Indian Himalayas Global Action Trip

The first day of our trip was spent making our way through airports, from Heathrow, to Delhi, and transfer to Amritsar, followed by a tiring six hour bus journey to the Kaliwood Guest House where we are currently staying.

After a long two days of travelling, we spent the rest of the day relaxing and trying the various foods the Guest House had to offer, such as paneer and vegetarian hamburgers. We also saw lots of monkeys! 😨🙈🐒

Dylan says he enjoys the generosity and hospitality of the guesthouse hosts and Klara found the new style of food to be surprisingly delicious😋.

Here are some photos of the first couple of days.

Thanks for reading we’ll be back with more diary reports tomorrow!

Today began with a relaxed breakfast after a much needed rest, although some of us stayed up late to watch the football! Watching the monkeys and hawks (Black Kites – Mrs P) were an added bonus to the atmosphere.

We then traversed the chaotic and noisy streets of McLeod Ganj, to the Dalai Lama’s Monastery. Here we learned about the history of the Tibetan people and their journey to exile in this beautiful mini Tibetan paradise. It certainly was an eye opener for us all. Mine and Harley’s favourite part was the aesthetic of the Kora walk, with hundreds of flags, statues, paintings, prayer wheels, and the clear devotion people had towards their Gods was inspiring.

In the afternoon we saw the Parliament in Exile, which was fascinating as we got to see the layout of the rooms where people spoke, and learnt what the structure of parliament was like, and how evet member of Tibetan society in represented. This was great since nobody had really had an experience like this before, and we could acknowledge the differences between Parliament here and the UK.

Finally, the Tibetan Museum was insightful as we got to see videos of Tibetan people speaking about their challenges of escaping Tibet. We also got to see traditional clothing, music and aspects of the Tibetan cultural heritage.

Overall, it was a fantastic day filled with profound learning experiences and cultural immersion. The food, as always, was amazing, adding another layer of enjoyment to our journey. The day left us with a greater appreciation for the beauty of cultural diversity and the strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

Today we explored more of India’s wide array of culture and traditions.

We started the morning with a refreshing yoga session led by teacher Shivani which aimed to align our body and spirit, focusing on correcting our breathing to make us feel more centered and relaxed in the present.

We had a lovely breakfast before engaging in the creation of handmade projects with Indian artisans who demonstrated to us their craft in constructing woven baskets, coasters and jewellery out of leaves from pine trees. We created our own ornaments which proved to be a test of patience and perseverance, requiring precision and skill.

In the afternoon we visited the Tibetan Children’s Village (TVC) which is village built from scratch by the Dalai Lama’s mother and sister, in order to house orphaned and destitute Tibetan children in exile. We were inspired as we witnessed how this village stood so resilient in preserving the Tibetan people and their culture. We also learned how they adapted to life in India through the incorporation of mandatory Hindi lessons as well as English lessons. The homes of the village stood as a testament to the Tibetan people striving for their identity with them proudly bearing their flag.

We ended the day with some reflective journalling as well as debating on inequality, suffering and the future of the Tibetan people as well as other minorities.

Me and Samarth really enjoyed today’s activities. Our favourite part was the children’s village as we found the resilience of the children and teachers to be quite empowering.

Like yesterday, we began the day with yoga, many people finding the various yoga positions easier to reach than in yesterday’s yoga session.

Then, after a short walk, we received a talk from a Buddhist Lama, whose main focus was teaching us the Four Noble Truths. After his initial talk, he allowed us to ask many questions such as how we, as students, can potentially use Buddhist practices in our daily lives, as well as answering how Buddhism links to other religions. He answered this by comparing religions to different medicines, each with their own purposes.

In the afternoon, we went to the Tibetan Institute of Buddhist Dialectics and spoke to two different monks, which has been mine and Aditi’s highlight of the whole trip so far. This is because we found that we could apply many of their teachings, like how they deal with anger and other strong negative emotions, to our own lives, as well as the relaxed environment that was created, allowing us to talk freely and ask many questions.

We then began the journey back to our accommodation where we faced a torrential downpour, which reminded us that it’s currently rainy season in India.

Once we reached our accommodation and had changed into dry clothes, we had a visit from a Tibetan refugee and poet, who answered many of our questions. These included how he adapted to the Indian culture.

We started the day off with morning yoga with Shivani for the last time, practising everything we have learnt since our first lesson such as the asanas and breathing exercises.

We then had our Hindi class where we learnt useful phrases such as for buying clothes, colours, numbers and body parts which was useful and engaging.

After lunch we went to a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and learnt about the history of the religion and the beliefs involved.

Our day ended with a trip to go shopping for Bollywood clothes and trinkets.

Awen’s favourite part of the day was dinner as we got to indulge in the culture which surrounds us, and Klara’s favourite part was the visit to the temple and further engaging with the culture.

Today we began another adventurous day, sadly without yoga, with a trip to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium. This stadium is supposed to be one of the world’s most beautiful. We were impressed with the size and the mountains towering over the distance shrouded by the clouds.

We then took a trip to the Saado Ashram where we met Guru Sri Anish who bestowed upon us his wisdom about the importance of having a focused mind, and trying to limit the external distractions that hinder us. This is taught and rectified at the ashram with spiritual practices like tratak which is a focused meditation where you gaze at a gentle, hypnotic and mesmerising flame. The meditation we tried was peaceful. We also tasted an interesting mango based drink with cumin, black pepper and pink salt.

We dropped Klara and Katie back at Dolls for Tibet, so they could have a more in-depth lesson on the creation of the dolls for their A Level and GCSE Art projects.

Tonight, we had an Indian fun evening, where we ended the day with a traditional energetic Punjab dance along with some beautiful henna designs on our hands and arms. Our favourite part was the Bhangra dance which the boys and Jon (our Global Action Leader) mastered.

Yesterday we spent a relaxed day at the hotel reflecting on our trip so far and feedback to the team on our individual highlights. We then discussed the next element of our adventure – a trek in the Himalayas.

Today we travelled into the Himalayas to Naggar for the trek and on route we stopped at Nobulingka Institute which was breathtaking. Set in beautiful, landscaped gardens, the rainforest atmosphere was abundant and harmonized with the vibrant fish and colossal bamboo trees. Not only was it aesthetically astonishing, it was also a spiritual experience. There were beautiful statues and paintings of the Buddha which was great reminder of our previous experiences on this trip. After buying souvenirs we had some refreshing smoothies.

We then embarked on the long six hour drive to Naggar which was filled with epic scenery, incredible views and predictably, unpredictable roads.

Once we arrived at our hotel, we took in the breathtaking views across the valley and are now hopeful and excited for the trek tomorrow.

Mrs P would just like to add what an absolute pleasure it has been to have this group of students on this trip. They are a real credit to themselves, their parents and our school.

These past few days have been quite a challenge with a hike into the Himalaya’s which proved to be quite difficult, but at the same time came with beautiful scenery and moving views.

We reached the campsite after 2 hours of gruelling climbing, constantly uphill, where we set up camp at about 2600m and relaxed with some chai and discussed the sustainable development goals in relation to what we had seen during our journey in India.

The day ended with some card games and an introduction to the huge number of insects attracted to the camp lights that Samarth handled expertly to rescue and release back outside.
Overnight, the sound of the pack horses grazing, and the crickets in the trees made for a less than quiet night’s rest, and the trip to the toilet tent was definitely a character building experience!

The second day began with an early breakfast, and then a hike up to 3000m in height where we reached a tranquil meadow and could see the clouds start to cover. It was a real achievement to get to this height for many of us, and dome of the group began to feel the effects of the altitude before descending back down to camp for lunch. The rest of the day included some much-needed sleep.

Unfortunately, Katie and Mrs P had to descend back to the relative comforts of the hotel at 1700m due to some suspected altitude sickness and look forward to being back with the group tomorrow.

Today we started the day by packing up our camp then proceeding to trek downhill. It was very steep, but we completed it within around 45 minutes with a few little breaks. We got back to the hotel where we were all able to shower and nap on a proper bed – so much more appreciated after two nights in a tent!

We had stir fry noodles and rice for lunch and fantastic pizzas to celebrate the trek being over for dinner, which were delicious. We spent the rest of the day relaxing in our hotel rooms and playing card games. Due to the climate, the amount of continual hydration needed in order to prevent fatigue caught some of our group by surprise.

Saturday was a lovely chilled rest day, to reflect, sleep and pack up. We said a big thank you to the guides in Mcleod Ganj and prepare for the first part of our onward journey home tomorrow by heading for Amritsar.

We set off bright and early on a long adventure down the mountainous terrain to Amritsar.

As the altitude decreased the temperature increased and the landscape around us changed. After a long six hour drive we finally arrived at the hotel where we were pleasantly surprised and pleased to find air conditioned rooms.

Today, was our final morning. We had an early start again as we visited the Golden Temple which is the main temple of worship in the Sikh religion. We got see how people from all around the world volunteer by making and serving food, and cleaning up afterwards, unfortunately we were not able to partake of the food, however it looked and smelled incredible. The kitchen within the Golden Temple is open 24 hours a day 365 days a week and serves up to 150,000 people every day. The volunteers are dedicated to delivering good quality food for anyone at any time. This was a very eye-opening experience. We were humbled to volunteer and help make chapatis.

We then finished our perambulation around the Golden Temple, and did some final shopping before completing our trip review at the hotel.

All in all it has been a great trip!