Day 5 - Wednesday 6 April

Today our voyage took an unexpected twist. After a dreary start at 6:30, we all trudged down to breakfast solemnly mentally trying to prepare ourselves for the wonderful two-hour trek in the blistering heat. Heads hung, we weren’t the cheeriest bunch. But after arriving into breakfast, things started to look up. We were sitting sipping fresh coffee, staring out into the glorifying sunrise behind the astonishing Himalayan Mountains. After our very chilled breakfast, we set off to discover the lost civilization of Tibet.

After a short and scenic drive through the mountains, we arrived at a monastery and I have to admit, monks really are quite cool. This particular monastery was seemingly dedicated to special kinds of art, including sculpting and making striking portraits of a variety of Buddhist figures. We then had a quick yet inspirational talk from a founder of the monastery, who described how he travelled the world to raise money for this monastery he had dedicated his life to.

After we had wrapped up a tad warmer and taken a last few pictures of the beautiful artefacts of the monastery, we returned to the cars to head off to a place we were sure we had gotten away from for the next three weeks of our lives - school! As we arrived at the place we all were dreading, we were once again shocked. Who wouldn’t be if masses of endearing children ranging from new-born to age 18 were all sitting sweetly and innocently grouped together harmoniously, as almost a family?

We toured the school and we were told about how they take in young children and the inspiring stories of house mothers and children themselves. But the highlight of this little visit had to be when we entered the nursery. The small toddlers were playing and laughing, completely carefree and we all decided to go and make a friend. The majority of us really did want to take one of the babies home - they were just that adorable, but somehow it just simply wasn’t allowed. Too soon we had to depart from the infant heaven.

After an exquisite walk amongst mountainous woods which really did make us feel like we were on the set of 'Twilight', we reached a secluded, magical monastery in the middle of nowhere, to be quite frank. We were greeted by a monk with the most life-changing inspiring story I personally have ever heard. He talked about his escape from Tibet where he was a political prisoner. He talked about the challenges he faced and the pain he experienced, yet through it all - through the hurt and the loss of his old life - he held no grudges, He was a truly great man whom, for one, I will never forget.

We then completed a ritual with him performing a Buddhist chant whilst we were blessed with religious scarves, placed incense into their holy fires and then tied prayer scarves to the full trees around, making a wish simultaneously. All in all, with a bit of shopping here and there to try out effective haggling skills, thrown in with private and fun jokes about awkward llamas and then visiting a very traditional Indian restaurant serving Chinese food, it was a successful day.

Jennii Reid

Day 4 - The Indian / Pakistani border - 5 April 2011

By the time we arrived at the border, I was falling asleep standing. The sun was still up but the air was starting to cool as dusk approached. We arrived almost an hour early, but there was plenty to see before the ceremony even started, as the speakers blared Bollywood chart hits and girls, women and grandmothers began to dance in the road.

The changing of the guard itself was impressive, with soldiers strutting their infamous athletic showmanship as they kicked their pencil straight legs past their ears and stood to attention. The crowd crowed and screamed with delight and, in between pauses, I could hear the Pakistani side doing the same. "Long live India" followed by "Long live Pakistan" in counterpoint. Even with the gates opened and the 2 sides shaking hands at the end, I couldn't help but feel an undercurrent of tension in what was an acutely competitive atmosphere.

There is no denying the celebration and patriotism of the cheering nationals, especially considering the changing of the guard is a daily phenomenon, but it still seems ironic that this gesture of peace and desegregation could be typified by such a suspicious and predatory ritual - Indians in red and gold, the Pakistanis in black. Even the cockerel-like headdresses both sides wore reminded me of cockfighting, but somehow all was sealed and potentially even justified by that firm and final handshake.

Jo-Yee Cheung

Day 3 - New Delhi - 3 April 2011

So much of Delhi looks like Malaysia and the Philippines (the only places I can really make a comparison with). Or maybe they look like Delhi? The dusty roads and the indifferent locals, reading a newspaper crouched on haunches at the roadside, pulling carts of swollen fruit, gathering to chat and smoke in front of shops, one man sleeping along the top of a wall with arms behind his snoozing head.

Every so often a green buggy and its daredevil driver zooms past our bus and flipflopped cyclists pedal alongside at regular intervals, seemingly unconcerned by the lackadaisical traffic. This really is the most unpretentious, almost blasé and extraordinarily vibrant place.

Jo-Yee Cheung

Day Two

After being woken up at six thirty by a strange voice on the phone we decided to stay in bed for another twenty minutes. Breakfast was being served at seven so as you can imagine most of us were rushing down to the restaurant for that time. Leaving the hotel at eight we started the day with a rickshaw ride, which was definitely an experience not to forget. Mrs Harvey for the best part of the ride screamed like a crow in poor Leo's ear. Nancy and Izzi's driver was racing with Nadeen and Tayla's driver through the tiny chaotic overcrowded streets of Old Delhi.

After this unique experience we headed for the biggest, oh yes parents, the biggest, Mosque in India, Jama Masjid. We were given special robes to wear which made us look like we were going to the hairdressers 'en masse'. Walking around the Mosque again we were approached for photos by other people and we noticed the intricate architecture on the surrounding towers.

After a few of us had purchased quaint bags for either ourselves or the lucky family and friends, we travelled to a Sikh Gudwara called Banglasahib. It was extremely white and we had to wear headscarves and wash our hands and feet before entering. The Sikhs are generous people and as they offer 20-25,000 people, of any class and religion, food each day, just in this Gudwara alone. We visited the vast kitchens with the huge curry pots and we witnessed how the chipatis were made.

Next, we approached the train station where lots of men offered to carry our suitcases on their heads! We got quite a few looks for this. We were then handed our tickets and waited for our train. Getting on the train was a trail itself as we had to spied the toilets on the way to our seats, we did make it on - do not worry! There were two types of toilets; Western or Indian style, as you can guess we opted for the Western styled one.


Spending the next SEVEN hours on the train was challenging as people, essentially everyone, kept on taking pictures of Leo sleeping, photos to come! Having the train suddenly stop was a surprise to us and after waiting for a considerable amount of time, Mrs Harvey decided to investigate. She discovered that we needed to jump off the train onto the tracks. Now parents, do not fret, we were safe, Mrs Harvey and Miss Jones deemed it safe to jump. We acquired a team of strong rescue men to help us down and to carry our luggage. Climbing down the ladder and jumping onto the tracks was an experience I don't think we will forget in a hurry. When we reached the "station" we were escorted by a number of cars to our hotel. By this time it was well past midnight and we were all extremely tired and reaching our hotel rooms we flopped onto the bed in a sigh of relief.

Day One

Hey guys! It's Leo, Nancy and Nadeen. As you all know we set off from the Botanical Gardens at two in the afternoon. A toilet stop and three Easter eggs later, we arrived at Heathrow airport where Leo and Shalaka were singing "We're going to Heathrow to buy a Heat magazine", which we didn't in the end. Getting through customs was interesting as Jenny almost got arrested for taking photos of security guards. After this already eventful afternoon we were let free in Heathrow to do whatever we pleased. Now, for those of you who haven't been to Heathrow, there are some rather expensive and extravagant shops there. However, we managed to side step some of these...except for Tayla who insisted on looking in ALL of them!

After our first experience of freedom we were herded onto a plane for the next EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS. Nancy managed to acquire the seat with the only non-functioning screen on the entire plane! As for the rest of us we got to watch Sex and the City 2, Horton Hears a Who, Kick-ass, Inception and (just for Nadeen) a few episodes of Friends. To say this was a calm and turbulence free flight would be a major understatement as Nancy, Lois and Caroline managed to show us all what they had for lunch complete with sound effects during the turbulence and getting off the plane! The rest of us blocked out the noise with our headphones and music on full volume; for some of us this was not enough!

Anyhow, after arriving at New Delhi Airport, within the first five minutes, Tayla saw some shopping to do!  Mrs Harvey was not best pleased!  We met Anoop who greeted us with garlands of flowers and an air-conditioned bus.  We were welcomed to our hotel in much the same way, but with bindis and drinks for all.  After refreshing ourselves and some of us (i.e. Tayla) changing our outfits six times because they were deemed inappropriate, we visited the Guhib Minar, which is a tall minaret (‘minar’ meaning ‘tall’) and were told the gruesome tale about the 37 children who were killed after charging down the spiral staircase, hence we weren’t allowed up it, or down it for that matter!  The Minaret was surrounded by decorative towers that were constructed with Hindu statues that had been defaced by Muslims because they don’t worship idols.  We found that some of the people at the site wanted to have pictures taken with us because they don’t often see white tourists, never mind blond ones!  For most of us this was our first taste of India and we were blown away by it.

After a writing session with Mrs Harvey we found out that there was a "club" in the hotel which we were allowed to go to. Now, some of us (Leo) had been up for over 30 hours but still insisted on going. Others however, namely Nancy and Izzi, retreated to their rooms to re-fold their clothes for the next days journey. While the others partied away till nine at night in an empty, Mrs Harvey and Miss Jones sat and watched the girls dance...it was a sad affair.

We've arrived!

Just to say that we have all arrived safely in India.

(Received to blog at 6.52am UK time, Sunday 3 April)

Pre-Existing Medical Conditions

Please make sure that you have registered any pre-existing medical conditions (e.g. asthma) that your daughter may have, with Casterbridge Tours insurance company Travel and General.

They can be contacted on 0845 4080585.  Our trip policy number is UKED111551.  

STOP PRESS: INDIVIDUAL JOURNAL COMPETITION

While we are away, you are all expected to be completing a range of writing activities, so

*DO NOT FORGET YOUR WRITING THINGS*

I would like you also to collect your thoughts and feelings about the places we see in a personal journal. You will be able to refine these and type these up when you get back, and to add postcards, drawings and photographs (whatever you want really) to make a really wonderful record of your adventure.

There will be an impressive prize for the best one!! Go4It!