Tea near Darjeeling

On my way from Sikim to the Indian boarder with Nepal, I decided to stop near Darjeeling and learn about tea. I stayed on the Macaibari Tea Estate in a village in the middle of the tea plantations, with a lovely family who showed me around, cooked me delicious foods and even let me help make momo's despite mine looking very sad compared to theirs.

I visited the factory where all the tea leaves are processed. I learnt all about the four types of teas processed at Makaibari - Black Tea, Silver Tip Tea, Green Tea and White Tea. Although certain types of tea plants are better for certain types of tea, it is just the processing which defines which tea is which. Black tea is the most processed, needing to be dried, rolled, oxidised, roasted, sorted into different leaves/parts of the plant, cut, vibrated to get out any unwanted objects, and then hand sorted. Silver Tip tea is perhaps obviously just the very tips of the plant and has slightly less processing. Green tea is just rolled, roasted and sorted. White tea is just roasted and then sorted by hand. The less processing, the better the tea is for you.

I spent a morning out in the tea plantations picking tea with Mia Debbie - the grandmother living in the home where I stayed. I discovered that I'm pretty sure tea picking is not the job I am supposed to do. For a start I often just saw leaves, somehow unable to see the tips that we were supposed to be picking. Occasionally the basket would fall from my head and spill the few leaves I'd collected on the floor. Mia Debbie very kindly put some of the leaves she'd picked into my basket. Despite this, at the end of the morning when everyone else had nearly full baskets, mine was pretty much empty still. Someone even said 'oh is that all you've picked?' to me. After that I told people I'd picked 50kgs (I chose 50 because it's my favourite number in Hindi - you say it as pudge arse). I think Mia Debbie went around telling everyone that no, actually I was the worst tea picker she ever met. I also think that everyone would have looked in my basket and wondered how I'd got the actual amount so badly wrong. Anyway no one seemed to mind and Mia Debbie said I was her daughter so it can't have been too much of a disgrace.

Below is the home I stayed in. Actually the open doorway leads into my room.

Sikkim

Sikkim is right in the North East of India and I think one of my favourite places there. As with other mountainous places in India, life seems far more relaxed, there is a real mix of different people, and the scenery is absolutely stunning.

To go into North Sikkim you have to have a special permit and go with a guide. So I joined a tour and we set off into the mountains in our jeep. It seems that in Sikkim you are never far from a landslide. You can either see where landslides have happened, see where they're about to happen, or actually see them happening. Our initial plan was to head North East but half way through our journey we came across a landslide in action. Even from inside the jeep the rumbling of the falling rocks and earth was immense. The roads are just little tracks clinging to the side of mountains and so there was no other option but to return the way we'd come. With the only road to where we'd hoped to go to now being blocked, we had to change our plans and go to a different valley. This was still very beautiful and we had an added adventure of arriving not only in the dark but also in the poring rain. As we drove our guide and driver took turns to get out and remove fallen rocks from the middle of the road so we could pass. I think we were all quite relieved to arrive!

Sadly the Rhododendrons here were late in flowering and so most were still in bud. A few trees had come out though in either red or pink and were really pretty. There were also lots and lots of other lovely flowers and plants around, some which smelt incredible. I found plants that grow in England, along side plants that grow only in really hot places and somehow they were all happily living in the same conditions. For those who might be interested, some of the plants living there included: jacarandas, firs, roses, daisies, hibiscus, orchids, and all sorts of cacti and succulents.

 The scenery around the plants was wonderful too, with huge snow topped mountains, waterfalls, and plenty of hairy yaks. There was the opportunity for a little rock climbing and also an occasional snow ball fight.

After the tour, I set off to do some exploring alone in the parts of Sikkim where you don't need a guide. I'd heard one particular area was supposed to be very special in terms of plants, so this is where I headed. No one really knew how to get there though. All the transport in Sikkim is in shared jeeps and I was told where I'd need to get a jeep to so as I could get another jeep on to the plant area. At the end of my first journey I  was told that actually I'd need to get a jeep to another place from where I could get a further jeep to the plants. So I got a jeep to this place. Here I found almost no one at all could speak English. But from what I could gather it actually wasn't possible to get a jeep from this village to where I wanted to go to go. It was starting to get dark so after a lot of searching and trying to communicate with people without words, I found somewhere to stay the night. In the morning I found some jeeps going to yet another village so I got in one of them, hoping that may be from there I could go where I wanted to go. It wasn't to be though and so instead I just spent a couple of days in a very pretty village with very nice flowers, but that wasn't where I'd hoped to get to. I did meet some friendly people, go for some good walks, and also get my washing done there though, so it wasn't a bad stop at all.

Often Monasteries here are full of dogs. Here are some of the friends I made at a Monastery in Sikkim.

Varanasi

For Hindu's Varanasi is a very important place. If you die and are cremated here then you automatically leave the cycle of rebirth. And if you come here alive then you can bath and cleans yourself in the sacred Ganges.

I very much enjoyed my time here. There is so much to do with all sorts of rituals and events happening for both the living and the dead, which you can watch/be a part of. A friend I'd met in Africa was here at the same time as me, so we were able to meet up. Whilst I was staying in what I considered a reasonable enough place - I had a bed, a clean shared bathroom, a friendly guest house owner, and even my own miniature balcony - my friend was staying in a very smart hotel. Here we enjoyed air conditioning, a western toilet, and a restaurant with a waterfall!

Along with lots of other tourists we took boat rides up and down the Ganges early in the morning and also at sun set. Looking back at the shore we could see people bathing, doing yoga, carrying out Puja (worshiping Gods), washing clothes, socialising or sitting alone, and you could also see people being cremated. The cremations here are different to the ones I'd seen in Nepal. There I remember the faces of the dead people weren't covered and after a short ceremony the bodies were set on fire at the mouth. In Varanasi the bodies were completely covered and then the pile of wood the body rested on was set alight, rather than the body itself. Apparently the pelvis is a part of the body that normally doesn't burn. So after everything else has burnt, this is given to the head of the family to throw into the Ganges. The head of the family then takes a pot and fills it with water from the Ganges before throwing it backwards over their shoulder so it smashes, and then without looking back they leave the cremation area.

Each evening there is a ceremony held by the Brahmin priests. Lots of people chant and sing as the priests pray, moving around fire, with the belief that the smoke will form a bridge between themselves and God. Brahmins are the highest cast in India. Although the cast system in here has been made illegal by the government, it is still practiced by a lot of people living within the country and all Hindu priests are from the Brahmin cast.

 

When we weren't enjoying the hotel room and the religious ceremonies, we had a chance to explore. We found a massive cow relaxing in a shop, and guys selling Paan (a selection of edible things wrapped in a very green leaf for you to chew on) of which I'm not the biggest fan. We visited a silk factory and then a place with lots of beads. We had a look around some temples, got lost on rickshaws, and finally became unpleasantly ill. Perhaps I shouldn't have dipped my hand in the Ganges?

Animals in Udaipur

Udaipur is a very pretty little town on the edge of a lake. I headed here to stop being a tourist for a couple of weeks. I got myself a home, a job, and a bicycle and very much enjoyed having a bit of a routine and not doing any touristic sightseeing at all.

My new place of work was an animal rescue shelter/hospital. Each day I had the most relaxing bike ride to and from work along the edge of lakes, through mountains, fields and villages. I loved being able to cycle again, and going through such beautiful scenery and being able to at least visually get to know the people who lived in each vilage I pased made it even more special. It was however a particularly hot time of year and therefor I was also particularly hot when I arrived at work or back at home, and so my enjoyment may not have spread to others.

Below is a picture of my wonderful work companions. They were all so friendly and tolerant of me. They never once got openly fed up of my many questions, or my lack of knowledge of their language. Lots of them couldn't speak English but they never gave up trying to talk with me. They invited me back to their homes for tea and snacks and in return sometimes I'd give them a lift on the back of my bike (only until someone riding a motorbike passed and took over). One evening Basanti - my best friend at the shelter - gave me a bindi and some bangles for my wrists. When I got home a little boy asked me where I was from. I told him England and he said very sweetly 'but you look Indian'.

At the animal shelter there are dogs, cows, donkeys, pigs and two tortoise. There is a speciall area for injured pupies, another area for injured adult dogs who will be returned to the streets once they're beter, an area where dogs who've lost the use of their back legs live, an area for dogs with scabies, a special place where the tortois live, and then an area for the cows, donkeys and pigs. The rest of the space is open for all the dogs who it's considered wouldn't survive back on the streets to run around freely in. When animals arrive at the center, all is done to enable them to return to where they were found. Sometimes though, like with the dogs who can't use their back legs, they wouldn't survive back on the streets and so live a happy life at the shelter instead.

In this area of India it is illegal to put cows to sleep, even if they are in a lot of pain and wont recover. Because of this I saw many sad cases of very ill cows just waiting for their time on this earth to pass. It did also mean though that all is done to give cows as god a life as possible no mater what situation they find themselves in. So, there were lots of cows (and donkeys too) who'd had part of a leg amputated but were still happily hanging out with their friends.

My main jobs at the shelter were to help with feeding the animals, making sure that no one got too greedy and successfully managed to eat someone elses food. I spent a little time each day brushing the donkeys, some enjoying it more than others. I helped hold down cows and dogs if they needed an operation or to have their dressings changed. I sometimes took dogs for walks. And I did a lot of just making friends ad playing with the animals. Oh I also got further experience of carrying water on my head, when we needed to fill up a newly built swimming pool for the dogs.

In the cow area were two little orphaned calves -  Om and Laxmi. Surgage, a third orphan, arrived at the shelter the day before I left. Whilst there it was often my role to feed the calves milk. They were so sweet and beautiful. If she could, Laxmi especially would spend all of her time following you around, licking and sucking your legs, arms, hands, face, fingers... what ever skin she could find really. I learnt that fully grown cows have very rough toungs, and little calves have very smooth tongs. I also learnt that whilst it's not a problem for calves to suck your fingers as their teeth aren't in the right places to crush you, you should never forget that you are with donkeys and not cows and accidentally let a donkey suck your fingers. That hurts a lot.

Sometimes work at the shelter was sad, as each day an animal would die and often it would be animals who had seemed competely fine the day before. But the work there was also a lot of fun. All the animals had their own personalities and characteristics.

There was Whinny - a dog who wears a neck collor so he doesn't bite his wounds on his back legs, which probably after a car/bike accident he's unable to use. He's perhaps not all there mentally and runs around whining frantically using his front legs to pull himself along, whilst accidentall flipping up everyone elses food bowls on the way and making them furious with him. He loves to have a fuss and as soon as you say hello and give him a stroke he calms down.

Puja is a dog who also has no use of her back legs. She's mastered walking (and sometimes running at speed) using her front legs whilst keeping her back end fully off the floor. She's another dog who loves attention and gets so excited when she see's anyone coming towards her.

There was a puppy who I was told was very naughty because it bit people. It didn't have a name but was small and black so I called him Little Black Dog. Poor Little Black Dog, the only reason he would bite anyone was because he was terrified of people. I always said hello to him but he wouldn't let me stroke him so I just offered my hand for him to smell. Once the other puppies had got to know me they all ran up to say hello when I went into their enclosure. Little Black Dog would run up too and then he'd remember he was scared of me and back away. Finally after quite a few days, to my amazement, he let me stroke him just once! I was so pleased but then I went back to see all the puppies in the afternoon and found he'd been released without me knowing. I never did get to stroke Little Black Dog again, but I hope he's happilly running around in the mountains.

Another particularly sweet puppie was Mr Pensil. All the dogs had little tags with numbers around their necks. Mr Pensil's tag looked more like it said Mr Pensil than a number though and so this was the name I gave him. Lots of the dogs had already been given names, but there were quite a few who were nameless still. My Pensil was tiny and couldn't use his back legs or move himself at all well, but with encouragement he'd try and make his way towrads you. He was a dog who loved you if you loved him and as soon as he saw you would squeel and squeel until you came and said hello.

I miss my time and all at the shelter, but looking back at the photos will always make me smile.

Camels in Bikiner

My next stop was the desert in Bikiner, Rajasthan. Here I spent two days camel riding out into the desert and back again. Four of us were part of the trip. We had four camels between us. One was used to pull our cart full of all we'd need, along with the camel's owners and one of the four of us, as we took turns riding the remaining three camels.

Having the chance to sit on the cart was actually pretty good. When you ride a camel, even if only for a few hours, the tops of your legs start to really hurt. The camel riding itself wasn't all that exciting. The desert all looked the same and it was hot. The people I was with though were all really nice, as were our camels. We were told the camels didn't have names, something we felt needed to change. So we soon came up with names for all four of them - Manfred (Mani for short), Margot, Geoff, and Dave. None of them ever tried to bite us and we didn't see them spitting once. We all spent the night sleeping out under the stars. This was the reason I'd decided to come on the trip and so I was extremely glad that the sky was clear. There's something I really love about sleeping out in the open, especially when you can just lie with your eyes open and see a sky completely full of stars.

After we'd escaped the desert and Mani, Margot, Geoff and Dave had all gone home, we visited the near by unpleasant smelling Rat Temple. There were rats everywhere, alive and dead. People who visit the temple consider the rats to be auspicious and buy sweets to feed them. I'd happened to buy some sweets earlier as I'd needed change for something and so I too fed a little to the rats. They were so used to people that they even let you stroke them. It is considered very good luck if you happen to see a white rat and along with a fellow visitor we spotted one just before he returned to his hole in the wall. The good luck thing may have some truth in it... later on I had to buy a bus ticket for my next journey, and the office wasn't particularly near to where I was staying. I set out on foot anyway in the slight cool of the evening. Almost straight away a guy and his little son offered me a lift on the back of their ox cart. We couldn't really talk as none of us could speak the other's language but I got a lift to the end of the road anyway. Then a bit further along I was given a free lift on the back of a motor bike for almost the rest of the way. I found the bus I was to get was my favourite type of bus in India - cheap, no air-con but good windows and beds ( I was taking an overnight journey). Then on my way back a guy from the guest house was passing and so gave me yet another free lift on his bike all the way back.

Before my bus left the following evening I was able to have a bit of an explore of Bikiner. There is a beautiful fort there and lots and lots of colourfully dressed people. There is also a somewhat moody cow. Generally I greet the many cows who wander the streets here. I've found they like you to say hello to them and like it even more if you stroke their necks. This particular cow looked quite clearly to be in not the best of moods so I didn't even try and say hello. Still, I had to pass him as he was walking down the street I was walking up. To the amusement of passers by, as we got almost level he charged at me. It was a half hearted attempt though and thankfully after a quick jump to the side to get out of his way, he didn't turn and try and charge again.

Delhi and a very special Man

Originally I wasn't planning to return to Delhi. I'd not overly enjoyed my brief time there previously - searching almost endlessly for a home for the night and then being in the not so lovely tourist area. But my mind was changed when I heard that His Holiness the Dalai Lama was doing a talk at the university there. I didn't have a ticket and had been told that the event was only for students, but thanks to the encouragement of a friend I decided to pay the university a visit and see if they would let me in. The person organising the event was a very friendly lady who kindly wrote me out my very own invitation to come and see the main man talk!!! I then spent the whole of the day exploring Delhi and feeling very very very excited. 

This time I discovered lots of nice things in Delhi. I found a hotel outside the tourist area, which overlooked a huge mosk. From the balcony next to my room, about four floors up, you could look down at the road below. It was only a little road but you could happily sit and watch all that was going on for hours. There were cars, rickshaws, motorbikes, people walking, sitting and standing, little stalls/bikes from which people were selling anything from watches and keys to mangos and small snacks (although they could be large snacks if you bought a lot). There was a young group of boys who were cycling up and down the road as fast as they could, over and over again. They didn't really have much control over their bikes though and it seemed also hadn't yet learnt that you need to look before pulling out in front traffic. So, I saw them hit people, other cyclists and parked cars, and I saw people, cyclists and moving cars very nearly hit them as they swerved across the road in front of them. I do hope they've learnt a bit more road awareness by now.

I visited to the beautifully kept garden where Gandhi was killed, and had a look around the museum in the house where he spent the last part of his life. It was in a very smart area with lots of huge buildings, mostly embassies, and all sots of pretty plants and flowers.

I explored markets, and shared delicious rice pudding from clay pots with people who were sat on the streets begging. I found a bird hospital which mostly looked after pigeons who lived in tiny cages, but also had some baby rabbits, a couple of particularly sad looking peacocks, and an overly friendly manager.

Finally the next day came and I set off on the metro to the university. The metro in Delhi is a good one. You and your bags have to go through ex-ray machines like at an airport before you're allowed down to the trains. I'm not really sure what the point of them is though. The first time I went through I had a big knife in my bag (which I use on food not people) so they must have seen that. I also had a sharp edged rock in my pocket, which the lady patting me down found after I made the machine beep. I've felt India to be the one place I've been where I don't feel overly safe all the time, and so I carry this rock for protection... just in case... When the lady found the rock she looked at me quizzically and so I explained why I was carrying it. She then let both me and my rock through. Once you get down to the platforms, well, as soon as you enter the stations, everything is almost sparkling it's so clean. Even inside the trains. It's far cleaning and smarter than the underground in London! There is a special place on the platforms where only ladies are allowed to wait, and when the trains arrive, the part of the train that stops there is also only for ladies. Often the general parts of the trains are packed so full of people and at the same time the ladies only section still has seats. I think I've said this before, but in a land such as this one having ladies only sections on things such as the tubes really is very nice indeed.

 Before the Dalai Lama arrived his security guards did an incredibly thorough security check. They looked on and under the table and chairs at the front, all around the blinds and curtains, and around the walls, windows and floor. They searched around each individual stem of the multi-stemmed plants that were in pots next to the stage, and shone blue lights on everything.

Once everywhere was considered safe the Dalai Lama came into the hall. He shook hands with all at the very front and greeted everyone so humbly with such a lovely smile and laugh. He spoke in English and everything he said made such sense. He didn't over complicate anything and there wasn't one boring moment, quite the opposite in fact as he's a really funny man. Evan when he doesn't say anything funny he just has to laugh and somehow it makes everyone else laugh too. He was nicely informal, at one point stopping to greet a friend he'd noticed in the audience and another time apologising as he stopped briefly to take his Tibetan medication.

He talked about the importance of compassion and non violence, of how education and knowledge are two of the most important things, with narrow mindedness potentially having many negative effects. He spoke of the effects of forming attachments to both objects and people, explaining how if you become attached to something you start to really want and desire it and then if it's something you can't have or something you lose it will make you unhappy. He discussed the negative effects of drugs on your mind and levels of happiness, and of the importance of gaining self confidence and fighting for the rights of yourself and other people and animals. He emphasised that what religion you identify with isn't important. He said how he himself is Buddhist because the place he is from has Buddhism as a part of it's culture, but that didn't mean that Buddhism was any better than other religions. All he teaches is for and can benefit both believers and non believers. He explained how anger and other negative emotions bring you nothing of use, leading just to unhappiness, and that you should fight these emotions by tackling them at their original cause. He informed us of how China spends more money on security within their own country than they do externally. Everyone laughed at how they clearly feel more threatened by people within their country than people from other places, but the laugh wasn't at all malicious. It's amazing that after all that's happened and is continuing to happen between China and Tibet, and how China has treated the Dalai Lama, he still has full compassion for China as a country, for it's people, and for it's government.

As if this experience wasn't wonderful enough already, afterwards everyone in the audience were given a free lunch including two different types of cakes along with lots of other tasty things. The Dalai Lama really is an incredibly amazing man!

Amritsar - Sikhs, Soldiers, and Quality Hospitality

In Amritsar I found the beautiful Sikh Golden Temple. Set in the middle of water and surrounded by pretty white outer buildings, it made a very relaxing circuit to walk around. I only stayed here a couple of days, but I happily walked the circuit on about four or five occasions. With my head covered and my shoes left outside I did the mandatory walk through the water to clean my feet before entering the complex. Then along with lots of others I turned left and made my way right around the edge of the water on the smooth marble tiles.

 

There were all sorts of interesting weapons, mostly in the form of axes and spears, being carried around by Sikhs. Yet despite this everyone was really friendly. I stayed in a little dorm free of charge at the back of the temple and ate my meals, also completely for free, in the temple kitchens. Here, thousands of people came and sat on the floor together to eat the delicious food on offer at any time day or night. Volunteers came around with huge buckets/trays of food and water, which they dished out onto the big silver plate you were given on your way in. Sometimes there was even rice pudding. It really was a very special place!

 Amritsar is very near the India/Pakistan boarder and each evening there is a boarder closing ceremony. I went along and watched the incredibly enthusiastic marching and high kicks done by the Indian army. It was hard to see the Pakistan army as they were the other side of the gate, but I'm pretty sure they were doing the same thing. From both sides there was singing and cheers and shouts from the crowd. Each side trying to outdo the other in terms of volume. The Indian side did have rather an unfair advantage though, what with there being about 50 times the amount of people attending the ceremony there. Here I saw another example of how lots of Indian people seem to have a wonderful ability to really let go and enjoy themselves. When the soldiers weren't on the road, loud music was played and everyone, especially the ladies, was up singing and dancing.

At night time when all lit up and reflecting in the water, the temple was possibly even more beautiful than during the day. Every time I went there, a huge line of people waited for their turn to be able to enter the golden temple. As foreign tourists, for some reason we were aloud to enter through the exit path and so avoid the que. This meant we couldn't go through the front entrance of the temple but could still go inside and climb up the stairs to be able to overlook everything that was going on. It also meant that on the way out, along with everyone else, we were given yet more free food. This time it was in the form of some tasty dryish sweet thing.

Before I left Amritsar I visited a little museum at the temple which showed the horrible history of the Sikh's clashes with the Mughals. This was mostly all shown in particularly gruesome and graphic drawings.

I also visited Jallianwala Bagh - the now Garden where before India's independence British soldiers shot at and killed thousands of unarmed peaceful protesters. The garden was surrounded by high walls which prevented the protesters from escaping. The only place to hide being a deep well in which many people jumped and died whilst trying to avoid the bullets. The well was still there as were the many bullet holes in the walls all around the garden where people had been shot at as they attempted to escape. It was so sad to see and through absolutely no doing of any of the other visitors, I have to say I did feel quite uncomfortable being British and being there