The cloudy mountains of north west Vietnam

I am sitting in Bangkok with 10 hours top fill in until I get a connecting flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka. What better way to use my time than write about another mountain range which I have visited and climbed in: the Hoang Lien San Range in Vietnam..

The Hoang Lien San range of mountains lies in the north west of Vietnam. The range stretches from the Yunnan highlands in China to Hoa Binh province in Vietnam, 160 km long and at its broadest 3km wide.

On a rare day, the cloudy and misty high summit of Fansipan reveals itself towering above all others at 3140 metres.

Hoang Lien National Park is drained by the Muong Hoa and Ta Trung Ho rivers, which feed the Nam Po River and, finally, the Song Hong (Red) river. The forest has an essential role in water catchment protection, particularly the forest at high altitudes, which is frequently covered in cloud. Water condenses on the vegetation and falls as ‘occult’ precipitation. Occult precipitation makes a major contribution to stream-flow during the dry season when rainfall is low.

A map which gives the location of Sapa, Lao Cai and cao Bang, key places in the foothills of the Hoang Lien San range

The highest post peak is Mt. Fansipan at 3140 metres and quite and arduous climb which affords a marvellous view into China and Laos and of course over north-west Vietnam.

Culturally, this is a very diverse area where many ethnic minorities live. Here at the final camp on Mt. Fansipan, a female Black H'Mong guide leads a party of foreigners

When I climbed Mt.Fansipan, it was a joy seeing young Vietnamese and other foreigners such as a Sri Lankan lady on the right, getting out and enjoying the Hoang Lien San range. This camp is at 2,800 metres on Mt. Fansipan.

Not only is it a land of misty mountains but spectacular waterfalls.

Rice fields dot the foothills of the Hoang Lien San range

I stayed a night at the  Topas Ecolodge which works with local minorities in the Sapa area and the surrounding Hoang Lien mountains to create a mutually rewarding relationship. They support the education of children in the local area, and respect local leaders and local natural resources. In addition  they are committed to sustainable environmental development, and continuously seek environmentally friendly products and services. I was impressed with Ecolodge as they serve as a great role model for other businesses. They helped me with some of my booking and are an excellent travel agency with outstanding staff. For more information click here:

Access from Hanoi is easy and comfortable as you can travel by train overnight in a 4-berth sleeper at  US$ 37 one way.

With frequent showers experienced as you travel about the mountains, there is always a tea shop where you can get a 'cuppa' and a meal.

Sapa is the town in the heart of the Hoang Lien mountains and a good starting point for your travels.

Sunrise over the Hoang Lien mountains from the Ecolodge.

Fansipan or Fanxipan is a climb I would recommend to anyone with a good level of fitness, able to walk uphill for 5 hours each day.

Memories of breakfast with Margaret Mahy

I arrived in Hanoi an hour ago after an overnight train trip from Lao Cai on the Chinese border and on checking the NZ news, found that Margaret Mahy died yesterday. Here is something I wrote some years back when I had breakfast with Margaret at her home.
 

“We are leaving in an hour to live on a tropical island for a long time, and I am giving you a box to pack your books in. You can only take ten,“ I said to Margaret Mahy as we sat on her balcony at Governor’s Bay overlooking treetops and bush, towards the sea.
“Ohhh, that’s going to be difficult to chose, “ she said, as a smile broadened on her face.
She thought hard as she gazed into the bush. “I’ll have to take something of Dickens,” and deliberated.
“King Solomon’s Mines is a must: I like Rider Haggard very much.”
And, I will have something by Lewis Carrol, perhaps Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass,” Margaret said quite excitedly. She decided on Alice.
Her dog Honey sat at her feet as we talked.

“Will I have food on the island so shall I take a cookbook? “ she asked. “You will be provided good food on the island so don’t worry about taking a cook book,” I replied enjoying this game.

Margaret Mahy, pictured left, was obviously enjoying herself as the warm winter sun shone on the balcony and warmed us up. My daughter Aroha and friend Lisa were with us enjoying the sun.

“That’s three books,” I said and sat back in my chair and waited.

“ I’ll have to take The Flint Heart for that is such a good book” Suddenly I felt embarrassed. I have never heard of The Flint Heart. Margaret sensed my disquiet and gave us a brief summary of the book written by Eden Philpotts and how the hunter found a large rock, and when he broke it open, there was a flint heart.

“ I suppose I should take the Bible.” That was five books. I noticed there were none on poetry and humour and waited.

Eventually she decided on two poetry books, one on English poets and another, an anthology of poets from all over the world. We were now up to seven.
I said, “ Margaret, you haven’t chosen any books that are solely humour.” She thought awhile and said, “what would you recommend ?” I didn’t have to think for long as I rattled off, “ A Dustbin of Milligan by Spike Milligan.”

She laughed and said “ He’s so funny and I loved the Goon Show.” She agreed to take Spike Milligin. Somehow we both ran out of steam and the game was over. But that is Margaret Mahy, the child who in her youth, her favourites were The Flint Heart by Eden Philpotts, The Jungle Book and Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines with the stoic Allan Quatermain crossing the desert to the mythical diamond mines. And then there was Kipling.

We discussed Glover at length and I was pleased she had the same high opinion of him as a poet, printer and publisher. I told her she was the third top NZ writer I had met. She quickly rose to the bait, and said “ Who were the others?.”
I told Margaret I met Denis Glover in 1973 when he worked in Lower Hutt at the Correspondence Institute and he autographed my copy of his book, Enter Without Knocking. Then when I lived at Franz Josef, I visited Kiri Hume a number of times and one night we drank two bottles of whiskey together. Her eyes twinkled and said, “ I would have like to have been there.”

Earlier in the morning we ate breakfast together, in her old house next to her new one, where her friend Lisa Anson lives. Lisa is an old friend of mine who invited me out for breakfast and said, " You may get the chance to meet Margaret."
Over bacon and eggs, we discussed poetry, but in reality we were trading poems, one by one. I quoted two verses from my favourite Robert Frost, The Bearer of Evil Tidings.


He took the one to the mountains.
He ran through the Vale of Cashmere,
He ran through the rhodendrons,
Till he came to the land of Pamir.
And there in a precipice valley
A girl of his age he met
Took him home to her bower
Or he might be running yet.

Margaret responded with one of her favourites from Banjo Paterson -
A Job for McGuinness

Oh, it's dreadful to think in a country like this
With its chances for work - and enjoyment
That a man like McGuinness was certain to miss
Whenever he tried for employment
.
He wrote to employers from Bondi to Bourke,
From Woolloomooloo to Glen Innes,
But he found - though his wife could get plenty of work -
There was never a job for McGuinness.

But perhaps - later on - when the Chow and the Jap
Begin to drift down from the tropics,
When a big yellow stain spreading over the map
Provides some disquieting topics,

Oh, it's then when they're wanting a man that will stand
In the trench where his own kith and kin is,
With a frown on his face and a gun in his hand -
Then there might be a job for McGuinness!

The few hours I had with Margaret Mahy were fascinating. A delightful woman with an impish sense of humour, and so unpretentious. We must have traded six or seven poems, volleying like young Wimbledon players. I feel she won with her passion and accuracy
She was deeply interested in my work over the years for Red Cross and she modestly told me how she had given a lot of support to UNICEF.

Before I left I presented her with my book on Afghanistan, Mountains of our Minds which includes poems I wrote and photos I took. I read her my favourite, Refugee Woman. Margaret asked many questions and displayed a child-like curiosity during our time together.
For those of you who don't know Margaret, here is what the NZ Book Council has to say: Margaret Mahy is the most acclaimed of New Zealand’s children’s writers. The author of more than 120 titles, and translated into 15 languages, Margaret has readers across the globe. She worked as a librarian for more than 10 years before becoming a full-time writer. Mahy’s books ring with humour, fantasy, adventure, science and the supernatural, but always engage with the ordinary world. Awarded the Order of New Zealand in 1993, she has also won many of the world’s major prizes for children’s writers, including the Carnegie Medal and the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award.
I sensed Margaret needed to get back to her writing, so Lisa, Aroha and I took her dog, Honey, for a long walk over the Port Hills. On the way back to Christchurch I stopped into to have afternoon tea with Colin and Betty Monteath. Colin is a prolific writer on Antarctica and mountaineering. That, and many other experiences, during my one month long holiday in New Zealand will have to wait. I returned to Jakarta last Saturday night, inspired. That world famous children's writer Margaret Mahy left a huge impression on me. I am scrambling to find a copy of The Flint Heart

Dispatches from Hanoi

I walked the streets for some hours and I got glimpses of the Vietnam I knew of old with narrow streets with women carrying loads on poles. Much of Hanoi is modern and appears to be thriving economically.

I greatly enjoyed visiting Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex and meeting an old soldier (right) who worshiped Ho Chi Minh. With his son left. People are so friendly.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the surrounding museum, parks, pagodas  is a splendid memorial to one of te greatest leaders of the 20th century.

.

A young lady fanning herself at the side of  Hoan Kiem Lake allowed me to take her picture. In fact, so many women, who were with their husbands and partners, wanted to have their photo taken with me as I walked aroiund three different lakes. They always asked where I am from, and when i said said Tân Tây Lan, New Zealand, they giggled.




There were so many highlights today but going to the Temple of Literature was brilliant

The Temple of Literature (Vietnamese: Văn Miếu, Hán tự: 文廟) is a temple of Confucius in Hanoi, northern Vietnam. The temple hosts the "Imperial Academy" (Quốc Tử Giám, 國子監), Vietnam's first national university. The temple was built in 1070 at the time of King Lý Nhân Tông. It is one of several temples in Vietnam which are dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars. The Temple is located to the south of Thang Long Citadel. The various pavilions, halls, statues and stelae of doctors are places where offering ceremonies, study sessions and the strict exams of the Dai Viet took place. The temple is featured on the back of the 100000 Vietnamese đồng banknote. Just before the Vietnamese New Year celebration Tết, calligraphists will assemble outside the temple and write wishes in Hán tự. The art works are given as gifts or are used as home decorations for special occasions. Thanks to Wiki for this.

The shrine dedicated to Confucius inside the main temple.

At the Temple of Literature, the woodwork, stone work and gables and tiling was so impressive. Above, the ancient sliding doors remind us of a craft long forgotten.

b



The seats where the sages, scholars and doctors sat to discuss matters of great scientific, cultural, artistic and literary importance.

The one pillar Pagoda in the Ho Chi Minh complex constructed in 1049.

I visited so many other places today but to cap it off, there was a delightful end to the day with colours streaking the sky. Thank God there is a tomorrow with so much to see and do,

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Dispatches from Hanoi

I walked the streets for some hours and I got glimpses of the Vietnam I knew of old with narrow streets.with women carrying loads on poles. Much of Hanoi is modern and appears to be thriving economically.

I greatly enjoyed visiting Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex and meeting an old soldier (right) who worshiped Ho Chi Minh. With his son left. People are so friendly.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the surrounding museum, parks, pagodas  is a splendid memorial to one of te greatest leaders of the 20th century.

.

A young lady fanning herself at the side of  Hoan Kiem Lake allowed me to take her picture. In fact, so many women, who were with their husbands and partners, wanted to have their photo taken with me as I walked aroiund three different lakes. They always asked where I am from, and when i said said Tân Tây Lan, New Zealand, they giggled.




There were so many highlights today but going to the Temple of Literature was brilliant

The Temple of Literature (Vietnamese: Văn Miếu, Hán tự: 文廟) is a temple of Confucius in Hanoi, northern Vietnam. The temple hosts the "Imperial Academy" (Quốc Tử Giám, 國子監), Vietnam's first national university. The temple was built in 1070 at the time of King Lý Nhân Tông. It is one of several temples in Vietnam which are dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars. The Temple is located to the south of Thang Long Citadel. The various pavilions, halls, statues and stelae of doctors are places where offering ceremonies, study sessions and the strict exams of the Dai Viet took place. The temple is featured on the back of the 100000 Vietnamese đồng banknote. Just before the Vietnamese New Year celebration Tết, calligraphists will assemble outside the temple and write wishes in Hán tự. The art works are given as gifts or are used as home decorations for special occasions. Thanks to Wiki for this.

The shrine dedicated to Confucius inside the main temple.

At the Temple of Literature, the woodwork, stone work and gables and tiling was so impressive. Above, the ancient sliding doors remind us of a craft long forgotten.

b



The seats where the sages, scholars and doctors sat to discuss matters of great scientific, cultural, artistic and literary importance.

The one pillar Pagoda in the Ho Chi Minh complex constructed in 1049.

I visited so many other places today but to cap it off, there was a delightful end to the day with colours streaking the sky. Thank God there is a tomorrow with so much to see and do,

A pilgrimage to Vietnam

In a few hours I leave Colombo for Bangkok, and then fly on to Hanoi. I am excited as I pilgrim to this beautiful country with so many batches of memories, dreams and experiences that laid a foundation for me for what has turned out to be a long humanitarian career.The photo above was taken in Saigon in 1971, school schools wearing beautiful Ao Dai, and old French Taxis.

The New Zealand Red Cross IDP team in 1971. I am the one with the beard 2nd from left at the back.


How did I get to Vietnam ? In November 1970  I returned to New Zealand after spending 13 months in Antarctica as a Scientific technician, wintering over with three other men, and I was looking for work overseas with a humanitarian organisation. Luckily I was interviewed and accepted to join the 4th New Zealand Red Cross Refugee Welfare Team, resettling displaced people in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

We worked in An Khe in 1971 and later in Pleiku and Khontum with the Montagnard people. Photo above and below.

For our medical staff, a lot of our Red Cross work was with victims of land mines and traffic accidents

Amputees used to turn up at house in Pleiku and ask for help. Here, one of our surgeons, Dr. Paul Sutherland looks at how to improve a stump so a prosthesis can be fitted. We would save up all the difficult orthopedic cases and bring over NZ surgeons once a year who gave their holiday time in the operation  theaters. Even our  President of the New Zealand Red Cross in the early 70s Mr. Wynn Beazley, a leading surgeon would come and set a great example for other Red Cross volunteers.

This was a common scene in 1971. Binh Dinh province. Will I see changes?

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

Launch of next phase of the Indian Housing Project in Sri Lanka

The High Commission of India signed agreements today to award work to four Implementing Agencies (IAs), viz., UN-HABITAT, International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in partnership with Sri Lanka Red Cross, National Housing Development Agency (NHDA) of the Government of Sri Lanka and Habitat for Humanity, Sri Lanka signaling the launch of the next phase of the Indian Housing Project for 43,000 housing units in Northern and Eastern Provinces. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Hon. Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development and H.E. Ashok K. Kantha, High Commissioner of India.

Anurag Srivastava (r) and Bob McKerrow IFRC (l) signing the Indian Housing Project agreement with Hon. Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development and H.E. Ashok K. Kantha, High Commissioner of India and Shri P. Kumaran Deputy High Commissioner, witnessing the signing.(photo courtesy Min. of Economic Development)

 The four IAs have been selected on the basis of their experience and expertise in implementing similar projects in Sri Lanka, through a competitive process following the Expression of Interest route. The signing of these agreements paves the way to commence immediate implementation of this Project on the ground.

      In this phase, which will be implemented under the owner-driven model, beneficiaries will be selected through a transparent and norm-based process on the basis of clearly defined and objective criteria. These beneficiaries will undertake the construction/repair of their houses with necessary technical assistance and support provided by the IAs. Funds will be released directly by the High Commission of India into bank accounts of beneficiaries based on certification of progress of work. An owner-driven approach has been followed on the basis of preferences of the Government of Sri Lanka, people on the ground as well as project objectives of contributing to livelihood activities.

      This phase is expected to meet bulk of the housing needs in these areas. In the last phase of the project, which is also expected to commence soon, about 6,000 houses will be directly built by construction agencies for people from most vulnerable sections of IDPs in the Northern and Eastern provinces and for estate sector in the Central and Uva Provinces.

This has been a team effort with everyone with experience and expertise contributing to the best methodology for building 43,000 quality owner-driven houses with the generous funding from the Indian Government. Anurag Srivastava from the Indian High Commission centre, Keti Khurtsia (r) from IFRC, and David Evans (l) UN Habitat at the signing ceremony tonight.

        The construction of 43,000 houses for resettlement and rehabilitation of IDPs in Northern and Eastern Provinces is part of the overall commitment to build 50,000 houses announced by Prime Minister H.E. Dr. Manmohan Singh during the State visit of the President of Sri Lanka to India H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa in June 2010. This commitment also formed part of the Joint Declaration issued in New Delhi during the visit.

       In order to ensure early operationalisation of this commitment, a pilot phase for the construction of 1,000 houses in the five districts of Northern Province was launched in November 2010. 950 houses have already been completed under the pilot phase, most of which have been handed over to beneficiaries. The remaining houses will be completed by the end of this month.

This is the type of owner driven house that will be built under the Indian Housing project (IHP). 43,000 will be built in total under IHP. This house is one of 3000 constructed by the Sri Lanka Red Cross under its current programme, who will be the IFRC partner in the IHP. Photo: Bob McKerrow

      
The Indian Housing Project is being carried out in close consultation with and cooperation of the Government of Sri Lanka. A Memorandum of Understanding was earlier signed on 18 January 2012 between the two governments covering various aspects of project implementation. The entire Project is under full grant assistance of the Government of India with a total outlay of SLR 30.6 billion (approx. US $ 270 million). 

Friends, books and Himalaya

Two of my closest friends arrived last night from New Delhi,: Anuj and Rajni Bahri Malhotra, 'The Booksellers of New Delh.' I have been buying books from Bahrisons Bookshop in Delhi since the 1980, a shop started by Anuj's father, Balraj, who still works today, in his mid eighties. Today Anuj, supported by Rajni, runs a number of successful bookshops in Delhi under the Bahrisons branding and is a leading publisher through india reserach press and Tara Press.  Anuj is Colombo to spend time with me and is also the guest speaker this aftenoon at the AGM of the Sri Lanka book publishers association.

Anuj introduced me to Sidhbari, which has become my most favorite village in the Himalayas and published two of my books. Below a photo of Rajni and Anuj..

Sidhbari, Himachal Pradesh looking at the Dhaula Dhar mountains. Photo: Bob McKerrow

 My first visit to Sidhbari in July 2003 left a huge imprssion on me, so much that I have been back eight times. Here is what I wrote in my diary at that time:

 "Anuj's house overlooking the Dhaula Dhar mountains, Norbulinka Tibetan Institute, Gyuto Monastery and only 30 minutes from Dharamsala and 50 minutes from McLeod Ganj. A very famous Hindu temple is nearby on a river bank and not far away is the Chinmaya Mission Trust where Swami Chinmayananda, a very enlightened Swami, lived until his death.

Anuj's house also overlooks a spread-eagled slate-roofed village surrounded by beautifully sculptured rice fields on sickle-shaped terraces. Women in bright coloured clothing often or not yellow and red, work in the fields."


Anuj's house in Sidhbari. Fresh snow has just fallen on the Dhaula Dar mountains. Photo: Bob McKerrow

It was fun to travel and live with Anuj for a week or so in an Indian village where you have the 'real local village people' living side by side with 'the pretenders' - artists, writers and other interesting people who have left big city life behind to come to the tranquillity of this green, fertile mountain region to write, paint and find the 'truth,' or to get screwed up in thought and mind by not finding it.


Bamri, Baldrick and Rikhi Ram

But like every house in India, you need a Bamri:  cook, watchman and bottle washer, who brings a character of Baldrick proportions into the household. A Sad Sack figure with sallow cheeks and missing teeth, looking as if he is in the advanced stages of TB. However Anuj assures me he is not ill, but has made a skeleton of himself through his regular encounters with local village women who cheat him of his hard-earned money, with the promise of marriage. His first wife deserted him and the proposed second, ran away with his money. Now he is on the prowl for a third.

Bamri; bumbling, clumsy and likeable, brought a sense of humour that only a hill village man can do.

The day after I arrived I met Rikhy Ram who worked 26 years in the Indian army intelligence service as a photographer on border patrols and spent most of his time in the mountain region of Bhutan, Sikkim, North Eastern Indian border areas and these local mountains.


Rikhy Ram right, me on the left, studying maps of the region Photo: Anuj Bahri

On 8 and 9 March 1959 Rikhy was in Tawang Gompa when the 14th Dalai Lama crossed from Tibet into Arunchal Pradesh via Bhimla. He was part of the group that ensured the team crossed safely. I later found out that the 6th Dalai Lama was born in Tawang Gompa which is now inside India and not far from the border of Bhutan.

He later spent 3 years on the Tibetan border between 1973 and 75. He climbed 3 peaks in Bhutan, Chomolasari, 23,997 feet, not far from Phari Dzong, which is across the border in Tibet, He also did the first ascent of two other smaller peaks, Kungphu 22,300 ft, Chachiphula 20,702 ft(formerly called Yala) and Wagyala (20, 163 ft).

It seems his work was intelligence of a sort, or as I would say in my parlance the 'modern great gamer'; checking the borders between the Tibet/China and Bhutan and India, getting good photographic information. In later life he worked in Himachal Pradesh in the Pir Panjal and Dhuala Dhar, mapping mountains on foot and through aerial surveys. Interestingly enough, he was in the Congo from 61 to 63 and was a member of the search and rescue mission which helped bring the body of Dag Hammarskjöld, the then Secretary of the UN, from Angola back to Leopoldville. He also spent four month in New York and I am sure he wasn't working for McDonald's although Kohli in his book 'Spies in the Himalayas' would believe this suggestion.

Anuj and I had lunch with Rikhy in his home where he lovingly brought out old and worn maps of all the areas he had worked in and the maps were neatly, and lovingly, made into a book, and all carefully arranged and numbered. The maps on Bhutan were particularly interesting with all the places he stayed and visited, the peaks he climbed and the routes he took, all neatly marked in red dotted lines.

As he unfolded the maps, he unfolded his past locked in his heart and mind for years. Sharing journey's with a fellow mountain wayfarer over a map doesn't need a common verbal language because maps and markings tell a story visually. Remnants of curries and dahl had in mountain camps were evident by the stains on the map which only added to the inuendo behind the intrigue. I am sure no one will ever know precisely what Riky did. Maybe he didn't know exactly the nature of his missions, planned in Lurgan Sahib's house in Shimla.



The Dhaula Dhar mountains dominate

Not far from Anuj's house lives Khosa and his wife Lakshmi, a famous Indian artist, A Kashmiri pandit, whose painting represent the journey and transition from this life to the metaphysical and he gets a lot of his inspiration from the Upanishards,(sp) early Hindu literature and Rumi the famous Islamic Sufi poet. Anuj's immediate neighbour is a Gorkha, Onkar, whose grandparents moved from Nepal to Himachal Pradesh. On the first night we arrived an impromptu party started as Onkar arrived, then Khosa. At first Onkar turned up at his nose at the wine I had brought, saying "that's a woman's drink, we drink whiskey or rum here."

But as the night wore on, there were lots of empty bottles of the "women's drink" I had brought from my local wine shop in Delhi as Khosa drifted into a spirit-inspired trance where in front of our eyes, he made a transition journey to the metavinacal, a journey even Bachhus would have envied. In his trance, we couldn't communicate with him and Anuj had to escort him home to ensure night-flying Nun's from the nearby Tibetan Monastery, didn't capture his Hindu spirit.

We spent one day going to Dharamsala and onto McLeod Ganj where the Dalai Lama lives. Dharamsala is a typical dirty hill town but once you leave the town, and climb up towards McLeod Ganj, the landscape becomes quite spectacular when looking down to the lowland rice fields shrouded in morning mists, and then upwards, nestled on a tree-clad ridge at over 7,000 feet, is McLeod Ganj, the residence of the 14 th Dali Lama. We spent time at the Tsuglagkhung complex where the Dalai lama lives, visited the temple, watched the monks in their daily debating contests and generally imbibed the ambiance. For a head of state, a people who are exiled in a foreign country, the Tibetan's have established a powerful cultural and economic presence in this area.

However, I made the mistake of visiting the Norbulinka Monastry the day before which is a superb piece of Tibetan architecture, with a Japanese Buddhist influence which gives an air of tranquillity stemming from a combination of elements, the gardens and its trees, waterfalls, streams and the sky and recent rain puddles, and, at the end of a shady walk, is a wonderful temple with a huge golden Buddha. A photo of the Dalai Lama is placed over a covered pulpit from where he delivers sermons when he visits. The elevated situation of McLeod Ganj was impressive, but I found little of inspiration. Norbulinka radiated more of the aura I had expected.

Other interesting places close to Anuj's house in Sidhbari is a place called YOL, which stands for 'Your Own Lines' and was the place where Italian prisoners of war were transported to during the second world war. You can still see they houses build out of stone. Another special place not far from McLeod Ganj is a small English-built church called ' St John of the Wilderness.' It was built in 1853 and many famous soldiers, explorers and surveyors are buried here. James Bruce, Earl of and Elgin and Kilcardine K.T.G.C.B.G.M.S.I. VICEROY AND GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA was buried here and a memorial erected by his wife.
























Throughout Himachal Pradesh, the women are usually dressed in bright colours. Photo: Bob McKerrow

A number of other young British soldiers in once bloody, now romantic battles of a past long gone, have either commemoration tablets of graves. One that I recall was Lieutenant R.D.Angelo 'who died at Wano, Wazirstan 30 November 1894 of wounds he received in action against the Mahsuds.' (I am sure many of their descendants are still rabble-rousers)

It took me back to the lines from Kipling

'A scrimmage in a border station -

A canter down some dark defile -

Two thousand pounds of education

Drops to a ten-rupee jezail -

The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,' Shot like a rabbit in a ride !


As I have worked, trekked and climbed in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, I am fascinated by the mountain river systems. With partition, these mighty rivers had international boundaries pushed on them. Punjab - the land of five rivers were originally referred to as the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej and Beas, but with partition, the Beas flows only in India, so to keep the name Punjab correct, Pakistan added a fifth river to replace the Beas, the Indus. I have crossed the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab and the Ravi, so it was a thrill to travel for more than an hour alongside one of the main tributaries to the Beas River, and to cross it twice to and from my trip to Sidhbari.

Mountains, rivers, food, people, bird-life, bustling villages and towns and peaceful temples are all vivid memories. I especially enjoyed exploring a few of the mountain streams and rivers and looking at the ice carved and water worn rocks that have been shaped over millions of years. See photo below.

Mcleodganj

My travelling companion Anuj Bahri outside the money changer in Mcleeodganf. Photo: Bob McKerrow

As we left Dharmsala for Delhi, we witnessed a marvellous sunset. Photo: Bob McKerrow

Rather than return the usual route through Una, Anandpur and Ropar to Umbella, we took the route into heartland Punjab via Jullunder and Ludhiana and then onto Umbella

The vegetarian Thali in my favourite food when dining in the Punjab. The taste and variety is so moreish. Photo: Bob McKerrow

We stopped at a roadside  Havelli near Ludhiana and found this rather impressive Sikh inviting us in. Photo:

Punjabi brass ware: Photo Bob McKerrow