Dharamsala

Dharamsala is nestled into the mountains about a 5 hour drive from Dalhousie (that bus ride was raaather uncomfortable.. but we got the full cramped mountain ride experience..check!), and is divided up into three portions (lower Dharamsala, Dharamsala and upper Dharamsala)- we're in the upper region, which thrives with an awesome dynamic mixd up of wild hippie tourists, buddhist monks, and local artisan crafts everywhere. Shopping has been unaviodable..planning on sending home a box of prezzies. We spent the first day exploring the town and getting a feel for the Tibetan flair that we had yet to see of India. Tons of refugees and people who have been exiled from Tibet have settled here, and have brought along their food, schools and religious along. Mackenzie and I also got an hour long Tibetan full body massage (10 bucks.. whaaat?) with exotic oils and some interesting techniques with pressure points- definitely needed after that bus ride. We tried traditional "MoMo's" that are basically steamed or fried dumplings filled with anything from cabbage to potatoes to mutton...but its more like a bread covering rather than a wonton.. then they add a dollop of chili sauce that helps to satisfy our new spice-conditioned tastebuds. And the best part is that they're super cheap so the boys have a goal of each eating 40 of them.. for a grand total of 2 dollars. The first night we went to a Tibetan restaurant that was feauturing traditional Tibetan music with a live concert- it was held by a man who has focused his life to preserve the Tibetan culture which he said is dying, and to help to embed the traditions of music and culture back into the young generations.

  We have treked over the past 2 days in all directions around the city, towards the Kalachakra Temple where the Dali Lama holds his lectures and where Monks go to practice, to the base of a waterfall that looked like a scene from the Great Panda Adventure, and to a cliff about 20 minutes away where Mackenzie and I did some extreme sports. Last night we tried some traditional Tibetan "Chow-Chow" for dinner which is noodles in a asiany gravy with veggies, mutton and chicken- delicious! We have been utilizing our hotel rooftop as a location for breakfast visits with other tourists from Holland and Germany and as a chill evening hangout after dinners. I feel like I'm in an episode of Planet Earth sometimes with the massive hawks, mountain goats and monkeys roaming around. Tracy left for a hike thiis morning with a guy from Holland named Quinton, and their goal is to meet up with a goat shepherder who they came accross yesterday while Mackenzie and I had a relaxing girl day of laying in the sun with our new books about the Buddhist practice. Tonight (our last night waah) we're going to a traditional Tibetan restaraunt and partake in some Dharmsala nightlife- then tomorrow we are going to trek to see the Lama Karmapa at a temple in lower Dharmsala then checking out a massive cricket stadium where the national indian championship will be held next year, and is close to where our bus will be scooping us off for our overnight journey back to Delhi. Last chapter of Indian vaca will be travel-filled but seeing the another world wonder will be the ultimate cherry on top!


PS tried uploading pictures but this computer is not really taking the whole USB connection thing very nicely.. next time!

Vacation!

First time snagging a cubicle in an internet cafe since we left.. it's been a whirlwind!! We flew to Delhi, checked into our hotel and had a traditional north indian dinner on the roof looking over the city. The next day we organized a driver to take us sightseeing so we went to Qutab Minar (an ancient city with massive ruins, tombs and towers), the Bahai Lotus Temple which is one of seven temples celebrating the collective Bahai religion, then to the Red Fort which was occupied by the british until Indian Independence in 1947 and is a massssive structure made with bright red stones. We went straight to the train station and did an overnight train (surprisingly easy and comfortable..woke up to Chai tea) to Panthancot where we took a taxi about 2 hours to our hotel in Delhousie, which is a town nestled in the Himalayas. Our first hiccup occured at the hotel where they hadn't recieved our reservation or confirmation.. but we had paid online and had been charged already.. so we kinda made a scene (dad would be proud) and they finally managed to find us rooms at a hotel next door. We have two rooms connected by a beautiful balcony overlooking the Mountains and Valley.. it is gorgeous! And Cold.. thankfully I packed some warm clothes but we bought some handwoven slippers to keep our feet snuggly while we all celebrated Tracy's 21st birthday on the balcony with room service and cake. Woke up early this morning to a frozen shower from due to the power outage, and to Rafat's missing Wallet.. retraced our steps to the general store where he had bought bday cake candles and they had kept it!! So lucky... I'm thanking our hotel neighbor from Brussels who prayed to St. Augustine that we find his wallet.We took a 2 hour bus through the narrow carved roads in the mountains, passing monkeys and shanty towns, until we reached Kajjair (Small Switzerland) which is a huge plot of empty land that had a small village, and plenty of touristy activities. The boys went Paragliding, and we went Zorbing (they strap you inside a plastic ball and roll you around), we grabbed some lunch and laid around in the sun until our bus ride back. Tonight we'll take it easy since we have a 7am train to Darhmasala, a Hill Station town about 5 hours away deeper into the mountains. It'll be nice to stay there for three days and relax, hike, raft and then girl's turn to paraglide!! Loving exploring...

The end of the India Program

The last week of the India program sped by with many of the highlights of the trip condensed into the past few days..our coordinators really went all out to make our final week here the best!

On Tuesday we had the best site visit of India- I think I can vouch for the group. We went to the local Tuberculosis center, or "TB Cell" which is included a clinic, lab and research center that is directed under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program of India. We toured through the facility and learned how patients are diagnosed, treated and cured. We walked through the laboratory where they stain the bacteria in the sputum of patients in order to test for TB, and were able to look into the microscope at the Bacilli on a slide- it was surreal to be that close to a disease that we've been talking about this whole month.. Elza used her nerdy chem skills to snap a shot of the slide through the lens of the microscope.. ahhh TB! We walked through the incubator and secured/autoclaved sections where they test for TB and store the samples.. It was interesting to compare this lab to the TB lab we toured in Switzerland at the Tropical Health Institute.

Woo site visits

so close to TB in the incubator ahh

 A few of us indulged in some traditional beauty and pampering by getting our eyebrows threaded, a brief process that resulted in lovely facial-bone framing shaped brows. We had our last two yoga sessions, which dwindled down to three of us for essentially a private class- bittersweet since we had no choice but to perform at 100% and to stretch at maximum in every pose (a drastically different approach to the casual and temporal encouragement of yoga practice at home..).

Yesterday we were finally informed that our suspiciously free afternoon would be consumed with with a competitive scavenger hunt throughout the city. We were divided into 7 groups and had 3 hours to complete as many tasks as possible such as: learn how to sing a traditional Malayalam song, film getting taught a bollywood dance, get someone to show you how to wrap a sari, go to a temple, run a lap around the Ghandi park, ask a vender how to make tea, send Alison a letter to South Africa, buy goofy presents for Chris's kids, get a picture with an animal at the zoo, get a henna tattoo of IHP on your neck, eat a whole chili pepper, try on traditional wedding gold, drive a rickshaw.. it was overall a pretty hilarious day!

Red Bacilli, fresh from the staining process!

Once we were done with our tasks we were given directions to our final location: a rooftop pool party complete with ice cream! It was a relaxing and fun afternoon and we couldn't have asked for a better end of the trip (besides having to crack down and write papers..). I'm so excited to go on vacation and hope to blog during it! We are going to Delhi then Delhouse, Darhmsala then Agra for the Taj Mahal. Can't wait for an epic adventure..

In a sari with the family and scavenger hunt team!

Pool party funnn

The host family, our last night together

Que Sera Sera

Thursday, our country coordinator Dr. Vijayakumar (we call him VJ), organized a little social mingling event for us at the medical college, with refreshments, entertainment and even new friends! We were able to chat and hang with 3-4th year male and female students studying general medicine (after 5 years they choose a specialty for their "internship" -basically their residency). Although initially our groups were rather segregated, the three hour program of traditional Malayalam and Hindu songs, dances and token western tunes provided ample time for us to break the ice. Some methods included a conga line, and audience participation in singing "La Bamba", "The Final Countdown" and "Que Sera Sera" (we did a little waltz to that last number).

Lais and I exploring the roof of the Medical College during break

Traditional dance of Kerala: Mohiniyattan

La Bamba rowdyness

Traditional Bharathnatyam Dance- ankle chimes included

For lunch a group of us indulged in some more American cuisine for lunch (chicken sandwiches, fries and ice cream) as a little break from the rich, spicy Indian food- at a local hotel restaurant. Although delicious at the time, I think my stomach has gradually gotten conditioned to the curries and simple starches, so unfortunately I was stuck with a gross 24 hour bug. And the exponential learning experience continued, as I was offered traditional Indian remedies to help calm my stomach- a sweet and sour black tea with lime and sugar (I was forcefully encouraged to drink the whole thermos throughout the night), and a simple rice porridge with dry curry and a fibrous plantain for dinner. Two days later and I'm 100%!

Friday we had a really interesting lecture about TB in India, from a renowned clinical specialist who is active in the research and treatment of TB. It was one of the most interesting lectures so far! That afternoon about 9 IHPers played in a soccer match against a group of students from the medical college (accompanied by a rowdy 100-person crowd of supporters). Although we lost by 2 they had a great time, and appointed mike the MVP by awarding him a 2-liter of orange soda. Katrina was badgered by the local paper for her great pictures of the match, one of which was featured in the paper the next day of Mark! It said he was a student from Texas..false.. but he's famous! (see below)

Keeping with the theme of traditional medicine, our group traveled to an Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital about an hour out in the suburbs of Trivandrum for a site visit. We had a small presentation, brief tour and Thali lunch- overall it was an interesting comparison to the other private and public hospitals we have seen, and one student Tracy even got to have a full body oil massage as a demonstration..lucky.

A small group traveled to Varkola beach for the rest of the weekend, while a small cluster of us ventured to a great store for trinkets and scarves. We had a mellow afternoon on the porch during sunset, and headed home for a lesson in writing of the traditional Kerala language; Malayalam. We're going to try to learn ten characters a day (there are 56 total) until we leave so we can keep practicing until our next visit.. the family is urging us to come attend Appu's wedding in January.

Mark with his photo debut