Its been a week in India

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

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

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??

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

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

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

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 POLES

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

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.