To Dalhousie and Chamba valley.

The magnificent Pir Panjal range as seen from Dalhousie.

Master weaver in Chamba. I bought two beautiul shawls from him.

Chamba township in the Chamba valley

Anil (l), the manager of the Hotel in Dalhousie, and me right. Anil is a mountaineer and trekking guide.

Ari walking through the snow in Gandhi mall, Dalhousie

The Pir Panjal range from Dalhousie.

Ari (l), Rikhy Ram (r) and me in the middle, planning our trip to Chamba valley.

Snow, rivers, lakes, spectacular mountains, freezing cold and cheap bus trips have been the main elements of my journey during the past few days.

We returned from Dalhousie and the Chamba Valley late last night to Sidhbari where we have our base.. The cold spell continues throughout Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. It was -9 oC in Phalagahat on 20 February. We arrived in Dalhousie on 20 February after a one and a half hour drive from Sidhbari then a 4 hour bus trip from Chakki in the Punjab. The trip cost 40 Rupees (1 US$) from Chakki to Banikhet and then 5 rupees (approc US 10 cents) from Banikhet to Dalhousie. Heavy snow lay everywhere around Dalhousie as the road had only been opened two days earlier after a heavy snowfall a week early, two metres deep. Most of the hotels were closed for winter but we found one called Mehar’s. I stayed in the room that Subar Chader Bose slept in 1937. His photo proudly adorns the wall. He led the Indian Nationalist Army in the second world war in support of Japan and Germany against the British.

I am travelling with Ari a really fine Dutchman who lives in Delhi. He has the honourable profession of house husband.

I selected Dalhousie for the first night as I had yet to see the Western end of the mighty Pir Panjal range (part of the Himalaya mountain system). Dalhousie at 2115 metres affords superb views and is a spectacular entry point to the remote Chamba valley. After a night freezing in Dalhousie, we got a local taxi van and wound our down narrow roads 100o metres of pine forests and beautifully terraced wheat fields to the Ravi River which flows through the the Chamba valley. To the north of the Chamba valley the Pir Panjal tower over the valley, and to the south, the Dhaula Dhar range. At Chamba town it feels narrow, and the mountains hem you in. I visited an old man who weaves beautiful shawls for men and women and bought two,
Chamba at 996 metres is the district headquarters. The main attractions are the Bhuri Singh museum, Laxminarayan temple, Rang Mahal and Chamunda Devi temple.

For me, I have now visited the main valleys of Himachal Pradesh, The Kullu, Spiti, Lahaul, Kangra, and now the Chamba. Tomorrow we are heading from the Kangra valley, into the Kullu and then the beautiful Parvati valley....

Highest peak im the Dhaula Dhar mountains

On 18 Feb when I was out walking with Rikhy Ram, he pointed out the highest peak in the Dhaula Dhar Dhar range. Beautiful.

On the path again

Vijay Lal (l), Auntie Lal in the middle. and me right at the Judge's Court. Vijay's family has owned this property for 11 generations

Judge's Court at Pragpur

A lane in the Pragpur heritage village, Himachal Pradesh

The Dhaula Dar mountains taken last night just before we reached home.

I last posted on Sunday 17 Feb and after that. visited the very sacred Chamunda Devi temple. Yesterday, Monday, Anuj, Rikhy Ram and I went to Pragpur to visit the Judges Court and the Heritage village attached. It is owned by Vijay Lal and there is a histor dating back 350 years which I will tell you about when I fid time. Today another friend arrived, Ari, a Dutchman who loves travel, and tomorrow we go to the Chamba valley, which is sandwiched between the Dhaula Dar and Pir Panjal ranges. This is a beautiful and remote area. Early next week Rikhy Ram wants to take me up the Parvati Valley, to see its magnificent mountains.

It is so tranquil here and every path has at least one Buddhist monk walking along it as the Dali Lama lives just 20 minutes away and Gyto Monastry a short walk from our house. With Hinduism, Buddhism and strains of Sikhism coming through, it is a very spiritual region with all religions influencing the architecture. Yesterday at Pragpur you could see the influence of Sikhism merging with the Hindu architecture.

At the foot of the Himalaya and the Dalai Lama

The majestic Dhaula dar mountains.

Master cartographer and Himalayan guide, Rikhy Ram


Aanchaland Muskaan the daughters of our watchman in Sidhbari.


Anuj buying fruit t Nangal

Buying oranges. Note the scales and the rock as a counter weight.

Having potato and onion paratha nea Panipat. Bob (r) Anuj (l)

Potato and onion parathas, juicy oranges, cold Fosters beer, crazy drivers, egg-timer traffic jams. Monkies on the roadside and the climb out of the dusty Pujab plains, crossing the mighty Beas River, (one the the five rivers that the Punjab is named after. Panch and ab, Persian for water) and then the climb for two hours up winding roads to the Himalyan foothills. The lights of Dharamsla and Macleodganj where the Dalai Lama lives, were twinkling to the north west.
,
Rikhy Ram and the live-in family who looks after the house and ground, were waiting to warmly welcome us.

The nine and a half hour journey turned into a 12 one and
Incredible India lived up to its reputation yesterday. We are now ensconced in a beautiful village nestled in the the first range that makes up the Himalayas.

Last night over a glass of whisker Rikhy Ram a great mountaineer in his younger day, spoke to me journeys to the Parbati and Chamba valleys.in the coming weeks

The Wayfarer has found the atlas

Just got a taxi down to Anuj's bookshop and would you believe I found the book I was looking for ALL MY LIFE. Its full of great maps and this fool has no reason to be lost again in the Himalayas.



ILLUSTRATED ATLAS OF THE HIMALAYA
David Zurick and Julsun Pacheco

The Himalaya are world-renowned for their exquisite mountain scenery, ancient traditions, and diverse ethnic groups that tenaciously inhabit this harsh yet sublime landscape. Home to the world’s highest peaks, including Mount Everest, and some of its deepest gorges, the region is a trove of biological and cultural diversity. Providing a panoramic overview of contemporary land and life in the Earth’s highest mountains, the Illustrated Atlas of the Himalaya is the first full-color, comprehensive atlas of the geography, economics, politics, and culture of this spectacular area. Drawing from the authors’ twenty-five years of scholarship and field experience in the region, the volume contains a stunning and unique collection of maps utilizing state-of-the-art cartography, exquisite photography, and engagingly written text to give accurate coverage of the Himalaya. The volume covers the entire 2,700-kilometer length of the mountain range, from the Indus Valley in northern Pakistan and India, across Nepal and Bhutan, to the hidden realms of northeast India. The Illustrated Atlas of the Himalaya not only offers detailed explanations of geological formations, climate, vegetation, and natural resources but also explores the human dimension of the region’s culture and economy. The authors devote special attention to discovery and travel, including exploration, mountaineering, and trekking. Packed with over 300 easy-to-read, custom designed full-color maps and photographs together with detailed text and map indexes, the Illustrated Atlas of the Himalaya is a superb collector’s volume and an essential reference to this vast and complex mountain region.

DAVID ZURICK is a geographer, writer, and photographer. He has written on the Himalaya for publications such as Sierra and The Explorer’s Journal and is the author of two award-winning books, Errant Journeys and Himalaya: Life on the Edge of the World.

JULSUN PACHECO is a cartographer and geographic information systems specialist. He is a major contributor to the Atlas of Hawaii and the Atlas of Southeast Asia.

Price: $50.00, Rs.1795/- Special for Asia

India Research Press
Flat 6, Khan Market, New Delhi – 110003., INDIA
tel : 2469 4610, 2469 4855., fax : 2461 8637
contact@indiaresearchpress.com ; www.indiaresearchpress.com

Delhi Dreams

Delhi dreams and memories


My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,
My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,
My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
And all my good is but vain hope of gain,
The day is past, and yet I saw no sun,
And now I live, and now my life is done,

My tale was heard and yet is was not told,
My fruit is fallen but yet my leave are green,
My youth is spent but I am not old,
I saw the world and yet I was not seen
My thread is cut and yet it is not spun, And now I live, and now my life is done,

I sought my death and found it in my womb
I looked for life and saw it was a shade
I trod the earth and knew it was my tomb,
And now I die, and now I was but made;
My glass is full, and now my glass is run,
And now I live, and my life is done.


Woke up to a cool, quiet New Delhi morning. The flights from Jakarta to Singapore and then Singapore to New Delhi were uneventful, except for the great movie I saw Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Cate Blanchett played the role of Elizabeth magnificently and the film was full of pageantry and intrigue. The movie was brilliantly directed by that great India film maker Shekhar Kapur

I thought of Chidiock Tichborne who was executed in 1586, after pleading guilty to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and put Queen Mary of Scots on the throne, His poem on one man's brief life has long outlived his noble crime. The poem written above, he wrote in the Tower of London before they lopped his head off.

Last night as I slept, dreams and memories started drifting back of the hardest days of my entire life working here after the massive earthquake that occurred in Bhuj, Gujarat State.

I wrote this on

6 March 2001: The last 35 days have been the toughest of my life. More difficult than the North Pole expedition of 86, tougher than any mountain I've climbed. The first 5 days I had no sleep and since then for the last 30 days I've survived with a handful of hours every night. God knows how I've kept it up. Finally I am having this weekend off after having spent the last 14 days in Bhuj and Bachau. The dust, the dirt and stench of decomposing bodies permeates every pore of your body. People speak of a death toll of over 100,000 now which I can readily believe.

Running and coordinating a team of over 150 foreign delegates, supervising a 350 bed hospital plus two other field hospitals, getting vital relief goods out to over a million of the worst affected people, organising pycho-social counselling teams, orthoppaedic centres for those 2000 or more children who lost limbs has been a momentous challenge. We now have a team of highly trained professionals from 21 countries working together with the Indian Red Cross.

Phil Goff, our Minister of Foreign Affairs arrived last night and is travelling today with the NZ High Commissioner and a top level mission from NZ, from Delhi to Bhuj on our plane (which we have chartered for the first 3 months) to see our operation. As I desperately need some time to myself I have sent my deputy, Alan Bradbury, another NZ'er with them to show them round. I have dinner with them when they get back

So the dreams and memories of the ten years or more I have lived in India have been reawakened by my return to this land full of wonders, miracles and curiosities. I am staying with my good friend Nina, who I have worked with in Central Asia and India..

She told me of a dream she had recently where the Dalai Lama spoke to her and was teaching about the impermanent nature of everything-even the work we do. He was emphasizing it is only a tool of our own development.

The name on my blog title is wayfarer and it aptly describes who I am. My journey has been a long one and I have had my share of experiences along the path of impermanence. I have been given freedom and choices and I am the tool of my own development.

It is 9 a.m. and the sun is warming the path. It is time to go and explore New Delhi before leaving for the throne of the Dalai Lama tomorrow, situated on that hill at Macleodganj.

Packing my bags.

I am off late tomorrow morning Thursday 14 Feb to New Delhi. I have got reports the snow is thick up there around Sidhbara and Dharamsala so I may have to bring out the skiis. Will keep you posted.