Trying to Keep it Clean, Walk-Abouts and Avoiding Tigers

Weather permitting I want to spend my last few days in The Ganj hiking around the hill-tops.

Earlier in the year I produced a series of recommended walks – entitled Walks on the Wild-side. These have been some of the most popular pages of the blog, with many of the pictures shamelessly downloaded.

Around the Dalai Lama temple and back garden,
Dal Lake,
St John´s Church in the Widerness
Bhagsu,
Dharamkot, and
Dharamsala.

With snow-peaked mountains, rhododendron and pine forests, waterfall, lake, tributaries and valleys, aesthetically The Ganj and the surrounding countryside is beautiful. Gorgeous walks to nearby rustic villages, most especially to Dharamkot – a particular favourite of mine.

looking over McLeod Ganj from the main temple

Nanjal tells me to take care. With winter setting, wild animals head down in altitude to find their prey.

Now I know there are bears around; there is testament to that in St. Johns in the Wilderness church on one of the headstones, but Nanjal also informs me there are also tigers around. I think he is joking with me, but he is adamant, and his story is concurred by his Indian shepherd friend who joins us in the tea-shop. He tells me to be particularly careful at dawn and at dusk which are tigers´ favourite dining times. Now how exciting would a tiger attack be?

Unfortunately despite all the road signs and posters, litter does remain a problem and is serious blot on the landscape. Rubbish bins can now be found on Temple Road and the Main Temple kora which have been very effective, so I still don´t understand why their numbers haven´t increased, including placement on both Jogiwara Road and the stairwell by Yongling school.

litter along the roadside of Temple Road

Despite the efforts of both the local Environmental Office and The Hope Centre in organizing regular clean-ups, it still looks very tatty in parts.

clean-up volunteer

Most cities and towns are blighted by litter. In part I guess, due to the belief that Untouchables will eventually come along and recycle the refuse.

Education must play a part in the process to raise awareness of many Indians as exemplified in this recent posting.

Visit the state capital in Shimla and the town is very well maintained. Bins are placed around town and there is a Rs 500 fine for litter transgressions. It should be used as a model for every Indian town and city.

Lhasa, Fun-Fun and Big Alaskan Bears

To celebrate the arrival of the millennium, I wanted to do something special. Thus I headed to Lhasa for my first trip into Tibet. I don´t think i could have chosen a better destination.

Alright, it was bloody freezing and snows had blocked up all the main transport arteries in and out of the city, so travel was limited to the city and immediate surround. But when that sun came out (and it did for several hours almost every day), it was both fascinating and beautiful.

Only a few die-hard travellers selected Lhasa for the Millennium, and together we had a total riot. Of course i meet a lot of travellists out on the road, and share several special moments, but there are only a very few that i keep in contact with. One of these is Fun-Fun, a young British Born Chinese woman from Derbyshire in England who also decided to brave the cold in the middle of a Tibetan winter.

Fun-Fun is rather appropriate name for her, but Mad n´ Wild would be even more so. She has brought a tent along with and she persuades Theo, a lovely South African guy to head to the wilderness. There is absolutely no way i´m leaving the fairly ineffectual central heating.

We´ve managed to catch up a few times now, including watching the 2002 World Cup in a Hong Kong pub and one of just three friends that “braved the dangers” of Colombia to visit whilst i was based in Bogotá. Respect!

An engineer by trade, Fun-Fun works on aeroplane engines and is currently based in Seattle, but not for long. She faces a move down to Waco, Texas. A keen hiker and climber, she is making the most of her time in the north. She sent me some real beautiful photos of wild bears on her recent trip up to Alaska.





Many thanks to L.J. for helping sort out my blogspot account. Photographs can now be added after a couple of weeks break.