Dan: Karin woke me early this morning in a lot of discomfort, and we decided we'd take her to see a doctor.
We rang the British Embassy when they opened to find out where a good doctor was located.
They directed us to the East-West Medical Centre in Delhi, a privately run clinic and hospital.

We went to see a doctor there, and he diagnosed Karin as suffering from acute Gastroenteritis.

So... they have admitted her overnight whilst they do blood and stool tests.
Hopefully it's just a bacterial infection that can be treated with antibiotics, as we're due to fly out in 36 hours...!

We'll find out tomorrow.

Dan: I'm not very well today - I seem to have the same case of Delhi Belly that Karin is just recovering from.
I spent all of yesterday in bed, and today we had to catch the train from Haridwar back to Delhi.

The train took 4 hours, and I knew we'd get a meal.
But I wasn't expecting a four course meal! Especially when I couldn't eat any of it...
The srvice was incredible, they were serving food for the whole 4 hours. And the legroom was great, much better than on any train or plane I've been on.
And all this for £8!! GNER could learn a lot from this...

We arrived into Delhi at 10:30pm, and went straight to our hotel and to bed.
I started taking some antibiotics 2 days ago, and was hoping that I'd get some relief soon, as I'm in quite a bit of pain.
Karin seems much better, although she's been eating more food than she should.

Dan: Karin had a hugh fever last night (39.3 degrees C), and a lot of stomach cramps, so it was decided that I'd go and do teh rafting by myself.
Karin was feeling a lot better this morning, but not well enough to get up.

I have lots of photos from the rafting, and it was a lot of fun, but I'll upload the text and photos in a few days, once you read the rest of the posts you'll understand why.

Dan: Well, the only thing to report over the last couple of days is that we have both been sick! First I got a bad cold, then Karin got a mild case of Delhi Belly, then I got Delhi Belly, then I got a bad cold again, then Karin got a bad cold! It almost sounds like a comedy act when spelled out like that...

Today is the first day that I've been feeling better.
We've both booked onto a White Water Rafting trip for tomorrow, which will raft 36km of the Ganga - I'm really looking forward to it.

Karin has come down with a bad tummy again today, so I went out for a walk to the next village, trying to find the original Transcendental Meditation centre. I couldn't find it, but found a lovely place to sit by the Ganga and meditate.

On the way back, I found another Westerner's shop, run by a lovely Indian woman and her little boy...


Westerner's Shop

I also thought I'd include a photo of the main square at Laxman Jhula, for no other reason than I accicenlt uploaded it!


Laxman Jhula Circle

(Editor's Note: Karin has yet to type up her diary entries from this day forward, so you'll be getting mine alone until she has time to do them... and then they will auto-magically appear!)

Dan: Both Karin and I were feeling quite a bit better today, so we made an early afternoon expedition to Karin's beach (as I know it!).
Karin has been out running and swimming most mornings (at about 5:00am!!! How cold is the Ganga then???!), and she discovered a lovely swimming spot about 1km up the road from the village.

We spent a lovely afternoon here talking and reading, and cautiously watching the monkeys who would occasionally advance towards us (they could smell our tangerines!).
The beaches on the Ganga are incredibly - beautiful white soft sand.
We were confused about this at first (I don't remember having come across many rivers with whites sandy beaches before!), but when we went up into the Himalayas, it became clear - further up the river, all the cliffs are made of sand-stone - hence all the landslides. When the stone crumbles (into sand!) it gets carried down river and deposited on the shores.

On this beach, there was so much sand that a massive sand dune had formed.
So we sat on the sand dune, ate our lunch, read our books, and generally just enjoyed the sun.


Karin's Beach


Karin trying to "surf" the sand dune...
 

Dan: Well, I now officially have a bad cold - I was bed-ridden all day yesterday, but feeling marginally better today, so I decided to have a go at fixing the power adapter for Karin's laptop (wow, aren't my blog posts really exciting??!).
Once again, I didn't have the right tools, parts, or information for my job, but felt I could cobble something together.
Ever since I was young, I've enjoyed pulling things to pieces to see how they work, and this has left me with a gut feel on how to fix things - especially electrical and electronic things (although it left my parents occasionally frustrated, for if they gave me anything electronic or mechanical for Xmas or my birthday, it was invariably in pieces within 2 hours... one time at Xmas I remember having begged my father to have a play with a very old battery powered car that he had had as a child - it came complete with a petrol station that contained a battery to charge the car. I think my father was very fond of it, and so I was overjoyed when they gave it to me for Xmas, along with a stern admonition that I was to take good care of it as it had sentimental value. The warning must have really hit home, as it was at least 3 hours before it was in pieces, and I was using the motor from the car as the engine for cable car system that could transport my lego people from one side of my room to the other... The guilt still lives with me today!!)

I got a rickshaw into Rishikesh to see if I could find some parts that could be modified for use - and luckily, I found that the earphone plug for a Nokia phone hands-free kit has the same core plug as an Apple power adapter. Off to a good start then...

And so, with the Nokia part, some judicial use of sellotape and wax, and also with some cable that I liberated from the wall-fan in our room (I see it as a service as I re-wired it back up much more safely than it had been!)... I created a new power-adapter. And what's more, it worked! Yay! For about 2 hours, I was in my element, building all the little tools and parts I would need...


Dan hard at work

Karin: It's the evening of the 17th as I write this. The last few days have been spent very lazily, dozing and reading. We're starting to relax out here now. There were a few days of culture shock but this has abated now and we’re just enjoying a lot of relaxing hours doing not very much in particular. Dan picked up a cold a few days ago and so he’s a little below par. Thankfully my stomach is feeling robust again. The incessant chanting of the Diwali celebrations has finally ceased and we are enjoying the peace. The noisy Israelis who were also plaguing our lives when we first arrived have also left (HOORAY!) so things are fine and dandy.
 
Other good news, Dan appears to have fixed my computer – the power supply broke inside the computer about 10 days ago. The little miracle worker has taken the whole thing apart and extracted the broken piece. Can’t wait to watch a DVD!

Dan: OK, well I'm not going to bother writing too much today, a it would be a really boring thing to read!
I feel like I'm coming down with something, so am keeping a low profile roudn the hotel today.
In an effort to keep myself occupied (and also cause I really want to!) I decided to take Karin's laptop completely to pieces to see if I could remove the broken off portion of her power adapter (regular readers may recall that we broke it on Day 8).
Only three things were standing in my way:
1) I've never taken a Mac laptop to pieces before
2) I had none of the correct tools
3) Karin! erm... don't worry dear, I'll put it all back together, and it'll be as good as new, I promise.

Anyway, no boring details - I got it to pieces, removed the offending part, and got it all back together again.

We then spent the evening on the balcony, reading books as the sun set.
This is really a gorgeous place!

(Have yet to upload the photos of a sunset, but they're worth it, so check back on this page).

Karin: The Kamath family had to leave early this morning. I got up early to say goodbye as I didn’t want their last memory of me to be the green-tinged misery that I was last night. We bid each other farewell and as they headed back to Delhi. Dan and I jumped into a shared auto-rickshaw that was heading back to Laxman Jhula. After a freezing cold ride crammed into the back of this rickshaw with far too many people in it we were relieved to get back to the Hotel Divya and all of its relative comforts.

Dan: When we went to leave the hotel in Haridwar, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Kamath's had paid for our room - yet another example of their generosity! We gave them heartfelt thanks, and also expressed gratitude for the chance to see another side of India, feeling like we were experiencing it a bit more as Indians ourselves.
I hadn't brought a jacket with me, so I was freezing cold on the ride back to Laxman Jhula, the only relief being that we were relatively war, as we were packed into a 6 person rickshaw with 8 Indian women, who were chattering away to us in Hindi!

When we got to Laxman Jhula, we stopped at the local Westerner's shop to get some cleaning supplies - today was the day we were going to tackle our bathroom.
Although our room and view were lovely, there was a continual pungent smell coming from the bathroom, which we thought might have been because it had never been cleaned properly - so we thought we'd have a go.

I'm not going to cover the rest of the day here, as it's not too exciting - suffice to say that my way of cleaning a bathroom that is covered floor to ceiling in tiles is to close the door, splash chlorine on all available surfaces, and lose myself in the scrubbing.

About the only exciting thing to happen today is when some monekys appeared above our room, and then came down onto the terrace - at first we thought they were cute, but they were monkeys with a purpose: they were here to steal Karin's bag of nuts - and so they advanced menancingly at us, hissing.
And rather than get into a scrap, we decided just to leave the nuts for the monkeys...

 
Monkeys above our room, about to steal the nuts

Normally the monkeys are rather cute, and look something like this...

Mother monkey and her baby

After a full days cleaning and washing, we fell to bed exhausted.
Being on holiday can be such hard work, you know??!

Karin: After a reasonably relaxed start this morning I discovered that Amrita and her family had decided to stop off in Laxman Jhula before proceeding down to Haridwar for the Diwali ceremony. We made an arrangement to meet up by the bridge and it was confirmed that Daniel and I should join them for the Haridwar festivities. Haridwar is one of the sacred sites to host the Kumb Mela – a gathering in which 6 million Indians gather on the banks of the holy Ganges for a little communal soul purification. The Kumb cycles through about 8 different locations along the Ganges and happens every 12 years. The event we were to participate in was a much smaller affair. We all bundled into the Kamath family taxi. Mr Kamath had taken his student Vijay with him on his 'plein air' painting tour. Vijay was a delightful man from Bangalore.

Dan: We stopped in Rishikesh so that Amrita's family could buy us some treats - in this case, some sweet candies made from milk products. It turns out that most of the sweet treats in India are made from milk products - something I hadn't known.
Whilst we were there, Amrita's father explained that in traditional Indian culture, there were 3 groups of people that should be treated as "gods": Parents, Teachers... and foreigners! Because of this, Amrita's family insisted on paying for everything, and were determined that we enjoy as much Indian culture as possible.
I must admit, I felt very humbled about this - it's something that would seem so foreign in our culture, but it explains why you hear so much about the Indian culture of kindness and generosity to foreigners travelling in India.
Vijay was also very respectful about his "master", Amrita's father, and said that it was a real privilege to be his student.
I got the feeling that the bond between them was more father-son than anything else, but it was still a bond of mutual respect and love.

Karin: The plan was that we should stay in a special shrine created by a man of the same caste as the Kamath family, but owing to the festivities all the guest rooms were full. We ventured, thus, into town to try and find a room. We finally found a place, dumped our bags and went for some lunch.


Statue of Shiva at Haridwar 

Dan: As we walked through the grounds of the temple, I noticed how many more Sadhus there were here than anywhere else. Vijay exmplained to me that it was a community's responsibility to ensure that Sadhu's were fed and sheltered, and that the temple here was one of many places that would feed the Sadhus three times a day, as long as the Sadhus spent their time in meditation.
Vijay also expained the significance of the orange robes that all Sadhus wear: the colour they wear is saffron, and signifies an offering, in this case the offering of the Sadhu's life to the gods, to ponder life and study the existence of being.

Karin: After lunch we proceeded to a very secluded bathing spot that adjoined the temple where we had originally planned to stay. Here we took a holy dip together, although having no change of clothes Daniel and the girlies just paddled up to our knees. Amrita showed Daniel and I how to do a sacred sun offering.


 

Bathing in the Ganga


Dan and Amrita's familty

Before too long it was time for us to head off to the festival of lights. We arrived just a few moments too late as thousands of leaf baskets containing rose-petals, marigolds and flaming torches were cast off into the dark torrent of the Ganges. We cast off our own offerings and then headed into town for a spot of sari shopping.


Karin and Amrita and their flower baskets

After much deliberation and consultation, I came away with a lovely golden silk sari with black trim. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling too well by this time and I had to take my leave rather rapidly to avoid an embarrassing scene! Amrita kindly accompanied me back to the hotel where after being sick, I retired into a woozy haze. Thankfully Daniel saved the day and was able to reassure our worried hosts that I would live to see another day. 

Dan: Amrita's family took me to a local restaurant called "Big Ben", complete with a picture of the tower itself (which is called St Stephen's Tower - it's the bell that's called Big Ben, and Daniel that's called "pedantic"...!).
We all had lovely Chinese dishes - I've never had a chowmein with Indian spice in it before!
One thing that Amrita explained to me is that Indian's love things in both Salty and Sweet flavours - so, if you order a lassi (a drink made from yoghurt), you can get it salty or sweet - and, if you order a lime soda, you can also get this salty or sweet! I mention this as Amrita's mother ordered a salty lime soda - which I couldn't bring myself to try!
The funny thing about this restaurant, is that no-one seemed to have any clue what Big Ben actually was, or where it was!
After dinner, I retired back to our hotel room to check on my patient - who was feeling a bit better for having had a bit of sleep.

Karin: The 4.20 alarm call was most unwelcome this morning. Both Dan and I endured an ice-cold morning wash with stoicism but when we finally emerged at 5.00 the heavenly sight of a myriad twinkling stars in a huge, jet-black sky made our pains worth all the while (Dan: well, sort of!). The air is so clear at this altitude that the night sky is really magnificent. We awoke Sundar who had taken to sleeping in the car as a way to pocket his Rs 200 per day allowance and before long we were winding our way back down to the valleys. 

Dan: One thing I've noticed on our road trip so far, is that 90%of the cars are made by a company called TATA. And this one company makes a massive range of cars - imagine if all the different cars you see on a normal day at home (all the models and makes) were made by the same company - and that's what it's like. It turns out that TATA (who also do phone networks) are a division of Hindustan Motors, who make the Ambassador. The only other car manufacturer in India is Mahindra, who make jeeps - TATA make everything else - the cars, the buses, the trucks, the vans - you name it.
It's very rare to see anything other than a TATA car - and if you do, it is likely to be a Suzuki.

Karin: The place that Bhuta Ram had selected for us as our final taste of Himalayan beauty was a walk from the small village of Sari to an area called Deviatal with a famous view of the mountain range mirrored in a lake.  We had set off so early because it is only early in the morning that one can see these views. Thus it was that at around 6.30 am we again set off up another mountain, this time with a local guide called Mr Negi. Mr Negi was a very endearing fellow. As we walked up we were accompanied by a large number of village women from Sari, carrying large baskets on their backs to fill with fallen leaves, to use as winter bedding for the cattle. The sight of all these joyfully colored sari-clad women climbing the hill with their baskets and rustling about in the leaves in the early morning sunshine was like living poetry. Mr Negi stopped on occasion to talk to them. As we walked up, an elderly man passed us who evidently, had a small café at the top and had decided that our potential trade was worth the climb up.


Women collecting leaves
 
The view over the lake as we came over the brow of the hill was well worth our strenuous climb and in spite of filming restrictions by order of the Indian government, Mr Negi was keen to give us a filmed narrative of all the peaks he had climbed.

 
 
Views from the Reflection Lake at Deviatal

After offering our patronage to the café owner we began our descent via Mr Negi's plantation where he explained to us, in depth and with great enthusiasm, that he was working on a project involving a plantation of special medicinal plants. He insisted that on returning to England we should mention the project to our government as he had great hopes to heal the world. He gave us a few samples of his magical plants.


Mr Negi in his plantation

Dan: Mr Negi also showed us round his climbing school, where he teaches children how to rock climb (and gave us a demonstration).
He was very proud of his qualifications and experience (as he should be) and explained how he's climbed most of the peaks we could see from the top - what was fanatastic is that he knew the name and story of each and every one.


Mr Negi demonstrating rock climbing

Karin: By the time we returned to the taxi and our driver, we were thoroughly charmed by Mr Negi and his enthusiastic and altruistic vision so we gave him Rs 1000 (a small fortune in this part of the Himalayas) as a donation to his enterprise. This he received with much gratitude and sent us off with  a bunch of marigolds picked from his garden.
 
The return drive to Laxman Jhula lasted about 7 hours and seemed to go on forever. When we finally arrived back we parted ways with Sundar, his Ambassador and yet another large tip. It was with much gratitude that we walked back to our room and the promise of hot water, clean clothes and a more temperate place to spend the night.