2nd earthquake

we saw on tv last night, 10pm (3pm GMT) that sumatra had been the epicentre of another quake, going to bed not knowing what the death toll would be once we woke the next day.

all the tsunami struck countries soon went into alert during the night..

in india, people in chennai, in tamil nadu state, didnt feel any quake so this may of been a good sign.. curiosity gets the better of indian people as they still went down to the beach at night to see what was happening!

things have quietened down now here, and the alerts are now off... repercussions of the tsunami in december still haunting communities in south east asia and the indian sub-continent who are still struggling to rebuild their lives and families. we are heading to the island of diu today in gujarat, on the arabian sea..

after being in a "dry" state for over a week, we get to taste indian beer again! nice

jim and fifi

monkeyrat in gujarat

heres some funny, and interesting things we have seen and experienced here:

in ahmedabad we:

• donated our blanket which we bought to keep warm in the himalayas to a lovely family that adopted us
• read and later visited a wildlife sanctuary in the desert, advertised in the leaflet as a "wide ass" (wild ass) sanctuary
• went to a catting saloon - where i shared chai with the barber in a saucer
• fed bananas to raja the elephant, not something you do every day in england
• fi also having to improvise as cricket fielder during an evening stroll round the city, whilst i got my hand autographed by a boy
• were driven out of town to the desert by a very nice bus driver with the most amazing sticky out eair hair, about 2-3 inches long per hair
  
  gujrati world records:
• worlds longest continuos chant, jamagarh temple chanting since 1964!
• longest dosa - lentil based pancake - 7.5 metres, restaurant in ahmedabad
• 10,000 stone steps to temple in junagadh - takes some beating!
• has to be the friendliest people in india

fifi's birthday

fifi had been looking forward to this day for a while, and we didnt really know where we would be celebrating it we just had to reassure ourselves it would be a day of rest (yeah, right!)

we had arrived in Bhuj, in the Kutch desert, the most westerly town in india.. it is known amongst indians and NGO's that this is the epicentre of an earthquake that struck in 2001. 10,000 people losing their lives, indeed our hotel manager had walked out of his bathroom in his house two minutes before the same room toppled 30m into the lake.

we had also arrived during the holi festival, a national holiday. renowned in gujarat and rajasthan states for their wild coloured paint throwing, bonfires and music.. was this true?

as we set out to find out for ourselves we saw old men get "coloured" by teenagers on motor bikes, and other younger kids on foot, all had their hands full of dye that was just waiting to be "placed" all over us.. as word got around there were some tourists about, we had more and more people throwing dye over us.. oh dear! :)

we retreated back to our hotel, showered, and promptly threw our clothes away! fi said "that's the way my shirt would like to go!". it was amazing experiencing this festival, and we are thankfull we were in a small city to see this, not like the mayhem that occurs on the streets of larger towns - where you cannot escape!

in jaipur, the tourists where driven around in an open toppped bus so they are safe.

in the evening, i surprised fi with a date with the hotel manager, vinod and his wife.. he drove us to an oasis in the middle of the desert where they had a dam, lots of irrigation channels that fed a lush tropical forest, a shaded temple and a first class safari lodge.

on the way back thru the desert in the car we saw a cobra moving across the road in the full moonlight,and also two desert foxes feeding in the roadside channels.

fi was presented with a traditional embroidered bag which she hasnt stopped wearing and smiling about.

a memorable day :)

jim

congratulations to rave & bex

congratulations to the new parents of a healthy baby boy, Oliver Masri

>> weighing in at 8lbs

can't wait to meet the little guy, and looking forward to see how you are getting on as a family, im sure you are doing very well

best regards, and WELL DONE BEX, brave girl!

jim and fifi

Heading south again

After an overnight stop in Punjab we got on the train ready for the journey south, 1348km by train to the state of gujarat.

The station was close to the Pakistani border, and the train at one point came through a border town. Loads of tanks and soilders, but no border camels!

After not knowing what was going to happen we suddenly had every kind of person come through the carriage:

• Hunch-backs
• acrobats
• lady-boys
• soliders
• chai wallas
• fruit sellers
• shoe shine
• keyring sellers
• bad tat sellers
• and that was just inside the train!

After 29 hours we passed through the bread basket of India, Punjab. Also the wonderful desert of Rajasthan, which was now colourful in spring time and we only knew we were in Gujarat by looking at the car registrations (GJ)

By the last hour of the train journey we were ready for firm land and we looked like chimney sweeps - very dusty! Ahmedabad is a hot but fun city, friendly, busy and great for sorting out broken cameras and eating ice-cream - yum!

Jim and Fi

teaching, meditating & donating

we are in dharamsala, the residence of his holiness the dalai lama

there are thousands of tibetans here in exile after they have suffered extreme hardship from chinese rule in their home country since 1959.

fiona and i are teaching intermediate and beginner english respectively, to tibetans. we are loving the challenge and the satisfaction is proving to be be very special. the tibetan monks are very attentive, but fi's class are more cheeky i hear.

we have been doing group meditation on the rooftop of the LHA organisation as well, in the evening. its crazy to think we are doing things we have only read about, until now.. its a dream come true.

tomorrow we are going to donate some items that we no longer need, ie: gloves, hats and raincoats..

the view of the snow capped himalaya is never far from our sight, and the tibetan food is proving to be quite addictive.. cookery classes for jimbo tomorrow..

I've worked with alot of communites in the last few years but never have I seen such a supportive, warm, communicative one as the community in McLeod Ganj. The Tibentan people, dispite having no country to call their own, have kept their traditions, culture and beliefs alive here in McLead Ganj.

It has been a real previlidge to work and share time with these amazing people. Although Jim and I have had a limited time here teaching English has been fantastic. The students are so keen and work soo hard its a treat. There might be a few monks walking around this area with incorrect English spellings or English sayings that are the wrong way round, but that doesn't matter one bit. There smiles and warmth says it all.

When you get talking to them about Tibet you find that most have crossed the Himalaya, fearing for their lives from the Chinese. Having no food, water and limited warm clothes. They leave their families, home and friends behind to come to India in hope that they can keep their tradtions alive and learn skills so that one day they can go back to their own country. It takes some of my students one month to walk from Tibet to India. You would think that they would be tainted by their experiances but no, they are very positive people. I suppose it helps by having such an amazing leader - The Dalai Lama. Its a shame that other world leaders cannot learn from him.

I feel very humble that I have been able to spend time here and been treated with such kindness. Its certainly a memory that will stay with both me and Jim for a very long time.

So next time you see a refugee on TV or in real life just remember that the thing they most proberley want most is to go home!

Fi

dinner with the maharajah

we arrived in mandi, unknown to us it was the international shivatri mela 2005

basically a holy festival dedicated to lord shiva, with organised loud music and a very big fair

we had already been in mandi so we checked back into the raj mahal hotel, and met the owner who was interested in where we had come from. he was very kind from the start and invited us for dinner that evening, after finding our feet back in town we got freshened up.. i went for a shave at the barbers, and fi went shopping.

we soon realised that we were dealing with a well respected person when all the customers of the hotel bowed and smiled at our man, was he the maharajah that used to rule this town?

once we sat down to tikka masala and rice dishes, he told us of his time as son of the maharajah, he was 17 when their rule ended in 1955, but he showed us all the artifacts and photos on the wall his mother had collected.. portraits of king george V, and swords..

fi and i were on best behaviour, but soon relaxed once he starting cracking jokes and tricking fi.. for example, "do you know there where lots of people in norwich today?", "no, why?", "because they live there!". he told us of his time in bournemouth, england, and we then promised to send him a postcard from their on our return in payment for a wonderful dinner date.

the following day we bid our farewells, and thanked ashok for his hospitality.. he had given us a wonderful glimpse into the indian raj and his life experiences.

---

observations at the shivatri mela, mandi - how does india do it?

i mean how how does it have so many festivals and celebrations for gods, godesses and melas, etc. and all of them to be accepted with no raised eyebrows, just cheeky smiles from the locals that turn into grins!

the music of the mela is infectious, sufi melodies that twist your mind with its looping drumbeats, horn call and screaming mango seed whistles.

to show of their skills they still play on thru a powercut, still no one blinks an eye!!

well, one thing that im sure of is that i will never know about the order of all these events, but then theres no need to understand! just "namaste" and a big smile..

india: welcome to the biggest carnival on earth! :)

jim

Hot springs and landslides

Roads in Himalchal Pradesh are not for the faint hearted. You need a strong stomach and a good head for heights, but the surrounding scenery is worth it.

The words Hot springs sold it to me, a hot bath, mmm! So we took a tour up to a placed called Manikaran. The village was 45km up a v shaped valley towards the snow line. The road up to this village was a bit of a rollercoater ride and the pouring rain didn't help. Jim tried to make me feel better by saying that landslides could happen and it was really easy to slide off the road into the river below.

Anyway, 6km before Manikaran there was a real landslide and it had completely blocked the road. Luckly no one was hurt. So with the rain stopping we put on our ruksacs and walked the rest of the way. The route was fantastic, trees, river, snowy mountains and now blue skies.

The road carved into the side of the mountain finally wound into Manikaran. Most of the village was on the opposite side of the river and could be got to by crossing 2 footbridges. One was covered in tinsle and shiny decorations and lead to an amazing Sihk temple. We got to our guest house which claimed to have hot springs. And I was ready for that hot bath after our trek.

Unfortunately the water was cold...The manager saw, or rather heard my disapointment and took me to a secret bath which he let me and Jim have for the evening, it was bliss. That evening we vistied the Sikh temple and were allowed to join in the worship which was really interesting. The next day we had a free lunch in the temple before we heading down the valley. The landslide had now been cleared - there is no messing about when it comes to getting transport moving in India.

Fi

fi goes skiing

note to self: HPMC Kalpa Apple Cider, produced and bottled by MPMC Ltd, a govt of HP undertaking. 7%, 12.25' proof, 650ml.

sorry, anyway, heres how it happened:

after arriving at the solang valley from manali, the last thing we expected was to see the amount of snow they had received.. toilet blocks and houses snowed in, hotels closed.. its no joke in kashmir, where the snow has killed 400 people it is called the "north indian tsunami".

we got dropped off as the snow started, only the brave 4wd vehicles could get thru, also sherpas, mules and honeymooners on sledges (who looked very terrified!)

on the ski slopes we saw a yak and angora rabbit. fi negotiated a good deal with a local for retro ski boots and skis, then off she went up the slope by foot to get reacquainted with her skills. she didnt realise she has to dodge paragliders landing just below her and men on skii-dos.

after fi finished skiing, we hire out an inner tubesle down the side of an icy slope on, us two on a rubber ring.. fi tried to video it, but was screaming too much!

as the sun was setting behind the huge snowcapped mountains, we trekked back, and managed to dry out our boots from all the snow at the same time..

back at the hotel bar in manali we have a debrief and head for some tibetan momos

jim

all aboard the himalayan queen

eating breakfast outside delhi station at 4am, we were very excited to be heading from the indian plains to the indian himalaya!

Fi still not sure we are at correct station (like in mumbai).. get onto chair carriage and kick back, sleep 4 more hours.. passengers think we are dead again.. train leaves on time as usual, past all the slums to new delhi station, where we where found playing on the tracks a few hours before.

wake up some hours later gazing at sugar cane fields and the cloud filled horizon, occaisionally glimpsing some of the foothills.. wahey@! and the scarecrows in the fields with turbans and moto cycle helmets on to ward off the eagles and large birds..

at the train head where we swap trains from broad gauge to narrow gauge we have a few chais in clay pots.. then get tkts inspected by some lovely sikhs, now the pace of life has immediately calmed down, not out of the clutches of capital city.

the train ride to shimla was very scenic as you can imagine, 103 tunnels, rice terraces into pine forrests and lots of villages and very english train stations.. with blue paint, slate roofs and flower pots, in a station named "summerhill".

arriving in shimla, the british summer hill station in the 1950-60's, we are greeted not only by rain, but by porters who look like the lving dead, in their long brown woolen gowns... once checked into hotel we soon set about buying a blanket, gloves and hats.. its freezing!

the following day in shimla, we find cyder made locally in the hills, we also visit the monkey temple where before entering we have to hire monkey sticks to ward off the cheeky devils.. we witness one monkey stealing spectacles from an indian lady, to be tempted very quickly by a peanut vendor once the lady has paid for the peanuts which are swapped for the glasses!

a great introduction to the mountains after a few days walking locally, and aclimatising to the altitude of 2205M.

jim

Jim is in Himachal Heaven

Back when we first arrived in India Jim came running over to me in a train station and said ' Fi, I've just found apple juice made in the state of Himachal Pradesh in North India, and if they make apple juice then they have to make cider...'

So 4 months later we have arrived in Himachal Pradesh and yes Jim is a very happy boy, not only have we had cider but we have now tasted 4 different types. It not very easy to get hold of but as most of you know Jim has a sixth sense for finding the golden apple nectar.

Well we do need something to keep us warm up in these big, snowy mountains...

Fi

agro in agra?

a relaxed arrival in a town renowned for hastle and dodgy food

after our best bus journey so far, im sure the other passengers would have thought that we were dead, as we slept for 3 hours of the 5 hr journey against each other.. hardly surprising as we travelled around 100km in less than 24hrs by train and bus.. (a good plan if we ever needed to escape somewhere very quickly!)

in agra, from the bus staton, the rickshaw driver gets fined for not having correct papers, gets fined the equiv. of one months salary (about 12 pounds). walk to taj mahal from our hotel, with rooftop view of taj. its really hard to believe that near one of the 7th wonders of the world.. nervous, anticipation, will it live up to the hype?

the most photographed filmed, drawn, and described
building in the world. it is one of those places that consistenly meets (or
exceeds) expectations.

you do not have to be romantic to fall in love with the taj, it moves even the hardened cynics.

meeting it is one of those few times in life when fantasy and reality perfectly collide.

in the evening, we find a hotel to have dinner on, another one boasting the "highest rooftop view", i order biryani and receive fried rice.. what a view after a hard day..

the rickshaw driver on return to the train station for delhi, gets fined again.. we think we must be bad luck! but then see later scams, me getting short changed for train tkts, army manon train getting baksheesh from a beggar, another man trying to fine us for sitting in the incorrect carriage (not knowing whether he was genuine or not), and

totally outnumbered by locals again which is good, good for their photos anyway to have some westerners in :)

the monkeyrats