Week 3: 23-29 January

This week, the teaching went well again. It's almost surprising how easy it feels for me but obviously that's good. Each of us continued to have on average three lessons a day, which will go up to four when Jan leaves on Wednesday.

Monday was the Tibetan new year and we had a special lunch which was also attended by a monk and a couple of other Tibetans. We didn't do anything else so it was more like a day off. In the afternoon, we went into the Tibetan quarter to play basketball with the students. They are very good so even though Ken and I played, we didn't get much action! It was nice to go out to this area and where we played, it was effectively that the square between the houses was the basketball court!

I should explain more about the students situation here, regarding their studies. Every two years a new group arrives in September and they remain together for the two years. They have five lessons a day Monday to Friday, each one being 50 minutes or 1 hour in the afternoon. So it is very intense studying for them and they are supposed to speak English at mealtimes as well. After classes, they get some time off as well as to do their homework or own studies. They watch the BBC world news for half an hour and a film once a week. On top of this, they do all the cleaning around the house and take turns helping to prepare the meals. At the weekends they are free to speak Tibetan and go where they want. Most of them go into McLeod as they might have friends there or just want to get away for a while. They have to do their own clothes washing and apart from the food, which is bought, have to look after themselves completely.

However, they seem very calm and happy with all of this; in fact, some of them feel the happiest they've been in their lives, which is not surprising given the treatment they suffer from the Chinese and the lack of education they could get when they were young.

As I mentioned before about wanting to hear the students' stories more, I plan to write a book based on their stories to give an account of the process from living under oppression in Tibet, paying a guide to take them through the mountains, crossing into Nepal and eventually making it into India. I think it could give a good insight into the struggles they have gone through and if the Chinese disapprove of it, that's their problem.

On Friday afternoon, I had a conversation class with the top group and asked them what they would like to talk about; they were interested to know more about Hitler and World War 2 so I told them what I knew and they felt they had learned some things so that was pleasing to do. I would like to do more things like this with them. I will actually have two conversation classes with them next week and in the first, will ask them to tell me their stories of life in Tibet before they decided to leave and in the second, I will tell them about Leonardo da Vinci.

I was going to visit Dharamsala on Saturday just to get to know the place but the other teachers were going to have lunch at Norbulingka and visit a temple where a Lama (like a priest) gives talks. We had good weather which, considering I have had a cold all week was nice to experience. Maggie and Kendall stayed in the hotel there, which was very attractive but quite expensive. We walked on to the temple through the village streets and when we got there, there were monks sitting inside chanting verses and rocking as part of the trance-like ritual.

It was interesting to see but unfortunately the Lama wasn't speaking that day. However, it was still a nice day out. After that, we watched Liverpool beat Man Utd in the FA Cup.

On Sunday, I stayed a the school as I needed to wash my clothes and sheets, plan my lessons (which I did for the whole week) and update the blog. I got all this done outside and by midday so I can have the rest of the day to read and take it easy. Maybe I'll go for a walk as well. We have blue skies again and it is warm enough but I don't expect it to properly get warmer for at least a couple of weeks as it is very changeable and unpredictable here.

These are two of the children who live just up the road from us. The girl always asks me to play catch with her. Behind them is their house...

22 Jan

Yesterday (Saturday), I went to Kangra, which was quite disappointing. I had been intending to stay there overnight but after asking at different hotels and finding them either too expensive or too dirty, I walked up and down the main street with all its market stalls and decided it wasn't worth staying for. However, it has a 3500 year old fort so I got some exercise and walked the 3km to it. It was quite impressive, especially after suffering from an earthquake in 1905. I walked back and eventually found a bus that went to the village near us but it had gone dark and I couldn't recognise the stop so ended up going the extra 6km to Dharamsala. It was now 7pm and so I thought I would miss dinner. I walked into town and bought some samosas for only 20Rs and got a taxi back. I was glad to be back after a largely uninspiring day and found dinner was about to be served so I could have avoided that last diversion.

Ken told me that the bamboo worked well for keeping the draught out so that was good to hear.

On Sunday, I decided to see what jobs I could get done. I wanted to tackle the rubbish problem so dug what was already kind of a hole just over the wall around our house for food to be disposed of. I uncovered a huge rock in it and after digging around it, it looked like a meteor had just landed and formed a crater!

A couple of children who live just up the road came down to play. They are a girl aged about 4 and a boy aged about 3. They are very sweet children and know a few English words but mostly, the girl talks to me a lot in Hindi and I have to keep saying 'sorry, I don't understand!'

I noticed where a pipe next door leaks and makes our driveway wet so dug a simple channel to join it to the stream that runs along the road. The water started to flow down it so that should help.

I wrote about the rubbish across the road and saw a spot where I could dig a hole for a land fill. Whereas it's not the best solution, it is a step up as you can see from the photo

The Indian people who went past saw what I was doing but probably didn't know why. One man stopped to ask and I explained it to him – to put all the rubbish around it in one place and he said thank you. The idea is that the people here think it's a good idea and hopefully they will replicate it elsewhere. The reason the rubbish gets thrown onto the ground is that there is no alternative. It doesn't get collected so I just wanted to help out and give the locals an idea. I will let you know if it has any knock-on effect in later weeks.

All the day's digging left my hands sore as I don't have gloves here so I went for a shower in the spring. The water wasn't at all warm but the weather has picked up a little this weekend. It's been sunny and noticeably warmer during the day (even more so yesterday when I was at a lower altitude).

Tomorrow, we won't have classes as it is Tibetan New Year in the east of the country so we will be celebrating that.

I am feeling quite at home here now and pleased to be finding other work to do. I hope I can be the change I wish to see in this world, as Gandhi famously said.

20 Jan

This afternoon, after and between classes, I got to work in the garden. It really has become my hobby to try to make things better, no matter how small they are. I cut a piece of bamboo to wedge in the bottom of Ken's door frame to try to keep the draught out. If it doesn't work too well, we can fill the gap under it with clay that I found when I went for a quick walk in the valley across the road. I also re-dug the water channel that leads out of the kitchen as the mud had collected and didn't drain away. I put some house bricks in to strengthen it and it looks much better.

Then, I added some flat stones to the path leading to the garden bedrooms to make it look nicer and even out the path. The only tool I have for this is a spade but it is enough. It takes me back to the things I did in Ecuador and I really enjoy doing this kind of work. I even quite liked feeling the strain in my back again! Somehow, it just feels right. :)

The students thanked me for my work, which to me isn't like work and I plan to keep busy there to make the garden look better. They will be moving out in August, to their new house that the Dalai Lama has paid for but they can still have nicer surroundings for a few months.

Following on from conversations with the Tibetans, I was asked by one of the students to check her written work, which was her life story. I was more than happy to do this but when I started reading it, I felt almost privileged to do so. She is 20 years old and comes a nomadic family, who couldn't afford to send her to school. She ended up leaving them at 16 and going to Lhasa on her own to get some education. Later, as all Tibetan refugees do, she walked through the Himalayas into Nepal (it's not so risky to cross the border at night there as they are less likely to be shot) and then came to India. Like the others, they she hasn't seen her family since as it is illegal for Tibetans to cross any border but being able to come to school she sees as her golden opportunity in life.

I told her that she must feel free to ask me for any help at all that she would like...

 We get some beautiful views of the Himalayas here. :)

19 Jan

I have been getting on with the teaching and am enjoying it. The students are friendly and responsible and as their potential English qualifications are their tickets to work, they are committed to studying. They have five classes a day and do self-study in the evenings. I'm currently on duty for an hour to help anyone with questions about their work so I have to be available for them. As it is even colder today than earlier in the week, some of the girls have become ill and are wrapped up in bed.

For me, to go back to being an English language teacher is interesting. It has been more than 10 years since I last did this so it's funny to work in this way again. I find that because I'm used to teaching young children, I tend to be more sensitive to their needs than I need to be! However, I know that some of the students are not very confident so sometimes it is useful to be like that for them.

I am finding it easy to back to teaching grammar and vocabulary like in the 'old days' and feel that I am helping the students because I know how to explain things clearly.

To give a few observations about Tibetan culture, when we eat together (we often eat noodles in a soup), they slurp their food with no concern for the noise they make and they also put their mouth right to the edge of the bowl. It's quite amusing to see this cultural example. But they are polite with each other and sharing is a big part of their lives. If someone has sweets or chocolate, they make sure they share them with everyone in the vicinity.

Another thing is they will thank you at the end of the lessons and tend to wait in their seats until I say they may leave if they want to!

With this current cold, I am planning to go away for the weekend just to stay in a slightly warmer place and get a hot shower. As I've been to McLeod twice, I will go an hour south to a village called Kangra, which is supposed to have some nice places to visit.

One of the students, Tseduk, came to my room to ask me to check his work and we ended up talking about philosophy and the Tibetan identity and culture for an hour. He likes to talk about deep things and this is one thing that I wanted to come here for. I hope to have more conversations like this to learn more about the Tibetan people.

17 Jan

The students rang the bell at 7.10, which was too early for breakfast. I guessed it was to wake them all up and we had breakfast outside after 8. This was because it actually wasn't raining. It was still cold but looking better than the last couple of days that seemed to last forever.

I had my classes planned which were mainly introduction lessons and they all went well. It felt so much better to actually be working and getting to know the students (who did actually turn out to be all Buddhists, but not to a high level). During the morning, the sun even came out and we actually felt like being outside. The difference it made was incredible; it was like being in another world. It also meant I could wash my clothes for the first time here, which I did amongst many Indian women who had obviously been waiting for a dry day to do their washing. As I rubbed my clothes on the stone and they beat theirs with a paddle, it didn't feel that strange to be doing it. Of course I stood out for them but they have seen all the teachers and students here and after hand-washing my clothes in Ecuador for 3 months, it just felt like doing what I have done before.

After lunch, I went with Maggie to buy some more things, including a plastic jug to use to wash myself. Students collect water from the spring and it is heated on the water dispenser so I can get hot water but I wash like in the 19^th century – with soap and hot water in my room.

After that, like I used to do in Ecuador, I tried to improve the back garden path by removing some rocks and flattening it. I also want to make the garden nicer to look at and be in as it looks like a dumping ground for nature right now with big rocks sticking out the ground and no real form to it.

Overall, it had felt a much better day due to the weather and the lessons, so my feelings for the place have improved a lot since yesterday. I didn't even put my second (fleece) top on until 6pm!

After dinner, the students had their weekly meeting and I attended it to find out more about the things that happen here. They all gave stories of their experiences of going to the Dalai Lama's teachings in the first 2 weeks of this year. They often mentioned how they are all Buddhists but realised that they don't know so much about it and that some of them learned more things. It was very good to be present for this and learn more about them. I told them this and also that I hope to learn a lot more about them and that to be able to help them as much as I can while I am here.

It seems that my first impressions were not quite right, and I am glad to be able to say that.

15-16 Jan

With my toilet paper earplugs (more effective than ones you can buy), I slept quite well. The mattress is thin, though, and uncomfortable so I will get the one from the spare bed to add to it. Hopefully, that will help.

Our plan was to go back to McLeod but it was raining quite a lot. I went anyway as it would be good to buy some warm things to have for inside; there's no heating here and certainly no insulation. We had to walk into the village (10 minutes) to catch a bus to Dharamsala and then get another to McLeod. In fact, we got a jeep for the last part and it's just as cheap as the bus (10 Rs.) Ken showed the others around the village and we went to Kunga again for a drink (where I'd had breakfast here). I bought some woolly fingerless gloves, some slippers, long woolly socks and a blanket. That gives you an idea of how cold it is here right now. We then went into Dharamsala to buy more things and had lunch there. It was raining the whole time we were out but when we got back to the school, it felt good to put my purchases to use. Even though I have to wear all that stuff, it's better than being cold.

Dharamsala itself is nothing special. It's a typical Indian village with lots of small shops. There are some Tibetans there, too, but my first impressions were that it is not very Buddhist-influenced. McLeod is more so as you will see monks going around quite a lot but it doesn't have a very spiritual feeling in general.

So, we're not living in a Buddhist setting and we are more on the outskirts of a tiny village (called Fathipur).

The rest of the students came back this evening and we all ate together, 28 of us crammed into one classroom! My room is by the front door and every time the students go in or out, they leave the door wide open. As my room is very amateurly-built, the cold air gets in. I will have to request them to close it when they use the door.

There is a gap between two windows in my room but I used the plastic bag from my blanket, rolled it up and stuffed it into the gap, which has reduced the draught a great deal there.

We had a meeting after dinner, just to see which books we would use and we'll have a full meeting tomorrow morning.

I felt more relaxed and comfortable after getting warm things and after putting in extra layers for the mattress, it is now just about enough.

16 January

I got up when the students rang the bell for breakfast and after that, we had a couple of hours to look through our books that we will teach with. It was still all quite unclear as to what we would do as there are five teachers for three classes and we will all teach each of them. We had a meeting at 11 and after two hours, it started to become a little easier to understand. I guess we will get our heads around it once we get going but it all seems over-complicated to me. I will be teaching more grammar than the others due to my experience and what the two existing teachers already do.

I went up to the spring to wash my hair and it was a relief just to do that. I need to wash some clothes but with the constant rain, I don't want to go there for that right now.

I found some card and started putting strips of it to block the gaps in the door frame but as I was doing it, the students kept leaving the front door open again. I asked Choephel at lunch to ask the students to close it but he wouldn't. He just said they always leave it open. I said it's not much to ask but he wouldn't do anything about that, which annoyed me. He said instead that I could move rooms but after getting settled here, that was asking a lot more than getting them to close a door! It's not exactly difficult.

The students seem friendly but again, not as different as I expected. They dress in a western way and behave like western teenagers. I don't think I am going to have the experience that I'd hoped to, which was to live in a Buddhist-influenced community. One of their dorms is opposite my room so I have to hear all their noise, too. It's like being in student halls with one bathroom between all the teachers and students. With a squat toilet and a cold water tap... Oh well, I'll get used to it, maybe.

I hope the weather gets better soon as it is so miserable but we'll have to wait till next month at least.

I have the week's timetable now and we each teach three lessons a day and it changes each week (I can't see how that is necessary) but this week I will finish at 12.20 on two days. I'll get my washing done when I have a break.

At dinner time, I found out that the other teachers were also feeling miserable with the weather and the general plan is to stay in McLeod at the weekend just to get some warmth from a hotel room and shower. It's started off in a grim way but I knew it was going to be more extreme than living in Ecuador. But this is only due to conditions at home, here...!

14 Jan

I woke up later as it took ages to get to sleep last night, due to a dog barking for what seemed like an hour. I got my things ready and went to the same café as yesterday for breakfast. There I finished proof-reading my latest story 'Silent Footsteps' and went to the internet to post the last two days of my blog and publish the story. Just as I was finishing there, I got a call from Choephel (pronounced like Choople) then he hung up. I guessed this meant he was now here so I went to the hotel and he was. We got a taxi down to the school, which is a few km south of Dharamsala. There I met Ken, who's been here since October and Kendal and Maggie, who had also arrived today from Colorado. They are all retired teachers and nice people. We sorted out the bedrooms and I got the one in the house (the others are in the garden). I thought mine would be better but Ken warned me about the dogs barking at night... Uh oh... Ken showed us around the local area – where the shops are, where we go for a shower (a natural spring up the road with warm water) and we also visited Norbulingka Institute which was designed by a Japanese architect and has a Buddhist temple and beautiful gardens. It will be a place to visit on a sunny afternoon with a book. We also met Janet who teaches but lives elsewhere and her partner, who is Spanish and was very happy to meet me as he speaks very little English.

There are a few little shops nearby and the local people seemed friendly and happy to say hello to us. We won't have any problem with buying things that we need here and of course, it's cheap.

We went back to the school and immediately I got started on fixing the place up. Maggie's metal door wouldn't close properly as it scraped along the wall so with Choephel, we hammered the door and chiselled off some plaster and it now closes quite well. :) I got my room sorted out then we all ate. The students cook the food but there were only four there as the others were still away for the weekend after receiving lessons from the Dalai Lama for the last two weeks. We had noodle soup and Tibetan bread, which was nice. We four teachers chatted a bit and I think we'll get on well. Tomorrow, we'll all go into McLeod Ganj as the Americans haven't seen it yet and on Monday, we'll start figuring out how we will do the teaching then start properly on Tuesday.

With the internet, we have a dongle here that we share so I will not use it often. Maybe a couple of times a week to post on the blog and read emails.

There's a nice atmosphere here but it's quite cold at night; pleasantly warm as we walked around earlier but I've got my coat and hat on now, at 10.30pm. I will put my gloves on when I finish this! I hope those dogs don't bark...

Fifth day - 13 Jan

When I got up it was reasonably warm. I had a shave with hot water (!) and checked out as I had to contact Choephel so went to an internet café. I sent him a message and he then phoned me to say he couldn't come until tomorrow. I went back to Hotel Tibet and said I needed to stay another night. They actually let me have it for free! I went out and had a big breakfast then walked around. The small, dilapidated streets were full of Tibetans, Indians, beggars, dogs, monkeys and cows :) and with all the shops and cafés, it was quite a pleasant stroll. 

I went down to the temple complex which is also where the Dalai Lama lives. To be honest, it wasn't as picturesque as I'd expected but still nice to visit. I also went to the Tibetan museum which has photos and stories of the occupation of Tibet. It was of course very sad to read people's stories and it brought tears to my eyes to read them. I walked around some more, taking photos of the Himalayan mountain sides and went to a café to write this. I ordered some Tibetan momos, which are little balls of pastry with vegetables inside. It had a very hot sauce with them, which gave me a bit of a headache, but they were nice. The tea here is also good; made with milk instead of water, it's nice and creamy and I'll be drinking a lot of this while I'm here. Choephel phoned me again (I wish he'd just send me messages as it costs me about €3 a minute to receive calls) to say he could come for me this afternoon. I decided to stay here as it's a nice place to be and I'd already got the hotel for free for tonight.

I went back to the hotel to relax for a bit. While I was there, there was a power cut for about 20 minutes and I didn't want to go out until it was back on or it would have been too dark outside. I had a look around the streets, of which there are only two main ones that run parallel to each other and one or two others of any note. There weren't many enticing- looking restaurants but I ate at one on the square and read my Kindle. It is very easy to find vegetarian food here and being Indian (or Tibetan) it is very tasty. 
After that, I planned to prof-read my latest story in the hotel bar but it was closed by then so I did it in my room. Tomorrow, I will wait to be picked up and then I should start finding out more about my forthcoming voluntary work.

Fourth day - 12 Jan

I slept fine, sometimes covering my head with the blanket, then using it as the pillow as Indian pillows so far have been too hard. It was still freezing cold but I went out to get breakfast. On the way down, it was so icy that on one stretch I had to hold the fence while I slid all the way down. 

When I got to the bottom I saw that every single shop was closed. It was around 10 o'clock but I couldn't see a single café. I asked in a hotel if I could get breakfast and he just said no. He didn't understand when I asked if there were any cafés around so I just went on. I eventually found one called Honey Hut which was a good find. They use honey instead of sugar and I was so hungry that I had a veggie burger for breakfast. After that, I walked around a bit but didn't fall over. I was thinking about what to do today and I thought I'd miss out going to Amritsar as from this experience, I wasn't in the mood to travel any more. I asked at the bus reservation office if I could get the direct bus to Dharamsala but he said that because of the weather, they didn't know if it would go. So the best option was to go back to Chandigarh and leave from there. If I went in the afternoon, I could go and eat somewhere and have a break until travelling through the night. It would save on sleeping at a hotel if I could sleep on the bus.

I had lunch at Honey Hut then got my bag, after waiting for the ice to thaw, and walked in the direction of the bus stop. I wasn't sure exactly how far it was and I found I'd gone too far and had to go back on another road. But I got a bus which was really 1% of the cost of a taxi and again directly got a bus. It went a bit quicker and I arrived at 7pm. I then had to reserve a ticket, hopefully for a bus around midnight but the people working there were hard to get any information from. I talked with the man at enquiries and he said there was one from Delhi, arriving about 1am but I'd have to turn up then to see if there were any free seats! Obviously, I couldn't do that – turn up and hope, but if there wasn't a seat, go back and try to find a hotel?! No thanks. The other option was to go on the next bus at 8pm, which would arrive at 3am. Hilarious! Then try to find a hotel open at that time? I couldn't see what else to do – I didn't want to travel all through the day and lose that time so I said all right, I'll go on this one. We went back to get a ticket and they said they'd all been sold. I laughed out loud at this comedy of errors then the second driver said I could sit with him at the front and after 100km, someone would get off and there would be a free seat. I said fine and did that. Another man was also in the front and us two and the other driver were cramped on a side seat but by now, I just thought it was funny. This is the kind of experience you only get when doing an adventure like this.

I sat and waited and it was two hours before someone got off. The other passenger went out first and sat down at the back. I looked for the other seat but there wasn't one. I was now standing in the aisle thinking I would have to stand for the remaining 5 hours! I told the driver and he had to move someone out of his seat (I don't know why) so I was relieved to get one. It was on the back row in the corner and it didn't recline. But that was nothing compared to the fact that now the roads were so bumpy, it felt like I was on a rollercoaster. At times, we would literally jump out of our seats. I couldn't imagine getting one second of sleep on this. Imagine trying to get to sleep with someone holding your shoulders and shaking you violently for 5 hours – that's what it was like. I doubt that anyone slept at all on this journey, it was unquestionably the worst I'd ever been on. As I said, I didn't sleep at all, didn't even come close to it and was thinking about what to do if I couldn't find a hotel open. How would I arrange myself in the bus station... putting lots of clothes on and sitting on my rucksack... I'd have to hope I wouldn't get hypothermia or frostbite...

On top of this, I hadn't had the chance to check my email to see if I could get the phone number of the man who was going to meet me so he had no idea when I was coming.

We arrived on time and there was no station, just an empty space. I met an English couple as I got off and asked if they had a hotel. They said no so we'd go together. They wanted to go to McLeod Ganj, which is where the Dalai Lama actually lives so I said ok. It was better than going off on my own. We got a taxi up a steep windy road and the snow appeared as we went up another 500m (to 1700m). Everywhere was dark... We found a couple of hotels but there was no answer. This was looking very bad. Would we have to sleep rough in this cold? It was looking likely as we walked the desolate streets. Then Thomas tried a doorbell and someone came! They actually had free rooms, too so it was such a relief. It felt quite warm inside and the rooms were good and not too expensive. We took them without questions, of course and left the checking in until the morning. It was now 4am so we were happy to leave that for now! I got straight into bed and slept until 11.

Third day 11 Jan

I slept ok again except for another half-time break in the middle of it. It was surprisingly quiet here with almost no traffic noise, even though the hotel is on a main road. I actually woke up late with the sound of other guests voices at 8.40 as I'd set my alarm to 8pm... Because of this and wanting to go to the park before checking out, I had breakfast in my room and a shower in mildly tepid water. I got a rickshaw to the Nek Chand Rock Garden, which I expected to have an array of sculptures from recycled material but I was surprised. If you know the Parc Güell by Gaudi in Barcelona, it is basically the Indian equivalent of that. It is absolutely amazing and very inspiring. I took 76 photos of that alone, seeing huge areas of stone and pottery designs making up a labyrinth of a park. 

The story is that Nek Chand came from Pakistan in 1958 and started making things for 15 years but kept them hidden. When they were found out, he was given 50 workmen to help him and a salary. It is still unfinished so that gives you an idea of how incredible it is.

I got a public bus to the bus station which saved some money – 5 Rs instead of 100 in the rickshaw. I eventually found the bus platform after wandering around like a fool, hoping I wouldn't have to wait 2 hours or something. It was just pulling out as I got there so I jumped straight on – nice...

It took a bit longer than the 4 hours but we went up into the Himalayas and I saw lots of small monkeys watching us by the roadside. I'd actually forgotten that I'd see some different animals. Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead but I should get a chance to get some photos soon.

When we got to Shimla bus station, I couldn't find the exit! Nothing was marked and every door I went out of led to platforms. It took me about 10 minutes just to get out – I had to go downstairs. Signs would be useful... Then, according to the map, a good hotel should have been 200m away. Oh, it started snowing just before I got there and at over 2000m up, it was pretty cold. So, I started walking through the snow but the road just kept on going. I asked someone and he said 'no, the station has moved. Where you want is 4km away.' Great, not what I needed with my 15kg rucksack on. He stopped a bus for me and I wedged myself on. It was very uncomfortable and got even fuller to the point where I was really straining to stand up straight. I couldn't even get to my pouch to pay for my journey but at least I got the ride for free. When we finally arrived at the main road, I had no idea where to go. I just followed the road, looking out for other hotel names that were in the book. Did I see any? In the snow and now ice, of course not! I must admit I wasn't exactly happy. I stopped at a police cabin and they could locate the YMCA for me, so I just went for that. I had to go up 2 lifts then walk up another main road, which turned out to be the one I thought I had been on. And the signs for the YMCA? Take a guess... I had to ask again and a man said up those stairs. Honestly, by that time, it was like having to walk up to the top of the world – 15kg load, icy ground, very tired and upset... I finally reached it and almost collapsed. Luckily they had a room and it was only 250 Rs. It was a single room with shared bathrooms but at least I could put my bags down. And lie down.

It was now 6.45 and after going down the two flights of stairs and back up twice to get more money and other stuff, wearing two t-shirts and two pairs of socks, I went to find a café noted in the book. Shock, horror, it didn't exist. How about the other one at the other end of the road? I'm sounding predictable, I know... I think the Lonely Planet wrote this guide book for some fictional India as I've found almost nothing that I've wanted to so far.

I went in another Indian restaurant and hoped I wouldn't get food poisoning. I expected it after this mess of an afternoon. It was very nice, though, and a few hours later, I feel fine but we'll see...

Then I went to find a bar or café just to do something and be inside. I actually spent my time just trying to stay on my feet. It was really icy now but I was very careful. The town itself is quite attractive and I'll get some photos tomorrow but there was nothing to do so I wasn't very happy to have come here. The plan tomorrow is to go back to Chandigarh then get an overnight bus to Amritsar.

I wrote this with numb fingers in my bed, covered with blankets but I'm still freezing cold. What a shame after having such a nice morning.

Second day 10 Jan

I managed to sleep quite well. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep for over an hour but got up at 8.30. I went for breakfast at a Tibetan café. I had porridge and Tibetan bread with cheese and tomato as I listened to the woman at the till chanting prayers at high speed for a long time. In between, she had to attend to the other workers and lost the calm and shouted like a stereotypical old woman, then went back into the prayers! I stocked up well on food as I was going to get a bus to Chandigarh, 5 and a half hours north in Punjab. I got a rickshaw to the bus station and it was quite similar to those in Ecuador. All you have to do is say where you want to go and they will point you in the right direction. It was much dirtier than in Ecuador but I got on a standard bus and paid 180 Rs. Despite what you may think about Indian buses, it was very civilised – not even half full when I got on and it never got completely full. I read, listened to music and dozed off for most of the journey. I also noticed how incredibly dirty the land is in general. Rubbish just piles up everywhere and the farm animals tend to be where it is the worst. It gave me an idea that all the plastic could be used like straw is when making mud houses – to reinforce the walls. It doesn't biodegrade for hundreds of years so should work. Then, I was reading my guide book and found that in Chandigarh, a man who moved there was appalled with the rubbish and spent many years recycling them to make sculptures! I have to see that tomorrow morning, to see how he did it.

I arrived at 5pm and went to a recommended hotel. They had a room free but it was more expensive than I'd hoped – 1300 Rs. Oh well, it kind of balances out last night's being so cheap at 400. I looked for a restaurant in the book and remembered the roads to take but when I got there, there was no restaurant there, not even a building, in fact! So I had to go back and eat in the one near to the hotel. It was good and I was pleased to be able to eat a lot as I hadn't eaten anything more than peanuts and a peanut sweet thing I bought from one of the sellers that got on the bus at different intervals – just like in Ecuador! It's funny how some things reminded me of there, even though it's in another continent. People are people, the whole world over...

Anyway, the food was cheap so I went to look for a bar as it was only 8.20. I drew a map on a piece of paper to take with me to find a bar that sounded cool, and would you believe it, I couldn't find it. The streets that I walked through were very calm, especially compared to Delhi – wide and spacious, not much traffic or people and it felt very safe. The weather here is not too bad, by the way. A little cold at night, reasonable in the day and I haven't seen rain yet.

I asked some people where the bar was and nobody knew so I came across the city centre with lots of shops around a wide, open square. There were a couple of bars there so I went into one, had a beer and watched the last half an hour of Barcelona's last game! After that, I just walked back and was starting to feel a little tired. It seems that I have adjusted to the time zone already, which is nice...

I'll get an early start in the morning to see that sculpture park and then move on to Shimla in another province.

First day - Delhi

My flight from Heathrow was about 50 minutes late taking off. The plane wasn't very full so I had plenty of space at my seat. I didn't feel tired and found that I could watch the film 'The Boat that Rocked' which was very good but too long for that time as I wanted it to finish so I could try to sleep! This was about 1.30am and the plane was due to land at 5 (UK time). I still wasn't tired after the film and I got almost no sleep – just a few minutes as I listened to some music.

When we landed (50 minutes late), I got through immigration fine and collected my rucksack. I went out to find the person who was supposed to meet me. I looked on all the cards three times and didn't see my name. I didn't know what I was going to do as I had no contact number or the address of the hostel I'd had booked for me. I only knew the name and went out to see if I could find a taxi driver who knew it. Then I saw more people with name cards and there was mine. That was a relief and the man took me to his car and we drove through the city.

So I was thrown straight into, not the deep end as such, more like into the Niagara Falls of Indian driving. It was pretty scary... Cars going into any space they could, horns going like mad and driving 20kph over the speed limit – this was everyone, including the army trucks! I tried to stay calm and I smiled whenever we avoided what looked to be a narrow escape. It's not aggressive driving but people sound their horns to warn others that they are too close. The driver knew what he was doing but I couldn't stop my instinctual urge to press my foot on the brake pedal. I don't even drive but still found myself doing it regularly! It cost me 800 Rupees (just over £10).

It took a long time to get to the hostel which was outside the  main part of the city, in fact in a little Tibetan/ Buddhist zone. However, I was so tired that when I finally got into the room at 1.20pm Indian time, I needed to sleep before seeing the city. I didn't get up till 4.30 and didn't really feel like going out. The toliet here was my first experience of a squat toilet. I had some lovely pink sandals to wear in the bathroom, with bows on them, so that was what I'd hoped for...

I was a bit apprehensive about going into a chaotic capital city of nearly 13 million but plucked up the courage and went out.

I originally thought of walking in but the road was very long so I flagged down an auto-rickshaw, which is the motorised version of the traditional one. It was quite amusing this time to go through the traffic and I asked him to take me to Connaught Place in New Delhi as it was a big central area. However, it was nothing more than a commercial zone with lots of people and cars but just shops – mostly western ones. I looked for somewhere to eat but there weren't many restaurants in the big ring road. I found a kebab shop just off it and got a spicy cheese roll which was just about enough. I walked back through the area which was boring but felt that I'd prefer to be out of Delhi than worry about seeing it. It's too big and chaotic for me and I don't have much time to travel before reaching Dharamsala on Saturday. I managed to get money out of a cash machine and my phone surprisingly works here. I will still use my Portuguese number as I bought credit for that originally to use in Ecuador.

On my map, the part where I was staying wasn't on it and I made the mistake of not noting it down so I had to ask some more rickshaw drivers. Some locals helped me out and we managed to work it out. The price on the way in was only 100 Rupees but this time they were asking for 300. I didn't like the idea of that so tried to get them down and one said he'd take me for 200. We went back through masses of traffic again but I now felt quite used to it and happily, he found the area. I had a walk through it and it felt nice. There were mostly Tibetans there, some monks in their robes and the small, narrow streets with the market stalls gave it a pleasant feel. I took some photos then went up to my room. 

As I hadn't slept last night, I hoped this would mean I could change time zones quickly as I was tired by 9pm.

It was an interesting and eye-opening first day here but I will be happy to move on in the morning to try to find a little more peace!

2 - Visa arrives

I finally got my visa through on the 4th - the day after I was meant to fly but at least I had that sorted. Now I could start thinking about my plans. With only 5 days to plan for, I had to give the Taj Mahal a miss as it is to the south of Delhi. I picked out a few locations in the north on the way to Dharamsala and bought the last few things I needed, like padlocks for my rucksacks ;)