Sammy Sam Sam’s final blog

So, when I left you last I was in Spiti valley. 2 five-hour buses and a ten-hour bus in quick succession left my head spinning and my body back in Shimla. In the 2 months since I had last been in the former Raj capital I had travelled around the 2000km Himalayan circuit as far west as Srinigar, as far north as Kargil, Ladakh and as far east as Kaza and Tabo.

Shimla couldn’t have been more different from my last visit. The monsoon had arrived in northern India so Shimla was hot wet and very humid. The city spent half of the day covered in cloud and the other half-day it rained. I ended up stating in the very impressive and very awesome YMCA, which was a total; throw back to the Raj era. There were two full-size snooker tables, a smoking roam, quaint bed rooms and an excellent dining room.

1) Snooker in the YMCA. Shimla.

So for three day I enjoyed the delights of fine cuisine and excellent coffee.

After three day of reading and relaxing I took another 10-hour local bus (ugggggg) to Rishikesh. The end was now in sight- Rishikesh would be the last stop before heading to Delhi and London.

2) A shimlonian institution- The Indian Coffee house.

Rishikesh.

It is just possible that you may have heard of Rishikesh before. Its biggest claim to fame was in the late 60s when The Beatles rocked up at Maharishi Mahest Yogi’s ashram. George, John and Paul stayed in Rishikesh for several months but Ringo left after just one week (apparently because there wasn’t enough meat served!)

Since then Rishikest has styled itself as the ‘yoga capital of the world’. It was for this reason that I imagined that Rishikesh would be a calm, chilled, relaxed place before hitting the mayhem of Delhi. However, after my 10-hour overnight bus ride I was shocked to find that I was very wrong. As I arrived into town I found the town crammed with men dressed in orange robes- it was manic. There was a Hindu festival with approximately 10,000 pilgrims in Rishikesh. In addition to this the town was also hot, wet, smelly, busy and sweaty- my first impression was… disappointment.

3) The spiritual side of Rishikesh.

It was only after I had had a nap in a hotel room that I remembered that I was back in BAD OLD INDIA!

In the space of 4 day’s I had travelled

From majority Buddhist to majority Hindu

From cool altitude air to smoggy, sweaty heat

From mountain desert to lush, wet, greenery.

From cleanliness to dirtiness.

and from laid back attitudes to in your face

It was a huge culture shock. In an effort to get over the shock and get used to ‘real’ India I hid away in the relative tranquillity and calm of the high bank; I met some fantastic people and together we took a collective decision to avoid the chaos of the masses and instead to have some good banter and chill out! So what we did instead was to do… very little except seek refuge I some awesomely cool waterfalls. I also followed the lead of the 10,000,000 pilgrims who come to Rishikesh every year and had a swim in India’s holiest river- the Ganges.

4) Swimming in the Ganges with Rowan, Sophie, Nick and Daniel.

After 3 days of relaxation I took my last journey on Indian public transport- a 5 hour train back to Delhi and what a train it was! It was fully air-conditioned – to the point that it was actually cold. I was also served two meals in the space of 5 hours! After 3 months of overcrowded public busses this was awesome- super style!

Delhi

Not much to say about Delhi. I was only there for 8 hours from about midnight to 8am when I left for the airport. I can honestly say that it may have been the worst 8 hours of my whole travelling experience- I stayed in a horrible hotel and had a horrible breakfast and got ripped off – god, I HATE DELHI!

That’s pretty much it for my adventures.

All that is left to say is that while you have been busy reading this blog I have had some of the most interesting experiences of my life. It hasn’t always been fun, it hasn’t always been easy and I haven’t always enjoyed it but fro the most part I have had a great time, I’ve met some amazing people, done some extra ordinary things and overall loved it. In India everything is an adventure, whether it be going to the shops to buy a loaf of bread or taking, 15-hour bus journey, doing a 5 day trek of paragliding in the Himalayas. Life is so colourful; the people are so vivacious and everything is so interesting and so different.

When all said and done the only real question I have to ask myself is- will I do it again?

You better believe it.

Keep your eyes open for sammysamsamssecondblogspot.blogspot.com!

5) My original plan of where I thought I would go (see first blog)

6) My actual route!

------------------------------------End of Bloggage-------------------------------

H.H.D.L- at last.

Leaving Leh

After spending 5 weeks in Ladakh and having such fun adventures it was very hard for me to leave. Although part of me knew it was time to leave; it was very difficult leaving behind so many friends. I felt like I had seen Leh at a special time- when I arrived in Ladakh the tourist season was only just starting and over the weeks I had spent there I watched the city wake up and grow from a small village with a handful of tourists into a vast tourist metropolis. I had not only seen the number of tourists multiply, I also watched Leh acquire a seasonal workforce of waiters, chefs, cleaners, craftsmen, businessmen and even beggars- all of whom were in Leh to make tourist dollars.

Walking to the bus station at 4am on the morning of my departure got slightly choked up; walking past all of my favorite spots I knew I had witnessed a special place at a special time!

At the same time I knew that it was time to find pastures anew... I was Spiti bound!

Journey back from the edge of the earth.

I took a different route and a different mode of transport back from Leh- I was going directly south from Leh to a town about 17 hours away called Keylong… by local bus! The journey was... bumpy, squashed, and loooooooooooooooooong- but I knew what I was letting myself in for when I bought the ticket!

The only thing to keep me entertained as the hours ticked by were the road signs (I must admit that the last sentence does sound rather strange- but hear me out)

The road builders of Ladakh were poetic comedians with a message... some examples-

1) Love thy neighbor- but not while driving.

2) Reach for the stars even if you have to stand on a cactus.

3) This is a road not a runway- drive slow.

4) Darling I love you but not so fast.

5) Be slow of my curves.

6) Speed and safety never meet.

7) Better to be Mr late the a late Mr.

8) The road is hilly, don't drive silly.

9) A cat has 9 lives but not one who drives.

10) Shortcuts can take your life.

11) Drive fast to test our recovery services.


All 100% genuine! and - well they made me laugh!

One other highlight on the road back from Leh was...

10km out of Keylong and 16 hours into the journey (just when I started to believe the never-ending journey might possibly end) the engine cut out- the driver seemed as perplexed as anyone. He, like the rest of us was tired and hungry and sick of bloody mountains! So, eventually after 20mins the engine starts again and we drive 1 Km before the engine dies again. This happens 3 or 4 times before the driver announces that we were out of petrol. God knows how a bus that runs every day manages to run out of petrol- so anyway, we had to 40mins for another bus to some and pick us up and finally finally finally get to Keylong and to bed! It was both vintage and typical of India!

2 days and lots of buses later I arrived in Spiti valley!

His Holiness the Dalai Lama- H.H.D.L

Spiti is Ladakh’s younger brother, like ladakh, Spiti is a mountain desert on the Indo-Chinese boarder with a strong Buddhist tradition.

I discovered when I was trekking (in ladakh) that H.H.D.L. was going to be in the Spiti valley so naturally I decided to go along to take a look. How many chances does one get to go to see the Dalai Lama anyway?!

Kaza

I arrived in Kara 3 days before H.H.D.L. did (and one day before the place exploded with hundreds of pilgrims). The town is usually pretty quiet and remote but while H.H.D.L was there the population of the town swelled by about 500%!

To kill time while waiting for the holy one’s (!!!) arrival I got a bike a cycled around some interesting places (monasteries, neighboring towns, you know the usual!) anyhoo, when H.H.D.L eventually arrived the atmosphere in town was electric. He arrived by chopper and the townspeople and well-wishers lined the streets, donning their most fabulous traditional dress to greet H.H.D.L. and have a bit of a party at the same time!

The teachings.

H.H.D.L came to Spiti to give teachings to the local people and to consecrate the brand new gompa. I decided I would see what all of the full was about.

I rocked up bright and early on the day of the teachings and chilled out for a couple of hours to listen to what H.H.D.L. had to saw. Unfortunately, he spoke in Tibetan so I couldn’t actually understand anything he said thus I was not converted to Buddhism. Instead, I just watched- which in itself was a great experience. I couldn’t help but like him- the man has a chuckle like a Tibetan father Christmas- it‘s ace!


Overall, It was certainly a privilege to see him at such close quarters but, one day was enough for me- I came, I saw, I left. I needed a break from the overcrowded kaza.

Dhanker- peace at last.

In a one hour bus journey I went from a town with 10,000 people in it to one with 87 people in- It was great. I walked up to a lake with some people I met and then took about 200,000,000 pictures of a stunningly beautiful old town and monastery.

I stayed in a homestay for a night before going to…

Tabo

Like Kaza I arrived just before the Dalai Lama so I got to see the town in relative peace before the hordes arrived. It’s a stunningly beautiful town but there is not too much to do in town apart from a) play lots of chess, b) admire the scenery and c) chew the fat with Spiti’s own Rastafarian- angel.

After 2 days of lazing around H.H.D.L. arrived and so did the crowds. On the morning he gave his first teaching I decided to pop into the monastery for a quick look, it was much less crowded than in Kaza and H.H.D.L. actually walked about a meter away from me (also, I think he might have smiled at me, or possibly he was smiling at the person next to me, she was much better looking than me!)

That’s all for now folks- just one week to go now. On next week’s episode I will be taking lots and lots and lots of busses and getting really really really hot and sweaty.

Jah. Peace.

One last trick

I mean... one last trek

After 3 days of (uneventful) rest in Leh I was ready for another adventure- with Ben (the legend) still being around this 'adventure' was bound to be a trek! so here goes... my brife report on the Marka Valley trek!

An outline-It is... Ladakh's mopst popular trek.

It takes... 1 day's walk and one mountain pass (of 4900meters) to get into the valley and one day walk and 1 pass (5260 meters) to get out of the valley.

Day 1

Route: Leh- Spitok (bus) then Spitok- Rombak (8hrs)

Lowlight: I got ill from dehydration (from the day before) so from morning through the 8 hour trek I felt like death! I had diahroeah, a fever, a headach, stomache ache etc etc etc. It was horrendus!

Highlight: Getting to the home stay, drinking mint tea and sleeping for 11 hours straight (I was in bed at 8.30)

Notes: Met a Belgium guy called Anthony who walked with us all day.

1) me and ben the legend... the scenery was... something like this

Day 2

Route:Rombak- Shingu (6 hours) over 1 pass 4900 meters

Lowlight: Bad weather- It was cloudy and cold especially going over the pass.

Highlight: When we got to the homestay there was a little crew of people and we played cards well into the night.

Notes: none

Day 3

Route: Shingu- Chaluk (7 hours)

Lowlight: got blisters (bloody nike court force trainers - who would wear them to go trekking anyway!)

Highlight: There was no one in at the home stay so we stayed with a local guy called Tashy- who was an absoloute character. It was like reliving the angmo story. He was so hospitable, so kind and despite his lack of english he was incredibly funny!

2) Mr Tashy!

Notes: Tashy told us the reason that the village was empty was because there was an important rimposhe (monk) passsing through the valley!

Day 4

Route:Chaluk to Hanker

Highlight: We found the monk... and his 650 followers! About half was thugh the day we saw a line of what looked like red ants- it turns out theat they were all monks and the monk was quite an important dude! He had an entorage of monks from all over the world, there were over 250 ponies and they had been walking for 5weeks! It was quite a sight

Lowlight: We walked with with the monks all day and when we eventually got to out destination an Australian woman came up (fom the monk crew) to us and told us that we were not really invited to take part in the festivities because we had "not got explicit permission from His Holiness". she was a bit of a snotty b***h to be honest. She was probably annoyed that she has had to pay hundreds of dollars to walk with " His Holyness" and we had found him (accidently) for free. To be honest we didn't really mind because we came to walk not hang around some monk dude but it was a bit unfriendly.

3) a (long) line of monks, which at first looked like red ants

Notes: We met an Israli guy who walked the rest of the way with us!

Day 5

Route: Hanker to Nimaling

Highlight:Was the most beautiful day of trekking, we climbed for most of the day passing several lakes, some live stock but not a single humal being. When we got to Nimaling there was no homestay but a number of tents for us to stay in. The person who ran the tents was bust seeing the lama so we stayed for free!

Lowlight: We camped at 4700 meters which was high enough to be incredibly cold one the sun set and I had a wee bit of altitude sickness.

4) a sunset at 4,700 meters!

Day 6 Route: Nimaling to Sham Sundo

Highlight: we climbed over the 5260 pass- the views were predictaly amazing and the scence of acomplishment was tremendous. We then walked down hill for the rest of the day (yeah) to a wonderful hoimestay... perfect.

5) we did it... the top of the world!

Lowlight: None... all days should be like this one!

Day 7

Route: Shamsundo- Hemis (2 hours) and Hemis to Leh (bus)

Highlight: after the 2 hour walk we were greated by a stunning monestry (the finesst in ladakh) and a puja (prayer time for the monks). There was a great atmosphere around the place, the anticipation of the arrival of the monk (who was ending his trek in Hemis) was palpable!. From Hemis it was back to Leh for a shower and some good food!

Notes: Me and Ben had been dreaming of good food (especially our favourite chicken tika) and a beer for the last 2 days of the trek. The food in the homestays was very basic and neither me nor ben had had a beer since our arrival in Ladakh (5 weeks for me and over 2 months for ben). We felt it was time to break the thurst. However, when we got to Leh we found out that it was a dry day which meant no chicken and no beer. Bloody tipical!

Note: I'll repete it again- not a single drop of alcohol had passed my lips in over a month. Anyone who knows me, Stella can Sam, will know how suprising that is! Also, we has chicken and beer the following day- it was goooooooooooooooood!

6) Puja

I know i'm really sorry... last post I promised to tell you all about me and the most famous Tibetan alive. But... you'll just have to tune in next week to read about my experience with H.H.D.L!

The good the bad and the avarage

The good the bad and the avarage

For the next adventure- back to SECMOL!

After the relaxation in Leh we were off again (by we, I mean me and 3 of the remaining SECMOL volunteers- Kristen, Garett and Ben). This time we were not going to the secmol campus, instead we were off on holiday with the perminant students. Secmols regular purpose (by thet I mean apart from running the summer camp) is to house and support 60 perminant students through their important exams. This being the end of the year all of the students were leaving the SECMOL campus for bigger and better things. So, to celebrate they were going on holiday for 4 days to the Nubra valley.

(important background information)
While we had been trekking in the Sham valley the SECMOL had been sitting around not doing a whole lot. Additionally, the SECMOL campus had been taken over by 100 meditation students on a silent valpassna retrete. The secmol stundets had had to be uber quiet- that is untuil we got on the bus. The munute we got out of earshot from the campus the ladaki music started pumping, the drums started banging and the kids started throwing shapes!
(end of important background information)

Day 1-The average
The Nubra trip is the story of the good the bad and the average...
So, it begins- in every average day there are good bits and bad bits, high points and low points. The high point of day one was actually the highest... motorable road in the world. Kardong La at 5602meters (18,380feet) is pretty dam high.

1) The high point

However, the low point was spending 4 hours waiting at the bottom of the pass for the road to open. In addition to this the other lows of the day were- maggi instant noodles as the only source of nourisment, running a fever, 12 hour of ladaki music and getting stuck in a river (the getting stuck in the river was actually quite funny looking back on it)!


2) The low point of day 1- Stuck in a river after a 10 hour bus ride.


Day 2- the good
We camped under the stars on the first night and awoke to a beautiful day... and camels! All of the kids piled onto the bus on a massive bus mission which (fortunatly) we were not allowed to join in with (as foreigners we were prevented from entering the 'boarder area', which is very close to Nubra valley). Instead, we went walking on sand dunes which, incidently make very good slides! Then we ate momos (dumplings) mmmmmmmmm
When the kids returned the amp was plugged in and the ladaki music started pumping again! suprise suprise!
3) Sand dune slides.
4) Mine and Kristen's best zombie impression.

Day 3 the (very) bad
During my time in India I have taken many epic 14 hour bus trips usually however I have a destination in mind- it may be a different city or a different state or a place of interest, never before have I sat on a bus for 14 hours not knowing where I was going, on a bus driving to ... nowhere in particular. On day 3 in nubra I did exactly this! It seemed like we were driving for the sake of driving. We had no idea where we were going, why we were going there or what this is to do there (where ever there is). To make things worse the ladaki music pumped out at full volume (of cource). And the road, wasn't a road, it was just stones. at one point we had to get out and basically build the road! (a picture will hopefully be posted soon)

We eventually got to our destination (sic) which was a (pretty average) monestery; the day turned into a complete farse when we were taken to a mountain (well we are in himalayers after all) and told that there was a Buddha embossed into the rock face. Sorry Buddha (if your up there) but i didn't see you- perhapse it's because i'm a non beliver!

The only plus point of the day- we were told by a monk in the monestry that we were, almost certainly, the only foreigners to have ever visited the site of the monestry. We were technically not allowed to enter the boarder area. We were just 30km from the disputed Pakistan boarder and the worlds highest battle ground (India and Pakisthan are currentl fighting over the Siachen glacier). Although interesting, at the time I found this to be of small consolation.

The day ended at 10.30 when we eventaully pulled into a town and stayed in the community centre. Apparantly dinner wasn't served until 2.30am, by then I was in the land of nod- glad that the 20th June 2009 was over.
I think I can justifiably call it- the most pointless day of my life so far!

Day 4- the Average
We were (suprise suprise) back on the bus at 8am, more ladaki music, the kids who had danced the night away were full of energy, while us foreigners looked like death warmed up! At least today we broke up the long bus journey with some interesting sites- hot springs, interesting gompas (monestries) before heading back over the pass to leh where a hot shower, traveller food and warm bed awaited us!

5) Back over kardong La

I'm not going to lie... I was not sad to wave the SECMOL bus behind for some peace and quiet- I think I had enough ladaki music to last a life time!

On the next episode of Sammysamsam- sam does one last trek, sam leaves Leh (sob sob sob) but sam meets a very very famous Tibetan- in fact sam meets the most famous Tibetan man alive! Tune in next week!

love and love

Shamtastic Trekking

Some pics from the Sham valley.Day 1- A lak of black Ladaki yaks!

Day 1- the final of 3 passes!

Day 2- the crew- (left to right) Marc, Ben (the legend), Moi, Garett and Kristen.

Day 2- On the way to Tar (with Angmo)- The most stunning scenery with fields of flowering barley.

Day 3- Angmo and her wonderful grandmother!
Day 4- leaving Angmo's house in Tar

Day 4- In between one 4,000 meter pass and another- "Anyone for a chocolate bar?" mmmmmmm

Day 4- Ipchi la pass, ladakh, India 4,470 meters- Just did it!

This picture is going straight to Nike! Who needs hiking boods anyway, non when you've got blue and yellow Nike court force trainers on (and Yak wool socks)!

Day 5- Words of wisdom as we approached Alchi


Day 5- We walked for 4 days for this???

Original 11th century paintings in Alchi.

SECMOL Sham-bles

SECMOL- The birds and the bees

The second half of secmol went pretty smothly and uneventfully, we continued with ore daily routine of conversation classes, helping out and excercise We also found the SECMOL video library- which was a bonus. As mentioned in the last blog we also held sex education classes for all of the kids. Although standing up in front of 50 boys explaining the birds and the bees if not my idea of fun, the kids were great and somehow me, Garrett and Ben struggled through 3 sessions of sex ed in which we explained all of the basics and answered all of their questions (as bizzare as some of them were). we also did the classic condom banana demonstration- all in the name of safe sex. The loved it!

Slowly the summer camp drew to an end, on the second to last day we all piled onto 2 buses and went for a Ladaki picnic. Equipped with a generator, an amp and some huge speakers, we... I mean the kids showed Ladakh how to rock! there was dancing, dancing and more dancing!
1) Picnics, cricket and cows

Before the camp did finally ended there was a disco, a leaving ceremony and floods of tears (from the campers)- when the time finally come to get on the bus some of the kids were totally inconsolable- i get the feeling they all had a good time! personally, I had mixed feelings about leaving. On one hand SECMOL had become my home and my family for 2 weeks and I loved it but, on the other hand I was getting itchy feet and after 14 days of curry, rice and skew (boiled dough) I was looking forward to some good (proper) traveller food! As a final parting gift to the camp all of us volunteers sang the Bill Withers classic, lean on me- which is a classic here along with the vengaboys (random!)
2) group photoooooooooooo! the Campers
Leh
For 2 nights. our purpose-
1) prepare for trekking
2) eat good food
great success- enough said. Ohhhh and we also found time to cycle to Thikse monastery- which was fun.

3) Thiksy monestry

4) Bikes- I told you we cycled there
The great SECMOL Sham valley experience.
firstly, an introduction to an important person- Ben: volunteered at secmol for the full month (both of the summer camps) Also, he is a French scout thus he is addicted to trekking. It is therefore to Bens credit that all 5 of the remaining SECMOL volunteers found themselves trekking for 5 days from Likir to Alchi. Thus began the great SECMOL Sham trekking experience.

Due to popular demand bullet point format is back...
Day1
Bought snacks
Had a big momo (dumpling) lunch
Bus to Likir (3hrs)
Found a homestay (spare room in a house)
5 people in 3 beds (uber cosy)

Day 2
Saw likir monestry
Biiiig buddha
Walked- up down up down up down
3 valleys, 3 mountain passes, 3 villages
Another home stay
Storytelling and bed (at 9.30- rocking)

Day 3
Wakie wakie rise and shine at 6.30
Walking (obv)
Up down up down
2 passes
Guess what lakadi rock is cool
Felt like walking on the moon (sometimes)
And the rest of the time- felt like walking on mars.
Was stunnning

Story of Angmo- (breaking of bullet points momentarily- it's worth it)
Half way through day 3 we got to a road and were asked to accompany little Angmo, an 8 year old Ladaki girl to here village which, incidental was the same village were were headed to for the night. It soon became clear that she was leading up instead of us leading her so our 8 year old guide lead us through some of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen. We walked along a river which flowed through a deep gorge. The valley was narrow and lush, the flowers were in bloom- after 3 days of mountain desert the greenery was a welcome change!

We stopped after an hour and Angmo dropped of supplies for an old man who lived in a one house village. It was so stunning that i decided I wanted to retire to that village, it was so small it didn't even have a name! after a mandatory cup of chai and biscuits were were once again being let by Angmo. The gorge got narrower and deeper and even more stunning- as we got closer to Angmo's village (Tar) she, in here limited English kept saying party. True to her work when we arrived in Tar there was a party in full swing, the 15 villagers were pumping the music loud and throwing some shapes. although we never fully understood why there was a party in progress we had no problems with joining it! Eventually we were taken to Angmo's house and invited by her and her grandmother to stay the night (which was lucky because there were very few other options). we were fed non stop with apricots, almonds, coke, barley, rice and curry until we were fit to burst, then slept like babies.

Angmo and her grandmother were great company and although the language barrier was a slight issue I have not laughed so hard for a long time! When it was eventually time to leave we had to discuss the issue of re numeration- what with all the feeding and the partying, the bargaining process had never taken place. In all honestly we had a struggle on our hands- in normal bargaining situations we would seek to lower the asking price to a reasonable rate however, in this situation, as unbelievable as it may sound the reverse occured. Angmo's grandmother asked for such a small amount of money that we felt bad. We eventually gave here 3 times what she asked for and it was still almost nothing!

Back to Bullets

Day 4
tough day
2 passes- highest of the trek
1st 4470 meters- very steep climb for 2 hours.
Highest i've every been- apart from in a aeroplane
Treversed the valley
It snowed!
2nd pass 4150m
descended to another home stay
nothing compared to Angmo's house but was fine
sleeeeep

Day 5
Short(ish) walk to Alchi
hot day
a monastery- oldest in Ladakh
original paintings from the 11th century.
nice (non rice and dalh) supper
end of trek- slight anti climax
I wanted more!

5) A monk- on the phone!

Pics of trekking will appear soon- I have not uploaded them yet!

I hope you have enjoyed this episode of sammy sams blog spot! If you have and suggestions or complaints then please don't hesitate to email me at chipsndrink@gmail.com.

On the next episode- sam returns to SECMOL for "the good the bad and the average"

Lots of love

some pics

Some pictures to go with my last blog (in reverse order) 

1) Sports day at SECMOL-the rice sack race.

2) Disco time at SECMOL

3) ummmmm-Ladakh. enough said
2) journey to the edge of the earth- the road from Srinigar to Leh

3) A floating market on Dal lake (5am!!)
4) Who's that?! on a houseboat!