Christmas Away From Home

Christmas in my home is like at many other homes; we all have the same routines we do every year. We all know what is supposed to happen, but we are still very excited because there is the surprise in the evening with the opening of gifts. In Norway you celebrate on the 24^th with the gifts and everything. It is a time of the year when family come together and have a nice time. For us these last years it has been my sister coming back from France, my brother coming home from Åsgårdsstrand (about 4 hours away from Mesnali), and me coming home from RCN. This year my brother came back from Åsgårdsstrand, my sister came back from Poland where she studies medicine, but I did not come back from India. This was my first Christmas away from home, my first Christmas away from my family and many of my friends. For me, a person who loves Christmas because of the traditions we have, this was very different than what I am used to.

Aslak and Trine went and got a Christmas tree! Quite creative :)

I had Christmas dinner at Nisha’s whilst watching a cricket match between India and Sri Lanka. Fortunately, seeing as I am in India, India was doing well. Soon after dinner, Aslak and Trine calls and say they have tea and cake ready at the flat. It was a nice surprise, so I went over to the flat and I finally felt a little of that good old Christmas mood floating through my veins. Bendik called as well which was a really nice surprise, and after we watched a movie I called home. It was a pleasant evening indeed, but nothing like Christmas at home in white winter land.

However, one Christmas had to be the first one away from home. Perhaps it was good to have it in a place where the day is not given any attention, because when I celebrate it next time away from home in a place where it is given attention; that will not feel like such a drastic difference. Imagine if I had celebrated in the U.S. this year, I would have missed home because it would be a Christmas away from home. But when I in the future celebrate somewhere else, I’ll be glad that there is at least a proper celebration.

Christmas this year was different, but still a nice evening; a good experience to put in my backpack.

Travelling In India with Kitty and Eloise

McLeod Ganj - Again

Before Kitty and Eloise were leaving we travelled a bit to see McLeod Ganj (seeing as they had not been there) and the Taj Mahal. In McLeod Ganj we went to see the English Church, Tibet Museum (I didn’t see that last time, but it was really interesting and informative. I recommend it!), the temple next to where the Dalai Lama lives, and in the evening a French café showed a documentary portraying the journey Tibetan refugees have to take to escape from Tibet to Dharamsala. We also did some shopping, so I got to buy some nice gifts from here. We stayed only one night, but it was enough. Oh, and we also ate at a restaurant called Mc’Llo where they had a picture of Pierce Brosnan eating there. They were so proud of it they even devoted a whole page in the menu for his picture. That was really funny and cool.

Delhi

In Delhi we stayed at a family that has daughters at UWC. They lived in a really nice house and it was like we had left India when we walked in. However, it did feel a bit uncomfortable with servants walking around not letting us take a glass of water ourselves. It was a very big contrast to Kullu where we live in the cold mountains and work in orphanages.

The youngest daughter was going to watch New Moon with her friends in the cinema, so we came along as well. The cinema was in this massive shopping mall where only very rich Indian people went. The movie was so, and so, but the whole experience was so surreal. When I think about it I almost can’t believe it was real. It was so posh, and I many of the children running around were so spoiled and rude. For them, the woman who’s house is a piece of plastic and some cardboard does not exist. They see her, but she is no one. I am glad we went though, because it made me experience a completely different side of India. It gives you some perspective, and I can’t say that I like the situation. But then I wondered, isn’t this how we are back home? The only difference is that we have don’t have the children knocking on the window of the car begging for money. It is a topic that has been bothering my mind a lot, and I can’t come to terms with the situation, nor can I come up with a conclusion for myself. It is just easier not to think about it, but then I do like the people in the mall. Perhaps that is what they have to do to be able to lead some sort of a happy life; just not think about it.

Taj Mahal

The day after we went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Our train left at 07.10 in the morning, but we didn’t have any tickets. It was quite busy so I wasn’t very careful and managed to get ripped off about 600 rupees. But we had the tickets and we were on the train at least. If you are taking a train in India, book in advance and do not book less than 2^nd class. We traveled 2^nd class and that was okay, but if you want comfortable you should book c/c which has proper chairs and air conditioning.

In Agra we booked a rickshaw for the day for only 300 rupees. We had him for 8 hours as a personal guide taking us to places to eat, sightseeing and giving us advice before going to the Taj Mahal. That was a good thing as well because he said there would be people saying they were guides included in ticket prices, and then afterwards would demand money from you as they were not.

The Taj Mahal was a bit smaller than I expected, but a magnificent piece of art. The whole area is built in symmetry so that it is esthetically beautiful. He even got an extra mosque built, so that there would be one on each side of the Taj Mahal. What makes it even more beautiful is that it is not built to show off wealth or power, but it is an expression of a man’s love to a woman. Everything is in marble, even the flowers which decorates the building. At first I though it was paint, but then I cam up close and saw that is was marble. It is truly worth seeing. We spent about 2 hours and 30 minutes there. If we there was not more to see, we would have spent more time there.

Agra Fort

A king in Agra got a fort built for himself and his 12 daughters. Much of it was locked up for visitors as it was unsafe. It was unsafe because one could get lost so easily and because the floor was falling apart some places. What was interesting was how some of the same pattern for decoration at the Taj Mahal was also used at Agra Fort.

I am glad we went here as well because it gives a good impression of ancient Indian architecture and design. From before I have seen architecture from the Netherlands, England, France and Italy (as a tourist where I have gone to look at this specifically), but this was quite different. The architectural style was simple, but yet grand. It was relaxed and elegant at the same time. It was made to show off wealth without disturbing the inner harmony. Of course, this is only the feel I got from it. The intention could be completely different or very similar for all I know.

There were also squirrels there walking around, I got a nice picture of one.

Going Back to Kullu

The buses back to Kullu always stop at this one place where one can eat and use the toilet. I wasn’t hungry, but I thought I should use the toilet since I was going to be on the bus another 12 hours or so. On the table by the toilets I see a familiar back. It was Aslak, the other Norwegian volunteer, sitting with his girlfriend Trine. I knew that she was going to come and visit for Christmas, but it was still a bit fun that I met them there. She is a very sweet girl and we have had a lot of fun here in Kullu. Especially when shopping for material. There is a guy who is closing down his shop, so there is 50% off on all material. I bought so much, so now it is all at Nisha’s. (They are the neighbouring family who work as tailors)

I live in a room next to Aslak’s, it is bigger than the old one, has a bigger kitchen, and a bathroom with a proper toilet and a shower that has hot water!! It is very nice not having to wait for the water to boil and not having to use a bucket when showering.

Manali with Preeti and Nisha

Seeing as Kitty and Eloise had short time left, all three of us went to Manali with Preeti and Nisha. We were all told to put on full suits (Indian clothes) by Nisha and Preeti, so Wednesday morning we were looking smart and ready to go. In Manali we went to a temple that resembled a traditional style for Norwegian churches. Inside was quite different though. No paintings of the gods or anything, very simple and nice.

Afterwards Kitty, Eloise and Preeti dressed up in traditional Indian mountain style clothes. We got some nice pictures. I didn’t want to because we had already done it at Bashing orphanage, and in Manali they charge money. Not much if you compare it to Norwegian prices, but much for Indian rupees. The price would equal to about 1 kg of potatoes.

Then we walked around in town looking at shops and stuff like that. We had a really big lunch where we ate Punjabi food (food from Punjab state, I live in Himachal Pradesh) and it was really good. It was a nice relaxing day filled with laughter and fun.

Dharamsala – McLeod Ganj

We came back from the trek on a Sunday, the boys had then gone to Dharamsala and my mother said she would very much like to go as well. So Monday morning at 8 o’clock she and I are sitting on the local bus to Dharamsala, or more specifically to McLeod Ganj because that is where the Dalai Lama is in exile.

The bus is no better than any of the other local buses; it drives really fast and the roads are horrible so you get car sick very easily in India. My mother was as unfortunate as to throw up after about 2 hours and we were to sit on the bus for 8 hours. She told me she was feeling car sick and I had to break it to her that the system here is like this: if you need to throw up you open the window and stick out your head. About 10 minutes went by and then she asked if I could open the window. Leaning over me and out of the window she throws up several times. I couldn’t help but laughing because I found it such a memorable experience. However, when she put her head back inside and I saw how pale she was I stopped. Then she put it out the window again. Fortunately she didn’t get more ill after that.

After a really long bus ride we finally arrive in McLeod Ganj and Alf meets us at the bus stand. The boys met a monk who got us really good seats at a teaching the Dalai Lama was giving because the Russian Buddhist Community had arranged a session as the Dalai Lama could not come to Russia. So we check in at the hotel, go for dinner and then my mother and I go for a short walk as we have been sitting on the bus the whole day.

The next day we get up early to make sure that no one takes our seats at the Dalai Lama teaching. I tell you, if we had not had that monk with us, we wouldn’t be so lucky. Some were acting ridiculously because someone else had taken their seat. The thing is there are no reserved seats, you just put your pillow and leave it there, but if you don’t show up in time, you have a problem. It was very funny as well because many of the ones causing a small scene were Buddhists. Here you have the people of harmony arguing like crazy over a small spot on a carpet.

We sit and wait for a bit, find a good position to sit in and stuff, when it goes quiet. Then a powerful voice, but what must be many men, utters the word OM. And they keep on chanting it until the Dalai Lama has taken his seat. Everyone stretches their head, I search and search, and when everyone has gotten a look at him and sits back in normal position; I see him. I have a clear view straight at him. His first teaching is in English and he talks very much about how in the modern world technologies and political systems have developed in a good way, but what it is lacking is a certain type of compassion. This, however, the modern world has realized and has started looking for it and try to understand it. And one of its focal points when searching for this is in the Buddhist beliefs. The type of compassion is a genuine, selfless compassion. When he was talking he would very often laugh at his own jokes. My mother and I found it very amusing and concluded that he reminded us of Santa Claus, but not the commercialized one, the proper one.

During the afternoon we went to an English Church in McLeod Ganj. It is very special as it is from the colonial times, and the glass in the church window by the altar is actually Belgian. Imagine that! The church is called St. John’s Church in the Wilderness. Quite the catchy name, ey? After that my mother and I had an Ayurvedic massage. This was really nice and soothing. Then, we went to have something to eat before my mother was to take the bus to Delhi as she was going to visit Taj Mahal. It was really nice that she came to visit, we had a great time.
(My mother also got her eyebrows done with a thread)

Next morning, we go to our second teaching where he speaks in Tibetan, but we had bought radios where some of the channels had an interpreter translating for us. This day he talked about Buddhism and how to reach Nirvana. He used many terms from Buddhism that I recognized from the Bhagavad Gita. If we had not studied this piece from Hinduism in philosophy; I would be completely lost.

On the way back we take a taxi since none of us really wants to take the local bus. The boys had eaten some chicken so I decided to try the same one since they didn’t get ill from it. I ordered and I got a different type. I couldn’t finish half of it before I felt sick. In the taxi I managed to hold it for 2 hours and then I threw up. Coming back I wasn’t able to eat anything, so on Friday (2days after) Panki’s wife puts me on this cure where I drank some herbal tea in the morning, and got a special mix together with rice for lunch and dinner. The day after I was perfectly normal again; natural medicine is the best medicine.

But McLeod Ganj is definitively a place worth visiting if you are going to India. You don’t have to stay longer than 3-4 days, but you ought to visit. Here you get to see some of the Tibetan culture, left over from the colonial times, Buddhist community, and Indian community. A wonderful place with a beautiful view.

4 Days Trekking in the Himalayas

Thursday morning Ankit drives my mother, Panki, Kitty, Eloise and myself to Sai Ropa (southern parts of Kullu Valley) where we meet our trekking team; a crew of 4. My mother and I are a bit amazed as the only things we have to carry are our clothes and sleeping bag. The crew carries our food, cooking equipment, tent etc. Talk about service! The trek happened liked this; the first day we walked to the gate of the protected area. This means that no humans are allowed to live within this area in order to protect the wildlife there. The second day we walked up to a top close by and then straight to camp site number 2 which is about 45 minutes from camp site number 1. Day 3 we climb the highest peak of our trek and sleep at camp site number 2. Day 4 we pack up and go back the same way as we came. We walked in Thirton Valley area and were camping by Thirton River.

Day 1:
The first day we walked only 10 km, but it was in a beautiful area. When we got to camp site 1 we had our packed lunches, looked a bit around and when it was getting time to make a bonfire; we collected wood. My mother and I shared a tent, and Kitty and Eloise shared one. It was weird having a crew that fixed everything for us. It was like we were trekking with a restaurant or something. Everyday we got some light food when we got back from the hike, then tea, and dinner. They also packed lunches for us, breakfast was amazing; everything from pancakes to porridge! They would even wake us up at 7 to give us hot ginger water. But back to day 1, for the camp fire there wasn’t really anywhere to sit, and when collecting wood, my mother and I came across this huge log that was perfect for two Norwegian females to sit on. We brought it back and now, when someone else comes; they have a nice place to sit.
Day 2
Here we walked to a valley that had small, small villages on the mountainsides. Our highest point of the day was 2900 meters, and the view was beautiful from there. It was rather steep to climb up, but we had a nice pace. Before leaving Panki had warned us there might be bad weather, but we were extremely lucky during our whole trek; sun all the time! At about 2700 meters there was a primary school that has about 12 pupils. It seemed quite remote, but it still had electricity and some boards showing the English alphabet, the Hindu alphabet and one showing an overview of how to get proper nutrition.
When going to camp site 2 poor Kitty slipped on the rock when crossing the river, so her legs got soaked. We also met some cows and bulls, and Eloise got in between the bull and a calf, so the bull started threatening her with its horns. 3 times it tried to stag her; it was quite scary when it happened because it was the end of the day and we were a bit tired, but when thinking about it afterwards we realized it just wanted to scare her, not really hurt her. Because if it would have wanted to; it would have. And it could have done so easily.

I didn’t get to bring my camera (But Kitty brought hers) this day because Panki needed to borrow it as him and the rest of the crew (Except Sanju who went with us) went looking for a medicine that grows on the mountain side. The medicine grows in a dead zone; this means that if you fall down from there you die. So it was quite a mission, but that managed to collect some and get pictures of it. Apparently, there are no official or published pictures of this medicine known to the world. So Panki will be the first one, and he did it with my camera! I have the pictures, but I don’t want to put them online. I am sure you can understand why.

Arriving at camp site 2 we decided to wash in the river, but that was freaking cold, so we just ended up with a cat wash as we say in Norwegian. Which is a really, really quick wash where you don’t get to use soap or anything. We had to cross the river midways as the sun was shining on an island there. My mother stayed on the other side, there was a small spot with sun there. Anyways, on the way back, Kitty wants to throw her shoe over to the other side (remember how they are soaking wet after she fell earlier during the hike). Well, that did not turn out great. I stand on the other side ready to catch, but the shoe goes straight up in the air and plop, down in the river. I rush to one of the stones, throw myself down on the stomach; stretch out my arm just as the shoe is coming. Unfortunately, my arm is to short. I swear; if it would have been 2-3 cm longer I would have gotten it. But off it went. We look for it a bit further down and, man, was Kitty lucky. The shoe had gotten stuck in a whirl pool close enough by some rocks for Kitty to be able to reach it.
Day 3
This day was the peak of our trip, we climbed 1000 meters in height, and the highest point we went on was 3200 meters. This top was called Shilth, and the view was beautiful. It took us a good 3-4 hours to get to the top (if I remember correctly), but it was tiring. We just went up, up and up in zig zag the whole way. But quite so often, these birds flew from their trees to warn off other animals that we were in the area. They are called Monal(s in plural), and Panki said he had never seen this happening so frequently during one trek. It was really cool and it cheered you up a bit seeing as we didn’t get much view in the beginning as we were surrounded by trees.

When at the top we were amazed. You know these old movies where a girl or a boy is walking with the sheep in the mountains; well that was the feeling both my mother and I got when looking at the view. It was as if we were in one of those movies. It was so surreal and beautiful at the same time. My mother and I walked a bit further up, and up that hill we found a place with lots and lots of bird feathers, and here and there, there were holes. We pondered a bit about them and then my mother realized they were tracks from a bear. Panki had told us earlier that the area we are trekking in has a lot of black bears. That was really cool, but we didn’t see any though.
Walking down, my mother had already gone ahead as the rest of us had an extra short break. I followed Sanju, whilst Kitty and Eloise came a bit later with Panki. Sanju taught me the techniques him and the rest of the crew uses for walking down. It is as if you run down the mountain with bent knees and the butt down; it went so fast. We even caught up with my mother! Almost down the three of us waited for the rest, and suddenly my mother tells us to be quiet. She had heard some sounds that could come from an animal. Sanju who has a bit of a more trained eye than us, spotted a deer not to far away, it was really cool. I had my binoculars with me as well so that we could see it better. Shortly after Kitty, Eloise and Panki arrived, but then the deer had already gone.

Day 4
As usual we are woken up at 7 am and given hot ginger water in our tents. But this morning, Sanju sees some deer on the other side of the river as he gives my mother the two cups. I had now seen two deer on the trek! I love seeing animals that don’t interact that commonly with humans.

After having breakfast and packing up, we take a group photo and start going back to Sai Ropa where our transport is waiting. We go with our head cook, but it’s not long until the rest of the crew catches up with us. Then my mother and Sanju goes faster to see if they can get some local hand made mattresses (made out of some special leaves) because my mother wants to bring one home.

I walk with the head cook as he would most probably be able to spot things I wont just because I am to busy looking at where I am walking. And, man, did I make a good choice; suddenly the head cook stops and points right ahead where a small mountain leopard runs down the mountain side. Just 10 meters away from us! I wasn’t fast enough to get my camera out, but it was really cool. That just made the trek even better.

So, do I recommend people to go trekking in the Himalayas? Why, yes of course!

My Mother Came to India

Two days after Fiona left my mother arrived. It was of course sad that Fiona left, but I hope she will enjoy New Zealand where she probably will learn lots about farming. My mother came morning on the 17th of November and the neighbouring family gave her breakfast and chai. After that we walked around in Kullu as she had been sitting for a few days now. In the afternoon she came to Kelheli with us and she helped me keep the boys calm when I was teaching First Aid. Since I had the youngest group (age 7-9) language barrier is quite the problem. But they now know the different topics we are going to talk about, and they know how to get protect themselves when helping someone with an electricity burn. How to treat it etc. will be next time’s task. It took us a good 45 minutes or so and then we were all tired of the massive focus of concentration it took us to convey the message that if you touch a person who is in connection with electricity, you as well will react to the electricity + how to get the danger away from the person without being burned.

On Wednesday we walked more around in Kullu and my mother got me a goose feather jacket for the trek before we went to the drug rehab centre. There we had a productive meeting on how to get the session better, and then we had the session. It was really fun and the men seemed to enjoy it greatly. I have decided, however, that I will not be continuing there. Kitty and Eloise will though, which is good because the men truly seem to enjoy that we come.

In the evening my mother and I went to Valentino’s to eat and we had bruchetta, pizza, 2 jasmine teas each and apple pie. It was really nice. Oh, I almost forgot that we had a massage as well. A self-taught lady gave it, but I must admit it did hurt a lot and for the future I will use one that isn’t self-taught. Not that it was bad, just that if you get wrong type of massage it could give you more stress than energy apparently.

Two Day National Workshop on Positive Mental Health & Wellbeing of Children in Institutional Care (Under JJ Act) – a Rights Based Approach

The Kullu Project was invited to India’s first National workshop on children in institution and their mental health. 3 of us could go, Ankit was one and he wanted Fiona as she had been a part of the Kullu Project for a long time. So it was Kitty, Eloise or I to be the third person. I said that I didn’t have to go (even though it would be great fun!) as I have been to a similar thing before with Rafto; Kitty and Eloise were to decide between themselves. I was so surprised one morning when we had breakfast when they said that they had decided that I ought to go, but so grateful.

Evening 5th of November Ankit, Fiona and I take the bus to Delhi. The bus was all right, but not great, because when sleeping I would sometimes wake up in midair landing hard on my seat again and again. But, we got there and the place we stayed in had a shower with hot water! We came in the morning, had some breakfast and when I took a shower there were proper green parrots flying outside the bathroom window. One of those moments that you imagine before coming to an exotic foreign country. (Or, what at least is exotic for me as a Norwegian)

The Workshop worked like this; there were presentations from different organizations, very seldom people would ask questions, but many took notes. The presentations discussed a lot about how to recognized children who had been traumatized by different situations such as parents being murdered, tsunamis, child soldiers etc. Then, it went on to talk about how to deal with these kinds of things and how to help the child develop in a ‘normal’ way as traumas affect the biological and mental development of a human being.

Different methods were discussed as well. For example, one lady talked about how the use of games and toys can be used in treatment. She had two main categories; organized games and free games. Organized games are when the psychologists (or whomever) participates in the playing and steers the direction of the game to find out more about the mind of the child. Free games are when the psychologist is purely observing, the lady presenting found this method as the best one. Personally, I would say a mix is good because in free games you will guess a lot (most probably you will guess right though seeing as you are an educated person in the field), but in organized games the child might not be able to express him or herself freely and you will lose much valuable information. Therefore a mix is good so that you can make sure your data is correct.

The second day the audience was much more interactive, but a lot of it was in Hindi. Many had PowerPoint in English, but presented in Hindi. This was good because then we all got something out of the presentation. In the end the workshop came with a declaration that they want to present to the government on children’s rights. It was an all right declaration in my opinion, but they did not want to define their words. Someone suggested that they ought to do it, but they said they were not lawyers and therefore not suitable to do it. In my opinion, if you make a declaration you ought to define the words you are using so that the declaration will say exactly what you want it to say. Everyone can define what they mean with their words; we even do it in our daily language when misunderstandings occur or whatever.

The workshop was really helpful for the understanding on how to go about when changing the Bashing Orphanage, and we got some really good contacts as well. I could probably write pages and pages about the weekend, but I think I will stop here so it doesn’t get too much to read.

Kelheli Skit

Coming back from quite the excited weekend with Manikaran and paragliding, we are met with a challenge at Kelheli. We are asked to make an educational skit for the boys to perform at an all state orphanage competition that were to take place in Shimla 12th of November. We had about 2 weeks on us before the 12th of November so we were a bit taken aback, but we said that by Sunday we would have a script ready. We brainstormed and brainstormed. All of us came with ideas of skits. Some completely new some with inspiration from TV shows (especially Team Antonsen, a Norwegian TV show). In the end Fiona and Kitty came up with one that we adjusted it a bit here and there. If I may say so myself; we made a really good skit about Global Warming.



We divided so that Eloise, Kitty and Fiona would teach the skit to the boys participating, whilst Alf, Aslak and I would have games with the rest. It was really fun, because when we came back from the trek (with my mother!) the boys told us that the skit had gotten 2nd place out of 400 something participants, and they were the only ones to have it in English. They also performed a dance and a song, and they got first place with their dance. I will try and upload a video I have of it and the skit. I must warn though; I am not the best person to record videos! The dance is a traditional Kullu folk dance and half of the boys are dressed up as girls. It's great fun and a good dance.

To Pee or Not to Pee - That is The Question

In Vashisht we find an all right room for 100 rupiees which is about 13 NOK which is very cheap. We decide to go shopping and I find a shop that has the vagina pants as we called them at RCN, but they are apparently called Ali Baba pants. I must admit that even though ‘vagina pants’ has its charm; I for some weird reason prefer Ali Baba pants. Jasmijn had asked me to find some as well, so I thought ‘yeee’. I bought 4 pairs, and Fiona 1, but in the end Fiona ended up not wanting hers so I have now 5 pairs. But not all are for me; I have for Jasmijn as well.

At the room we play games for hours before going to bed and in the morning, my rucksack is broken (or, my sister’s actually. The one you got from school Mia. Universitetet I Vest-Agder. Sorry about that. I think a happy Indian has it now though) I have no idea how it got broken, but it could be related to that I tried to put too much in it. Anyway, after a hot bath in the hot springs and breakfast, we walk down to the orphanage. On the way, though, there s a Tibetan jewelry shop and we decide to go in. I find to really nice bracelets, one with blue mona lisa stones and one with green gronch (can’t remember the exact name’) stones. Seeing as my mother is coming soon and she won’t be able to go to this shop because it was to close that week and go down south (out of season time), I decide to buy the green one for her and the blue one for me. The guy however wants 1200 INR in total for it. I want to pay 800 I say and that it is not so important for me. It is too low, so I don’t buy it, but the girls are still looking around in the shop, so after 5 minutes the guy asks me what price I am truly willing to pay for it. I had just been thinking about it because I really liked the bracelets and I said 900, but nothing more. 900 and I buy them right away. They guy agreed after some thinking and calculating, but he didn’t seem too happy. That could have been an act, but I’d like to think it was because I got a good deal.

At the orphanage the children were at school, but Fiona had some presents for the lady who works there. She is extremely kind and she helped us a lot to find a daily structure for the Bashing orphanage. We stay only for some chai and then we go to the Kullu Project Library which is at Tourist Hotel in Manali. It is basically a box with handy books. We also met Kate; a volunteer at Mission Hospital in Manali. We had some more tea with her before we got the bus back. The bus back went over Naggar which is on the opposite side of the river. I didn’t realise this at first so I got a bit stressed out. This only made me need to pee and we were on a bus that did not stop for those things within the next two hours. I did all right, but then after 1 hour and 30 minutes, Eloise tells me she needs to pee as well. After about 30 more minutes I really need to pee and if Eloise hadn’t told me that she was not able to hold it anymore I wouldn’t have done what I did next.

I grabbed the man selling tickets, asked if he could stop a place for 2 minutes so that my friend and I could pee. Surprisingly enough he said yes and after 10 minutes the bus driver found a nice place to stop, so Eloise and I ran out of the bus, behind a small top of sand and bushes, I made sure no one could see use and we could pee. I seriously could not stop peeing. I had had tea for breakfast, tea at the orphanage and tea with Kate + I had been holding it for a good 2 hours.

When we come back on the bus, people stare at us and smile like crazy. EMBARRASSING! Apparently, two ladies had taken our seats, but the ticket man had said to ‘no,no, they are coming back’ before shouting to everyone on the bus ‘they just needed to pee’ According to Kitty and Fiona everyone bursted out in laughter and leaned over to the windows in case they could see us. But, haha, they could not. A bit embarrassing, but it made it a fun bus ride and a good memory.

Paragliding

Friday before leaving for Manikaran (which was on a Saturday), Ankit says that on Monday we go Paragliding! At first I think ‘WOW’, but then I remember how I have told myself not to jump off of any clip or mountain or anything like that. I did hang in the air after a boat in Rethymnon in Crete, and I would jump out of a plane in a parashoot, but not something like this. I have heard too many scary things about it in the Norwegian news. But then again, when will I ever get this chance again, and Ankit said that where we were going was a professional place that had done it for many years and was doing it in world competition as well. All this could just be gibberish of course, but I decided I had to try. Knowing myself, I am sure I would regret it because I have wanted to fly for so long. When opportunity comes knocking on your door, shouldn’t you at least invite it in for a cup of tea?
So on Monday, Ankit, Dipti, Adeesh, Panki’s wife and son, Aslak, Alf, Fiona, Kitty, Eloise and I go in the car on our way to paragliding. Kitty, Eloise, Fiona and I sit cramped in the luggage space, but I am sure we got the best view when driving. Except for Ankit, Dipti and Adeesh who were in the front seats. In the mountains in Manali we wait for the crew to arrive, and at that moment there’s only Aslak, Alf and I who have decided we are doing it. Eloise and Fiona are unsure, whilst Kitty is sure she doesn’t want to do it. The crew arrives and the 6 of us go in the back of the jeep and we go up. It is quite the ride as he drives really fast and we don’t have seat belts. You can see on the picture what I mean when I say that we sat in the back of the jeep. We sat in the open air space.

Alf is the first to jump and then me. We were on about 5000 meters height, the air was really thin, and, boy was I nervous. I couldn’t stop talking and laughing, and I could definitively not stand still. But I get hooked on the guy who is flying with me (they even had to show me, because I was so sure he was not), and the tell me to run, run and run. I started running, but then I was above ground and they told me to keep on running. I thought; ‘can’t you see I am so short that I am not able to reach the ground,’ but the buy behind me ran instead so we got enough speed so that the wind caught us and we were up in the air.

What a rush, I still laughed, but not a nervous laugh, an excited laugh, a happy laugh, a good laugh. It was amazing the take off, but after a few minutes I realized that flying is even better. We were so, so high up. Not far away some Himalayan griffins were flying, and they can fly really high up! To my left there were trees and rice crops, to my right I could stare right into some of the more amazing parts of the Himalayan Mountains. My god, that was beautiful. I wish I had brought my camera up there, because the angle was so good to look from. As cliché as it might sound, being up there, hanging in the air being amazed by the mountain view was harmony and peace. The griffins not so far away, the air so, so fresh, and everything so still; life was floating between peace and harmony. The perfect place to be.

Landing was smooth as well’ I just had to stretch out my feet and the my pilot did the rest. After Aslak, Fiona and Eloise (in that order) landed as well, and Kitty came down with the jeep, we all sat around the landing place chilling. I slept in the sun for a bit, the boys went to look around and the girls played cards with the people we jumped with. After Dipti and Panki’s wife landed we all sat around a small fire and had some really good pizza and played some guitar while enjoying the scenery and the day.

Kitty, Eloise, Fiona and I stayed in Vashisht for the night as we wanted to go by the orphanage. I will write more about that in the next entry.

Manikaran

As Fiona, Eloise, Kitty and I felt like we needed a change of environment, Fiona suggested we’d go to Manikaran as it is famous for its hot springs. It took us about 2-3 hours on a local bus to get there. I must admit that after having read in Kitty’s tourist book about India we all imagined something rather grand-ish. But when we got there I was in for a surprise. Manikaran is a small, small village and it doesn’t even look very nice. But its surroundings, however, are beautiful.

We walked down the one street Manikaran has and soon found a nice place with hot springs. It turned out to be a temple and the main place for the hot springs there, so quite many people came by. As we looked around we saw that people were putting bags in the boiling water, and it took me quite some time to realize that the bags contained rice and some fruity stuff. We bought some and by the time the food was ready we had spent 1 hour and 30 minutes there.We went into the main building as well to check things out and saw that there was a hot cave and public baths there. The baths were so full that we decided only to be in the hot caves. After that we had two horrible tasting chais from two different places, but we soon forgot about them as we were leaving. Behind one of the mountain tops we could see the moon coming. The moonrise happened within 10-15 minutes or so. It was so fast and really amazing. I mean I have seen sunrises and found them to be beautiful and peaceful, but seeing the moonrise intrigued my mind very much.

But we had a bus to catch; we didn’t want to stay in Manikaran as most disappearings are from here. When we came back to Kullu Nisha told us that about a month ago a white, dead two months old baby was found in a nearby mountain. We were glad we were safe! All the taxi drivers told us, though, that there were no more buses going to Bunthar (we needed to change in Bunthar). We were slightly freaked out so we eventually went to a hotel asking for the bus times and the guy at the reception said that there is one leaving now.

Back at the bus stand we were a bit skeptic as we saw no bus whatsoever. Then on the road above the bus stand a bus comes, but we thought it might not come by the bus stand, so we ran to the road as fast as we could and we barely made it. The bus, however, did not stop for us, but it turned in to the bus stand and waited there instead. We felt rather silly, but so glad there was a bus.

In Bunthar the bus stopped on the ‘wrong’ side of the river, so we had to cross the bridge to get the right bus to Kullu. The taxi drivers said they would take us there for a good price, but we thought we were so smart when we told them we knew a good price was a bad price and that we could just walk over the bridge. The taxi drivers told us that there is no bridge. Anything to get money, huh? As it turned out, the bridge was under reconstruction, but other people were walking there as well. We just had to climb under the bridge and cross the river. Easier said than done.

I wore and Indian outfit and not quite used to wearing t yet, so I first got stuck in some wires that held the stones together (the path was sort of shaped into some stairs, but not really at the same time), but fortunately a boy behind me helped untangle me. So I got down to the river. The others are much longer than me so they had managed to get across the river already. It was only two meters or so that we had to cross and there were stones there that we could use. But, seeing as I am less than 1.60 meters this can be quite the challenge. I literally had to stand on one rock and throw my self towards the next stone reaching out with my hands. It went all right, but I did wish I was a bit taller though. A short moment of weakness right there, but I am back loving being short.