Motorcycling in India

Carl (A new Norwegian boy who has arrived), Aslak and I went to Manali for a couple of days to rent a scooter and drive in the mountains. Apparently all the scooter places are shut, so we get to rent motorbikes. I was a bit nervous seeing as I had only been driving automatic scooter before, and not a heavy bike. But, Aslak taught me some tricks and it went fine. I was the only one who had a license, and that was only for a scooter or a moped, Aslak had been driving moped a bit back home, but no license, and Carl had never driven a two-wheeler before. So solution; Carl sat on the back of Aslak’s bike and the motorbike man didn’t even ask for license.

We drove on 180 cubic bikes, so they are not that heavy if you compare to 500 cubic ones. However, for me; it was heavy enough. But, man, what a feeling to drive around in mountains with the peaks covered in snow. We drove around where we did paragliding and came up to about 3000 meters. We wanted to go to a place that was 3998 meters, but it was recommended not to go further up due to ice on the roads.

I remember when Tore took me on his red bike, we drove only for 100 meters or so, but it was such a rush and I was sure I wanted to have my own bike one day. I think I was about 9 or 10. Today, at the age of 19 (2 years before I am allowed to drive in Norway) I got to drive a heavy motorbike all alone. A dream come true; and it happened in the Himalayas!

It is an incredible way to experience the landscape here, so I definitively recommend it to anyone who likes to drive bikes!


The day after, Aslak and Carl went paragliding. I went up to take off point with them, and, man, the view was amazing. The layers that look like fog on the picture are actually layers of pollution!

...and a happy new year!

New Years Eve 2009 was celebrated with lunch at Riverside restaurant, then in the evening Trine and Aslak left for Delhi since Trine had her flight the next night. Seeing as Aslak had lost his phone I sent mine with him, you really shouldn’t go to Delhi without a phone. At 23.00, Indian time, I went to the only ISD (international phone calls) booth open at this time of the night. It was in a very dark street about 10 minutes away from my flat, but the only one I met except the shop keeper was a cow. I call my friends whom I was supposed to celebrate with and it was the best phone call I have ever made. These last days I’ve been quite homesick, so that phone call cheered me up a lot. There were about 3 fireworks at 12, but I don’t think they qualify to be called fireworks. A very boring evening, however, that phone call made New Years Eve perfect for me. Sounds lame? Well, keep in mind I was celebrating alone.

First Aid Evening Sessions

Today I realised that it has been a while since I’ve written about the voluntary work I do here in Kullu. Not too long ago, Ankit’s trekking crew was trained in First Aid, and Ankit (our local co-ordinator) wanted some evening sessions in addition to the daily sessions given by a doctor. He asked if we could do it seeing as we all had done at least a basic first aid course.

We only did a few sessions in a hotel room, but we got to go through DR.ABCD, recovery position, burns, cuts and bleeding, and some scenarios. I must say it was fun because I hadn’t done much first aid since before the summer when we had the last big scenario at school with the first aid team. And then I didn’t get to do as much as I wanted because I had heavy sun burns all over my legs. When I walked it looked like I had shit my pants, to put it gently. These few evening sessions made me remember how much I like doing first aid and it was very refreshing. Also, the trekking crew said it was nice to learn from me as well since I had a completely different style than the doctor. The doctor was very technical and advanced when explaining. I was simple and spoke the common man’s language. At least according to the feedback from the trekking crew I was easy to understand.

Very often you feel useless when doing voluntary work; I remember Pete (my English teacher) also mentioned that at school. So in a way I was prepared for it, but it does not make it any less frustrating. At least when doing social voluntary work you sometimes feel like you disturb the daily routine of the children at times. So the first aid evening sessions came as a fresh breath of air, a real confidence boost where I felt useful again.