Goodbye Delhi, Hello Manali

I have been so terrible about getting online. I finally got to Manali and met up with the rest of the students. We have been busy getting situated and getting to know each other! I have been keeping a Word Doc that Ive been jotting down what we have done each day in Manali, so that is what Ill post here. I didnt  have time to blog about my last day in Delhi, but here are some photos from the day:

Humayun's tomb

Humayun's Tomb

Raj Ghat, Gandhi's cremation site

Gandhi Smriti, Gandhi's final footsteps before his assasination

 Lotus Temple, one of seven Ba'hai Temples in the world

Saying goodbye to our wonderful staff at Alpina Hotel at 2 am

Jesse, the best cab driver in Delhi

Day 1 Manali:

Jake and I woke up at 1:20 to check out and go to the airport. We said our final goodbyes to the hotel staff, took pictures with them, and hopped in the car with Jesse. Jesse explained to us that Manali will be very different from Delhi: less crowded, cooler, beautiful, and full of hippies.  We got to the airport about 2 hours before we were allowed to check in, so we set up camp against a pillar till 4am. One of the guards offered Jake a baked good, but we discretely threw it away. We survived Delhi Belly for 5 days and we weren’t going to let it get us in the last 3 hours of being there.

Around 4am we started to wander a little looking for any signs of our Study Abroad Group, we found them 25 feet away sleeping in this glass enclosed “Visitor Waiting Area”. We couldn’t enter, but we were just happy to know we had 15 more people along for the journey. Once we checked in, we caught up with the group and I was able to meet everyone. They were all jet lagged from their flights, but they were awake enough to ask a few questions about my trip so far and what they were getting themselves into.

The flight to Kullu was beautiful and the drive to Manali was even more spectacular. We travelled through the large peaks of the Himalayan Mountains in 5 jeep taxis with our luggage tied onto the roof. The immediate mountains were lush and the distant mountains were snowcapped. The road winded along the Beas River, which was full of white water rafters and fishermen. We saw many animals in the middle of the road, people in the towns, and an abundance of marijuana growing on the side of the road (hence the common name “weed”...it grows like a weed here). We were reminded that we could get in a lot of trouble if caught, and to steer clear of individuals that sell it.

We arrived in Manali and were driven to the center of town to our humble abode for the month, Hotel Kanchan Grey. It is conveniently located around the corner from the Lady Willingdon Hospital, one of our volunteer rotations for the trip. The Hotel Kanchan Grey is very simple: spotty electricity and internet, bucket baths (mine are cold), a western toilet (yay!), and two hard mattresses that take some getting used to. We were told that we would be living the simple life for the next month, and to not be totally thrown off if you see some bugs in the room (I can see a big one right now, actually). This hotel was a sharp contrast from the Four Star Alpina Hotel, but I wanted to stay positive and flexible. I’ve learned that being accepting of the situation, makes things much more pleasant. I want to be accepting of this culture and be able to look around and take in the beauty of Northern India.

Side story: I turned in my dirty Delhi clothes to be washed, but Mili grabbed me and told me to take out all undergarments (underwear and bras) because the men may be inappropriate (Jake told me that earlier in the day he saw the men dump out laundry on the ground, find panties, and wave them around inappropriately, who knows what else they would do with them). I took out my undergarments, sat on the steps, and hand washed them in a bucket. Katlyn, one of the other students came out of her room with her notebook and took notes of our surroundings. She laughed at the little things that make India such a different place than America. While washing, I saw a monkey climbing on our roof! I think it’s a girl monkey and I think she lives there.  We have our own little monkey for the month.

 We spent the day working on getting the group acclimated and getting rid of any kinks in the hotel that were preventable. Everyone was pretty cranky given the fact that they had been travelling for over 24 hours, without a hot shower, or internet. They were all experiencing the uncomfortable culture shock that Jake and I experienced, but not in the comforts of a 4 star hotel…I felt for them.

At our briefing breakfast/lunch, we had some sort of mixture between quesadilla and bread while we learned about what we would be doing for the next month. My roommate is Ariel Strumpf, my friend from club lacrosse. We broke the students in the program into 3 different groups, each group doing a different rotation each week. My first week’s assignment is with Heather working in the outskirts of Manali doing a community health project. My second week’s assignment is with Mili working in Lady Willingdon Hospital. My third week’s assignment is with Dr. Judy working and living in a clinic in Jibi, a town ~ 40km away. The last week we will all be together again working on a research project either at a clinic or in the hospital. Our typical day will consist of us volunteering clinically from 8am-2pm and taking class from 3pm-5pm. Weekends and nights are free time for the students.

We walked around town a little, and it was just as Jesse described. A less crowded, much smaller, cooler Delhi. The shops sell similar things, but there is a difference in the clothing. Instead of silk, they tend to sell more wool because we are in the mountains. They speak less English and more Hindi. There is also a lot of Chi Tea. Manali is a touristy town for other Indians because it is cooler, beautiful, filled with adventure sports, and there is Hashish growing naturally. Mili, one of our trip directors was very helpful being that she speaks fluent Hindi. She plans on taking us shopping tomorrow. I need to re-vamp my wardrobe…I took like an outsider/I cannot wear western clothing while volunteering.

I feel like I can find my way back to the hotel if placed in the market area of town, which makes me feel good. Most people know where the “mission hospital” is located, so if I ever get lost, I can ask someone. Should be an interesting month, I think I will learn a lot. Once everyone is acclimated it should be more fun and ill get to know more people in the group.

Its thunderstorming, and we just lost power, so this post will have to be posted later tomorrow… haha this place is crazy. Time for bed!

Home Sweet Home for the month

The Hotel is between a school and a temple. This is the kids saying the National Anthem before the school day begun. Pretty cool, can be seen from my balcony.

Beas River that runs along Manali

It is everywhere.

Mili suggested that we give the child beggars some food instead of rupees. Typically the children will take the rupees and use them for bad habits like smoking. I took this girl to the closest store and bought her a bag of chips. She looked confused. haha

Fruit Stand, wish it were safe to eat it all!

Day 2

Got a lot of shopping done today! I went to the fabric shop, picked a few patterns/fabrics then had the tailor measure me to have two tunics/pants made. We need to wear traditional clothing while working in the hospitals, so Ill have a bunch of new Indian outfits to model when I get home J Went to Old Manali and got a pair of pants that I LOVE. The jewelry is phenomenal here. I am in heaven/want to buy everything/need to wait to buy anything so I don’t blow all my money. Old Manali is beautiful.

Day 3

Woke up early for a run with Guarav and Ariel to Old Manali! We found a stairway that led up to some great views. So we jogged back and told the group at breakfast (where we ate an abundance of pronthas). We discussed some of the cases we may be seeing at the hospital. Dr. Judy visited the day before, and said there were a few anthrax cases showing up in the hospital/area. All the students were very alarmed, but Dr. Judy ensured us that it was okay because it was mainly contracted by the shepherds in the area. We should be seeing some interesting things this trip…

Me and a few others went on a walk up to the highest point via road. We got a better view of the waterfall, and of the snowcapped mountains. There were several gardens filled with colorful roses and walkways. We also made a few dog friends along the way. They seemed to follow us wherever we went. I just wanted to play with them, pet them, and fix their ailments…but I don’t want rabies, so I resisted. There were several men who followed us up the road attempting to gives us a massage with their magical oils. They were insistent, but we ignored them and said no about 25 times. They finally left us alone. After walking around, we met with the rest of the group at a café near the river and enjoyed a few glasses of lychee juice!

After lunch we got to meet Dr. Alexander, the head doctor at the Lady Willingdon Hospital, a missionary hospital (there is a website if you want to google it). We went over our rotations in more detail, got a tour of the hospital, and got to meet some of the staff. They allowed us to view the ICU and many of the other sectors of the hospital. We learned briefly about the Tuberculosis research we would be doing, and that our mapping will require trekking around the mountains. We will be working closely with the busy doctors who see approximately 250-350 patients a day! WOW. We are allowed to be on-call at night if we wish, will be able to observe birthing, emergencies, surgeries, basic care, and infectious disease. This made me so excited. The hospital is very different from the ones in America. They are makeshift and unsanitary. For example, the wheelchair was a plastic chair with wheels taped on the bottom! They do their best to accommodate as many people as they can, so they must be creative.

After our hospital orientation, we naturally gathered outside and discussed how we felt about what we saw. An excellent conversation was brought up about what they would do in the case of a cancer patient or someone with a long term illness (only 50 beds available in the hospital with no oncology unit/specific vaccines or meds). We were told that in towns like these, unless you have a lot of money for other care, individuals diagnosed with potentially deadly diseases will typically accept death early on in the diagnosis. The majority of the people in India are very religious; they accept their fate and don’t fight it. This is extremely different from home.

After the hospital visit, we went to another café in Old Manali and had two things I haven’t had this trip: chocolate cake with ice cream and coffee! We want to go back for some food and drinks. 

So here I am eating some Indian sweets, listening to Bollywood music (we requested dance classes: screw the lightbulb pet the dog), and speaking with ash on gchat. Trekking tomorrow! Better get some shut eye.

Stray dog begging for attn. Noah skeptical.

Sarah and I in a garden.

The beautiful views  of Manali