4 months later...

It has been about four months since I have blogged and needless to say I have much to catch you up on.
My last blog ended with my travels around Rajasthan and Goa. At around that time I had about a month left in Delhi before we headed back to Australia for a desperately longed for and needed break, and to escape the growing summer heat.

About 4 days before the kids and I headed home we fit in one more adventure....

Rishikesh
Rishikesh is about 5/6 hours away from Delhi. A five hour train ride to Haridwar, which was in full festival mode (a few million people had descended on Haridwar for a major Hindu festival- in fact 60 minutes did a report on it which I saw when I got back to Sydney). Apparently Haridwar is one of only a few places where nectar fell from heaven.
From Haridwar we had a 1-2 hour bus ride up through the mountains to our camp at Rishikesh. There were about 80 of us on the trip, mostly expats and a few locals.
Our camp was on the banks of the Ganga (Ganges) where the water is clean and icy cold Himalayan meltwater. We were in Rishikesh for a long weekend of whitewater rafting and hanging out. The camp was a great set up; tents with proper beds and buffet breakfast lunch and dinner.
We had two days of rafting. On the first day we would raft about 20 kilometers down the river to the main town of Rishikesh and then hop on a bus back up to our camp. It was a great day. About half way down the river we dropped the kids off before the river got too rough. They where bused further downstream where we would pick them up again after the adults and teens worked their way through the rougher rapids. It was a lot of fun. Even though it was about 40 degrees in the sun the water was about 14 degrees. It took your breath away when the waves washed over the boat. During the quieter stretches people would jump overboard and float down the river. I was not one of those people :)
Hunter and I skipped the second day of rafting. Sam and Ray went. This time they were bused up-stream and would raft back down the river to the camp after conquering 'the wall.' Only three boats went for this trip and I think only one made it over the wall without capsizing - that was Ray and Sam's boat.
It really was a fab weekend, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if i was not anticipating my trip home just a few days later. I was exhausted!

The last few days in Delhi were torture, the days dragged and I was spent. I felt like I had been on a year long camping trip, the weather was heating up and I just wanted to go home. I was at a point of not feeling like I ever wanted to come back to India.

The kids and I left Delhi to spend 2 months back in Australia and Ray followed two weeks later.

Home
Everything felt so new and different when we first got home. So much had changed. It felt familiar and unfamiliar at the same time and for the first week I savored everything that I had missed... a comfy bed and bathroom in the next room with great water pressure. And the quietness...no blaring horns, temples blasting out their prayers or the noise of a billion people. And the most exciting thing... the food :)
After about 2 weeks it all felt the same again. It was almost as though I had never left and I had recovered, I could go back to India again.

The first month in Australia went quite slow. We had a great time catching up with family and friends and I went into the office to work, which was nice. It was great to reconnect with everyone.
The second month flew by. Ray and I ducked over to NZ for a week. Ray was catching up with a few people and organisations attached to the ashram and I had a great week spending time with all the NZ ashram volunteers.
We had such a great time with Ruth and Jake, Scott and Sharlene and the kids and Jenni. After living with people in such close community the bond you have is tight. I am sure we will all be lifelong friends.

I was not a great tourist in NZ. I had been there once before when I was ten and I really just wanted to hangout with friends. We made one touristy trip to Taupo, where we sat in a spring of hot water that came out of the ground... I still think that is so amazing, that hot water can just come out of the ground.
I spent a day in Auckland with Jenni where she bought me a 'green stuff' pendant otherwise known as pounamu or jade. Apparently you are not supposed to buy it for yourself, but rather someone has to give it to you as a gift.
NZ is such a beautiful country. It is so green... though it did rain everyday we were there, so that could be why:)
The other thing that was truly memorable about NZ was the food. I ate so much and felt constantly full. I think you would call that gluttony.

Once we got back to Sydney time flew by until it was time to leave. I had my birthday with friends and family and had a weekend away with the girls.

Getting ready to leave for India again was a mammoth task. As always I pushed my luggage limit to the max. When we got to the airport there was a problem. Each piece of luggage could not weigh more than 23kgs. So the lady at the counter made us do a reshuffle. In the end she let us though with five pieces of luggage and about 15kgs over in weight... woohoo. This kerfuffle paid off as we were then one of the last people to check in and there were no seats available together in economy, so we got bumped to business for the Sydney-Singapore leg.. YAY.
We were on a British Airways flight with the new business class flat beds. The kids loved it... ruined for life. I have never been able to sleep on planes, but on this trip I slept :)
Our flight got into Singapore late, so when we got off the plane there was a buggy waiting to race us to our connecting flight to Delhi. So much for perusing the July duty free sales :( We only just made it to our plane and were the last to board the crowded flight. We made it, but our luggage did not.

We got into Delhi at about 2am and was met by our driver Gurudial and one of the ashram guys. It was good to be back. It is strange having two cities that are so familiar too me, both feeling like home.

After a few hours sleep in our own bed we got up in time for breakfast and stepped out into a typical ashram morning. It was the same yet different. I was arriving back in Delhi on exactly the same day as I had the year before. The 1st of July.
It was interesting to compare the difference in the ashram from the year before. This year it was so ordered and looked after. Last year it looked like a bomb had hit it. I had assumed it was the summer heat preventing things from being looked after.
It was wonderful to see everyone again and I think they were all really happy to see us too. It was great to hear all the news and see some new faces and the old ones. It was also great to see the progress that people had made.

I still have about a month of news to catch up on, but I am going to leave it at that for today.

It was good to catch up :)

Travels

I don't know why I have been putting off writing for so long... its not as though I am short on news. We have been doing heaps of travel and I am slowly ticking off my 'must see in India' list.

Where do I begin? Well... my sister Julie and her husband Michael arrived in early March. There arrival triggered a very busy and packed itinerary of site seeing and travel.

Initially after they arrived Ray and Mike took off to the Anderman Islands to see the work Mike and Julie's church support. While they were gone Julie the kids and I spent time hanging out at the ashram and site seeing in Delhi. Up until Julie's arrival I had put off being a tourist in Delhi as I figured at some point we would have some visitors and we could do it then.

Sites we covered in Delhi included Humayan's tomb (an impressive precursor to the Taj Mahal), the Lotus temple and the Q'tub Minar. We also spent some time at Sarojini-the best market in the world!!!

On our site seeing trips Sam took over my camera and became our official photographer. He took some impressive shots and experimented with framing his subjects within the available surrounds.

During this time I also had to say goodbye to Ruth and Jake as they would be heading off on the final leg of their journey before heading home to NZ. Now that I am back at the ashram and into normal routine I really feel its not the same without them...blah.

One of the highlights of touring Delhi would have to be Delhi by Cycle. It is a tour company organised by a Dutch guy, which involves touring around the old city of Delhi early in the morning by bicycle. So one Saturday morning the six of us set off at 6.30am to be in Delhi by 7.30 to set off for a 3 hour ride.

It was so much fun weaving through the narrow lane-ways of Old Delhi just as it is coming alive in the morning. Hundreds of people greeted us as we wove through the streets avoiding cows, goats, dogs and poop. Our first stop on the tour was for chai not far from the banks of the Yamuna. As part of the tour we where supposed to go for a early morning row, but the pollution of the river was too bad; the black water looked so thick you could have walked on it. From the chai stand we visited the 'home for disabled cows' ... and that's all I am going to say about that!

We continued our ride taking in more of the sites of Old Delhi such as the Jama Masjid Mosque and the Red Fort. Towards the end of out ride we stopped in at the world famous Karim's restaurant for breakfast where we had there speciality of goat's trotters with the most delicious flat bread.

By the time breakfast was over Old Delhi was getting pretty busy and the ride was becoming slightly more challenging with many more obstacles and much traffic to avoid on the way.

Without a doubt bicycle is one of the best ways to see Old Delhi and this tour should be compulsory for any Delhi tourist.

For the rest of the day we did a bit more site seeing, picked up our tailor made jeans ($12) and saw a few more markets all in between the kids soccer games. That night we were catching the overnight train to Udaipur and I have to say with such an early start it was just about one of the longest days of my life.

The 12 hour overnight train to Udaipur restored my faith in Indian Railways. If you have been following my blog for sometime you will know that our first train experience was not the best- the train left 6 hours late, then the 24 hour trip took 36 hours and someone tried to rob us in the middle of the night. The trip to Udaipur however, made up for that experience- the train was clean and on time and with little disruption during the night. I now know the key with train travel is to take the express trains or fly!

Udaipur

We arrived at Udaipur at around 7am and took a rickshaw to our hotel. The hotel we stayed at was wonderful; even though we arrived long before check in they gave us a temporary room to use until our room was ready. (I have to say Trip Advisor is the best website on earth for choosing well priced excellent hotels).

The Lake Pichola Hotel was a converted mansion right on the lake. We had a lake view room with views of the Old City and the Lake Palace.

Udaipur is a city surrounded by mountains and is famous for its lakes and palaces. Udaipurs modern claim to fame is the Lake Palace appearing in the James Bond movie Octopussy. In fact the movie is played at 7pm every night in most of the Udaipur cafes. This was something I planned to see while in Udaipur but alas I am still yet to actually watch a Bond movie.

We stayed in Udaipur for 3 days and I loved it! Even though we were there in peak season it was so quiet compared to Delhi. I loved wandering around the Old city browsing at the shops, many of which sold the intricate two dimensional paintings that Rajasthan is famous for.

We did our fair share of site seeing while in Udaipur, taking in three of the palaces as well as temples and the views of Udaipur from the Monsoon Palace. As much as I enjoyed these sites the highlight of my time in Rajasthan was sitting cross legged in the courtyard of one of the simpler hotels having painting lessons with Madan. I had a 2-3 hour lesson each day with one of the kids joining me on alternate days. If I was really organised I would take some photos of the finished product and attach it to the blog but alas I am not :)

Jaipur

From Udaipur we took another overnight train to Jaipur; the capital of Rajashtan. Once again we got in early and took a rickshaw to our hotel. The hotel was cheap yet wonderful... another credit to Trip Advisor.

After breakfast we walked from our hotel to the pink walled old city of Jaipur. Jaipur was not really what I had expected; although it has a long history, it does not feel as old as Delhi or Agra. We spent the morning exploring the City Palace and wandering through the old city spotting camels and the occasional elephant (all tame). That afternoon after a short siesta we drove out to the Amber to see the fort. Our driver, Gurdial had driven down from Delhi that morning and was spending the rest of the trip with us. He is such a great guy and enjoyed seeing the sites of his country as much as we did, albeit for a tenth of the price...but fair is fair.

Ray nearly made the trip very costly for Gurdial after he told him to keep driving when the police tried to pull us over because Ray was not wearing his seat belt. As it was we had to do a U-turn and the police pulled us over on our way back. After much hoohaa Ray (once again) got out of a fine and we were on our way.

Don't ask me how many forts I have seen in India, but the Amber fort was by far one of the more impressive. At the Amber fort I hired a guide; he pointed out lots of interesting details and explained to us what it would have looked like back in the day with its thick rugs, velvet curtains and ornate furnishings.

If you are ever after a guide don't ask me to pick one... our guide at Amber was about 100 years old and had to sit down when he spoke as he was breathless from emphysema.

We spent one night in Jaipur and the next morning we headed off early for Agra.

Agra

So this was my second trip to Agra and hopefully my last. Although the city has some fairly impressive history and monuments I don't like it. It is dirty chaotic and certainly not what you would expect from a city that is raking in a tonne of money for one of the most prominent tourist attractions in the world. Also, avoiding the numerous touts and people trying to sell you hunks of marble becomes unbearable in a very short time.

The first thing we did on arriving in Agra was head straight for the Taj Mahal. Last time I visited was during November when it was far less crowded and not nearly as hot. We did not find a guide so I did my best at showing Julie and Michael some of the more interesting features and telling the what history I could from memory.

Once again we had fun taking lots of crazy photos and just enjoying the sight.

After the Taj we checked into our hotel and had a quick bite before heading out to see the Agra fort. Last time at the fort I did not have a guide and I felt that we missed out on some of the key features and history. This time we had a great guide (engaged by Ray) who took us through the fort and pointed out many of the things we had simply overlooked last time.

A guide is a must if you ever go to the Agra Fort. I was hoping he would be able to sneak us into the closed to the public mirrored bathroom, but as there was no guard on duty to unlock it (for a small fee) we could only peer through some very small and dirty windows :(

As much as I don't like Agra with all its hassles and touts our Agra Fort guide was fantastic and the cycle rickshaw wallahs were honest, interesting and helpful.

After staying overnight in Agra we headed back to Delhi. The chaos and traffic that welcomed us was particularly horrendous.

We stayed one night in Delhi before flying out to Goa at midday the next day.

Goa

We were allso looking forward to this week away in Goa, especially after such a full on schedule. During our time in Goa we were not tourists but rather just enjoyed reading by the pool, walking to the beach for a quick swim and eating much missed seafood. I managed to eat seafood everyday while I was in Goa, but was a little disappointed that all the prawns were grilled or fried.... I really miss vivid orange and white chilled prawns.

After a few days of being extremely lazy Ray, Sam, Hunter and I decided to head out of the resort and explore a bit more of Goa. We hired a couple of motor scooters and headed north to explore the coast line, Hunter was my pillion passenger and Sam with Ray. It has been ages since I last rode a scooter and I had forgotten how much fun it is, especially in a place like Goa where the roads are flat and winding and shaded by hundreds of palm trees. I would hate to ride a scooter around chaotic Delhi but Goa felt like being in another country.

After some time exploring and enjoying the ride we pulled into one of the northern beaches for a swim. It was a little different from the beach where we were staying, with a lot more Indian tourists, rather than the multitude of Russians. There was even a cow sunbathing on the beach :)

From the beach we started heading back to our hotel. Along the way we pulled into a hair salon so Sam could get a haircut. The advertised price for a haircut was 20 rupees (50 cents)... even cheaper than Delhi. Ray felt bad and payed $1.

We managed to get a little lost on the way back to the resort, but were rescued by Google maps... got to love it.

Not much else to report on our time in Goa. Except perhaps that I would not necessarily recommend it to Australians as a beachside resort holiday destination. Australia's beaches are by far nicer and if you are looking for an OS beach holiday Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand would be the go. So, would I go to Goa again if I was desperate to see the ocean while in India?....probably not, next time perhaps we will try Sri Lanka.

Back to Delhi

We have been back in Delhi and the ashram for a week now and the weather is really hotting up. Each day sees temperatures in the late 30s, dropping to the early 20s overnight. By next week the temperature will hit the 40s and the night-time reprieve will no longer occur. I think we have made the right decision to head home for the two hottest months of the year.

Potentially this could be my last blog for sometime. Frankly I have lost my writing verve and am finding it difficult to write about life at the ashram. Also I doubt I will have time to fit another blog in between rafting in Rishikesh and heading home. So until early July...

Namaste

Happy Holi

On Monday I experienced my first Holi in India. Holli which is also called the festival of colours, is a spring festival celebrated by Hindus. The festival lasts for 16 days with the main day being celebrated last Monday

The day before Holi bonfires are lit and effigies of demonesses like Holikais are burned. The next day holi celebrated with a riot of colour, with powder paints, buckets of colourded and scented water and giant syringe-like water pistols

Interestingly, the spring season, during which the weather changes, is believed to cause fevers and cold. Thus, the playful throwing of natural coloured powders has a medicinal significance. The colours are traditionally made of neem, kumkum, haldi, bilva, and other medicinal herbs prescribed by Ayurvedic doctors.

I expected the Monday of Holi to be a typical Monday... work, school etc but the atmosphere in Delhi and the ashram was that of a public holiday so there was not work done that day. That morning before the kids had even got out of bed I found myself up at the kids house being squirted with coloured water and powder paint... it was a lot of fun for both me and the kids. So after that I assumed that was it for my holi experience so I washed all the paint off and got into some clean clothes.

Later that day, Murari, one of the boys asked me to drive him to Savita's house (the ashram teacher) to visit for Holi. The village of Narela was so different from its normal daily hustle and bustle. All the shops were closed except for those selling colourful powder paint and water guns. The village itself looked like a colourful war zone. There were people walking around covered from head to toe in the most vivid colours you have ever seen. The streets themselves were covered in water and paint.

When we got to Savitas house we parked as close as we could to her house and then we literally had to run to her door to avoid being drowned by buckets of water being tipped on us by people on their roof, while being chased by guys determined to see us covered in paint. Amazingly we made it to her house clean and dry.

Indian hospitality is so wonderful... I guess it comes from having such an old culture. It does not matter if I am literally popping in some where to drop something off; water and chai are offered and served as a matter of course. Thus it was at Savitas as well. When Savita offered water she mentioned that she did not have bottled or filtered but only tap. I said "koi bat nahi" which means no worries and drank the tap water. I think my gut is well and truly accustomed to India now as I have not had any problems in over a year now.

After water and chai we were offered pakora....mmmm so good! I must learn how to make it.

It was so great to spend some time with Savita and get to know her a little better. It also made me realise that I need to find more time to visit and spend with the kids.

That afternoon Sam instigated a little water fight by throwing some water at Ruth. It was not long before a full scale water and colour fight was underway. Eventually everyone was lured out and covered with paint and water... there was a long line for the showers that night!

I am fairly rubbish at uploading photos to the blog so if you want to see them you need to befriend me on facebook :)

This will probably be my last blog for a few weeks as my sister arrives on Monday and I will be heading off on a few more travels.

Wedding Crashers

Last Friday night I attended my second and third Indian wedding. An invitation was extended to the ashram volunteers by doctor Ashish who is a respiratory specialist that visits the ashram a couple of times a week. So with much excitement the two Ruths and I were wrapped in our Saris and with the boys headed to Lavanya wedding lawn for the marriage of Dr Ashish's friend whom we have never met.

We knew that the wedding would not get cranking until about 10pm but decided to head off at 8pm so that we could soak up the atmosphere and the amazing food for as long as possible. This wedding was definitely way fancier than the first wedding we went to. There would have been over 100 metres of buffet/service tables with every kind of vegetarian food imaginable including non Indian foods such as pizza and pasta. Of course I never made it to the pasta as I was filled with finger foods by the over attentive circling waiters. It was quite funny actually, dotted around the wedding lawn which was about the size of a soccer pitch were tables and chairs as well as ornate carved lounge settings. As soon as we took a seat is was like bees to honey...our group being the honey. About 20 waiters converged on us with all sorts of amazing foods and flashy drinks. So it was not long before I was stuffed with all sorts of tasty Indian snacks such as tikka paneer, veg Manchurian, chilli potatoes as well as the most amazing pizza and fruits. Set up around the venue were big screens where live wedding moments from the guests was projected. Our conspicuous little group certainly got a lot of air time.

At about 9.30pm we heard the band leading the grooms carriage approaching so we headed outside to join in the ruckus. As we were in an area where there were multiple wedding venues there was more than one groom approaching his wedding. We tagged along with the procession that we thought was going to the wedding we were invited too. It is with huge fanfare that grooms arrives at his wedding. The groom for the wedding we attended was quite pudgy and sat in his horse drawn carriage flanked by his two daughters (I assume it was a second marriage) before the carriage were the ubiquitous two white horses; then a full brass band all dressed up in marching band regalia. At this stage of the wedding it is mainly men that are present along with a few of the grooms immediate female relatives who are dressed up to the hilt. It is quite a spectacle watching the men dance as if possessed. Only a few of the women from the grooms family dance but as foreigners we were welcomed and strongly encouraged to join in. So the two Ruths and I were having a great time; meanwhile Ray is getting call after call from Dr Ashish who is wondering were we are. We keep repeating above the noise that we are with the groom, but Dr Ashish insists that he is with the groom. Eventually he finds us...at the wrong wedding!! We are literally in stitches as we are lead to the neighboring party lawn to the wedding we were supposed to attend. It just so happened that the groom was just arriving then so we got to enjoy the procession all over again... :) Great night!

Manali

Here I am once again typing in the dark; it seems that blackouts follow me every where I go.

So this blog post is about our recent jaunt to Manali. Manali is a hill station located in the north of India in the central part of Himachal Pradesh. It is located at an altitude of 2050 metres and is spread along the banks of the Beas river.We had planned a 6 day trip and where lucky we actually got home in that time-frame after being snowed in with landslides covering the main route in and out of Manali. So here is a bit of a play by play of our trip....

Eight of us set out at 5am on Thursday morning for the 500km/9hour journey to Manali. Jenni prepared a scavenger hunt to keep us entertained throughout the journey. Some of the more ammusing but not uncommon items on the list included a motorbile with training wheels, a truck on its side an elephant...just the usual sights. The only problem with the game was that it meant that we missed a crucial turnoff which added several kilometres and about 2 hours to the trip. It wasnt all in vain though as we went through some amazing villages and saw some spectacular scenery. Generally I am not a great person for car travel but this drive was amazing; the scenery changed from smoggy dusty delhi to steep mountains covered with pine trees or terraced with crops which appeared as vivid ribbons of green banding the steep slopes.

We also stopped to cross swaying foot bridges that crossed the Beas river which has the most amazing jade/blue water you have ever seen. We did not reach Manali until about 8pm after spending 6 hours saying we had 2 hours to go!

It seems I got my way and we stayed at the Hotel Yak which was very well located by the mall area in the town of Manali. That night we had dinner at the Mountview resteraunt which became our haunt for much of the trip.

After breakfast on out first day in Manali we headed up the mountain to Solang which is the main ski resort (if you could call it that) and guess what... there was no snow...none at all! Instead there was about 100 horses available for trips up the mountain where there was patches of snow. There was paragliding and zorbing available as well. Seeing as we had made the journey we made the most of it and went for a hike up the mountain to where there was enough snow to have a snowball fight and to watch the Beas river forming from the melt water beginning its long trip down the mountain.

It was kind of nice hiking through the snow in just jeans, T-shirt and gumboots.

The rest of the day we spent exploring Manali enjoying amazing food and making plans for our not-skiing holiday.

So on day 2 we planned a mountain bike ride. We biked 40 kilometres taking in the most amazing scenery through apple orchards, pine forests and quaint villages. Many of the wooden huts in the villages where sagging under the weight of thier thick slate roofs. Unlike biking in Sydney we had some rather unusual obstacles such as goats, cows, and donkeys. Halfway through our trip we stopped at a little village for lunch. When we pulled up outside a food stall the guide said we could have dahl and rice; I think we all gagged. We asked if momo's was an option and we ended up heading 100metres further down the road to the most amazing little shack selling the best momos and chowmein in India; I think food tasted better in the mountains.

After lunch we enjoyed a 5 kilometre winding downhill coast before a slow 10 kilometre cimb (in the rain) up to the hot springs. What a way to finish the day.

That night we headed up to Johnson lodge to enjoy cocktails and trout (a local delicacy). It was one of the best meals I have had in India... I so miss fish! While at dinner we had planned to do another bike ride the next day... 50ks with more off road sections. But it was not to be at 10pm it started snowing in Manali. The biggest flakes of snow I had ever seen and the frst snow in Manali in 2 years. By the next morning a foot of snow covered the town of Manali and by that night it was 2 foot deep. So that was the end of our mountain biking and it was supposed to be the start of our skiing/boarding but wouldn't you know it there was too much snow! We could not get anywhere near Solang valley in fact we could not get out of Manali. We were litterely snowed in and blacked out for the next four days. This meant no heating, no lights and most importantly no hot showers! All was not lost we still enjoyed treks through the snow in the Manali nature reserve and we built a huge rolled snowball snowman...I have never done that before :)

The day before we were due to leave Manali there was a break in the weather and the boys had discovered a potential way off the mountain (the main road was closed due to a landslide). We made a snap decision at four o'clock that afternoon to try to get down the mountain to Kullu and head back to Delhi from Kullu the following day. So we all rushed to pack up our cold wet gear as fast as we could before the sunset. While we were packing Sam went up to the local hardware store to buy a shovel. The shovel affectionately named Neville certainly paid for itself on the trip out of Manali...even though it only cost 150 rupees ($3.50). Not long after we headed out of Manali via the snow covered roads Sam and Jake were helping dig cars out of the snow and out of our way; it seemed we were the only ones with enough foresight to think that a shovel might be a necessary tool to get off the mountain.

It took 5 hours to cover the 48 kilometres to Kullu. At one point we were stuck behind a multitude of bogged cars when it started to snow. We spent about an hour just watching the snow cover the windscreen; it was quite mesmerising... a bit like watching a game of Tetris as all the gaps were filled.

By the time we got to Kullu we were cold, hungry and exhausted. Fortunately we had made it before all the hotel receptions closed. We stopped at the first hotel we found and checked in. It was a relatively dodgy rabbit warren of a place but it was super cheap ($10) and a place to sleep.

The drive back home to Delhi was as scenic as all India. The highlight of this part of the trip would have been driving through Punjab and spotting the most amazing coloured turbans worn by the men of the predominantly sikh state.

We stopped for lunch at a buzzing roadside restaurant. In the end we decided to cancel our order after an hour and a half of waiting for our meals and Ray spotting the chefs recycling drinks as he walked into the kitchen to complain. Outside the restaurant there was a samosa and snack stand. Not being a big fan of samosas I opted for a mix of buja, dried peas and moong dhal seasoned with onion and lime juice. It seems that it was a good decision as those who had the samosas started feeling heady and spaced out; I was asked if there was a culinary herb that could have that effect? I suggested that perhaps the herb was the Marijuana that was growing in plague proportions along the roadside.

Our final stop on our journey home was the city of Chandigarh. Once again it was like stepping into another country...or on reflection like arriving in Canberra. Chandigarh is perhaps the most organised city in India. It is the dream city of India's first Prime Minister and was planned by the famous French architect Le Corbusier. Chandigarh is known as one of the best experiments in urban planning in India. The streets of Chandigarh are wide and tree lined with the fallen leaves swept into neat piles. The round-abouts are immaculately groomed, some with the only working fountains I have ever seen in all my time in India.

Our one sightseeing stop in Chandigarh was Nek Chand's Rock Garden. Nek Chand was a government official who started the garden secretly in his spare time in 1957. The garden is spread over forty-acres and it is completely built of industrial as well as home waste and thrown-away items. It was discovered by the authorities in 1975, by which time it had grown into a 12-acre garden of interlinked courtyards, each filled with hundreds of pottery-covered concrete sculptures of dancers, musicians, and animals. The sculptures are predominantly decorated with broken porcelain cups, tiles plates and even toilets though there were also 50-100 sculptures of women in saris decorated with thousands of broken glass bangles which are traditionally worn by Indian women. The place was definitely a bit quirky and would be really creepy to wander through at night but it is definitely worth a visit if you are ever passing through Chandigarh.

I have just put together a bit of video footage from our time away...we are not the best at taking the time to capture things on video so I did not have a lot to work with. I will have it up on YouTube shortly and will add a link to the video bar.

Blacked Out

Its 9 am on a Wednesday morning and we have been blacked out since about midnight. So here I am with literally nothing to do until the power comes back on; I guess I will write until either the power comes on or my battery dies.

I am certainly looking at the bright side; at least its not the middle of summer when my sanity is linked to a functioning ceiling fan.

I am really looking forward to my visa running out in May...busting for a trip home. January has been a very slow month for me and has been plodding along at a turtle pace. It has been freezing here at the ashram with heavy fog rolling in each night. A couple of times we have found ourselves driving home not looking out the front windscreen but head hanging out the window looking for the centre line on the road to guide our way.

There finally seems to be a bit of a shift in the weather though. This morning when I rolled out of bed at 7am to head to the Mandir (temple) for a bit of exercise there was hardly any fog and heaps of birds where chirping. Its feeling a bit like spring.

A few of us are getting up at 7am these days to meet in the temple to do a bit of a workout. We set up a circuit and work out way around for about an hour. Giresh our blind massage therapist/yoga instructor is also up doing his sun salutations at the front of the temple. Sometimes I join in with his warm up, but I move onto my own routine when he stands on his head. His core strength is unbelievable and I have never seen any one move from downward dog to cobra so gracefully.

So what else has happened this month. Well we had two patients die within five minutes of each other on Saturday morning. Below I have inserted an excerpt from Ruth's blog as she articulates their stories so well...

Two of our patients passed away this morning. One of our staff came and told Ruth before breakfast that they weren't doing well. She found them in their beds semi conscious and struggling to breathe. Pyara Baba had been with us for months and was on TB meds but over the last couple of months his brain had slowly deteriorated from TB menengitis and he had become one of the crazy characters that makes life at the ashram so colourful and different. His tall and skinny body been helped to the clinic for his dressing as he called out "koi baat nahi" (hindi for 'don't worry') was an everyday sight and sound that we'd gotten used to.

The other patient, Lakhan, was a more recent admission, also suffering from long term TB. He was old, emaciated, and had a chest drain protruding from his right lung that sucked in air every time he inhaled. He'd been walking around the ashram even as recently as yesterday, and didn't look too close to death. But this morning, he looked like another man, gasping for breath, eyes glazed over, and not responsive to questions.

The decision was made not to rush them to a hospital as they probably wouldn't survive the journey and the hospitals won't intubate someone whose sputum positive for TB anyway. So we put them on oxygen and spent the next hour with them, comforting them as best we could as we sat with them, holding their hands and inwardly hoping they wouldn't struggle for too much longer. Lakhan was the first to give up his struggle for oxygen and his laboured gasps became slower and slower until they stopped altogether. Pyara Baba followed him within minutes.

The Indian boys then wrapped the bodies in white linen and covered them with flowers from our garden and we had a small funeral service for them. A time to reflect on the value of life, its shortness and the importance of how we choose to live it.

The service for deceased patients is a relatively new thing here at the ashram. The bodies have always been wrapped, adorned with flowers and placed in the temple until they are taken to the crematorium. But these days we have a small service and say a few words and prayers. This particular Saturday morning there was quite a turn out and Ruth did an amazing job of leading the service.

Afterwards it was suggested that we could drop the bodies to the crematorium on the way to soccer. Ruth however pointed out it would be a bit squishy in the car with the four of us as well as two bodies, not to mention that it might traumatise the kids.

I am hoping that time starts moving a bit more swiftly in February. We have quite a bit planned over the next few months. Firstly we are off for a week of skiing in the Himalayas. There will be 8 of us loading into the car for the 9 hour drive up to Manali. There has been much hoohaa as to which hotel we should book. I have two sure fire ways of picking a hotel; first I go with a recommendation from someone I know and if I don't have a recommendation I pick the hotel with the most unusual name. So if I get my way we will be staying at the Yak Hotel in Manali. Once I picked a hotel in Cooma based on its name. it was called the Hawaii Motel....couldn't be further from Hawaii if you tried; not a palm tree in sight. Ray described it as one of those motels that you see in movies like Dusk til Dawn where massacres takes place. I will keep you posted as to how the Yak Hotel turns out. One very extreme sport that Manali is famous for is Yak skiing. Here is a very amusing description of Yak skiing taken from TIME magazine (I love the use of the word behemoth)...

In the Indian hill resort of Manali, Tibetan Peter Dorje runs an operation dedicated to the most implausible extreme sport in the world: yak skiing. In winter, he takes up to five skiers and his herd of beasts to the hills above town, making overnight camp. Come morning, Pete heads to a high slope with the yaks, trailing out a rope behind him. You wait below, wearing your skis and holding a bucket of pony nuts. When Pete reaches the top, he ties a large pulley to a tree, loops the rope through it and onto a stamping, snorting yak. Now it's your turn—and this is the important part. First tie yourself onto the other end of the rope, then shake the bucket of nuts and quickly put it down. The yak charges down the mountain after the nuts, pulling you up it at rocket speed. If you forget yourself in the excitement and shake the bucket too soon, you'll be flattened by two hairy tons of behemoth. Or as Pete says, "Never shake the bucket of nuts before you're tied to the yak rope." This piece of Himalayan sagacity can be restated in many ways that apply to everyday life: do things in their proper order, make adequate preparations before embarking on a risky venture, and so on. Or it can be seen for what it is: a barmy injunction to even barmier tourists. There's one thing Pete won't tell you, though. If you spike the nuts with pain au chocolat from the bakery at the northern end of town (where you'd also find Pete), you'll transform the yaks into slobbering, compliant puppies. That you'll have to discover for yourself.

The kids have started back to school early this year in order to get ahead before the traveling begins. Sam is doing really well thus far and is enjoying his new elective subjects of Electronics and Photographic and Digital Media. Its great being at the ashram too as there is always 'educational' stuff happening that he wouldn't learn at school. Yesterday he took a break from History to duck down to the clinic to see a patient with an abscess the size of a tennis ball on his neck being lanced. It wasn't very satisfying... it didn't gush like Om Prakash's abscess it was more of a trickle. The last time we had some new patients arrive at the ashram from the Yamuna bazaar Sam was in the clinic with the smell watching who knows how many week old bandages being removed from very smelly and maggoty wounds.The other guy we picked up was literally a skeleton he also has leprosy and would have been dead within the day. At this point he is still improving but I am not sure if he will survive. We have a few patients here with active leprosy at the moment....don't worry its hard to catch.

When will this power come back on!!! I need to work. I need to do washing. I need a hot shower!

We have a few other short holidays to look forward to in March when my sister and brother in-law come to visit. Of course when they are here we will do the Golden Triangle (Delhi- Agra- Jaipur- Delhi) where we will see the Taj Mahal among other things. After that I am tossing up between an Elephant Safari to see wild tigers etc or visiting Udaipur (as featured in the Bond movie Octopussy) or perhaps a camel desert safari in Jodhpur... so much to see so little time! We will finish our holiday together with a week in Goa. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to seeing the ocean.

The month of April will be the last month I have to fill before we head home. At this point it will be a lonely month as all out amazing NZ volunteers will have headed home and it will just be Judith, Uwe and the four of us at the ashram. We do have one small adventure planned for the end of April. We will be heading to Rishikesh which is on the banks of the Ganges as it flows fresh from the Himalayas .We will be camping with 80 other expats and enjoying a long weekend of white water rafting in the icy water. Soon after that I plan to head home and escape a couple of months of the scorching Delhi summer.

Well my battery is getting low and I have run out of things to write about... I hope I have not been repeating myself as I can't get on the internet to see what I last wrote. I think I will go for a walk.

Seeya

Its been nearly 48 hours and the power is finally back on. It turns out someone stole our $2000 power cable that brings power into the ashram. We now have a temporary fix. Just had a luxurious hot shower (no power means no water here as power is needed to pump the water onto the roof)

Anecdote

So we were watching the trailer for the new Australian movie Bran Nue Dae on YouTube and we are at the scene with all the aboriginal boys in the school and Sam says "Why are there so many Indians in this movie?" Clearly we have been in India for too long.

Hope I get to see it on the big screen, but something tells me it won't be showing here in Delhi!