Subject: Goodbye!!!
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 05:55:34 PDT
So, this is finally it, in 8 hours I'll be taking off for India, I don't
know when I'll next be able to e-mail you all but as soon as I can I'll
write and let you all know how I'm doing...
Subject: hello everyone....
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 00:12:44 PDT
Well, this is it, I'm finally here, and to be quite honest first impressions weren't that good, Delhi airport was a total nightmare and I very nearly got on the next plane to Australia. Anyway, I got out of Dehli as soon as I
could and am now in the old British hill station of Shimla. Its in the
foothills of the Himalaya, so when the cloud lifts the views are good over
the valleys. The weathers isn't too good, but at least its a lot cooler than
Delhi.
Tomorrow I plan to catch the bus further north into the mountains to Manali,
while I'm not sure if I'll stay in India as long as I thought I'm defiantly
going to see the mountains before I leave. I can definatly hear Australia
calling me though
Subject: Phils news 8/9/99
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 01:42:34 PDT
"A long weekend in Leh"
Hi everyone, well it’s been quite a busy week since I last wrote, I decided
to do the trip up to Leh, leaving last Wednesday. Its only 472km, and while
it was pretty uncomfortable at times (only about half is paved road) some of
the scenery was the most spectacular I've ever seen. When we left Manali at
6am it was pretty cloudy, but after a couple of hours we rose above the
clouds and could see the first of the 'proper' mountains. We reached Rohtang
pass(3978m) at about 10am and the veiws over the valley were pretty good. Up
to about 3000m it was forest, but by the time we reached Sarchu at about
4500m it was all pretty barren. Sarchu is a tent site that only exits while
the road is open (about 3 months a year) Its really in the middle of nowhere
and freezing cold at night, but the air was so clear we spent ages just
standing around watching shooting stars.
Most of the road is actually little more than a track, in most places only
wide enough for 1 vehicle. This can make it interesting when you meet
someone coming the other way, and it can be quite worrying when the bus is
reversing around a blind corner with a cliff on one side and a big drop on
the other.
Thursday was the day when we had some real climbing to do, we had to get
over Lachang La(5060m) and Taglang La(5328m) By the time we reached Taglang
La most of us were experiencing the effects of altitude sickness, I had
pretty good headache and was feeling very out of breath and dizzy, and one
of the other girls on the bus had been throwing up all morning. We all made
it ok though, and got into Leh at about 5pm, just in time for a nice cold
shower (with a bucket)
Leh itself is just another dusty town, but we were staying in a small
village called Changspa, about 15 minutes walk from town. The veiw from the
hotel was really good, looking over the valley and river to the snow-topped
mountains - especially nice in the morning when they're the first things to
catch the sunlight.
I spent most of the weekend travelling around the valley with an English
woman called Barbara, we went to some of the Gompas (Buddist Temples) most
of which are conveniently built right at the top of some very steep hills,
not fun to climb at that altitude. Once at the top though the veiws were
amazing, and the contrast between the irrigated land along the river and the
barren land and hills along the edge of the mountains was really strong.
At one of the Gompas I sat in on a Puja (Buddist prayer session), 4 monks
and me in a tiny room, lit only by a couple of candles and incense burners.
With all the chanting, drumming and wierd wall hangings and masks it was
quite a surreal time, very hypnotic, and definitely something I don't think
I'll forget for awhile!
I wanted to fly back to Delhi from Leh, but because its the end of the
season all the flights are booked up for weeks in advance, so on Monday I
had to take the bus back again. Unfortunately this time it wasn't so good, it
started going wrong just over Taglang La when we came across a broken down
truck in the middle of the road. After about an hour they managed to get it
going backwards, straight up the bank at the side of the road and over onto
its side. This was the start of a 4 hour wait, not pleasant at 5200m,
eventually a grader came out and had to cut out a whole section of the bank,
luckily it wasn't solid rock else we'd probably still be there now. We
finally got in Sarchu at 11pm, and those road at night are definitely no fun,
I'm not sure what’s worse, being able to see the drop at the side of the road
or being in pitch black and imagining it. There was a couple of times
overtaking people when the back of the bus started to slip and I really
thought that we were going over the edge, but we finally made it into Sarchu
at 11pm, only to have to get up at 6am for another 14 hours to Manali.
Today I have another 16 hours on a bus to look foward to, I'm leaving for
Dehli in about 2 hours time. Its not something I'm really looking forward
to, but I have to go to Delhi to sort out the train to Bombay at the
weekend. My flight to Australia is on Monday night, so I only have 5 more
days here. I'm really looking forward to getting back to Oz, partly cause
I've already lost some weight and could do with a proper meal!
Subject: Phils latest 15/9/99
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 22:32:53 PDT
Hot showers, proper food, clean streets, smooth roads, no hassle in shops,
yes it Australia and its nearly civilised!
Arrived here last night after 17 hours on a plane, Bombay to Singapore to
Sydney and a domestic to Brisbane, on arriving at the airport at 10pm I
called a hostel and they promised to pick me up, 2 hours later had to catch
a taxi cause they never turned up, I was not best pleased. I've spent the
day just wandering around the city, eating loads of food and organising
flights and stuff. I'm flying to Darwin on Saturday to start travelling
properly, though some of the outback and all along the west coast - deserts,
beaches, coral reefs and gorges, and hopefully time to learn to dive at
some point as well.
So, India. Although I was not looking forward to going to Delhi or Bombay,
once I got there I actually quite enjoyed it. The bus from Manali to Delhi
was an absolute nightmare, The roads were pretty bad and the driver was some
kind of maniac, so all in all I had about an hours sleep. The driver just
dumped us somewhere in Delhi, so I caught a rickshaw out to Pahaganji with a
German bloke I'd met on the bus. The second you get there about a 100 people
jump out and try to drag you into their hotel, but after fighting them off
we managed to find a half decent place, checked in and had a look around. I
think the best thing about Delhi is that right in the center of the new part
of town there is a McD's, Pizza Hut and a Pizza Express, so you can guess
where I went first!
On Friday I went out to the Red Fort and Jama Masid, which were quite
impressive, and had a look around some of the areas around them, which were
not impressive at all. I also took a cycle rickshaw around some of the
bazzers. The driver claimed to have worked with Mother Teresa, he then took
me to the middle of nowhere and tried to charge me twice as much to take me
back to where we started, but after a brief argument he took me all the way
bay to my hotel.
The train journey down to Bombay was ok, although passing the miles and
miles of slums going into Bombay was quite depressing. The city itself is
quite interesting, apart from being one of the most polluted cities in the
world there’s lots of impressive 'gothic' colonial buildings, like the
Victoria Train Terminal, which look like it could house Count Dracula. As i
found out when I got there the weekend was the time of the festival of
Ganesh the Elephant God, which I found out when I was dragged into the middle
of one of the processions through the streets, covered in red powder, and
made to dance.
So, the last few days weren't anywhere near as bad as I'd expected, and as
I was leaving I was already thinking about going back. I know I could have
changed my ticket, but I decided that it was better to leave wanting more
rather than stay and end up regretting it again. Anyway, I think that 3 or 4
weeks at a time is about all I can take before I start losing too much
weight!
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