In Tents. In Winter. On the Himalayas.

COUNTRY: India, Palampur
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Health
WRITTEN BY: Hayley Hall

When the windy, worn-out roads suddenly become entangled with Tibetan
prayer flags you know you have reached the Himalayas.

Pine trees lined
the mountains as colourful paint-stripped houses hid poorly amongst 
the green shrubs. The weather had finally cleared and we were able to 
fill our weekend with an overnight trek. We started walking from Bir
, which was about an hour and a half drive from Palampur. The walk up to
 Billing took about 4 hours and the terrain ranged from grassland, to
 jagged rocks, to snow. Luckily we had guides as it would have taken us
about 12 hours to get there without one. Walking tracks are another
thing that do not seem to exist in India.

 Billing was possibly the coldest place we had all ever experienced. As 
soon as we had cooled down from the walk up it wasn’t long until we
all had about six layers of clothing on, and that was only at 2pm! We
 explored the snow areas for the rest of the afternoon and collected
 firewood for the night’s only source of warmth. After all, we were 
going camping on the Himalayas. In tents. In Winter. On the Himalayas.
We knew we were in for a cold night of sleep (Cold being about -8
degrees). After witnessing the most spectacular sunset, Amit and Bobby
 had joined us for the night, blasting Western and Hindi music from
their car and dancing and chatting until the early hours. In the
morning we were again greeted with perfect weather, ideal for 
paragliding down the mountain. Most people took the plunge and went 
flying over the Himalayas for about 20 minutes, about 2.5 kms above
sea level. Even looking over the mountains’ edge made my toes curl.

Soon enough we were back at weekly placements. Dylan started working 
alongside Amit at the Physiotherapy Clinic in Karan Hospital,
 practicing ultrasound techniques and learning the uses of various
other machines. The students at the hospital got to sit in on some
 surgeries and see Gall Bladders removed which they were very excited
 about. Mo continued her work at Kayakalp with Naturopathy, continuing 
to be exposed to a whole new application of natural therapies
including meditation and accupressure. Damon, Todd, Leanne, Jake and
myself later began our first few days working at the Rotary Disability
 School for mentally challenged children. All children there had 
intellectual disabilities as we were very surprised by their strong
physical capability. Thank goodness the boys had packed some footballs 
with them - playtime was definitely their strong suite.  We had all
been assigned a child to assist with for the next coming week, but
numbers for the school had been low due to past holidays and the cold. 
However, we are looking forward to next week and the increasing number
of students so we can begin running some therapeutic craft activities
and can put some of Leanne’s OT skills into practice.



We also learnt that New Year’s Day was celebrated on the 14th of
 January in India, as we were given a public holiday off placement half
way through the week. So we decided to make a day trip to Dharamasala 
and Macleod Ganj. The girls went into a shopping frenzy merely driving
 through the markets. Even for a public holiday there were many 
treasures to be found. We explored a waterfall nearby which had water
so clear we thought it was a mirage. Damon risked frostbite and
 somehow summoned enough courage to go for a quick swim under it! Then
later we went to the Dalai Llamas sacred temple. When it was time to
leave we had already planned a return trip back. It was a very magical 
place.

We are heading to Amritsar this weekend to see the famous Golden
 Temple and Border Crossing ceremony which we are all very excited
 about. We will keep you posted!