Saturday, October 30, 2010

Activity Week 2010: Changsheel Trek

The last week of October brought my third Activity Week and my third major trek in the Himalaya.  I was all smiles when I found out that I had won a place on a trek, and was even happier when I heard that I would be trekking in an area that I hadn't been to - the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand (technically, we also hiked into the neighboring state of Himachal Pradesh). My smiles, however, turned apprehensive when I discovered that a search on the internet, despite using the countless spellings of Changsheel, yields next to nothing. Even better, no one at Woodstock had been on the hike. Pairing that with a leader who is notorious for getting lost, I was expecting something less beautiful, but perhaps more adventurous, than the idyllic Kuari Pass trek that I did last year.

Despite our position as guinea pigs, we found ourselves crossing a picturesque mountain river, gathering around a campfire in the "jungle" forests of pine and cypress, trudging through kilometers of snow, and standing on the highest point of a Himalayan ridge. Needless to say, it was gorgeous. Our group consisted of 3 staff members, 3-5 local guides (two of them walked off in the middle of the trek!), a stray sheep dog, 4 mules, and a great mix of 17 students from India, Tibet, Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Nepal, and the states. 

Day 1: After about 9 hours of the bumpiest bus ride yet and then another hour in a jeep, we landed in the Govind Pashu Vihar Wildlife Santuary near the town of Naitwar. Our campsite was set next to the beautiful, and very rocky Rupin River. 


Campsite 1 by the Rupin River.

We had our fair share of pyro boys. Notice how many of them are poking the fire!

Day 2: A 13 kilometer walk uphill. We started by crossing the Rupin and walking through the village of Dhaula. We continued to cross the river many times, walked through a second village, and continued up to our "jungle" campsite. By jungle, Hindi speakers mean "forest" which makes a bit more sense considering the cold temps and high altitude (10,000ft?). 

Villagers eager to pose for a picture!

Fields of something that no one seems to be able to tell me the name of - I think it is amaranth or sorghum or chulai. Whatever it is, it is gorgeous.

Our guide (in black) and helpers. The guide always told me "very good." I'm not sure why.

Day 3: We left the jungle campsite and walked a steep 13 km to what should be called the "tundra" site. Within a few kilometers, we encountered snow. Little did we know, we would be walking on snow for 3 days! It is quite entertaining to watch 15 year olds, who are awkward enough trying to manage their bodies with heavy packs on, walking on snow and ice when the majority of them have seen it only a few times in their life. While they never quite became graceful, they sure did improve their snowball fighting skills!


A morning snowball fight 

Ponies and hikers crossing a snowy bridge.

Our first great view point. Foothills to the south and snow-peaks at our backs.

Walking in deep snow is pretty exciting when you're from Australia or Taiwan!

Sunset at camp 3

Sunset at camp 3

Day 4: Because our route was a there-and-back trip rather than a circuit, we left our packs in our tents and took a day hike to our summit destination. Walking at around 12,000 ft on some precarious terrain, we were thankful to be traveling light. Essentially, we followed the ridge line all the way to the highest point on the ridge. More than once I visualized myself taking a wrong step and tumbling to my death, which was not irrational. The sun was strong, the wind cold, and the paths muddy and icy. Our last ascent was literally a 45 degree angle (my co-chaperon was the math teacher) walking straight up to the summit. The view from the top was gorgeous - 360 degree view of Himalayan foothills and snowpeaks. 

Early morning bird tracks

Sledding on sleeping mats! (The Delhi boys eventually got the hang of it so they weren't coming down sideways!)

Morning play in the snow at campsite 3.

Happy camper!

The highest point on the ridge!


360 degree view

Group photo after making a stop-motion snowman animation :)


Stop-motion

A flat part of the descent in the afternoon sun.

Day 5: After two nights freezing at the tundra site (temps were well below freezing at night!), we were eager to move to warmer climes. Yet, it was sad to say goodbye to the views. Much to the students' surprise, walking down is faster than walking up and we reached the jungle site with time to spare. Back below the treeline, we thoroughly appreciated the ability to have a fire.

Before sunrise, looking out over the foothills (Mussoorie is perched on one of those distant hills)

Campsite at dawn.

Day 6: Another day of re-tracing our steps. Again, we were quite quick, especially since we were completely out of the slippery snow/ice/mud zone. We enjoyed some more adventurous "rock climb" hiking (scaling large boulders by the river) and also a long lunch in the village of Dhaula. 

Villagers

The long descent down the mountain.

Villager in the amaranth/sorghum/chulai field

Villager with baby sheep!

Day 7: Our last day consisted of minimal walking and maximal sitting. Another jeep ride and long bus ride - at least this time I got to sit on TOP of the jeep with a bunch of girls. A definite highlight.

Riding on top of the jeep! (Thank goodness liability is not an issue in India!)

A bumpy, rocky road + sitting on top of the jeep for an hour = bruised butt bones.

Onlookers staring out from their second floor porch onto a jeep covered in foreign girls!

Intrigued


Word to the Wise: When you sit backwards on the top of a jeep, you need to be careful of your head, and/or entire body.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Sunshine and Mountains

October is speeding by, understandably. Due to countless events, including Quarter Break and Activity Week, we had a total of 11 teaching days this month. It was difficult to stay focused with such a fragmented month! A few highlights...

The Annual Mussoorie Writers' Festival was again hosted by Woodstock. The theme this year was Mountain Literature. I was able to attend a few events. First, a wonderful art exhibit by Swiss photographer Coni Horler (his website) that showcased gorgeous photos of the Himalaya, many places where I have been! Also, poetry under the Lyre Tree and music up at the top of the hill during sunset. It was wonderful to be surrounded by creative people who find inspiration in the location of Woodstock.

Art Opening.

Coni Horler

Poetry under the Lyre Tree

Music at Mount Hermon

Sunset view from Mount Hermon

We also had the annual Woodstock Inter-House Sports Day. Instead of having classes, we all tromped down the hill to the sports field, a unique triangular "field" planted squarely (triangularly?) in the middle of the forest. First-timers always seem to mention the eery connection to Harry Potter quidditch games. 

The intermediate band pepping up the crowd.

My house (the green Condors) getting ready for the day.

Apparently even the Eagles mascot needed some time to catch up on his English homework!

Staff showing off, er, warming up for the staff relay race!

A definite highlight of October so far was a spontaneous campout on Flag Hill. The central focus of the event was to do sunset yoga on the top of the hill with mountain vistas all around. We trekked up with our gear in the late afternoon, set up camp, and then did an hour or so of yoga on a particularly rocky patch of the hilltop. Afterwards, we had a campfire with smores. 

The campsite adorned in Tibetan Prayer Flags.
 
Our fearless yogi (and my art colleague), Paul.
 
In action. (Note the rocks)

Sunset over Landour and Mussoorie

The next morning we woke up at 5:30 to witness sunrise over the Great Himalaya. It was magical!

Clouds covering the Doon Valley to the Southeast.

A panoramic (northeast to southeast).

Our local foothills with a snow-capped Himalayan peak to the east.

An indomitable line-up of 20,000ft+ peaks to the northeast.

Prayer Flags and Bandarpunch.

My beloved tent, The Taj 3, happy as a clam to be among mountains and prayer flags.
 
The best part: October isn't over! Tomorrow I leave for my 3rd Woodstock Activity Week. This year - Changsheel Trek with Grade 10. More sunshine and mountains ahead!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Quarter Break: Chandigarh

October 1st marked the last day of Quarter 1 and the first day of Quarter Break! While I can't complain about the vacation time here at Woodstock (7 weeks in the winter and 6 weeks in the summer), it is rough to get only 2 days off during the semester. No Thanksgiving break here. The lack of long weekends is particularly frustrating for those of us who want to explore the country. Yes, there are adventures that can happen over a weekend. However, travel time up here in the hills is excruciating, so our options for weekend travel are limited.

Needless to say, I wanted to take advantage of a long weekend. Mother Nature and Mother India tried to dissuade me, but I persevered. Mother Nature, as you know, contributed some horrendous monsoon rains causing roads to be blocked with landslides and flooding. Mother India, who is a very dynamic force, threw the Ayodhya conflict at us on top of all the Commonwealth Games hoopla.  The story behind Ayodhya is basically that Hindus and Muslims are fighting over the rights to a temple/holy site. It has been in dispute for hundreds of years and, of course, they (I'm not sure who "they" are) decide to announce the verdict a few days before the Commonwealth Games begin. Those of you who have seen Slumdog Millionaire might remember the scene of the two boys caught in a riot between Hindus and Muslims. That is related to Ayodhya, and similar riots were expected to take place. The verdict was announced the night before we left for Quarter Break, so we were heavily cautioned about any travel over the break. I'm glad we stuck with our plans - the verdict (a three-way division of the land) was received peacefully.

So, on Friday I left with Elsa, my French friend, and Shonila, a beautiful middle-aged Indian who has been teaching here for many years and is notoriously intimidating. We took a taxi straight to Chandigarh, which is a city about 6 hours from Mussoorie. Shonila is from there, so gave us tips before we dropped her off at her sister's place. Elsa and I painted the town red!

Chandigarh is an anomaly in India. It was founded after partition about 50 years ago and so was actually planned. Yes, a planned city. The streets are wide, clean, and organized in a grid. Unbelievable! Of course, the joke is that they had to hire a foreigner (a frenchmen) to do the job because there isn't much of a history of building planned cities in India. Anyways, it is known for its shopping mostly. It is also one of the most expensive cities. I don't want to talk about how much money I spent...

Organized traffic!

But, it is still definitely India!

Friday night we wandered out to Sector 17, which is the main shopping area. There were all sorts of brand name stores. I resisted buying anything! The center plaza had a live band, apparently celebrating Gandhi's upcoming birthday. Elsa and I found a nice place to have a drink and a bite to eat. 


Saturday we woke up early and headed off to Elsa's favorite pastry shop. We might have eaten cheesecake, chocolate croissants, and mochas for breakfast.... After that, we headed to Nek Chand's Rock Garden. I learned about this place in a college art history class and have always wanted to go, so was very excited! He is an Outsider artist who created this huge garden out of cement, rock, and found objects. It is quite the labyrinth. 

I couldn't find the ticket booth. Then I realized that it was at the same level as my knees!

Group photo in front of the waterfall.

Stumpy teacup arms!

Swinging.

Three-headed blob :)

Bangle ladies (made out of broken bangles)

Next we spent the day traveling by cycle rickshaw from shopping, to food, to shopping, to food, to spa, to shopping, to food. Ha! There are a number of nice coffee shops and cafes that we enjoyed. 

Wide, tree-lined sidewalks!

Dinner at an Asian fusion restaurant - yum!

Sunday we got up early, had a great breakfast, and went on our second bout of sight-seeing - Sukhna Lake. This is a man-made lake that's pretty large and very brown. The draw: peddle-boats! Elsa and I, after standing in line for way too long (apparently for the first time in 5 years the electricity went out and the ticket machine wouldn't work), we managed to score ourselves a green goose boat - success! We peddled around and chased the geese. It was really hot, so we cut our 30min rental short and headed off to find a mall to cool off in. After the mall, we again went out to eat and then headed back to meet our taxi for the drive home. 

Happy peddle-boaters!

Our green goose and the evil dragon surrounding the geese.

The guards at Sukhna Lake with "May I Help You" vests. Here they are in the act of helping!

Rickshaw on a typical Chandigarh street.

Happy feet after a pedicure!

Our last meal - salad and salmon on a garden patio. 

Monday and Tuesday I spent at home doing a lot of laundry and hanging out with friends. Now its back to school - Quarter 2!