Out of Agra

On the last afternoon there, the driver came and I said I did actually want to buy a last present and I'd heard there was a big market. A friend of his also got in the front and drove. Straight away, I wondered what this was all about. The driver was being friendly enough though so I let it go. They then stopped at one of his friends' shops which sold marble ornaments. It wasn't what I wanted and left the shop straight away. My rucksack was still in the rickshaw and I was wondering if they were planning to steal it. I had to try not to let them think I was thinking this, however, told them I wanted to go to the market and they just took me to another friend's shop. The stuff was too expensive and I didn't have that much money on me so I just said forget it, take me to the bus station. I thought I'd just get something from the airport.

I got there at 5pm and asked at the first bus, which the man said was for Delhi. He said it was 150 Rs. So I put my bag on then he called me back and said it would be another 100 for the bag. I told him I've never had to pay extra for my bag so picked it up and took it off. I went to the bus behind it and got on that one without the extra charge. However, this bus had almost nobody on, and those people got off to wait outside. I figured this wasn't going to leave before the other one which was now filling up. It was getting to half past 5 and I needed to get to the airport. I had no choice but to get on the first bus again. I sat on the back seat and had to put my bag on the seat by the window. I expected the conductor to charge me for that as it obviously meant someone else couldn't sit there. When we left and he came round to get the money, he sat on the seat in front of me and people handed him their fares. He didn't turn round and I just gave him 150 but expected him to ask for the rest. He seemed to have forgotten about this so he handed me my ticket and went back to the front of the bus. I was glad to have got away with it without any hassle.

I had space to stretch out for practically all of the way, which was good as it was hot and sticky. I had no idea how far we were from Delhi but it was taking quite some time. I finally saw a road sign which said it was still over 90km away at about 9pm! We must have taken a long route as Agra is not much further away than that so I started worrying about if I was going to make it on time.

As we finally reached Delhi (after stopping for refreshments), I looked in my guide book as we were passing metro stations. Knowing the airport was in the south, it would be better to get off before getting to the bus station as that was in the north which would slow me down more and cost more in a taxi. I scrutinised the book and the stops and worked out where I was and where would be the closest to get out. As it was by a metro, I hoped there would be taxis there. Some other people got out so I did, too and found out there were only motor-rickshaws. I asked how much it would be to the airport and a guy said 500. I haggled him down to 450 and just had to take it as it was now 11pm. The one who drove me looked no older than 16 and I learned it was 35km to the airport. It was hard for me to understand just how enormous this city was. The lad drove off along the motorways and main roads and luckily, the rickshaw was fast. It felt a bit dangerous travelling through the night with cars and buses around us and I had to take my hand off the side rail when they got too close! But, he got me there in good time and I was so pleased with his service, I just gave him the full 500. He was very happy when I told him he had done a good job and shook my hand. I then crammed myself onto the bus to get the rest of the way.

I luckily remembered I had seen it was Terminal 3 on my email confirmation and checked in all right. Going through the x-ray section, they noticed I had my lighter in my bag. I told them the lighter didn't work and I only used it as a torch. I took it out and showed that was true. The woman had a look and handed it to her male colleague, who said I still couldn't take it. He handed it back to me. I held it and looked at him. Why have you given it back to me then? I asked. He said I couldn't take it. So what was I supposed to do with it? The woman looked at me. I looked at them both. I was lost for words and just put it on the table and said 'just take it, then' and walked away. Don't even try to understand...

I had plenty of time in the end, which was a relief and I found some tea to take back for my dad, which I thought he should like. There was a bar there showing the Indian cricket so I went and watched that while I had a beer. That alone cost 650 Rupees, more than I'd paid in total for the last hostel, meals and drinks!

The flight was at 2.20 and I got onto it with no final problems and it was a relief to be on the plane with no mishaps at all. I'd lost nothing, had nothing stolen, got no illnesses (only the chilblains) and slept for about 5 hours before landing in London at 6.45am. I would even arrive home in the morning which was the first time I'd done that after a flight.

In Agra

I got to the train station more than an hour before I was due to go and found where I thought the train was leaving from. It was fairly empty on the platform so I sat down and read a bit. Then, suddenly, three kids came and sat next to me (as has often happened now!) and of course demanded my attention. They were friendly so I chatted with them in broken English (them more than me...) and then we were joined by another man and a few kids selling stuff. Other people were sitting staring at me so I fet quite uncomfortable. I rested my arm on my bag in case one of them tried to take it but eventually they all went away without incident. I went over to the desk where people were getting their tickets checked and found out I was in the right place. Two other westerners came over to do the same thing and I got talking to them. We each found our carriages and I ended up in the same one as the woman, Sophie. It was in first class but it seemed to correspond with the number on my ticket. There was no-one else in the compartment and we got talking and passed the time easily. The inspector came and told me I should be further down but I managed to convince him to let me stay there to talk and said I would go to my place later to sleep. When I went, it wasn't what I expected. I was on the top bunk so no-one could sit on my bed anyway, there was air conditioning and it was fairly quiet. I lay down and managed to sleep for about 4 hours until I had to change at Delhi. I'd chained my bags up but I don't think there was any incident at all. Despite being nervous about this journey, it was more like the most luxurious travelling I've had here!
I felt in good spirits after I got off the train and waited for three hours in a civilised waiting room where there was nothing to be worried about. I got my next train at 7.15am after dozing a little while I waited, and went the rest of the way in a comfortable carriage with plenty of space and got into Agra at 10.30.
I got a rickshaw to the hostel I'd booked and the driver offered to take me on a tour of the city. I had arranged to meet Sophie at a café at midday so just asked him to take me there. When I got there, I saw she had left me a message saying she'd changed her plans and wouldn't be meeting me. That was annoying as I was now where I was meant to meet her so I had to think of what I was going to do that day. Then, as the café was getting full, two more customers joined me at my table. The man from from Barcelona and the woman from Colombia. We got talking, of course, and decided to go somewhere together. They were very nice people and we went to the fort wth my driver and walked around there chatting and getting on really well. It's good when things like this happen. It was, however, the hottest day I'd experienced, 40 degrees and really humid. So we walked slowly and sat down to talk more before I left for the Taj Mahal and they went elsewhere.
I got in through the gate at around 5pm and saw the famous sight. It was obviously beautiful to see. The main thing that makes it so nice is its size but inside, it is nothing spcial at all. Just a mausoleum with the two tombs in the middle and nothing else of any note to see.
I sat down outside to try to cool down and left just after 6. I had been invited to eat at the hostel by the family as it was their daughters birthday. Other guests also ate there so I got talking to them. We had a good evening in and I chatted till 1am with Alan, an Australian who has been travelling the world on his savings for the last three years. I happily slept well there and decided not to do anything on my last day. I was due to just go into Delhi and straight to the airport in the evening so talked more with Alan, who wasn't feeling very well and stayed around for some time. I will be picked up by the driver from yesterday at 4.30 to go to the bus station and then, it's off to fly back.
I felt it is time to leave India now. I have done my work and seen a few places but really, it's too hot to be here any longer after this much time in the country so am quite content to go. It's a shame I couldn't see more places though, like further south but it was quite fitting to finish by seeing the Taj Mahal.

In Amritsar

I left soon after breakfast on Saturday morning. The ceremony that they gave me was very emotional as I'd got to know a lot of people and shared some good times with them. I was presented with a book of letters from the students which was very nice and received a hug from everyone there.
I got a taxi to Dharamsala bus station and soon got my first bus out of there. I needed to change at Pathankot and made it to Amritsar, in the Punjab, at 4pm. Straight away, I remembered what it's like in the cities again. This was the first one I'd been to since my first week. I'd got used to small places which were manageable but this was back to chaos. I got a bike rickshaw into the centre and managed to find the hotels more easily than other places I'd been to. As it was now properly hot, that was good but there weren't any with free rooms and the other factor I took into consideration was somewhere away from the roads. The horns were constantly sounding again but I managed to find a room in Hotel God Gift. It was 800 Rs but had hot water, the bed was soft enough and it was quiet enough.
I checked in and went to the Golden Temple, which is the main attraction here.

This is in the main Sikh region of India and the temple was a pleasant, relaxing place to be. However, I found that there are some Indians who simply demand that you speak to them, as though you are obliged to. I had one guy on the bus talk to me as long as he could and here, I had people wanting photos taken with me and them wanting to talk. When I sat down, one lad sat next to me and decided that I was his for the rest of the afternoon. He was nice enough but became quite annoying! After spending around 2 hours with him, I told him I was hungry, gave him a fake email address and wished him luck!
I went into the free kitchen which Sikhs have at their temples. You sit in a large food hall, on the ground like when I went to the wedding, and eat what is dished out. It's a nice idea and very communal (even though Indians don't mind about pushing their way past you) and I left my donation.
I went back to the hotel after that to try to finally get a good night's sleep, which I did, happily enough.
I had a shower as I was very sticky from the dirt and the heat and went to the Jallianwala Bagh memorial park. This is where the British gunned down and killed over 1600 peacefully protesting Indians in 1919. Here in Amritsar, there are very few foreign tourists and we are treated like tourist attractions. I got quite annoyed of people demanding my attention so had to try to ignore them completely. Some of them have no shame about approaching you and asking you everything they can think of but it was like being famous just because I am a westerner.
That afternoon, I went to the border ceremony. This is at the border with Pakistan and both sides put on a stunning ritual which is said to be them both showing how strong they are, but you can see it is all done as a performance. It has been likened to Monty Python's ministry of silly walks, except that it is sillier than that. Guards march down the path at high speed, do turns and kick their feet higher than their heads. The Indians congregate in the grandstand to the east, the Pakistanis to the west and they all chant and cheer. You would hardly believe these countries are sworn enemies, it all looks so much fun. It lasted for half an hour and I went back in the car with 9 other people to the city.

I had a quick wash before eating as I went back to the temple kitchen and I was horribly dirty from being crushed between loads of people on the way to the ceremony. By the way, that ceremony looks like it should happen once a year, so big and grand it is, but it actually happens every day.
I ate with a few hundred people again, got food one my t-shirt from people pushing into me with their trays on the way out and went back to my next hotel, which was cheaper and they had a room on this day. It was noisier but I managed to sleep enough.
I went into the Golden Temple the next morning after queuing for 45 minutes. It is worth it as with the 750kg of gold it is made from, it is pretty special to see. I couldn't take photos inside though.
After that, I ate in a cafe, which was a rare find and found an internet cafe to spend a couple of hours in while i waited for my train at 4.15pm. The overnight one. I've bought chains to lock my bags with and this is going to be the real test of not having anything stolen. Once this is out of the way, and hopefully without incident, I will be able to relax.
That reminds me - after I came out of the temple last night, on the way back to collect my shoes, I realised I'd lost my number tag. I went back to where I'd sat down but couldn't find it. I hoped I could get back before someone else stole my trainers and to my relief, I did and I found them again. If I didn't, I would have had to walk through the streets barefoot to the hotel. But, that's what a lot of the locals do anyway. Maybe not to my hotel, however.

The last day at school

Today is my last day at the school and it's only a few days until I leave India. There have been certain things about here that I won't miss – the unnecessary noise made by the students, their refusal to fill up the water tank when it run dry, the dogs barking and waking me up – but when I went outside to read a little before the students came back from McLeod (they went to attend the ceremony for the Tibetan who self-immolated in Delhi and who was taken there for burial), I had a sudden feeling. I realised that the two projects that I had been looking forward to undertaking were almost completely finished. It was a sad feeling as they had occupied my thoughts a lot in the 9 months or so leading up to them. But now they were almost at an end. I know that I have bigger things to move on to, but as this time I won't be joining already existing projects but have to lead them myself, I have no guarantee that they will work. I had the idea that I won't want to stop these projects in foreign countries; I want to do more! I want to keep on travelling and having exciting adventures.

But I have to be realistic; I can't keep doing these forever as they are voluntary and I do need to earn money. My hope is that if I can get projects up and working well then, as my name will hopefully become more known, people will start buying my books and I can earn enough money from those. That would be perfect as I would be able to give all of my time to the projects instead of finding employment which would defeat the object of my intended movement.

The one thing that I need to do is stay dedicated to my plans and expect it to be difficult to start up. It will require people changing the way they do some things, which many people are always very reluctant to do. I hope I can find the people who would already be happy to get involved – those who already think like me and wouldn't need convincing.

I intend to get publicity by asking the local newspapers to print my notification about my meetings and hopefully, they will also be interested to attend them and report on them.

I need to get straight in my mind project ideas that I can deliver to the people who attend my meetings so that they will be convinced straight away. This is very important. If they can't see how something could easily work, they might turn away.

Interestingly enough, I saw on the news today that an independent politician of the Respect Party won a landslide by-election in Bradford, crushing the traditional parties. That kind of thing gives me hope that people want change and they want it now.

I will try to give regular posts during my travels of the next few days.

The final week (of teaching)

During this week, it just feels like it's very close to my departure. I need to pack my things on Thursday as we are having another momo party on Friday afternoon so I may not have time. I just went into Dharamsala to get some money from a bank and also to buy some chains to secure my bags when I go on the train for the first time.
About my plans, I will go to Amritsar on Saturday, hopefully ariving there mid-afternoon and I hope I can stay at the golden temple as it is free. This is the Sikh capital city and it is their custom to offer free food and accommodation. I will stay there for two nights, then tak an overnight train to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. I'll stay there one night, then go into Delhi the following evening (Wednesday). I don't need to stay there as my flight leaves at 2.15 am on the 5th, arriving at 6.45am in London.
My event so far this week is that I had my hair cut by one of the students. He's really good at it even though he's taught himself, so he did a good job for me.
Otherwise, the weather is nice and warm and right now at 6.30pm, I have my window open and am in a t-shirt. A big change from the chilblains a month ago!

As this is a short post, I will give you some more extracts from Tears of Blood:

-Tibetan women were given forced abortions and sterilised on a great scale, like 2000 cases by one team in a three month period. One woman described how foetuses are aborted at an extremely late stage: “The foetus is often removed at 28 weeks and over, when the heartbeat is already being heard. The woman is forcibly aborted and when the healthy foetus is removed, its head is immersed in a bucket of water.” “They forced me onto a table, inserted an electrical device into my uterus and left me like that for hours... Then they came and inserted some kind of spatula and twisted it round and round, scraping the foetus out in small pieces.” This was in 1990.

Since 1997... “Tibetan buildings have been torn down to make way from endless vistas of ugly concrete... Discos, gambling dens, brothels everywhere, are an insidious ploy by the Chinese to promote decadence and so to wean the Tibetans still further from their traditional way of life. Then, once they have been sucked into a life-style that is totally dependent on drink and drugs, they are no longer fit to be employed. They're finished.

In 1997, reporting on the abortion issues, a woman cried “They come and drag us from our homes, they throw stones at our husbands, they terrorize our children... The woman in the next bed to me was eight months pregnant, but they killed the baby and threw it to the dogs.”

So this is as up to date as the book goes, but it is well-known here that such atrocities are still going on and they are not showing any signs of  stopping.

Week 11 continued (25 March)

For our general water, to wash with, we collect the water that flows along the stream which goes down the road that we're on. However, it was diverted so that it could be used for irrigation. We were told it would be back after a couple of days but we were out of water. We had to pump it from another stream that is across the road and just a little down the hill. We could get enough water but it was cumbersome just because of having to get the pipes out each time we needed water.

Those couple of days became Indian days and went on for weeks. Just this morning, I was alarmed to hear the sound of naturally flowing water into our water receptacle again. It must have been more than two weeks that the stream was dry. Things that we might ordinarily take for granted...

(In the village where I went on Thursday)

Since my fire-fighting escapades, I recovered from inhaling the smoke after a couple of hours and life became normal again. (!) The teachers had been asked to prepare a quiz for Saturday morning. It was kind of thrown at us in a meeting again but it didn't take much preparation. I thought of 5 geography questions and the others did the same for their categories. We held it after breakfast on Saturday and I ended up hosting it (meaning I introduced it and just carried on from there). It went well and was a close contest and was fun. 

On Friday, I had 2 consecutive lessons with the middle group. They are the most fun to teach as they get involved more than the other groups. Last week, I had started to tell them about space bt didn't get much time so I continued it this week. They had so many questions that I went into explaining things like meteors leaving their marks on planets and how one probably made the dinosaurs extinct. It was eye-opening again to see how little they had learned about these things but as it's a subject I love, I was more than happy to tell them all I could. At the end of it, I had the feeling where you know something has been a great success. It's really good to know I've been able to educate people in more ways than I am expected to.

I decided not to go away this weekend as I wanted to work on things for the next big project. I needed to get my presentation notes in order as well as start looking for somewhere to live in Wolverhampton. I looked on the flat share website but I'll probably have to wait till I get back to really start looking as obviously, I'll have to meet people and visit houses.

When I was sat reading The Valley of Fear, a Sherlock Homes story, I kept getting distracted by thinking about my next plans. I had the idea of seeing if I can get permission to use a closed youth centre to start lots of my ideas which are on my site. If so, I could also hold meetings there which would make it easier to do and maybe I could hold them more often. Basically, it was like a big realisation that I had found what would be perfect. I went out to have a walk and think about what I could do there and as soon as I got back to my room, started writing the letter to the council. I'll need to find out if there indeed have been youth centres closed, but if there are and I can get permission, this could be the catalyst in really getting my movement started. I hope to email the council in the next week (once I know the situation) so I really hope I can get over this first hurdle. If so, things will be looking very good. :)

So, into my last week at this school I go. It feels strange as I've got used to our way of life here and now I have to let it all go. But that's why I like to live in places more than visit them; I can get a good feel for how life is if I'm somewhere for at least 2 months.

With this positive feeling that I have right now, it's not really appropriate to put another quote from 'that book' so I'll leave it for a few days. However, on the news this week, the Chinese have said that they will phase out their theft of organs from executed prisoners over the next five years. By that, they mean that in five years' time, the rest of the world should have forgotten about this issue.

A walk through the village

So far, this week has gone quickly for me. I've been doing the usual things but this morning, my lessons finished early so I went back along the walk that Ken showed us to read in the sun. I made a video on the way for you to get an idea of life in an Indian village called Lower Sukkar.

While I was trying to upload that, I saw lots of smoke coming from the valley by the school. It wasn't dying down so I went to look. It seemed that the usual arsonists had been having fun with the dry weather and there was a good chance of it spreading and causing a forest fire.
I wasn't going to sit by and let that happen so I got a bucket and went down to the nearby streams to throw water on the few small fires. I succeeded with stopping the ones near the top but had to go down to tackle one that I couldn't reach. Fortunately, there is another stream below it and I managed to get water to it. I didn't really get into any danger in case you are worried, but of course I inhaled some smoke as I was doing it. They turned out to be Indians' ways of disposing of their rubbish. They fill a bag of everything, including plastic, set fire to it and throw it over the hillside. This may be a cultural thing but it is absolute stupidity, I don't mind saying that.
I'm just glad I managed to prevent a forest fire.

That was not the type of post I was expecting to share with you... 

More quotes from Tears of Blood

I realised that I forgot to add some more quotes from the book. I wanted to show you how up to date the accounts get, so here are a couple that happened in 1988:

Prisoners who were released had to pay for the food they'd eaten in prison and would be arrested again if they didn't pay within a given time. “They set trained killer dogs onto the nuns and emptied urine buckets over their heads. They applied electric prods to their private parts. They strung them up to the ceiling by their thumbs.”

“At times, they laid us face down on the ground, stripped us to our underwear, hands outstretched, and beat us. More than once they dropped a huge iron rod from a great height onto our backs... they would trample on our hands with their huge iron-tipped boots. They kicked us in the face and stomach. Buckets full of urine were put on our heads... the guards... roaring with laughter as the urine and excrement streamed down our faces and bodies. They would take the momo that was our lunch, dip it in the filth and force us to eat it."

Let me just remind you - most of the world is supporting China by relying on its products. This cannot be ignored any more.

Week 10 continued, 18 March

We had some bad news later in the week as the father of one of the students died in an accident. He then went away for some days and the support from the other students meant that some people didn't sleep much. One of the classes ended up not performing well for the last two days of the week in the lessons so we hope that they'll recover from it for next week.

It also meant the plans for the director's party on Saturday had to change. The students were going to do some dances and had been practising in the afternoons but Tibetan tradition states that after a death, there should be no singing or dancing for the next nine days.

Ken showed us a walk around the back of the school one afternoon through a village area. I found it very pleasant there. It had lots of quaint, rural buildings, the usual collection of farm animals and was a nice surprise to find, even though it is so near to us. 

Saturday was a bit different. The highest level class did their presentation in the morning, which consisted of two comedy sketches. They went very well and had us laughing a lot. One was about a corrupt vet who would treat anything or anybody as long as he could get money from them. The second was about two lovers and the man had to prove his love to his girlfriend by doing anything for here. She ordered him to attack another man in the park and he ended up getting beaten up by that man after all of his three attempts failed.

The director attended this and we still had some games after the show. We first played bingo and I won a bar of chocolate for getting a line of numbers! We then played volleyball which was good fun, although my team lost both times. Then we went upstairs to the terrace and played table tennis. I couldn't remember the last time I'd played it but did quite well and I'd like to play it again before I leave.

We played darts which everyone was equally hopeless at. We played 'round the clock' up to 10 which took a lot of effort. Ashley also taught the students how to use the hula hoop and those rhythmic things where you swing two weights around in coordination with each other. The students also demonstrated how good they were at skipping. Especially Choephel, who did more than 400 on two occasions. I tried and after successfully skipping the first time I tried it, I couldn't do it again. That was a shame as I was thinking it could be a good thing to do to get back into shape a bit in my last couple of weeks here.

After that, I went up to McLeod with Ashley as we'd both wanted to do some things there. We got there mid-afternoon and the weather was probably the hottest we've had so far this year. I went around the stalls buying some gifts and I met her again later. We had coffees and fruit juices (which we rarely get), used the internet at café terraces and went to Jimmy's Pizza, which we both enjoyed. As we were spending the time together, we got to know each other better and it was good to chat about lots of things and good to get to know someone new. We decided to stay overnight so booked a room each at a hotel that she found. It was only 500 Rupees, which was cheap considering hotels have put their prices up this month. We had a beer on top of the Indian restaurant I've eaten at twice before and went back to sleep.

After getting a hot shower (once I'd battled with the taps to make the water actually flow from the hot water tap), we had breakfast and I sorted out my overnight train ticket from Amritsar to Agra for the few days after I finish at the school. It's a long journey so I managed to get a sleeper train but will have to change in Delhi. It was more expensive than I'd expected (1300 Rs.) but at least I've got that sorted out. Ashley advised me to book it while I was here as the places go well in advance. It was good that I took her advice as it was quite difficult finding a train even with over two weeks to go.

We read our books at a café, had lunch at Four Seasons and got the buses back. It was hot again as we got back to the village so we hope it will stay like this, especially so that it's warmer in the evenings.

It's brought the lizards out in full force, so that should be a sign that spring is properly here.

I've just seen, via Facebook, that it's Mother's Day today, so as usual, from being in a different country, I didn't know. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I've also recently heard that you people are still having that Easter thing over yonder. :)

Wed 14 March

Lessons have continued fine this week. With the arrival of Ashley, she has teamed up with Margo to split classes into two groups so that all 5 teachers will have enough lessons. They're getting on with it well and I let Ashley watch one of my lessons today, along with giving her some teaching tips.

The weather has been ok so far. It has been quite cold during the night on some days but it's mostly sunny.

The founder of the school, Lugyal turned up yesterday. He lives in Switzerland but has a holiday so came to visit. It was nice to meet him; he's a friendly man and easy to chat to.

I finished reading Tears of Blood on Sunday and would seriously recommend it to people as it really is time we stopped ignoring the Chinese dictatorship before they get too much control over the world.

Before I give you some more extracts from that book, the one I've started reading is rather different. It is a story of an Englishman who went to volunteer in Ecuador (nearer to Quito) and his humorous accounts of his time there. Apart from the dreadful use of English, it's an easy and fun read and it reminds me of many things from there. It's called That Bear Ate My Pants!

Anyway, going back to the serious things, here are another couple of quotes from the book about Tibet.

A prisoner's account from 1960: A monk interviewed said “Even when we had broken limbs from the beatings and the torture, we still had to work. We would get frostbite because we had nothing to protect our hands and feet. Sometimes it was so cold that the flesh on our hands would tear off and stick to the shovels. To make us change our thinking and support Chinese rule in Tibet, they hung prisoners upside down in empty rooms and beat them with batons. Sometimes they forced other prisoners to do the beating, so that the Chinese would not have to take the blame.”

In 1979, delegates visiting Tibet made up a list of the things that had happened during the 30 year occupation by China:

• 1.2 million Tibetans, 1/5^th of the population, had been killed or died of starvation.
• 6,254 monasteries and nunneries had been destroyed
• 60% of Tibet's literary heritage had been burnt
• Amdo (an Eastern region) had become the world's biggest gulag, with 10 million prisoners.
• One in every ten Tibetans were in prison. 100,000 were in labour camps.
• Forests and Tibet's unique wildlife had been wiped out.

I will post more and they tell stories of events up to when the book was published in 1999.

Week 9: 5-11 March

We were back into teaching this week and with the new timetable, Monday was difficult to get into, for both the teachers and the students. Starting lessons at 8 seemed like a big difference but we got used to it after a few days. It was also strange to have no classes in the afternoon. With the continuing good weather, it meant it was good to have the time to do other things. I only really read or used the internet (we have got the connection fixed and it has been running better now). I've been downloading loads of free books but should stop as I've too many to read already!

We had Thursday off as it was the day to mark the end of the Tibetan new year period. The manager had asked me the day before if I wanted to change rooms. The one at the back of the house was free as the cook had to go to another room and the new teacher was arriving on Friday. I took a look at it and thought it could be better. It was mainly the noise that was the problem in the bedroom I have been using. I decided to change and used Thursday morning to make the move. It felt like home as soon as I got my things arranged. It's smaller and feels like being in students halls again (!) but it's noticeably quieter so I'm very happy with it.

Ashley arrived at Friday lunchtime and in my time, she was the first volunteer younger than me. She's American and in her twenties and I helped her settle in by showing her round the school and taking her up to the village to buy some things.

On Saturday, I didn't want to go away but there was another event in McLeod which was to mark the anniversary of Tibetan protests. Ashley and some students went and there were speeches. The Dalai Lama was there but he didn't speak. They then marched down to Dharamsala.

I got a lot of reading done and I have nearly finished the Tears of Blood book as well as reading some Russian short stories. I also wanted to repair the stone path at the front of the house as some stones had come up. It was good to be doing something like this again and I think I did a good job by laying stones deeper and wetting the soil to get it compacted. These are the before and after shots.

I looked around to see if I could do something else and noticed where they had recently burnt the paper rubbish so I used some stones and broken bits of our wall to make a simple fire area next to the organic waste hole I had dug in January.

I also went up to the shops and luckily still had my camera in my pocket so took a photo of my friend whose shop I always go to. He called me an honest friend because of that, and kissed my hand, so it's nice to know he respects my desire to help him out with his business. He, like many Indians, questioned me about getting married. It is usually one of the first questions you are asked here. He was persistent with his questions but I just told him I'll wait and see what happens!

I asked my students to write about their holiday for their week's homework, expecting them to tell me about enjoying spending time with friends or family members. Here are a couple of extracts from the homework:

“My brother came to India... I heard lots of news about my family. He also took some photos and videos. During the years they really changed a lot, changed everything. I can't recognise my childhood place because everywhere they have built new houses. I have a strong desire to visit but I am scared of the violent Chinese rulers.”

“I used to call my family during the new year but this time I was terrified to because of the Tibetan issues, especially my home town of Nagpa, which is controlled by force these days.” (This refers to martial law, which I have read about in Tears of Blood.

To give you another insight to the Chinese occupation, in 1960, Tibetans who were being held in the gulags (forced labour camps) described the conditions they experienced:

“Amidst famine, we lost our sense of shame and dignity... we ate ropes, leather bags... the men in our prison ate rats, frogs... some even ate the worms that were found in excreta... Another killed an eight year old boy and ate him... Within three years, two-thirds of the Tibetans imprisoned there were dead.”

If by now, you are thinking “Well, at least that is all in the past”, I'll give you more quotes over the next weeks. In fact, I will also write a post midweek as well as on Sundays.

Week 8: 27 Feb – 4 Mar

The week has started quietly as expected. I've given a few tuition lessons but mostly I'm having to think of how to occupy my time. I have started reading a book I borrowed from Ken: Tears of Blood, which is about the history of Tibet since the Chinese invasion that started in 1950 and continues to this day. It is a compelling read and one that I would like more western people to read as the world has ignored China's atrocities for more than 60 years. I would like to give a quote from one of the interviewees accounts to give you an idea of why we should be trying to get away from our links with China and stop supporting their economy by buying everything they manufacture in bulk. This comes from reports in 1959 and 1960 to describe what happened if the Tibetans opposed the Chinese who wanted to 'liberate' them from their peaceful way of life:

“The methods employed included crucifixion, dismemberment, vivisection, beheading, burying, burning and scalding alive, dragging the victims to death behind galloping horses. Children were forced to shoot their parents, disciples their religious teachers... Monks were compelled to publicly copulate with nuns and desecrate sacred images before being sent to a growing string of labour camps in Amdo and Gansu.”

To put this into context, this system of abuse is still going on today. The world has been ignoring it. Most of the world is buying goods from China and therefore supports it and depends upon it. Now imagine that if the Nazis remained in power in Europe. Would you be happy to buy the goods they manufactured, knowing what they did to people? The Chinese communists do the same; there is torture and forced labour happening in the same ways. But we are blissfully ignoring all of this and paying attention to the fact that we can buy their goods cheaply. Do you think that this is acceptable on our part?

Wed: We have the next two teachers arriving on Thursday, two days before the Americans leave. This means a problem with sleeping arrangements but as some students are still away, the manager an the cook will sleep in the students' rooms until the sheds are free. I plan to make them feel welcome and help them out as much as they want as I know it can be hard to arrive in a strange country and get settled, just like I experienced.

Rute asked me if I preferred India or Ecuador. This was an interesting question as I haven't really thought of it like that before. I would actually say I prefer Ecuador. This is for various reasons. Obviously the two can't be compared easily; I have done very different things in very different countries but I feel that I couldn't really connect with Indian culture as much as Ecuadorian. I like to be able to go to cafés or other simple things like that but where I am living, this is not really an option. I only go to the Norbulingka café to use the internet (the service is terrible) and it is usually fairly empty there. I'm sure it would be different if I was living in a city but as I used to think about going to Asia, I find it just too different for me to be able to connect with.

Also, in Ecuador, there were more volunteers and more of a social aspect to it, which I liked. We went away for weekends together but here there is very little to visit nearby, as I said before, so it is less interesting to live here because of that.

It's also not as 'Buddhist-orientated' as I'd hoped. Whereas most of the students would say they follow Buddhism, it doesn't have that feeling in general. They are generally nice and compassionate but in the end, they are young adults who are discovering western culture through the TV here.

I have possibly been feeling more like this because of it being the holiday and having too much free time on my hands. After this week I'll have 4 more weeks of teaching and I hope that I feel more positive once we get back into the routine.

(This is an example of the kind of food we eat at school- this is a noodle soup. Most of it is soup-based, other times with rice but it is generally nice.)

Fri: Two new teachers have arrived, one from Australia and one from America. They are both older people again and I have being giving them information about how the school works and so on. They seem nice, calm people but want support as they are not very experienced as teachers. We actually have another coming next week, due to an error in giving places. There isn't enough space to sleep five teachers so I don't know what will happen regarding that.

Sat: I went up to McLeod with Ken and the new teachers yesterday, although I didn't spend much time with them. We ate lunch together then I checked into a hotel while they saw the temple. They left after that but I saw Maggie and Kendall and said goodbye to them. I then went on a candlelight procession in honour of three Tibetans who are on an indefinite fast outside the UN building in New York. This is to try to get the UN to actually take some action and stop ignoring the Tibet issue. I was pleased to join it as I missed the previous one. I met two students there as well and we went to a speech in an open area. The candles were placed on the ground that spelled out the words “Wake up UN”. After that, I went to eat and read a Sherlock Holmes story. I had never read any before but I am enjoying them. They are short enough to read over a meal and I read another one at breakfast. The weather up there was much nicer – sunny and warm so it was finally nice to be outside, walking round the streets or sitting on a terrace reading. 

I went back in the afternoon and the students were all returning. It was nice to see them again and after feeling like I wasn't that enthusiastic about being here the other day, it felt better again.

 (These are fried momos from McLeod. You get four for 10 Rupees, about 15p and they are really good.)

We were given the next week's timetable and it will be different from now on – the summer timetable which starts an hour earlier (teaching starts at 8) and all lessons happen before lunch. It would have been nice if we had been informed about this change but I've got used to this kind of thing now...

The other new teacher is now due to come next Saturday so we don't have to worry about the complications just yet.

I went for a walk on Sunday morning and Margo said she wanted a couple of things for her room – a curtain rail and something to hang her clothes holder on so I said I'd find some sticks and make them for her. It was good to be able to make some things again after quite a few weeks.

Week 7: 20-26 February

Most of the students have gone away for some time but there are a handful who are at the school as of Monday night. Last night I was talking to the youngest who is 18 and asked her what her story is of being here. She hadn't been to school in Tibet and left there with her parents when she was 13. They went to Nepal by bus and got in safely after paying bribes to the border guards. This is the safer but expensive way of crossing the border. Her parents stayed with her for two months while they got her to a school 4 hours from here. It is very big and had 3500 students who all live there as well. It must be like a village on its own. She liked being there and wearing the school uniform. She was able to advance through the school years well and came to this school last September on her own. She wasn't very comfortable as everyone else is older than her but she made a good friend soon, who is 20. This means that she hasn't seen her parents since she was 13 but she speaks to them regularly. She has a brother who is in Luxembourg and other siblings in other places.

She sometimes wants to go back to Tibet but knows how important it is to get her education over here. Despite being under the forced rule of the Chinese, she understands it is important to be able to speak Chinese for her job prospects. It is interesting to hear about such stories, especially to then compare them to own western lives.

I had thought of making a stand for my Kindle as, because you don't need to hold the pages open, you could sit and read it resting on a table. With me also needing to keep my hands warm, I decided to make one. I had a biscuit box that I cut into shape so that the Kindle rests on it. Additionally, to warm my hands, I used an old coffee jar filled with warm water to hold onto as I read so I managed to find answers to these two issues from just recycling things I already had.

The week has been pretty quiet. I gave two tuition classes on one day to three students who were around and wanted an extra class. This week was Tibetan new year, Losar. There weren't going to be any big celebrations of it this year, I think because of wanting to focus on protesting against China. The few students who were here prepared lots of food for Wednesday, including lots of bread sticks, pancakes and so on. It was very nice to join them with eating, even though we didn't do much else. I did play darts with a couple of them and explained how the points are scored on it as they didn't know how the board worked, and how the normal game is played.

On Thursday, all the teachers went to Rewalsar, which is about 6 hours away from here, still in the mountains though not in the Himalayas. We took three buses to get there but as soon as we arived we knew it was worth it. This is another largely Tibetan town, which is situated around a lake and between mountains. It is very picturesque with many colourful monasteries dotted around, including a Sikh temple.

We found a hotel with two cheap, basic rooms available. We later thought it was good that they were so cheap as the stray dogs certainly tried their best to prevent us from sleeping all night. We could very clearly hear about ten dogs barking continuously through most of the night, which was very annoying. If one starts barking, others feel that they need to respond and it sets off an almost never-ending cacophony. Ultimately, they are barking at nothing but they will continue it until they get tired.

Anyway, before that, we had a quick walk around the lake and got our bearings a bit but as it was already lateish, we would do everything the next day. We ate dinner early in the Kora café, which was good and did little else that evening.

In the morning, after we had managed to snatch some sleep, we started off by visiting the main temple on a hill where a 12 metre statue of Padmasambhava looks over the lake and the town. He was the Indian scholar who took Buddhism to Tibet in the 8^th century. 

The temple on which he sat was beautifully decorated and I took loads of photos. From there we hiked up a steep hill to visit caves where Padmasambhava meditated. 

Apparently, the proof is in his footprints in the rock, which are highly dubious, especially the one which is 2 metres off the ground and curiously carved into the cave wall. The funniest sight of the day was the secret cave, which was a brick house with a metal sign on, saying “The secret cave of...” and a padlock on the metal door. At least use a natural cave if you're going to claim that....

On the way down the hill (which was certainly good exercise), Kendall asked a woman if there was a wedding going on. We'd head music an seen a congregation on the way up. From this, she got dragged away to the party an we all followed. We sat there also with some Tibetans who had been invited (apparently it is good luck to invite more people to a wedding) and they even gave us lunch. We sat down with the Indians, on the floor, and had rice and various dishes served to us. We ate in the traditional way, which was using our fingers – not easy with rice. It was a nice surprise for us and good to do some real Indian things instead of just being tourists.

We went back down after that and visited some more temples and I went for a coffee while the others visited one last monastery. As we'd eaten a lot, we didn't have dinner but bought some wine to try and help us sleep better through the canine choir. It didn't do much for me but it wasnt quite so noisy the second night. We had breakfast and got the buses back. The journeys wouldn't be so bad if there was enough leg room but I found it uncomfortable on each bus and I had to sit in a twisted position every time which is not fun after so many hours.

We got back on Saturday afternoon, hoping it would be as warm as it was in Rewalsar, which was noticeably better. It also helped my hands recover more and the swelling has gone now. They just look ugly as they are growing new skin, which is taking a long time.

Not many students are around still but some will come back on Sunday and we will try to give some more classes next week, which will be the last one for the Americans.

Week 6: 13-19 February

Living in such a basic setting as this makes you appreciate many little things. Just to get the simplest things accomplished can often depend on various factors. Some examples include there being enough hot water to make a cup of coffee to have while I read in my room, wrapped up in a blanket and with my gloves on feels like something has been accomplished. Finding that the rain has stopped and I have a free hour to hand-wash a few clothes, again, with just enough hot water to prevent my hands becoming more damaged while I have chilblains. I had to wash some in a bucket in the garden and although they wouldn't be as clean as scrubbing them with a brush, I was getting low on clean clothes so getting them hung on the line while it remains dry can bring a feeling of satisfaction.

There are other small chores or activities that make me feel in a similar way – getting up to the shop to buy some biscuits, finishing an enjoyable story by Turgenev before the next lesson that makes me a lot more aware of what I do. It's not that I feel like I need such things to fill my time – I have plenty to keep me occupied, like I said before but maybe it's the complete lack of urgency that you get when living in a busy city that leaves you with the time to reflect on the small details.

My hands haven't made any big improvements over the week. With no other source of heat except for your own body, it's difficult to overcome something like chilblains. It has meant that I chose to stay at the school again for the weekend, just so I know I can keep my gloves on and put my blanket over me when I need to. The cream and tablets I got don't seem to be having any effect so I'll just have to be extra careful. For example, I needed to wash some clothes so carefully mixed hot drinking water with the cold but sometimes it was still cold and it only takes the slightest thing to make it worse again. Full credit goes to the manager who offered to wash my duvet cover for me as I couldn't face washing anything else for a while. That meant a lot to me. The temperatures here are around 8ºC in the day and 0 at night which is due to continue, according to the forecast.

Another reason to not go away is from hearing about Maggie and Kendall's trips. They went to Palampur, about 2 hours away, and said it was like the other places – plenty of shops and stalls but not much else to see. I don't think there is anything very exciting relatively near here. They have gone to Amritsar this weekend, where I will go after I finish teaching as it is 6 or 7 hours away but a big city that has a lot more to see.

This also illustrates that, unlike in the west, there is very little to do socially; there is nothing more than the odd café or restaurant around here and nothing worth making an effort to go to. Having said that, I did go to Norbulingka again in the week, mainly to use the wi-fi there. It's half an hour's walk away and the café is fine, except that it's outside and not the best unless it is sunny at this time of the year. We have an internet stick here but this week, it has been so painfully slow that it's worth taking the walk just to get a decent speed again.

I thought the weather earlier in the week was the cause of the slow connection – it was windy and rainy, but then it cleared up but the connection remained the same; we're talking download speeds akin to those of the old dial-up days, often 10 times slower than that...

I didn't take many photos this week as I mainly wanted to stay inside. Over the next two weeks, we will give some extra help to those students who will be around here. Right now, there are only about 8 so we'll have to see from day to day.

Week 5: 6-12 February

I should start with giving an update on the condition of my hands. Over the week, the swelling had been spreading to my other fingers and although they weren't hurting, I could feel the tightness in the joints. I went back to the doctor's on Wednesday and he gave me some tablets and cream. I used them as he said but didn't notice any improvement. In fact, quite the opposite and by Friday, I went in again and explained that it had just got worse. He said I should go to a medical centre in Tanda, 20km down the road as they have skin specialists there. I asked Choephel to go with me and we went after breakfast on Saturday. With it spreading, I feared the worst. What if it was an infection and it was going to lead to amputation? It may sound far-fetched but these things go through your head when you don't know what the problem is.

The taxi-driver even helped us find our way around what was actually a big hospital. Fortunately, there were very few patients there so I went straight on to see the doctor. She told me that I had chilblains and prescribed me some medicine and cream and told me to keep warm. I guessed that meant it wasn't serious so I bought the things and joked that at 140 Rupees (£2), I couldn't even claim for that on my health insurance.

We went back and I put the cream on and sat in the sun reading. Fortunately, the weather had got a bit warmer again so I wanted top make use of it. I stayed at the school for the weekend to make sure I wouldn't go anywhere colder and wore my gloves as much as possible. On Sunday morning, I could tell as soon as I woke up that my fingers felt better and were more mobile but of course, I will follow the advice and stay warm, etc. In fact, I am typing this while wearing my thermal gloves and I keep having to go back to correct my typos! But it's a small price to pay for having healthy hands again.

Regarding the events of this week, there has been a lot going on. We got that bombshell on Monday that there would be no school for 2 weeks because of Tibetan new year but the Americans had an idea to give tutoring to those students who would be around. It got the thumbs up so we will all do that, rather than have to spend a lot of money on travelling for that much time.

We didn't have lessons on Wednesday afternoon as we went to the Dalai Lama's temple in McLeod to join a peaceful demonstration of solidarity for Tibetan freedom. We sat with hundreds of monks and Tibetans around the outside of the temple as they prayed. 

It was a cold day and I wanted to go and have a coffee so left after a couple of hours. There was going to be a procession in the town at sunset with candles but we decided to go back before everyone was trying to get the buses. It was a shame to miss that; I would have liked to see that and get some photos.

On Thursday, it was the momo party. This is a Tibetan food that I mentioned before – small pastries filled with vegetables or meat. All the students helped to make them and us teachers also wanted to learn it. I chopped some onions and when the filling and pastry was ready, the students showed us how to fill them and close them. It was essentially simple to do but takes practice. However, it is a good community event and something I would like to take back with me.

We ate them in the TV room and they were really good. We played a game where everyone sings, someone shouts stop and everyone has to freeze. The first person to laugh has to eat another momo. It was a fun evening and during it, Choephel got a phone call saying that the Archbishop Desmond Tutu was going to have a public meeting with the Dalai Lama tomorrow morning. Lessons got cancelled again so we could attend. Wow, that was something out of the blue! Not only could I finally see the Dalai Lama, but also with another great spiritual leader.

We got up early, had some more momos for breakfast and got the bus to Dharamsala. ^From there, we walked up the hill to McLeod as the others got car-sick from going up in the jeeps. I joined them to get warmed up and to get some exercise. It took about 40 minutes and was very steep in places but I was certainly warm when we got there. We went straight to the temple and I managed to smuggle my camera in as the woman in a shop wouldn't take anyone else's (but I didn't use it in there). We thought it would start at 10am but it wasn't until about 11.30. Fortunately, it wasn't cold and when they finally came out, it was really nice to see and hear. Both leaders were so laid-back and they joked with each other in a very informal way. I kept thinking 'China – how can you say he is a terrorist???' Tutu gave a speech saying how much he thought everyone here was beautiful and that he begged China to let Tibet have autonomy. I wonder what Chinese politicians could really think about this. It was so friendly and peaceful; there's no way they could say anything about it was wrong. Unless they want the entire world to know they are liars, of course.

(This is an official photo from the Dalai Lama's facebook page)

With me wanting to let my hands recover, I stayed around at school and read and played games and got the chores done. Next week is the last week before the 'sort-of' holidays so I'll see what we can organise for that time.

This is one of my classes, so you can see how we have to study. There are only 2 proper classrooms so we have to make do with studying in a bedroom. I've censored the students' faces because Chinese officials use photos from Tibetan organisations in India as evidence that Tibetans have been invloved in something anti-Communist. Tibetans can even face imprisonment for possessing a photo of the Dalai Lama...

On that bombshell...

At our Monday meetings, we usually have some big issue thrown at us that takes us by surprise (last week it was to say that one group would do a mock test the next day without informing us and therefore disrupting our plans) and today, we were told that, due to the Tibetan new year this month, the school will be on holiday for 2 weeks!!! That's the last 2 weeks of February, meaning the students will lose 50 lessons, with exams coming up in March, and that our two American colleagues will have no teaching to do in their final 2 weeks here, which is not what they came here for.
I don't know yet what I/ we'll do but some travelling will have to come into it somehow...

Week 4: 30 Jan - 5 Feb

During this week, I've continued to have a cold. This is most unusual for me as I am rarely ill but it's difficult to get rid of it with the conditions we have. I also got an allergic reaction to an insect bite when I went for a walk in the nearby valley last Sunday. The skin in an area of only about 1cm2 became tender and red. I wasn't sure if I had had got eggs laid under my skin so on Wednesday, went up to a local doctor. Interestingly enough, you just go in and ask their advice with needing t show a passport of pay anything. He confirmed it was a reaction and although I can still see it, it doesn't hurt now.

Other than that, I've had a kind of swelling in my left index finger on the main joint, making it hard to bend it. I had this before about a year ago and it just went away. This time, it keeps recurring in the mornings and I now have the same thing in my right index finger, on the main joint! What's that all about? To be honest, I'm getting fed up of all these little things coming up...

On Monday, I went up to the village to buy a couple of things and went to a shop where I'd been before. The man had said he had recently opened and needed the customers, so I've decided to always go to him when I need basic things. I think it's good to help out when you know someone needs it. I told him of my intention when I went in again at the weekend and he was happy to hear that.

One of the teachers, Janet, left this week. She's been a good person to know and I wish her all the best, as well as her partner, who has liked speaking Spanish with me and hopes to get involved in making solar panels back in Spain. We went out for dinner at a small Tibetan restaurant and saw these men playing a kind of flick-pool.

It looks really good and I hope to learn how to play it (maybe even introduce it in England).

This also meant the rest of us have more lessons but it's generally four a day and like I said before, it feels so easy that it's hardly like work.

I got the top group to tell me about schools in Tibet in the conversation lesson as I plan to write a book about their journeys. Over the weeks, I will try to get more stories from other students, too.

I gave the lesson on Leonardo on Friday, which was interesting as they had never heard of him. They recognised the Mona Lisa but knew nothing else so it was nice to be able to educate them on more than just the English language.

After seeing so many beautiful birds in Ecuador, it is also good to see different species here; and there are quite a few. We get mynah birds around the school a lot and a few others, including this little fellow, which bobs its tail up and down a lot.

In my free time, I've been reading a lot and have just finished Charles Dicken's 'A Tale of Two Cities'. Quite good as a story but the first 100 pages are far too wordy and a real trial to get through. I've also been playing some old ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 games on my computer to pass the time. To be honest, there's not much to do around here so I need to fill my time with something. I'm playing strategy games so they take more time to solve.

The weather has been a little warmer but it's still winter here. The snow has started melting in the mountains but I'm not expecting it to get warm just yet.

I went into Dharamsala on Saturday morning to get to know the place. I was planning to stay over night there but it's little more than a shopping village on 4 or 5 streets with few cafés and restaurants. It rained while I was walking around so I decided to go into McLeod again. I found a hotel which was cheap enough and had wi-fi and hot water so that was like a luxury as here, we wash in the springs which can be pretty cold most of the time.

I went to a few cafés to read and use the internet and managed to spend a pleasant day there. I bumped into Maggie and Kendall in a restaurant later, who were staying in the same hotel as me, too. It wasn't too cold in the hotel room and I slept well.

The hot shower in the morning was good – the first I've had in three weeks. I went back to the Four Seasons café for breakfast then went back to wash my clothes, plan my lessons and of course, write this.