Now here, soon there

After a couple days of rest in Bhagsu, just above Dharamsala it was time ot move to Manali, the setting off point for Leh, a desert moonscape 6000m high...

Myself and Ilan and Noam, an Israeli couple from the last hike bought tickets on a minibus to ride in comfort and style 10 hours through thenight to Manali.  I think I was th eonly one riding in comfort and style though...While all of our seats reclined I was in themiddlein front and got to stretch my legsout betweenthe driver and co pilot seat.  Also I didn't have anyone puking next to me the entire journey.  The bus was driving a little faster than one would think it could and taking turns like one of those motor cycle racers thjat drops his knee to the gournd...Being in front I was cool but a poor gilr in the back was constantly decorating theoutside of the vehicle with her dinner and whatever else her body could eject.  As it was a semi private bus we figured we could ask the driver to take it easy, and we were figuring correctly.  We were able to ask..he jsut didn't want top listen, or not for free.  He said for 1000 rupees he would slow down.... 

When we arrived there were 2 options for staying, each on the opposite side of the valley and each a tuk tuk ride away.... I wanted to go where my friend was staying and as soon as my Israeli friends heard there were more Israelis in the other place they wanted to head there to get into the Israeli connections...  I thought this was a little funny, but it turned out to be the excat connection we needed.  That same mornign they found out where to rent horses from a group of Israelis ready to embark on a 25 day trek....

We had the name 'mule union' and the next mornig setout to find them.  One would think this would be ab easy task in a 2 steet town.... It took Ilan and I 2 hours to track them down.  First no one had heard of them and thought we were nuts...then we were told they are near the telephone exchange.  So we tracked down the telephone exchange and started asking around, and no one had heard of the place...Then we found a cmaping store that knew it existed but not where and sent us to the tourist office.  We went to the building (hut) marked tourist office in big letters and they turned out to not be the tourist office,just a taxi stand.  They sent us to the real tourist office, written in even bigger letters.  They turned out ot be the bus reservation office, and sent us around the corner to the tourist office.  Third time was a charm, we entered the cleanest building north of Delhi, galss doors, wood panels, open space and were guided perfectly to the Horse man union! 

We climbed one of the narrowest staircases in existence and met the horsemen! They are 10 men in a tiny room all smoking under a no smoking sign... We planned a 5 day trip over a beautiful pass and just had to confirm a day later...
The day we went to confirm the horseman told us we couldn't do the trip as there was too much snow on the pass for the horses....  So we had to change our plans and he recommended a 10 day trip for us...The funny thing is I had met a guy the day before who went over the pass and said there is 10 feet of snow, no way horses can do it...I said he was wrong...the horse man told us no problem.,..so the next day I had to go tell him he was right...

So we planned our 10 day trip, from Darcha to Padum....feel free to google it, up the Zanskar valley...or you can wait 14 days for pics:)

Of course planning for the first trip we were told horses can carry 40 kilos.  We double and triple checked this.  Then on booking for the 10 day trip the man tells us horses carry 40kilos on flat ground but less going up hill....So it looks like we will be pack horses for at least the hardest part of our trip! 
Shopping for dry goods was a blast, we also got a pressure cooker....flour for chapatis....a hardcore Indian stove and lots of yummies... tomorrow we head to Darcha, 7hours bus to Keylong, 2 more to Darcha, and Wednesday morning if all goes well we set off with our guide who started walking to Darcha with the horses on Sunday....

Thats all for now!
Here is a quote:  You can't control what happens but you can control your reactions to it

Trekking in the mountains!

Since I am about to go on my next trek, it seems like a good time to write about the last one.  It all came together in a fun way...  When I was in Rishikesh some people thought I was an Israeli and asked me in Hebrew if I had any books to trade...I said I only had English books and they said ok...we laughed for a sec about my Hebrew and that was that....

A week later in Bagsu, a hamlet near Mcleaod Ganj, the home of the Dalai Lama, I was in an internet cafe and noticed a nice map on the wall... I asked the guy there about trekking and he said he had 2 people trying to make a group... He gave me their e-mail address and I sent them a message... We had plans to meet the next day and when I went to meet them (with a friend from South Africa) it turned out they were the people who asked me for the book in Rishikesh.... We were joined with another Israeli couple and made plans to go on a 5 day trip...

We set off with our guide and 3 or 4 porters who carried all the food and tents...we just needed to carry clothing water and sleeping bags... Day one was a nice climb to Triund, a couple rock houses overlooking Mcleod Ganj and Dharamsala...

John (from SA) and I were sharing the blue tent... put up in a wonderfully exposed area on a ridge.  No problem...The guides made us popcorn, soup, tea and supper and we got ready for bed....  At some point I woke up in a wonderful storm with our tent shaking like a paint mixer.  The rain was pouring and the thunder and lightning were making a magnificent show.  It didnt take to long for me to realize that the tent was not going to survive the storm.  It was only a matter of time so I curled up in my sac and enjoyed until the pegs were pulled out of the ground, a cord tore and the tent collapsed on us.  In order to enjoy the storm as long as possible I had paked all my clothes and other stuff into my bag and had my rain jacket ready to go.  So I got out and tried to see if the tent was fixable...it was not...  It was fun holding the tent in the crazy wind and seeing the outline of Jon's head sitting up inside it...Points to our guide for showing up at that time and helping us get into the rock shelter/hut him and the porters were staying in...  The morning called for yoga and a good breakfast, both of which I enjoyed and we all set off....

One of the couples we were with had their own tent and the other got lucky as I chose to be in the tent that collapsed and theirs survived...

Day 2 saw us going up and up, great views and we came across many herdsmen driving their flocks...The ground although high up was very well fertilized,so much so that it looked like God dropped 10 million tons of chocolate covered raisins on the ground.  Unfortunately they didn't taste as good.

We were above the trees, either by elevation or lack of soil and climbed on up to our night's shelter, a cave.

Inside and out...you could see one of the porters making chapati (flatbread) with his hands

 

The next morning we were supposed to awake at 4:30 and get ready to head over a high pass...Unfortunately the rain that crept into the cave at night had not let up and the conditions were too dangerous to go over.  Our guide came up with another plan for our next three days.  While we couldn't do the pass, by staying on this side of the range we didn't have to take a 10hr bus ride at the end of the trip...we also didn't get the crazy view that the pass supposedly offers...

The clouds lifting...

My camera skills were not adequate to capture all the wildflowers but this area we came to was a bed of white yellow and purple beauty!

That night we hiked down to a Hindu temple and set up the tents there....

The next day we went down some more to a river where we jumped in and then had lunch
Here is some interesting flora by the river....

Crossing the river was fun and we continued up to a village for our last night

Some locals

It turned out the village is where all the porters were form and they got their hands on some booze after dinner... wihout even sharing they drank themselves silly.  Gravity played some mean tricks on them and somehow they were recovered enough in the morning to make breakfast...
Here is the view across the valley on the way down

We made it down and took a jeep back home...

Amritsar, the golden temple...and a few last pics from Rishikesh

Here are a couple random shots from Rishikesh

Most worshipers of Shiva are not potheads I don't think...but these guys are funny to see....

Even funnier to see was this guy! Enlarge and look at his logo! (you will understand better if you are form Montreal!) It was just pointed out to me that it says Foxboro, I read it as Roxboro which is next to where I grew up....oops.... as Obiwan Kenobi said..."your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them";

Here is the Golden Temple of the Sikhs.... I had a magnificent time here...I only ended up in the city of Amritsar becasue there was no bus that day from Rishiklesh to Dharamsala and instead of an extra day in Rishikesh I took a night train to Amritsar and I am lucky I did...

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To get into the temple you need to wait in a long line walking on the walkway...it moves slow and it is crowded but everyone is so excited to get inside.  It took me a few tries to find someone who spoke enough English to tell me about what is going on inside...From what I gathered there is the original copy of their bible that is being read all day every day and it takes 3 days to read it all...the men switch every 2 hours...I got to see the book,....it is 1341 pages long or so and the pages are huge! so is the writing....its the biggest book I have ever seen, almost 2 meters wide!

Take a moment and imagine this at night with lights twinkling off of it

Even more beautiful were all the Sikhs who were visiting, by the thousands!  They are all housed for free....tourists like me too...and all fed for free in a giant kitchen....hundreds of people volunteer to peel veggies, serve food and do dishes....

Upstairs in the temple there was a man reading another copy slowly, it was beautiful and I sat for a meditation to his singing...I was peaceful all that day...he also came to talk to me when he switched off..I think he was excited to see a westerner stay longer than just a peek in the room....He was pretty swell....The Sikh seemed very open to all religions...the idea of one god and many ways to go there...that's a little like the Hindu philosophy....

There is a ceremony at the Indian Pakistani border every night where they close it until the morning.  It is supposed to be quite the show, and it was...  Getting in meant 3 security checks and body searches, and then we were seated at a grandstand...here is one of the flamboyant soldiers...

In the back you can see Pakistan, and in the front me having a moment for my father!  They were selling cold diet coke and I wanted to have that fatherly connection.  In the yoga universe they say everything is one and one is everything, and we are all connected, and since my dad has replaced most of his blood with diet coke, by having some I was one with him for a while :) 
Happy Father's day!

The soldiers were all dressed with funny hats and did some crazy marching to and form the border...and the poeple all wnet nouts, treying to outdo the Pakistanis on the other side...At one point the commanders of both sides shake hands and then walk away, each stepo sending their feet so high they almost touch their foreheads, and arms swinging wildly...This was quite a presentation by 2 countries that are not exactly peaceful neighbours!

Afterward I went to a bar with two friends I met on the trip to the border.  It was a bit of a shock to me, and one of those 'you don't know what you've got till its gone moments'...After living in Rishikesh and the ashram I had forgotten that there is alcohol and meat in the world.  The bar was a beer and chicken bar...according to the menu...  Rishikesh is a dry town and restaurants can't sell meat...  I found it quite nice...no drunks wondering the streets, and the restaurants don't even have to say they are 'Veg'...(Interestingly, in India if a restaurant serves meat they have signs saying "non-veg"  Its the opposite of home...)
We had some fun table neighbours....

The next pics are form the journey between Amritsar and Dharamsla...

These are two bycicle porters...one for parcels and one for people....I like this dude's uniform...

 

On the way we passed atleast 10 army bases, they were hugs fomr the road and probably much bigger in what you can't see...they had gate posts with armed guards and it reminded me of how nice it is to be in Canada most of the time...'

This is the wildest vehicle I have seen...either a 3 wheeld car or an extended tuk-tuk....  The wheel is only attached on one side, not both like a motorcycle and the whole thing can be described as being Bad Assed!

Trek to the Source of mother Ganga (the ganges)

I went to Uttar Kashi to visit the Sivananda Ashram and to go visit a cave in Gangotri.  The cave is where Swami Vishnu Devananda did his practice before going to the west and where he returned many times.  I had heard about it in Canada and always wanted to see it.   While I was at the ashram we did the 5 hour drive to Gangotri to see the cave, and returned to Uttakashi.  While there I found out Gangotri is the setting off point for the pilgrimage to the source of the Ganges but I didn't feel too inspired to do the trek.

Back at the ashram I was talking with a girl from Switzerland who was thinking of it, and she convinced me to go.  It turns out that later she decided not to go but I was now inspired.  The second inspiration came from a Mexican friend who suggested going to Topovan, a climb higher than the glacier itself.

There was another guest visiting the yoga center, Arun Jit who came from Kerala, south India and he wanted to go to the source as well.  He had never done any hiking and was ready to leave in sandals, so I had my worries but leave we did!

We hired a jeep to do the drive to Gangotri, and it was beautiful and a little scary seeing a car that had fallen  off the road and dropped about a kilometer into the river...  we stayed a night buying supplies that we needed.  He got some shoes, which proved to be useful and we got GORP...good ol' raisins and peanuts.

We woke up early, had some food and set off.

The journey is one that most Hindus dream of taking once in their lives and there were many people of all ages on the trail.  The Trail was the best one i have ever been on in the mountains.  It is wide as a sidewalk, and so smooth you dont need to watch where you are walking.  I have never been so high in the mountains walking so easily!

We came across many babas, holy men and swamis on the journey.  What exactly makes a man holy I don't know but it did add a touch of magic to the trek every time we crossed their paths.  Many of them have been walking all the way from Rishikesh, adding weeks to the journey, and adding obstacles to the crazy roads!

After walking for 14km we came to:

 Where most pilgrims stay for the first night...here is the view of it from higher up:

We stayed in an ashram there...I think ashram means guest house...and there are also yoga ashrams in India and the world where you stay and do yga..but this was a regualr ashram...but also irregular in its own way.  It is the place with the pointed white triangle.  There we stayed for 5 dollars including all meals.  Food time was great with lots of people in a big open sided room freezing together and eating sloppy food!  The rooms were quite musky and maybe if you lean real close to the next picture you can smell what was growing on the pillows!

The rooms were half underground with a corrugated tin roof and many people crammed into some of them... One was full of swamis, the most crowded but that is probably because they don't pay. Some of the swamis, who are renunciates were interesting, and some seemed to be people unning away just living off everyone else.  Some appreciated if you gave them some nuts and some would take huge handfuls thinking you live to support them.
When we arrived at the ashram I treid to do some yoga, starting with some sun salutations, the more aerobic part.  At the Sivananda ashram we had done up to 40 in one set, and here I couldn't breathe after one and a half!  It was the first time I felt the full effects of alttude!  It was interesting and a little scary...Had a bear started shasing me it would have mauled me in a split second as opposed to the full second it would take lower down  (no one can out run a bear)  Luckily there are no bears here, but we did see some nice deer and goats.
We had heard form the forest officers that you can only stay in the park for 2 days and that it was illegal to go to Topovan, a climb above the source.  We also met some girls who did go to Topovan so we were a little perplexed.
At the ashram we met a guide who said he could take us up to Topovan...I was a little unsure with the idea as my partner seemed to struggle on the easy trail to Bhojbaso, and boots were recommended to go up higher. Arun had been awating quite a bit on the first day but he was so adamant about heading up higher that I gave in.  Out guide sad hew worked fr the foresty deoartment so we wouldnt get into trouble.  We planned to head to Topovan for the day, jump into the Ganges ont he way down and sleep again at Bhujbaso.
Two swamis asked if they could join us if we hire a guide as they wanted to go but hiad no money.  We set off with  one more Indian friend.  After 20 minutes the guide said Arun and the other Indian could not go on as they were not fit enough and we were going to go much higher.  I said this would be a probblem as that left me as the only one paying and I didnt want to foot the whole bill.  after almost no time the guide decided that Arun was ok to make it up!  I immediately lost faith in the guide, and Arun was as determined as ever to go.  And go we did!  Straight up!

It was quite an arduous climb and I had to keep screaming at the guide to wait for Arun as he was almost out of sight.  The guide was not even breathing hard and kept smoking! It was incredible, but he was used to the elevation...We were vlimbing up to just over 4000 meters if my info is correct.  I too had to stop every minute and catch my breath, it was very challenging....  I felt like I had put on 2oo kilos and tried to run the New York Marathon backwards in 40 degree weather....
Once we reached the top it was great to see a wide open valley with nothing in the immediate vicinity to climb!
The frst thing we saw is a guy who built his home under this rock! Zoom in if you can!

Then we met a lady with a similar set up, most of the 'home' is under a rock but they build walls with smaller rocks and keep warm enough..I thin kthese are some people praticing true yoga, isolating themsleves and gioing deep iunside...But they do still get some visitors...As a matter of fact they get enbough visitors to keep them busy all day...so I revise my statement, I have no I dea what they are doing there, but they are fortunate to have sauch a swell place to live!

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Here is Arun and I up in Topovan...He had never seen snow before and it was fun to be there with him for that experience...I also threw a snowball at him...I couldn't resist.

5:30 am Topovan...right after my moring business I noticed the surroundings and couldn't go back inside... The sun was playing all kinds of games on the peaks!

Here is where we stayed up in the moutnains!  It was an awesome guest house run by a 23 year old guy practicing silence.  He still spoke with hand gestures and grunts so I didn't see what the difference was but he was funny and made good food.

The guy was also a little weird.Fot instance at night after dinner was done (which we all eat in silence, a nice idea), I wanted to wash my dishes, use the facilities (there are no facilities to speak of but I am giving the tamer description and go to sleep.  He would allow me to leave.  I felt a little awkward, so I sat listening to the Hindi for another half hour.  It was a nice time up until then...It was myself and Arun, our friend and co-hiker Rahul, and 3 monks.  I did some chanting for them which they seemed to find amusing and mostly listened to a conversation I didn't understand.  When I needed to go though it was weird to be told no.  After a while I jsut got up and went to do my business and wash my plate in the freezinf water...I went to bring my plate back and the silaent monk gestured and grunted m\for me to come back in, but nknowing we had a 23km hike in the moring I jsut said goodnight and went to bed.  In the moring Arun said he had the same problem when he tried to leave and ended up stayiiing until everyone decided to go sleep.

In this pic is Rahul and the silent monk who was dressed like a cowboy.  One minute he is like that, then in the traditional robes doing a Hindu ceremony then dressed like a hiker in old long jons...he was a weird one!

 

The silentm monk wanted to see some yoga postures, I thought ot learn some yoga, but h ejust wanted to watch...when it was clear he wouldn't participate I stopped showing off :) I was holding the hope for a while that he would turn out to be an asana master and show me a few things I needed for my practice but he seemed to be as lost as the rest of us...and quite in need of friends by his deep attachment to us amusing him the night before.  He did make some great food and have a contagious laugh!

Here is our bedroom...It was quite chilly especially cause we didn't know we would be sleeping over, we had decided to stay again at Arun's insistence and shivered the night away.

In the moring we headed down the steep slope and finally made it to the source of the Ganges!  The white in the back in the glacier!

It was quite cold but we all made it in and washed away all our sins!

The hike out was quite beautiful and we made it back to Gangotri before dark.. We passed out and got ready to head back early the next morning.

One of the best parts of the whole experience was doing it with Arun.  It made me realize how special this trip is to so many people!  For me it startd out as a fun hike, but became a little bit more meeting all the pilgrims along the way.  Everyone we crossed was very excited to be there, having come from all over India!  People carried empty bottles in to bring water from the source abck to their loved ones.  Seeing people sitting at the source and just enhoying being there was also quite special and led to a pleasant atmosphere.

I highly recommend this trip to anyone who loves nature, glacier water, and sin cleansing....

Sivananda Kutir

For 2 years I have wanted to visit the Sivananda ashram on the banks of the ganges and I finally got my chance.  I was quite lucky as they had a course going on (that has a year waiting list) and they usually don't accept guests at that time.  I had happened to e-mail my teacher from Canada who happened to be teaching the course in India and he invited me to come and participate in most of the classes.  It was a fun experience and I got to have lots of training, daily meditations, philosophy lectures and some of the best food I had on my whole trip...

 

I thought the bridges in Rishikesh were unique (for the language police, yest I know 2 bridges can't be unique but I hope you got the meaning...) but it turns out there are many such bridges crossing the river all the way along...

 Here is my favorite bovine we passed on several silent walks...when they thought we were too full of energy for sitting meditation...

Here are the cooks...the one on the right is also a priest and they are super hard working and super kind...I learned a lot just watchign them work...they didn't stop but were always content...

My karma yoga was to do the dishes... I got to know them very intimately over the three weeks I was there...Towards the end I got promoted and chopped lots of veggies as well.

Three weeks of yoga was just what I needed and was hoping for and it was great to do.  The course was full of people from around India and the world that made it extra special and it was also proof that if you ask for something, no matter how unlikely it can happen...

Some sights in Rishikesh

Jeep stand in Rishikesh... a cross between a tax and a bus

Skyping with some nursery students in Montreal...Now they know a little about India and I know a little about them...young kids are full of love!

These monkyes were cute this day and the next day attacked me for my bananas!  I had to throw 2 at them to keep them away...it was kind of scary as they were charging me.

Ganges...

The bridge... if your not dodging cows you are dodging motorcycles...  Have you ever been in a cow/motorcycle traffic jam on a bridge? I have!

Those Jews sure do wonder...

Anything wrong with this picture?  At least the EEnglish ees spellled praughporlee

Dinner party at my home...

Trip to a waterfall...we had a great time and on the way down ran into some people who told us the real one was another 300meters or so higher up...we thought we had arrived...

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Cooking class

You can walk all around this temple going higher and higher ringing bells and visiting a plethora of deities...

Inside the temple...