Another jaunt into the Himalaya, this time in Uttarkhand with a bit of luxury, and a trek like none other completed by us, very novel and I must say, very nice! Once again the Himalaya showed us another face with some very different scenery.... green grass and forests!
Being a bit short on timewe opted for an organised trek. This meant we did no planning at all, and thank goodness. With all the permits and additional costs involved we were happy to just follow along! Being on an organised trek had its comforts too, guides are required, we needed food, so that meant a cook, which meant we needed mules, we meant we needed mule handlers, so we ended up with a pose and 4 mules carrying all our stuff!
The trek itself was 4 days of easy walking, cruising around staring at everything. Unlike Ladahk the Himalaya in Uttarakhand had growth, yep, green stuff growing on the ground, grass, trees, and even flowers. Not a bare dusty patch of dirt to be seen (except for the landslides that were everywhere!). A truly beautiful area with views of snow capped mountains waiting around every corner. It was quite incredible pearching yourself on a rock to watch the sun either go down or come up and see the mountains towering above and the valleys so far below. Watching the Himalayan eagles and vultures float around at eye level was fantastic.
That's because after our trek and a little hanging out in Rishikesh we jumped on the night train headed for Rajastan. We arrived at the train with plenty of time and found it waiting patiently for us. Looking back the only problem was that we were too early for the lights to come on so we got on in the dark, torches shining. In the time it takes to turn around and put your bag on the bed someone with very quick fingers grabbed the camera bag! So now all our photos are gone (except for the lucky ones on the blog).
This little disaster did however gain us an insight into the Indian Rail Police. They were very helpful and offered to search anyone we wanted them too (but where would you start? and how many people would get offended? and what would it achieve? not worth it). But at the end of our train trip we headed straight for their office so we can claim some travel insurance.
Now you would think that reporting a stolen camera and simply getting a statement of report would be easy. You wouldn't think it would take 4 and a half hours!! The process started with us writing out a draft letter at the order of the 'boss', me correcting his English so that we don't repeat the same thing 3 times. Then the 'boss' has to hand write the good copy plus a Hindi translation 6 times. Then there's the official report form that also needs to be filled out 6 times. The customary religious festival blessing and tutorial comes next, then you sit around for an hour or two waiting, go an get lunch, get interogated about your family, where your from, what your job is, how much you've spent on your trip, how much you earn etc etc etc, just out of curiosity. Then your passport needs to be copied, and being India, the police don't even have a photocopier, so someone has to run down the street to get them copied. The 'boss' spits his paan out on the floor a few more times, we wait some more, ask a few questions of our own and finally its half way through the afternoon and we get our little piece of paper to send to the travel insurance company.... phew what an effort!
The day finished of on a high note though, we did manage to get ourselves to Pushkar with just enough time to meet the Wrens (Soph's relies) for a parantha and a lassi before they took off for Jaipur which was fantastic.
So now we're in Rajastan (people have been asking where we are), we have a new camera, are surrounded by camels and desert, and have three weeks of hot weather before we hit the mountains again!
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