Matt's Indian Expedition

This is one last message just to say thanks to everyone who helped me achieve this fantastic journey, including all my team-mates. It has to be the most worthwhile thing that I have done in my life so far. If anyone wants to contact me just email me. Thanks once again,

Matt

After the Trek phase we traveled back to Delhi for the R&R phase of the expedition. We got a flight back to Delhi instead of a bus as this would allow us more time to see the sights back in Delhi. We found that after the relative cool of Leh that Delhi was like a steamroom. The smells were also a lot different than we remembered as well, very pungent indeed. The day after we arrived we travelled by train down to Agra in order to see the Taj Mahal. On the way we had an interesting experience when our train split in half. We had to wait for several hours in the mid day heat for a new carriage to put between the two that were broken in order that we could carry on.

It was an interesting experience to say the least sitting with my legs hanging out of the open doorway looking out over the verdant green of Indian farmland whilst traveling at about 50 miles an hour. I'm not quite sure it complies to European health and safety regulations.

Once we arrived at Agra we tooka short taxi ride to the Taj Mahal. Although I thought it was smaller than it it looked in photos it was still a magnificent piece of Asian architecture. What most people forget is the magnificent gate ways into the Taj Mahal almost as big and nearly as ornate and splendiferous. After walking around and taking the obligatory photos we went to have some lunch in a rooftop cafe. We went up the stairs and turned aropund and there it was towering over the rest of the city the Taj Mahal, turns out we needn't have paid to get in, we could've just gone up there.

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After a long train journey back to Delhi we were glad of some rest.
The next day was spent looking for last minute presents for everyone back home, and of course looking for bargain designer clothes for ourselves. It suprising how many designer outlets there are there.

After a hard days shopping we had a final meal together to celebrate what a fantastic time we all had.

The plane journey back was one of mixed emotions, sad to be leaving but also glad to be going home, to cool sedate and most of all pleasantly smelling England

This was it, the major challenge of the whole expedition. It was also the bit I had the most mixed feelings about. I'm not what you would call the most athletic of people and therefore I was a little daunted about treking up to 5200m. We started off in some narrow valleys that were reasonably green with vegetation. As we wound our way up the valleys the river shrunk and turned into a stream and finally it turned into a trickle. There were some serious climbs at various points on the way that made all of us out of breath. But the feeling I got when I had climbed the high passes was unbelievable, I was on the verge of tears it was that emotional....along with the fact that I still needed the toilet it was an unforgettable experience!

The project was basically a chance to do what ever we wanted with a local school to improve its looks. We chose to help out the local school by painting the dull classrooms and making them much more appealing to work in. The best part about the project phase was meeting the local kids who went to the school. Considering the kind of place they had to learn in it was realy amazing to see them so happy. We had games of cricket and football with them and they even helped with the painting. Of course they ended up painting us as well.

It was during the project phase that we first sampled the excellent cooking that we were to have during the trekking phase.

We left the hotel at 6.00 on the morning of Day 7 in order to get the bus to Leh. The journey went well until about 2 hours into the trip when we had to get out of the bus and take our kit up the hill due there being a rockfall on the road. Once we made it up to the other bus we had to wait for it to be refuelled. So we took this oportunity to top up our tans by sunning ourselves on the rocks overlooking the valley.

After the bus was refuelled it had to be turned to face the right way. This involved it doing a three point turn on a very narrow road resulting in the picture you see below,

One of our team was on that bus, he didn't realise quite what had happened until someone showed him a picture.

The rest of the journey for that day was a mix of sharp turns (some too sharp for the local lorry drivers)...

...and magnificent views.

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Eventually after about ten hours in the bus we stopped at a small shanty town where the 'hotels' were permanent tents. We had a game of cricket with the locals and spent the night playing cards.

The second days travelling passed much the same as the first apart the bus didn't hang over the edge of the road as much. The journey is better expressed in pictures.

This is where we started to go over the second highest motorable road in the world. At over 5500m I was starting to suffer from altitude sickness in a bad way, namely vomiting and intense head aches , however I wouldn't have missed the journey for the world.

As you can the see the change in scenery was drammatic and surprised us all. We eventually pulled into Leh in the dark and we managed to find a hotel. Albeit we had to fit six people into a double room. Luckily it would only be for one night

After arriving in Manali after the 16 hour bus journey we were really tired and it didn't help to be accosted by twenty local businesmen offering various taxis, hotels and restaurants. We managed to gather our wits and seek out a reasonable hotel. Once we found one most of us including some of the leaders sat down exhausted in the lobby whilst we waited for rooms. The view from ours was fantastic, we could see, when the clouds went away, all the way down the valley. Walking down the street one day we saw an elephant just standing there. A couple of days later we saw another, we got quite used to them in the end. We went on a couple of acclimatisation treks in order to get used to the altitude. There were many more good views to be had here.

Most evenings we ate in restaurants that had a wide range of cuisine. They had Tibetan specialities including Then-Thuk, Mo-mo's and Thukpa, a huge range of chinese dishes and of course a huge selection of Indian food from all over the sub continent. I decided to have one evening the spiciest curry they had to offer and I asked for it to be made extra spicy. When it came I tried it sparingly. My first thought was,"It's not that bad" then the after burner kicked in and my mouth burned.

On one of the day treks we visited gallery of local art. It was fantastice to an example of local culture whilst looking out on gorgeous vistas. After 3 days of relaxing we were about to experiance our second bus journey, 2 days long.

Arriving in Delhi was a bit of a shock, the heat and humidity not helped by the fact that we had to take a half hour's taxi ride to get into the centre of Delhi. The sights and smells of the city were unbelivable along with the amount of car horns that were being used excessively. The Indian drivers seemed to think that an open road required the use of a car horn to fill it up. We sat on the side of the street with our bags for six hours whilst we waited for the bus that would take us to Manali. We took it in turns to go and explore the local area. We got to know that stretch of street quite well over time. We also discovered a McDonald's. It was actually a lot cleaner and the staff were friendlier and spoke better English than in some of their restaurants here in England. At seven o'clock we caught the bus that would eventually after a 16 hour bus journey take us Manali. On the bus we saw some extreme poverty as we were driving out of Delhi but that passed and we entered the hills as night fell. It was a scary experiance driving aroung hairpin bends in the pitch dark.

We awoke at 4.30 to make sure that we got to the airport on time. After huriedly getting ready we boarded the coach and set off down to Gatwick. The journey was uneventfull though when we got there I was awoken through the use of an elastic band. Check-in went smoothly apart from the fact that one of the team had second thoughts and made the decision to pull out right at the last minute. It was a real blow to the team losing someone so early in the trip however we all pulled together and boarded the plane without incident. The flight was one of the best I have ever been on with many movies and games that kept us entertained for hours. We arrived in Dubai for a 4 hour stop, and with the help of a few Red Bulls we managed to make it onto the next flight.

Day 1 of the expedition was the build up day. I was dropped off by my parents at mid-day and said my goodbyes. For the next couple of hours we proceeded to get to know the other members of the team and to check kit and so forth to make sure we hadn't forgotton anything vital like sleeping bags. Later on we had a barbeque, cooked by me and a few other members of the team. We certainly had enough burgers and sausages to last for quite some time. After an evening playing football we went to bed on the floor of the school hall eagerly awaiting the next day.

Hello everybody, this is just to let everyone know that i am back safe and sound in the uk after a fantastic month in India. Over the coming weeks will write about my experiences in India. By the way, if anybody wants any diet tips, go to India and lose weight... a lot!

Till then thanks for all your comments whilst i was away.