Group Rumblings

Timeline

2007-03-26T12:30:00.000Z

Chronology of events for my group's visit to India from mid-Sept to mid-Oct in 2006.

RATING for POSTS
*** Awesome, Not to be missed. My favourite 5 posts.
** Very Good
* Pretty Good

DELHI TO THE BASE OF TREK + ACCLIMATIZATION (10 Days)
** From Delhi to Manali (9 Photos)
Journey from Delhi where the group landed in India to Manali, our base in the Himalayas @ an altitude of 2000 meters. (Journey of 550 km that took 17 hours in a luxury bus)
** Manali to Lahaul + Crazy hike (8 Photos)
After acclimatization in Manali for three nights, it was time to raise the bar, so we reach Lahaul at 3000 meters.
** High Altitude Jeep Safari: Day 1 (13 Photos)
Lahaul to Pang: We leave the beautiful Pattan valley in Lahaul to continue with our safari to Leh.
** High Altitude Jeep Safari: Day 2 (10 Photos)
Pang to Leh: Finally we reach Leh @3500 meters, 375 km from Manali. We crossed a total of 5 passes on our way from Manali to Leh, 2 of them were higher than 5000 meters
*** Traditional House in Spituk & Ladakh Festival (13 Photos)
We stay in 100 year old traditional house of our host family + we also witness the cultural activities of the last day of the Ladakh festival.
*** Drive from Leh to Padum (22 Photos)
Bumpiest and dustiest stretch of the entire journey from Delhi to Padum/Raru, the base of our trek in the Zanskar.

TREKKING IN ZANSKAR (10 Days)
** TREK: Padam to Phugtal (11 photos)
After ten days acclimatization and Jeep Safari through one of the most enchanting areas of the Himalayas, we finally we start trekking towards Phugtal Monastery.
*** Phugtal Monastery (9 Photos)
Phugtal Monastery: The highlight of our trek.
** Phugtal to Darcha (26 Photos)
It took us another 5 days to complete our trek from Phugtal to Darcha. The highest point of the trek was Shingola (5094 mt)

BACK TO MANALI (5 Days)
*** A visit to Orphanage (7 Photos)
Orphanage in Koshla, India (near Manali)
** Paragliding in Manali (8 Photos)
The Paragliding started at an altitude of 2500 meters and ended at 1600 meters approx.
** Kullu Dushehra (7 Photos)
Dushehra is a Hindu festival that signifies the victory of good over evil.
* Farewell Manali (6 Photos)
Last few days we spent at Manali while recuperating from our tiring trek in the Zanskar.

LAST WEEK (7 Days)
** Dharamsala (10 Photos)
Dharmsala: The residence of his holiness Dalai Lama.
*** Delhi-Agra (9 Photos)
Visiting Delhi and Taj Mahal in Agra.

Favorite Moment of the trek ... one of the

2006-10-23T21:39:00.000Z

I have been asked few times about which was my favourite moment of of the trek?
Well here is my answer: It will be hard to pick just one moment, but I can say that one of my good moment on the trek was when all the group members climbed and crossed successfully, the highest pass of the trek i.e. Shingola at an altitude of 5094 meters.

I felt proud of the endurance (Physical as well as the Mental) of everybody in the group. I also felt honoured to have such an excellent people in my group. Thanks from the core of my heart to everybody in the group for giving me an opportunity of organizing something like this. Real warm hugs from India.

All the group members atop Shingola

BTW don't forget to check my other blog "Notes from India" where I have uploaded some more photos. And hey remember that you can click on the photos to view them in larger size.

Leaving for a trek soon

2006-10-18T10:17:00.000Z

I am still at Manali .... waiting for the weather to clear up. It has been snowing at the higher reaches of the Himalayas lately. Once the weather clears up, I intend to trek to Brighu Lake-Hamta Pass-Kunzum La-Chandra Tal Lake .... From there I will continue with my travels to the Spiti Valley.
Greetings from India .....

Retour au Canada

2006-10-13T16:35:00.000Z

Boujour tous le monde,

Chris et moi sommes rendu au Canada. La fin du voyage s'est passablement bien passé. Nous sommes tous resté à Manali pendant 5 jours et 4 nuits afin de se reposer après notre trek. Nous avons fait un peu de magasinage, bien mangé et visité les alentours. Par la suite, Chris et moi avons pris un autobus jusqu'à Agra (22 heures de bus c'est long) où nous avons resté une nuit et avons pris le train pour Delhi le lendemain soir. Malheureusement, Agra est une ville très malprpopre, mais le Taj Mahal est absolument magnifique. Il était difficile de croire que nous y étions. On en entend parler si souvent et finalement nous pouvions voir ce chef d'oeuvre de nos propres yeux. Nous l'avons visité tôt le matin et avons visité le fort d'Agra en après midi. Notre hôtel était à 2 minutes du Taj et nous pouvions aller diner sur un toit non loin de là avec une vu magnifique de celui-ci situé à 300 m. Après une journée bien remplie, nous avons pris un train jusqu'à Delhi. Wow! 10$ pour un trajet de 2 heures, l'air climatisée, des sièges confortables et un repas 3 services. C'était de loin le moyen de transport le plus luxueux que j'ailles pris en Inde. Je dirais même que ça rivalise le train canadien. Nous avons passé 4 jours à Delhi avant notre départ donc deux dans le lit. Heureusement que nous avions des antibiotiques. Les 2 dernières journées ont été passées à magasiner et nous avons manqué de temps pour visiter cette belle ville (une bonne excuse pour y retourner). La seule déception que j'ai eu était la malhonnêteté des gens. On ne pouvait faire confiance à personne. Le voyage de retour c'est bien passé et je dois avoué que je suis heureux de revenir dans ce pays majestueux.

En gros, mon voyage a été incroyable. C'est l'école de la vie. J'ai tellement appris de choses durant ce voyage sur moi même et sur le monde. Je me sens très privilégié d'avoir vécu une telle expérience et totalement différent. Je vois la vie d'un autre oeil. Nous venons à apprécier les choses simple de la vie comme l'eau potable, la propreté de nos rues, l'ordre sociale, etc. Simplement ouvrir le robinet et y boire l'eau est un luxe que l'Inde n'a pas. J'ai vraiment ''pogné'' la picure du voyage et j'espères pouvoir voyager d'avantage. Il y a tellement de choses à découvrir dans ce vaste monde. Je vous souhaites tous de pouvoir voyager et de vivre des expériences aussi mémorables que celles que j'ai vécu dans les dernières semaines.

Au plaisir de vous revoir prochainement.

Yvan

PHOTOS !!!!!!!

2006-10-01T17:33:00.000Z

Julley everyone !!!!!!
I have posted some photos on my other blog "Notes from India".
I will try to keep on adding more photos in the coming days.
Bye for now
Namaste ....

survived my first trek

2006-09-28T12:09:00.000Z

Hey everybody, Nat here... well i'm alive and doing well. I've survived my very first trek... in the Himalayas!! It has been a very exciting past 22 days in India. We left Manali about 3 weeks ago and headed to Leh (capital of Ladakh). It took us four days to cover 475 km. The roads are winding and on the mountain ranges (scary to look down). We had a luxurious ride compared to India standards(hired our own taxi driver and had our own car. We had to pass Rotang pass 4000metres (let's just say altitude sickness hit me, feeling dizzy and as if someone was crushing my brain).
We stayed in Lahaul for two days, with Sarju's friends, beautiful huge house way up in the mountains! We did a aclimatization hike....way up to 35oo metres. Eventhough, you are so tired from hiking, you see the local villagers who are carrying up to 100 pounds of hay for their cows. The rural people work so hard, harvesting for the winter... peas, potatoes, and other crops including grass for the cows to live off of for the winter. They work from sunrise to sunset even into the darkness.
We headed to Leh, where we stayed in a small village (Spituk)in an old traditional Ladakh home. No running water(taking a shower with a bucket of cold water, you learn how to conserve water).
We managed to catch the last day of the Ladakh festival. The costumes are amazing and there was singing and dancing. The Ladakh people are very different culturally and in their looks from other parts of India. They are a mixture of Mongolian, Tibetan and Chinese and their food and way of life is different and they are mostly Buddhist religion. Got to meet a Monk in a monestary in Spituk. This was interesting as I found out the first born male is usually sent to a Monestary at around 9 years old. I even got to witness monks saying their mantras in a temple. Talk about a neat experience, drinking chai (tea) with them.

Then after two days in Leh we headed for Kargil (mostly Islamic community. We had the longest ride of our lifes, the roads are so long and bumpy (max 20 km an hour).
It took us two days (driving 10-12 hours) each day to get to our trekking start Padum.
Unfortunately, many of us suffered from car sickness, and took turns on different days!

As for the trek, well what an experience!! I quickly realized I would not be able to carry my 20 kg bag... myself and Julie (only other female) decided to hire a 'horseman" he took our bags and we were able to buy more food and put them on the horses.
What can I say, it was a definite challenge walking between 8-20km a day at high altitudes on a trail that is 2 feet wide and often on the edge of a cliff.
One thing I learned was not to look up to far, or else you get discouraged. I was definitely the slowest inthe group, but I took my time and enjoyed the scenery. We mostly stayed in villages, very remote communities...completely cut off from the rest of the world. The local food is sampa(grounded up barley), they make flat breads with this, and you mix it with tea to make is type of porridge mix...also tasted butter tea, tea, milk, salt and butter) weird combo, but definitely glad to have it after a long day.
We ended up also camping (surrounded by yaks, very curious about my tent) and finally made it to the Shing-go-la pass (5ooo metres). I sort of cheated and got a ride the last 500 metres with horse man, who I guess felt bad for me (having blisters on both feet and lagging behind the rest of the group).
The Himalayan mountains are amazing, I felt a sense of being so tiny and insignificant... a very humbling experience.... at sometimes I was in awe of the mountains and the people who live there so simply and remotely. The children I met have so very little, mixed matches shoes with holes, dirty hair and faces and no toys..just rocks and dirt. It makes you really appreciate the luxurious that we have back home (hot water- freely running, heat in our houses, grocery stores where you can buy everything and not do any manual labour).

They say you come to India and return a different person. I have seen so much in such few days and am totally greatful for all that I have. Good friends, health, happiness and many luxurious, way more than many of the people I met on my trek!

Take care and I'll keep you posted on my adventures.

Bonjour de Manali

2006-09-27T14:44:00.000Z

Salut tout le monde,

il est présentement 20h mercredi le 27 sept. Nous somes arrivé aujourd'hui à Manali de notre grand trek de 8 jours. Quelle belle et intense expérience. Le parcours était de 111 km avec une altitude variant de 3500 à 5090 m. Nous avons été reçu par des familles en cours de chemin ainsi que dans un monastère nommé Phuktal pour les intéressés. Les villages que nous avons croisé durant cette longue randonnée sont pas mal loin de toute civilisation. Il est surprenant comment ces gens arrivent à vivre dans ce climat peu accueillant. Il faut faire parfois plusieurs jours à cheval afin d'aller à la ville chercher des denrées. Malgré cela, ils nous recevaient comme des rois. On se rend compte à quelle point tout nous est servi sur un plat d'argent au Canada. Comme j'apprécierai d'avantage tous les luxes qui me sont disponibles. Le voyage tire bientôt à sa fin. Pour les prochain 10 jours, moi et Chris allons rester environ 4 jours à Manali, question de se reposer un peu. Par la suite, nous allons à Agra voir le Taj Mahal et les 2 dernières journée à Delhi afin de visiter la ville et faire un peu de magasinage. Tout ce passe très bien à date et j'espère que ça continuera de la même façon jusqu'à la fin.

À bientôt.

Yvan :)

Bonjour de Leh

2006-09-16T13:20:00.000Z

Salut encore,

nous sommes présentement à Leh situé dans le Ladakh. Nous nous sommes rendu de Manali à Leh en quatres jour. La première journée, nous avons passé un col, nommé Rothang, de 4000 mètres. Nous avons trouvé ça difficile de passer de 2000 mètres à 4000 mètres en si peu de temps. Heureusement que nous sommes redescendu à 3000 mètres dans le village de Rawaling à Lahaul. Nous avons été reçu par le frère d'un ami à Sarju dans une immense maison encore à flanc de montagne. La deuxième journée, nous avons pris une marche en montagne pas mal intense, mais très plaisante. Nous pouvions voir la vallée de Lahaul au complet et encore de jolies sommets de montagnes enneigés. Le lendemain matin, nous avons quitté Lahaul et avons passé 3 cols, soit de 4600 m, de 5000 m et de 5100 m. Pas besoin de vous dire que l'air était assez difficile à respirer et que je souffrais de maux de tête. Surprenemment, nous avons couché à Pang (un petit village temporaire pour les touristes et les voyageurs, mais à ce temps de l'année, nous n'avons rencontré aucun touristes) situé à 4650 mètres. Sarju croyait que ce village était à une altitude de 4200 mètres, mais tout c'est bien passé. Il y avait des tentes ou nous pouvions manger et coucher. Les gens qui y étaient installé étaient d'origine Ladakhienne. Nous avons dansé avec eu quelques heures et ensuite le dodo après une longue journée de voyage en voiture. La dernière journée de voyage s'est très bien passé malgré le col de 5300 mètres que nous avons traversé. Nous restons présentement à Spituk qui est à environ 10 km de Leh dans une maison typiquement Ladakhienne. C'est plaisant de pouvoir vivre des expériences que peu de touristes ont la chance de vivre. Je me sens très privilégié. La nourriture ici est bien moins savoureuse qu'à Delhi et Manali. Le climat est très désertique et limite le type d'aliment qui peut être cultivé. Leh est très touristique ce qui me déçoit un peu car il me semble que l'authenticité de cette culture en est diminué. Malgré cela, je m'amuse bien.

Demain, nous partons pour Padum afin de commencer notre trek de 5 à 7 jours. J'ai bien hâte.

À bientôt.

Yvan ;)

Bonjour de l'Inde

2006-09-10T17:26:00.000Z

Salut tout le monde,

j'espère que tout va bien avec vous. Moi ca va super bien. L'envolée a été un peu longue, mais nous sommes enfin arrivé sain et sauf à destination. L'Inde est un pays absolument merveilleux. Les gens sont si chaleureux et accueillants. Lorsque nous sommes arrivé à Delhi (10h le soir), Sarju et un de ses ami nous ont amené dans la maison d'invités internationaux de l'université de Jawarhal Nehru. Pas mal comme endroit. Delhi est absolument chaotique comme endroit. Il y a une panoplie de gens, de voitures, de motos et de rickshaw dans les rues. Je ne comprend pas pourquoi ils se donnent la peine de peidre les lignes dans les rues. Nous sommes allé manger à un bon restaurant et dodo après ce long voyage. Le soir après, nous nous sommes dirigé vers Manali dans les Himalayas. 17 heures d'autobus à travers les plaines et les himalayas avec des chemins très étroits et sinueux. Nous avons été recu par les parents d'un ami à Sarju au Manali Continental, un hotel/auberge à flanc de montagne entouré des gande montagnes enneigées des Himalayas. On se croirait au paradis. La nourriture est excellente et les gens adorables. Je me sens très confortable et relax dans ce village. Le lendemain, nous avons pris une marche en montagne, question de s'acclimater aux altitudes élevées et avons vues une incroyable chute et tous les villages dans cette vallée. Ce pays m'apprend beaucoup de choses. Une expérience très enrichissante. Demain, nous partons en Jeep pour Lahaul à 3500 m pour ensuite nous diriger vers Leh.

Au plaisir de vous revoir (pas vraiment car cela voudra dire que mon voyage sera terminé ;)

Namaste
Yvan

My Phone number

2006-09-02T11:51:00.000Z

Once again my phone number in India is 9418344687
This number is local in the state of Himachal but you will need to dial 0 in front of this number in case you plan to call me from outside the state of himachal.

In case you plan to call me from outside India ... the country code of India is 91 ... so my phone number will be +919418344687

Currency, Diamox, Documents and Sun

2006-09-02T11:37:00.000Z

Four issues that I would like to answer right now

Currency: You an bring CAD which are accepted as well as the the US currency. Don't bring in Rupees as you will not get a good exchange rate of CAD/INDRS in Canada .... you will be just complicating things for yourself.

Diamox (Medication for HAS) ... is easily available in Indian Pharamacies especially in the Himalayas.... Even I was carrying this magic drug on my last trek although I never really used it.

Copies of important Documents: there are two good options ...... you guys can scan the important documents and store a copy of them in your email inboxes ... that ways they will always be accessible .... or you can always keep a photocopy of your documents at some of my friend's house in india (why go thru the trouble of hiding them in your shoe or something.

Sun: I got pretty nasty sun burns from UVR on my last trek as I did not wear any sun screen cream. To tell the truth .. i knew I was gonna get them but I wanted them anyways as sun burns are considered like beautiful ornaments on a trekker ... lols.
Anyways i am not too happy now as it kind of pains when the skin comes off.
here is what you will need to protect yourself from the sun.
Sunglasses that inhibit UVR ..... highly recommended as I would not like to go blind.
Sunscreen cream with SPF 15+
Some wide brimmed hat.

There is too much of UVR at high altititudes where we will be spending lots of time .... so please please take it seriously .... sunglasses will also protect you against temporary snow blindness .... so do get sunglasses that inhibit UVR

NSP

2006-08-26T08:50:00.001Z

OK. I'm not all that sober right now. In fact... I'm VERY not sober. I'm actually out of my mind. But I'm writing this anyway.

OK. So I'm really excited about India! And that's about all I can say to everyone I've been meeting and talking to.

I'm looking forward to chillin with you peeps in the mountains and the North of India, yo!! ;)

Damn!...

two more days of work

2006-08-16T22:51:00.000Z

Hey everbody,
Just wanted to let you know I'm mentally and physically preparing for this adventure.
I'm a little green (that a sample of me with altitude sickness...hopefully not!)
I've been running twice a week and biking everyday... just to get my cardio ready!
As for gear, I haven't bought group gear yet, so let me know what you want me to bring (ie pots, stove, etc).
I've got my hiking boots broken in (spent a week hiking at Lake Superior provincial park) and I've got my trekking cloth picked out, still need to buy some sandals though...
I'd like to set up a MSN chat ( so we can go through our checklist of equipment), perhaps next Monday night (August 21st) might be good?
Looking forward to meeting and seeing all of you.
Definitely an adventure we are going on!
NATHALIE

Good Link: Tips to foreigners coming to Delhi

2006-08-12T06:05:00.000Z

I found this informative link by Delhi Police about tips to foreigners coming to delhi
click here
I thought this was a good informative reading. I will add this link in the links section of my blogs also.

Trekking Stuff for Sept Group

2006-08-11T16:15:00.000Z

This will be short message
I just wanted to say that I have two tents in India .... one is a two person North Face tent and another one is a cheapo Hudson Bay Company tent; so i think we will manage about the tents.

Another thing I wanted to discuss is that I was thinking that Delhi is too big and so we will have to spend too much of time in order to shop around for small stuff before leaving for Manali. I would recommend that we do our small shopping before the trek at Chandigarh (CHD) where everything is very close to each other and CHD is on the way to Manali from Delhi. But the problem is that we can't get any trekking gear from CHD. So let me know if any one of you intend to buy some trekking gear from India and we can plan accordingly.

BTW I bought a pretty decent hiking pole from a trekking gear shop in Delhi for something like $25. If any one one of you want a hiking pole too, I can get that for you guys.

bye for now .... Sarju

Contacts for VISA Application

2006-08-01T15:48:00.000Z

Hey Sarju,

sounds like your having a good time in your home country. Looking forward to discover it with you.

I called the India High Commission and they require 2 references in India. Would you be able to provide all of us with 2 contacts (Names, Addresses and tel#).

Passport size photos: The High Commission said that photobooth pictures would be sufficient (less expensive than official size passport photos).

Thank you and see you soon.

Yvan

Its been a week in India

2006-07-31T06:48:00.000Z

julley/namaste trekkers

I have been over here for a week now. I have had a sort of a mixed week with few good and few not so good things happening.

GENERAL UPDATE: I just returned from a small trek in the Himalayas and it was awesome. I will try to process my photos and post them on the blog soon (maybe in 4-5 days). Besides the small trek, things have been working out kind of very slowly with me in India. Partly due to the beurocratic set up over here and largely due to myself as I had been relying too much on one of my friend to take care of few things. Anyways I learned my lesson and I intend to sort out my issues maybe in something like a week. I still don't have a mobile number, there are some issues that need to be resolved with my bank account and few other things.

MOBILE: The update on my side is that I still hav'nt got a mobile phone. Usually it is not this hard to get a number but I am trying to get a number that will give me coverage even in the far flung areas, and this number is hard to get. Anyways I am working on this front and I should get the number soon.

MY ITINERARY 4 Aug: I don't think I will have the time to do the whole Pangi-Lamayuru trek now as I will not have sufficient time and I do not want to do it in a rush. But I will still try to do this trek till Padam. To tell you guys the reality, I think I am just going to visit the Pangi Valley and Pattan valley and I will decide which trek to do once I reach over there ... So, no stress over here :-)

WHATS HAPPENING? Let me know if some big things happen in Canada or other parts of the world, I did only a small trek (4 days), and I already feel as if I have no clue regards to what is happening, but I love this feeling as I know that I am not missing out much and I feel kind of de-toxicated.

BTW I will be on computer for considerable time for two days during this week as I intend to process the photos that I have taken so far in India and I will also work on my blogs a bit. So feel free to get in touch with me. I hope you guys are having a good time in your respective parts of the world.

After claiming your luggage at ND

2006-07-26T23:30:00.000Z

Click photo for bigger version

After claiming the luggage at the ND airport take the Green Lane for exiting the airport (if you have no items to declare at customs). The scene in the photo will be what you will see when you are about to exit the airport building. You will see many people from hotels and stuff holding placards with the names of people they have come to recieve. It is a bit of a funny site as one can see many people browsing through the placards in order to find the right contact.

PLACE FOR MEET UP
I will be either waiting on the couches behind these people standing with placards, or I will be standing what appears to be behind the yellow sign that you can see in the photo. Please remember not to leave the airport building in any event in order to meet up with me. If due to some reason there is some trouble in locating each other, just roam around this place and try to call me up on the mobile.

About making a phone call from airport: Just ask someone over there (preferably someone who looks trustworthy preferably working for the government).
NOTE: Close to the baggage claims there is this Information desk from where you have the option of making free phone calls.

I think I'm OK now

2006-07-23T19:58:00.000Z

OK.. so it's just a little strange in terms of adding new posts... and for some reason it won't accept a profile pic straight from your hard drive. So I'm gonna post my head up again but in reduced formate, cause it has to be less than 50k.

If anyone wants to do this, and doesn't know how to reduce the file size, you can send it to me at cbeninger@gmail.com and I can edit it using photoshop.

word up!

Yay India!

How do I work this thing??

2006-07-23T19:37:00.000Z

Hey guys.. I'm trying to edit my profile, but it's giving me some strangeness....

That's my head! Right there! Nice pic Sarju.

So yeah, I'm trying to add some text to my profile... but I don't know how.

help! :|

;)

Blogging in India

2006-07-22T09:25:00.000Z

Hi trekkers,

The news about blogs in India is that one week ago, the government of India banned all the blogs as they considered them to be a threat to national security after the Mumbai bomb blasts. I can sense a sigh of relief on my fellow trekkers as they might be thinking that they will not have to check the posts on this blog :))

guys ... I am sorry to disappoint you but you will not get respite from my blogging :D
The ministry of information in India said that it was a mistake and that they were going to lift the ban pretty soon. Secondly I get all the information in an email whenever someone posts a comment or a post on my blogs so I will know whatever is happening on the blog.

I also wanted to emphasize why it is usually recommended not to have a very rigid plan in Inida. It is just that plans never really materialize in india. So the best way to travel in india is to go there and than see what are the best possible options available.

VACCINATION and FIRST AID KIT

2006-07-22T09:17:00.000Z

Only vaccination that i took before going to India is Twinrix for Hep A and Hep B.

Please do take into account that Doctors tend to scare patients as they do not want to be held accountable in case something goes wrong. Just consider your chances and act accordingly. You can also consider the option of getting vaccinated from India where drugs are much chepaer. (I got Twinrix from Canada because this vaccine is not available in India).

FIRST AID KIT: We will assemble a small first aid kit from india so don't worry too much about it.

Tekking Gear 2

2006-07-22T08:54:00.000Z

Julley Trekkers,

I finally finished my shopping for trekking gear.
I have few more things that can be shared by the group.

ROPE: I bought this rope from MEC, it is 12 meters long and it floats on water. I might tell one of you to get some more of this rope. I think it was $1.5 per meter

WATER FILTER

I will recommend the following less obvious stuff
POWER STRAP: It is like a strap that can be used to tighten up your bag. It will be ideal for tying the bag to the roof of the bus. I will recommend this strap, buy the longest one.

SLEEPING MATTRESS: If you want to buy the inflatable therma ones that cost $100 approx. buy them from Canada. The rubberised/foam ones you can buy from New Delhi also.

Other thing that might be of interest to the rest of the group would be that I am not taking any trekking poles or cooking stove with me to India .

Trekking Gear

2006-07-10T21:02:00.000Z

Hey everybody,

Nathalie has asked what common gear we should bring or have for the September group. As for me, I have the following which can be used among the group:

- Water filter/purifier (would recommend another)
- Tent for 2 (Sarju also has a tent for 2)
- Pots and pans (may need another set since it is fairly small)
- Stove (Félix also has one, so I think we will have enough of 2)

Their are a few common things which I don't have:

- first aid kit
- good quality rope
- etc

I probably forgot a lot of stuff so please feel free to add on to the list and also mention what each of you have so we don't go and by common stuff somebody already has.

Here is a link to some good info on "what to bring"

TREKKING POLES

2006-07-07T04:07:00.000Z

One of the most controversial questions that I am asked most frequently is "If Trekking poles should be taken on the treks?". Well my answer is that "It all depends on your hiking style" If you think that they are going to be helpful than bring them, but try to hike with them before you take them on a long trek. They are not very necessary and most of the people do not carry them either, so it all pretty much depends on your hiking preferences. What I would recommend would be to bring one hiking pole instead of two. Usually I do not carry hiking pole, but when I do I find it to be so much easier to trek with one pole instead of two. It is always a good idea to keep one hand free while doing some serious hiking. Two poles are good when walking on terrain that does not have much altitude variation, but that won't really be the case in most of the treks in Himalayas.

Hiking Poles come in real handy in
1. Crossing the streams (we won't be crossing any serious streams in September).
2. With poles, you can always make a Clothes Line pretty much anywhere.
3. To scare away dogs and other animals.

Please let me know what else you want to know about what to bring and what not to bring and any other questions that you have in mind.
Cheers for now.

FORMAT FOR MONEY

2006-07-07T03:13:00.000Z

Julley everyone
I would like to tackle the issue of the format in which to take your money to India

MONEY: I would recommend not to use the credit cards or to carry too much of cash in India. The safest way to carry money three years ago when I was in India was to make Traveller's Cheques in USD. These cheques could be cashed at all the major banks in India. As far as I know, if someone steals these cheques from you, it is not possible for them to cash them as they would be in your name. Depending on how much money you want to spend and your style of travelling, I would recommend to make traveller's cheques in the dimensions of 100-200 USDs. For those of you who are going to be in India for 3-6 months, you can even consider opening up an account in some Indian bank, that ways you will have an option of withdrawing money from ATM's aka ABM (American lingo).

I would get back to you on this issue after I reach India and find out the latest situation over there. I would have a better idea about the safest way to carry money in India by the end of July.

I need a profile!!!!

2006-06-26T14:55:00.000Z

Julley Sarju and all trekkers

This blog is a cool idea, But how do I edit my profile???????
But any ways in the mean time here is a little about me,
I got on this trip because of Yvan which is a good friend (up to now anyways). I'm from the region, groing up in Aylmer where my parent have a farm with horses. As of my educational back ground I have a bachelor in mechanical engineering from Ottawa U gave me enough to get a job at the canadian pantent office. When ever I'm not working in the office I ether think about or shoot a short film. I could put one or two on the blog. Sarju I'll get you a photo soon
looking forward to see all of you.
FélixA. Dandenault

Meeting in Hull

2006-06-26T04:24:00.000Z

Today we had a pretty fruitful meeting and it seems that everybody in the group is going to get along very well with each other. There seemed to be a very good synergy between all the group members. It was nice of Patrick and Julie to drive all the way to Hull from Montreal to meet up with rest of the gang. Here are some photos that I wanted to post from the meeting.

These were all the people that were present at the meeting besides myself.

Julie and Patrick having serious thoughts about how they will meet rest of the group in Delhi, Manali or Leh after landing in Bangkok.