Pictures HERE!

So, Delhi was ridiculously hot, about 45 during the day, and 30ish at night….
I had to get out of there as soon as I could…

So I decided to take a bus and go to Dharamsala for a while, Which is a small area way up north-west india. In the Himalayas.

The bus ride was pretty good, an easy 13hours…I didnt really know anything about the place before going there. But everyone kept telling me it was a great place to go. And I also knew it was an important place for Tibetains since this is where the Dalai Lama live, with his government in exile…But that was pretty much it.

So I woke up at about 6am, still in the bus. Looking through the windows I saw the massive snowy peaks of the Himalayas. I knew right away, that this was the perfect place for me to finish this adventure.

So I made it to Mc Loed Ganj, which is a few km north of Dharamsala main village. The place is beautiful. Tons of small colorful houses and shops build on a hill. It is also where the Tibetain governement is based.

I didnt do much while there, mostly hanging out with random people, trying out all the various restaurants… and walking around. My plan was to go there and do nothing, and I achieved it sucessfully!

Oh, but I actually did something usefull with my time. I spent some time working as a volunteer, teaching english and french  to Tibetain refugees. And it was an amazing experience overall. I didnt know much about the Tibetain culture and their history. I mean, I knew what happend. But when you have a guy in front of you telling you his side of the story, what happened in his village, how he had to leave his parents behind and escape…walking only during the night , for a month, through the mountains..all that for just for a little piece of freedom…it really get into you. And it make you realize many things…

I fell in love with the Tibetains people, they are so respectful and peaceful. Even after everything they had to go through, they still see the positive side of life. And try to be as happy as they can. And enjoy life as much as they can….Maybe because its part of their religion and way of life? But anyhow, it was a very good and positive experience for me to spend time with them,  and to learn more about their culture.

And now,I fully support their cause…FREE TIBET!

So yeah, I spent most of my time hanging between McLoed, Bagsu and Dharamkot…all very beautiful place…it was the perfect place to finish this trip :)

It was also nice, because I was meeting again with people I have seen all around india for the past few months…everyone seemed to be up there at this time. We all went different ways, but we all ended up there for a reason…

But anyway, my time was running out, and I had to leave…
So after another 13hours bus ride, I got back in the chaos of Delhi this morning…
Tomorrow I am taking my last train, to go to Bombay, it should take about 22hours to get there…from there I will go directly to the airport, to catch my flight back to Toronto…

to be continued?

So, I am back in India (Delhi), and I was able to upload the pictures from Nepal :)

Kathmandu pictures: HERE!

Himalaya Trekking pictures: HERE!

Enjoy!

Pictures HERE!

So, one morning, while having a coffee, a girl came to me and said “feel like trekking?”. I didnt think much and said “of course!”

Nepal is known worldwide as one of the best place for trekking. I couldnt miss that opportunity.
So I bought a detailed map, went to get our trekking permits, and left Kathmandu.

We took a bus to Sundarijal, about an hour north of kathmandu. To the entrance of the Shivapuri Wildlife reserve. This is where the road end. From there, you have no choice to walk. So we walked..and walked..and walked…, for 7days. Using trails that has been used for centuries by the Sherpa and the villagers…

We went through so many beautiful small villages, where people live only off agriculture and farming. It was amazing to see all those small villages living the most basic life possible…Most of the people were charming, and very happy to see us. Everynight we were staying in a different village, from big multiple-rooms lodge to small family home.

And dont forget that there is no road to get there, people there really live by themself…

We walked in average 5-7 hours a day. We went through rain, burning sun, ice storm, snow, freezing fog and the ice cold nights.

Sometimes I wondered if I was really going to make it to the Lauribinayak pass and Gosaikund, which were our main goals. At 4600m altitude. But there was nothing else to do, except to keep going.

So afer 6 days, we made it to Gosaikund, at 4300m altitude. The village was beautiful, right next to Shiva’s sacred lake. It has an amazing view of the snowy mountains. But cold as hell.

The next morning I woke up at sunrise, pretty sick, massive headache, altitude sickness (at this altitude you have only about only 57% oxygen). But I found the energy to climb up to the view point at 4600m. And it was totally worth it. I was not really sure what I was going to see there, but I had to get there.

So after climbing through the steep trail. I found myself on top of the clouds, with the most amazing view of the himalayas I could ever imagin…
Then I realised I made it, after all I had been through, I was there, on top of the world…looking at some of the highest mountains in the worlds.

The feeling was amazing. And very intense….but after a while, I realised that I was also alone…How could I describe all this beauty to the people?  No picture could explain or describe the feeling of that moment…And I was feeling a little bit selfish about it all…

I guess this is one thing I will have to keep for myself…

Anyway, after that I made it down to Dhunche, where the road starts to get back to kathmandu. Only to find out that the Maoists had started a rebellion against the gouvernement while we were in the mountains. Which mean that everything is closed, no public transport, no bus..nothing..

So I was stuck there for 2days, until a bus who was dropping some tourist agreed to take us back to kathmandu for a price.

So I made it to kathmandu. The city was locked, nothing open, except between 6pm and 8pm when the stores were allowed to be open…But the food supply were running scarce…There was no way to find a working ATM…and since all the public transport were stopped,  no way out of the city…

And nobody knew for how long…
It was very chaotic…

During the day, if you needed to buy something, you had to enter the store from the side door and hide inside until you were done….making sure the maoists were not in the street when you got out…because they would burn the place if they found out it was still open…(and they did..yes)

Also, some restaurant were open, but with very limited menus (since there was no way to get food supply), and you had to hide from the windows while eating…

Sometimes it was a very weird feeling to be stuck in there…and not very pleasant…

One morning I went downstairs, only to find out about 100 anti-riot squad next to my place…The atmosphere was very tense and hectic…I was really wondering what was happening, until I found out they were there because the people decided to have a “peace rally” against the maoist rebellion.

The next morning, the rebellion was over.

Apparently the maoist were getting sick, and tired, and realised that the “rebellion” was not working as they though it would…

So after 7 days, they decided to stop it.

While stuck there, I was able to gather some funds, and buy myself a flight tickets to leave Nepal. The original plan was to leave Nepal by land, back to India…But it would have been impossible, due to the city lockdown…So I had to find a backup, in case the rebellion lasted as long as they said it would (they were talking until about the 27-28th)

Anyway, things are slowely getting back to normal here in kathmandu now…and I have a flight back to india on the 14th…

to be continued…

Namaste