood between us and the arrival at the camp - what could go wrong? Not a lot really with the help of Suri, Devu and Raju anyway as they did most the hard work of making sure we got seats on the right buses. With our rucksacs on our backs or crammed into the limited space on the buses the journey was pretty smooth really - well as smooth as the Indian roads would allow with buses that didn't seem to know what suspension was. 

During the journey we had to split - as Raju and Suri were meeting the group at the train station and escorting them to camp. This left Devu and myself to go as the forward party to ensure everything at the camp was prepped correctly and to make sure everything was all good to go for when the group arrived. This was all good however Devu seemed a little confused at times speaking English although as we spent more time with each other it improved. We arrived in McLeod ganj at like 4am and it was cold and we had to wait a few hours for the next bus so some hot chai kept us warm and we were able to attempt to talk to each other. 

After two more buses we reached salli village, as Devu had never been here before it was up to me to navagate us to the camp. After a slight detour we arrived and met the camp staff and were welcomed with somewhere to sleep and some food. They were still busy preparing the camp for the groups arrivals - there were two of our programs running from here with nearly 200 people so there were tents still to be pitched and other details that needed to be sorted.  Once that was done all we had to do was wait for the arrival of the group. 

I was quite nervous about it as I didn't know if they would understand me, how things would go, if they would like me and if our planning and preparation meant the rest of the program would go smoothly. Although during this time me and Devu had chance to spend some time breaking down boundaries in order to make sure everything was organised. 

I didn't have too much time to dwell on anything being kept busy with one thing or another as soon the group would be arriving and it would be go go go time! With campers to show around camp and allocate tents to and make sure they get food and everything else that had to be done! 

Travelling - road trip

Travelling round india theres many sights to see which is an experience in itself. From seeing whole families on one motor bike or 20ft ladders being carried on a different bike to cows just chilling in the middle of the road. Expect the unusual and embrace it. Rules don't seem to apply just honk your horn - the more musical the better and find the gap in the direction you want to go! I haven't yet experienced driving myself around, however it was always an interesting experience as a passenger and none of the journeys I went on were uneventful.

Dhruv - Nice Hat!

At the start of my internship myself and fellow intern and Uni friend Ben, along with the boss and fellow staff were fortunate to spend several days travelling around to recce some places for us to run programs out of. The travels started out from Delhi - where the roads were packed full of drivers and roads in pretty good condition - apart from it being hot and my amusement in seeing the cows everywhere it was pretty uneventful. Although saying that there was some pretty interesting ways of driving and transporting things to be observed. Upon Ben enquiring about how long roughly the journey would take we were informed it would take about 6 hours. At that moment in time that was a fairly satisfactory answer - and conversation followed along with a mix of mostly Hindi music - although not understanding what the music was saying we got rough translations which satisfied our curiosity. 

Making a road - Lots of dust!

Once leaving Delhi we were able to see many different sights that India has to offer, beautiful scenery, mixed in with some fascinating animals, houses made out of what could be classed as rubbish to some westerners, little shops and restaurants. The roads ranged from nice Tarmac roads to potholes that were so big you couldn't avoid them. Well on the journey one of these potholes did damage the rim of the wheel on the car - Unfortunately. However, coincidently and luckily for us there was help not too far away as a few hundred meters down the road there was a man who can fix this. So we pulled over to these guys on the side of the road who - pretty quickly beat the tyre back into the right shape with a hammer and blew it back up and put it back on pretty quickly. They could rival the formula 1 people but without the fancy tools. After negotiating the price - We were on our way again fortunately. As it was dark and quite a crowd of men had gathered around from nearby who had all been drinking- maybe the sight of myself and Ben caused their interest or the whole group of us did who knows I didn't understand a word they were saying! We were back on our travels which was good and making progress to our destination.

That was the start of what we became to refer to as the six hour journeys - inspiration for a book that could be written about just journeying around India as it never seems as straight forward as you want it to be. 

Cows!!!