26th October - 30th November: Farewell to Chatola

Farewell

Goodbyes suck… There’s no two ways about it, they just suck…

Tomorrow we will be leaving Chatola, the tiny picturesque village which has been our home for almost two and a half months and heading back to Delhi. More importantly, we will be leaving our newly inherited family whom we will miss very much.

We’re definitely happy to be moving on and getting a change in scenery, food, and of course there’s the glistening amber and fizzy bubbles of a crisp, cold Kingfisher that awaits me at the closest licensed establishment from the train station. We are however, not looking forward to the inevitable tears from the four children that will flow on the day we depart. To make things easier, we have promised to return and to bring our family along… so Mum you better get used to eating lentils!

We’ve said previously about how scenic this place is, but you can’t comprehend it until you see it for yourself. This is a place everyone should visit.

Anita & Cuzbu

Our work at Aarohi has finished for now and we’ve been farewelled by the staff. We both think we have done some good work that will hopefully contribute effectively to the organisation. It’s hard to tell whether or not Dr Sushil (the organisation head) believes we’ve done good work, mainly because he hasn’t had the opportunity as yet to sufficiently review our projects, but even if he had I don’t think we’d know for sure!Sushil is a very hard man to read.

Our "Office"

Many years ago Dr Sushil tragically lost his wife Oona and their young child in extraordinary circumstances. The family of three ate some poisoned mushrooms, all fell very ill and Sushil was the only one to survive. Oona and Sushil were the cofounders of the Aarohi organisation after having met at another existing NGO in the region. Since Oona’s passing, Sushil has taken the responsibility of growing the organisation to the success story that it is today (it has over 50 staff).

To endure so much suffering and to continue on with his wife’s legacy, helping so many, makes for a man that commands enormous amounts of respect and admiration. It is however no surprise that Sushil is hard to read, there is no doubt that there is still sadness in his eyes and emotions are held close to his chest. It’s nice to see that Sushil has since remarried to a woman local to the region and they have two young children together. Unfortunately, although Aarohi have created their own school, which is miles a head of the other local public schools, the quality of education still has a long way to go. Sushil knows this and as a result, his wife and family live in Pune over 1000km away so as his children can have access to good schooling, leaving little time to be together throughout the year. Sushil’s commitment to the organisation and the people of the region is unfathomable and inspiring. Sheena and I hope to stay in touch with Sushil and contribute more to Aarohi in the years to come.

As mentioned earlier, Aarohi have created their own school and has classes from 1^st to 8^th. The teachers at Aarohi are instructed to create lesson plans and have specific objectives for every class they undertake, this is not the case in most public schools. Although constrained to the textbooks and examinations issued by the government, the school creates their own brand of teaching and uses extra material. The difference is phenomenal in confidence and ability especially in regards to speaking English between the Aarohi children and the other local children, including the children in our family who attend public schools. Hema the 9 year old in the family can barely read Hindi, Ravi the 7 year old can’t at all, and don’t even ask about English and maths. Anita the oldest at 13 is far more advanced and said she could read Hindi at their age which is a reflection on the teachers currently at the school at which Hema and Ravi attend as Anita went to the same school when she was younger.

It’s no surprise that pretty much all the children fail English when one reads their textbooks. The English in the textbooks are written in print as you would expect, however they try and teach the children to write in cursive. This has just resulted in Ravi not being able recognise any letters as written in print because he’s learned to write them in running writing and they look completely different! It’s such a shame, because these children are smart, however the futures are being dictated by a faulty system.

Classroom in the Aarohi School

Classroom in a Public School
(this is all the students attending on this day)

Sheena and I do our best to continually try and instil confidence in the four children by encouraging them and telling their parents how clever they actually are. We especially encourage Anita a lot because she is starting senior school next year and doesn’t want to go because she is scared and is failing a lot of subjects. Anita has an amazing ability when it comes to picking up the English we speak; her good ear also transcends to her excellent music ability, she is much more intelligent than she realises. The problem is, the only gauge the parents have of their children’s ability is the report card issued by the schools, which merely tell them that they’re failing. Sundar and Asha have only had very limited schooling themselves, and although they are both very progressive and naturally wise, they still don’t have the ability to judge their children’s performance for themselves.

In a society where tough love is prominent and encouragement is not so common, the children don’t have much belief in themselves. Having said this, I think our encouragement has washed off on Asha, as she now is starting to frequently say positive things about her children as opposed to affectionately calling them pargals (fools) like she did when we first arrived. I say affectionately because mamma and papa have nothing but love for their children even if it’s not always apparent. Both parents are wise beyond their education, and Sundar especially has a good mind for entrepreneurship and engineering, so we have confidence that he will lead their family into more prosperous times with the help of their guest house and under the guidance of Sushil.

Wow.. I’ve written a lot, without actually have said anything that we’ve done.. but that’s ok.. I think these experiences are far more interesting than our little side trips and happy snaps. If you’ve gotten this far into the blog than you probably think the same thing too! If you must know, since our last blog, we’ve been to Kausani for more views of the mountains, attended a local wedding (which to me was half celebration and half somewhat funeral like…) and took Anita to the town of Almora. For Anita the Almora trip meant two hours of vomiting in the bus on the way there, two hours of feeling seedy wondering the shops, and two more hours of vomiting on the way back, not to mention the fact that she was completely overwhelmed by the mass of people, cars and bad smells she had never encountered before in her life! She won’t be going back again soon…

So now it’s off to Delhi for a week and then Pune to visit Dadima, which will be nice. We will not forget our time here, nor will we forget our family.

Speak again soon!

Simon & Sheena

Scrabble: dunno

Squabble: who cares?

P.S The family cow had a baby calf recently, and in order to keep our legacy alive, we decided to name it after Sheena’s sister Nimita, however seeing as it’s a boy cow, Anita decided to change the name slightly, so the family are now the proud owners of Nimit the baby cow!

Say Hello To Baby Nimit

Try and not say "Awww"

Hema - The strongest 9 year old girl
in the world!

4th October – 25th October: Aarohi

Village Life

We have now been living in our village for five weeks which is exactly half way through the stay! Time is flying and we cannot believe we have been here this long. Not too much is happening, no new sights to be seen, no new food to be eaten (except for the locally brewed whiskey which tastes surprisingly okay and some other local produce), no new people to meet. In a way this sounds boring, but it is really nice to be settled somewhere and feel like we have a home. Simon was really happy when the family bought a dog... the dog lasted 2 days then ran away. Noone but Simon seemed to care.

Each day is interesting in it’s own way. Simon has actually learnt some hindi, and although he says he doesn’t know much his communication isn’t too bad considering. That said, most of the communication does involve the children and us exchanging insults and calling each other names (in fun way). My name is ‘unda’, which means egg and Simon’s name is now lokhi (which is kind of like a zucchini). Though, the oldest girl does call us idiot a lot. We call her pagal. So does her mother.

We recently celebrated Diwali (Indias Christmas essentially) which was fun and involved blowing up fireworks and drinking whisky! A good combination.

Happy Diwali!

In terms of work, Simon has done a visit of the surrounding villages and is now creating building manual based on these designs. I am still analyzing nutritional data and now thinking about writing some recipes! The work is slow but we feel like we are now getting somewhere and may hopefully be able to achieve something useful.

The food is still nice, but I have to admit starting to get a little tiring. I really look forward to our packet maggi noodles and packet pastas when we have them. Who would’ve thought my standards would drop so much.

Finally a big congratulations to the two good friends who just got engaged (you know who you are….if you are reading this). It’s great to get such good news even if it does feel a bit weird sitting here in the middle of nowhere!


That’s all for now.
Someone get me a cheeseburger.


Scrabble Sheena: Lots
Simon: A few less


Squabble
Sheena: Lots
Simon: Not far behind

The view on the way to work




Cuzbo being cute again

Anita and a local friend stacking the hay for the winter months

Whisky and cards

21st September – 3rd October: Aarohi

Aarohi Aid Work

Our train from Delhi arrived at Kathgodam where we were driven for over 2 hours to our village called Chatola (search Nainital and Almora in google maps, draw a line between the two and we’re in the middle). We were then met by our hosts for the next 2.5 months; Sundar Ram and his son Ravi 7. After a steep 20 minute walk, we were at our new home and what a home! We were blown away by the house they have built for us. It is a 2 storey house. All brick, with proper stone floors, a kitchen and a bathroom with a western toilet! So much for concerns of a mud hut, with dirt floors, no electricity and a squat toilet.

Our Mansion on the right

We met the rest of the family, Asha (Sunders wife) and his 3 other children, all girls, Anita 13, Hema 10, and Cuzbo 5.

The kids seemed quietly excited, until we brought out the bag of presents from Australia (chocolates, pencils, stuffed toys etc. from Paddy’s markets). At this point the excitement bursted and the kids were became excited bubbly and very affectionate. By affectionate we mean exhausting! As tiring as they are, I’m sure from the photographs, you’ll agree they’re adorable J

From left to right: 2 neighbours, Ravi, Hema, Sunder, Anita, Asha, Cuzbo

Cuzbo and Hema enjoying their gifts

Since settling in we have really been getting to know the family and getting used to being ridiculously overfed by Asha. All the food is veg and consists of 1 vegetable dish (usually radish) plus rice and or rotis. We think by the end of this we will turn into a muli (radish)! Although repetitive the food is still tasty and very spicy.

The older girls love to impress Sheena, and Ravi is very attached to me. The youngest Cuzbo doesn’t say much most of the time, but squeaks a lot and is attached to both of us… she is so unbelievably cute, we’re thinking of taking her back to Australia!

Cuzbo looking cute

The family held a puja (blessing ceremony) for the new house and the extended family attended as well as the holy man. Sheena had to wear a sari and all the family were very excited to see her in traditional clothing.

The girls before the Puja, Sheena looking good..... and big!

The family at the first ceremony

Standing on the roof for the 2nd ceremony

Ravi with his uncle after lunch

Everyday we walk almost an hour each way up and down through the jungle and forest to get to the Aarohi headquarters. It’s quite tiring but also extremely beautiful and should get us fighting fit by the end of our stay here. On clear days we can see the peaks of the Himalayas in the distance towering over the valleys. Superb.

The first time we walked home we were shown the way by two local boys who were very friendly. Just before getting home, they decided to strip down naked and go for a swim in a tiny water hole. Something that kids certainly wouldn’t do back home hehe.

Local boys in the water hole

The first time we attempted to walk home from Aaorhi we of course got lost. It was a little unnerving seeing as it got dark (luckily I had packed a torch) not to mention the snake we encountered along the way.

We’ve both been given our assignments, I’ll be looking at devising a manual for locals to build houses out of brick and concrete correctly, recently they have moved away from traditional building methods and they are not constructing their houses safely. Sheena is looking at nutrition of local children as well communication methods to inform the villagers of health related issues. So we’re both quite busy.

Anywhoo… so far so good… not too much to complain about except for the fact I would murder someone for a hamburger and a cold beer and I can’t believe I’m going to miss Muse tour Australia!

Hope everyone is well...

Ravi, now thanks to us affectionately known as Bandar (monkey)

Other locals who stopped us in our tracks thanks to our monkeyphobia

15th September – 20th September Leh Still & Delhi

After having returned from the trek, we ate kebabs and drank beer out of tea pots referred to as special tea so as to hide the fact a Muslim restaurant was serving alcohol.

We did manage to organise a trip up to Khardung La which at 5600m is the highest motorable pass in the world!

Khardung La

After saying goodbye to all the friendly staff at Oriental Guesthouse, we then caught the early flight to Delhi.

In Delhi we spent the day mooching about relaxing in air conditioned coffee shops as our train ride to Uttarakhand (location of volunteer work) wasn’t till the evening. However the day did have some drama! We needed to go to the bank and when we got there we noticed it was surrounded by monkeys... lots of monkeys… I (Simon) thought they were cute and we walked past them with out any problems. On our way out of the bank, we unintentionally scared one of the baby monkeys and it ran away screaming… that set the other big monkeys into a rage and they all came running towards us snarling! We both turned and ran back towards the bank, however Sheena was a little slower than the monkeys and one managed to catch her and caught a hold of her skirt! Luckily the beast fell off without managing to bite or scratch her leg, so Sheena avoided a lot of pain and a lot of rabies shots… So after hiding in the bank for 5 minutes, the kind bank staff escorted us out with a big stick and we managed to get to refuge safe and sound… We are now monkeyphobic..

now to go do something useful…

Scrabble: Sheena 4 – Simon 2

Squabble: Sheena 6 – Simon 3

9th September - 14th September: Stok Kangri Trek

Stok Kangri Trek

Scrabble: Sheena 4 - Simon 1

Squabble: Sheena 6 - Simon 1

O.K.

So this is the story of the Stok Kangri trek. To make it easier for you we have provided you with 2 options. Option 1 is Simon’s abridged version for those not willing to read for more than 30 seconds. Option 2 is Sheena’s much more sensible edited version of Simon’s long winded boring summary. Read one or both as you wish.

Option 1 - Abridged Version:

Hot rocky

Valley pretty

High tiring pass

Snow storm

Cute Marmot

Sheena sleep Simon climb

Fucking Cold!

Simon sad

Cute Marmot

Shower

Beer and chicken

The End

Option 2 – Sensible Edited Version:

Day 1

We set off from Spituk on our way to Zingchen with our guides, Stenzin (our walking guide) and Andy (our personal chef as well as mountain guide). It was a hot 4-5 hours walking through fairly flat, but quite rocky terrain. The campsite was picturesque with lots of trees and a river running through it. After a hot sweaty walk, it was refreshing, to say the least to wash in the ice cold river water. Why is it on these treks, they always overfeed you? Not complaining though! Andy cooked a feast and Sheena attempted to communicate with him in her broken Hindi. Good practice.

A horse trying to break into our tent at Zingchen

Day 2

Another massive meal to start the day, before we started our uphill climb towards the Rumbak valley located in Hemis National Park. The Rumbak valley is home to a wildlife conservation group dedicated to looking after the local species including the snow leopard. We didn’t see any.

Zingchen is only at 3300m altitude and our campsite in the valley was to be at over 4000m so there was a bit of increase to be achieved. The scenery was beautiful as we followed a stream up through a gorge until we reached the base of Rumbak valley which greets you with the sight of snow capped mountains in almost every direction.

From our new, colder home we could see Stok La, which was the pass we had to tackle the next day…At over 4900m it looked intimidating!

Heading up through the Rumbuk Valley

Sheena looking chilly at camp on day 2

Day 3

The walk up to the Stok La was steep and difficult (more difficult for some than others J) The view from up the top was spectacular. The walk down was easy and really enjoyable. On the way we encountered our first meeting with wildlife as a herd of Blue Sheep jumped from rock to rock on a cliff face.

Once at camp we could see Stok Kangri clearly and we (especially Simon) looked on in horror as a storm piled lots more snow on the peak.

That night we celebrated Andy’s 26^th birthday with cake and soft drink kindly bought by Andy at the local supply tent.

Sheena on top of the pass at 4900m

Heading down from the Stok La

Looking up at the snowstorm in disgust!

Celebrating Andy's birthday, Andy on the left, Stenzin on the right

Day 4

Today’s trekking involved a relatively short walk up to Base Camp which is situated at over 4900m. Even though the walk was short, it was quite tiring as it was continuously ascending and the altitude was high. On our way up we came across a lot of disappointed trekkers who were not able to summit due to the poor weather conditions the night before. Also came across some who did summit the night before that who said it was V. Hard. Sheena discouraged and not wanting to summit. We also were fortunate to see our first Marmot; a small beaver like animal that lives in little holes in the mountains.

After lunch we decided to walk up the first steep section of the summit trek up to the snow line. From here we felt like we could touch the summit and it was quite exciting. After a bit of a snow fight, Sheena was starting to consider the summit. 2 hours later Sheena once again decided she didn’t like the idea of climbing a mountain in the cold and dark.

Cute Marmot

Base Camp at over 4900m

Just up the hill from base camp at over 5000m with Stok Kangri in the background looking menacing.

Just above Base Camp

Day 5

At 12:30 we woke up and Sheena told the guides that she would not be attempting the summit, which meant I (Simon) would be going up with Andy and Stenzin would stay at Base Camp.

With the Chemical Brothers programmed into my Ipod, I set off in the freezing cold attempting to climb a further 1200m up to the peak at over 6100m.

At this point there is fairly little to say except, dark, cold, and tiring, however it was all going very well up to Advanced Base Camp and I was feeling quite confident considering the good pace being set.

Andy and I then walked through the snow across the magnificent glacier adjacent to the peak having to jump over the odd small crevasse. This was the highlight of the night.

Once over the glacier the trek became a lot more difficult with the ascent becoming very steep and over snow, ice, and lots of rocks. It was at this point that I became quite cold and was also feeling the sickening effects of altitude. After a further hour and a half of steep climbing and intensely freezing temperatures we had made it up to about 6000m however I was frozen from head to toe. I could barely feel my fingers, legs and toes and with the ridge to be crossed which encounters strong winds, we decided it was no longer safe to continue.

Heading down towards base camp was quite painful and tedious and after coming very close to throwing up on the glacier I at least got to witness the sunrise light up the peak making all the hard work actually worth while.

By 6:30 in the morning I had interrupted Sheena’s sleep passing out in the tent after briefly explaining what happened.

After a few hours sleep we walked back down the mountain towards the village of Stok for about 4 hours.

Even though I didn’t summit Stok Kangri, the trek was still very enjoyable and beautiful, and I am already thinking about when I want to come back and try again (Richard S – interested?)… This time with warmer clothes and in warmer July! Sheena thinks I am mad.

Feeling a lot warmer than 1 hour before... the sun reveals the glacier at about 5400m having come down from about 6000m.

Super strong Andy having a smoke at Advanced Base Camp

The sun lighting up the peak that defeated me... this time

I would've taken some photos from higher up if I could have felt my fingers, but happy snaps was not really the priority at the time :p

Day 6

After waking up in our tent for the last night we had another Andy breakfast feast of porridge, parathas, eggs and chai. We walked down to Stok Village to be picked up for a ride back to Leh.

All credit to our guides Stenzin and Andy (and our pony man name unknown) for constantly smiling and laughing and making us feel like a Sahib and Madam ji J As amazing the scenery of Ladakh is, a lot of what makes this place special is the kindness of all these mountain dwellers.

After coming back to Oriental we had AWESOME long hot showers, chilled out and relaxed. Meat and beer for dinner. YUM.

5th September - 8th September: Leh

Leh

The days prior to the trek spent in Leh have been fairly relaxed (as they tend to be in this part of the world). We have basically just spent our time wandering around seeing a few of the sites such as the Tsemo Gompa perched up above the palace overlooking central Leh and some traditional dances performed by the local monks.
We caught a polo game which was ridiculously dangerous and hilarious as the players did not seem to have any control over where the hit the ball and dogs, cars and spectators where considered merely obstacles that were fair game to be trampled or hit with the rock hard ball!
A highlight has been the 7th birthday party of one of the girls of the family who run Oriental Guesthouse. All the guests were invited and free booze was provided along with a massive feast!
We have booked our trek up Stok Kangri and have been mentally preparing ourselves for the challenge ahead :)

Interesting Ladakhi

Traditional Dancing

Fruit Market in Leh

Leh Palace

Sheena wearing her party hat at the birthday party!

Sydney To Leh (1st September to 4th September)

With the long trip to Leh ahead which included 5 flights, all started fairly smoothly …. 4 flights in, a fairly ordinary hotel in Delhi, and a very early morning and we were at the airport again to catch the last of the 5 flights, that being Delhi to Leh. After 2.5 hours of sitting on the tarmac with constant weather updates, our pilot despondently informed us all that we wouldn’t be traveling to Leh due to low clouds. Apparently the pilot needs to be able to see in order to land…go figure…

We initially thought it would be a good idea to stay in the airport for the next 24 hours, however sanity prevailed and we called our good friend Abhay to come to our rescue! Turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we spent the day chatting with cold beer and kebabs, while witnessing the onslaught of a Delhi monsoon.

Another 3am morning in preparation for our 2nd attempt to get to Leh and all turned out well. The plane ride into Leh is absolutely spectacular with massive mountains protruding out of the clouds. Leh itself is beautiful, (even if all the shops were shut due to a strike!). Time to relax now in our friendly, picturesque guest house and think about the days ahead…..chai time :)

Games Scores!
Scrabble: Sheena 3, Simon 0
Squabble: Sheena 2, Simon 0

hmmmmmm....

The view of the Himalayas from the plane

At Oriental Guesthouse in Leh

Oriental Guesthouse

Shanti Stupa

Leh with Stok Kangri in the background

The view from Shanti Stupa

And so it begins.........

Tomorrow, the 1st of September, our long awatied exodus from Australia to grace the rest of the world with our presence begins!

For the next 3.5 months we will be in India, with a fair proportion of that time spent undertaking projects for the charity organisation Aarohi.....

But first... we have other mountains to climb... literally.. Sheena can't wait to tackle Stok Kangri near Leh in the Himalayas... at over 6200m it will be tough.. there will be lots of whining, headaches, sore feet, and probably some tears towards the end.. and I'm sure Sheena will suffer some problems too...

Anywhoo that's all for now.. time to have our last glass of wine, our last piece of chocolate, and our last hot shower for some time...