Dear Friends,
While my photos are downloading from the camera on to the computer, I
thought I'd better write a more positive story about India.
Having spent 3 very frantic weeks touring (hate that word) around
Rajasthan and across Uttar Pradesh to Varanasi, all I wanted was to
go somewhere quiet to get away from a billion people and get my head
together prior to my dental surgery in Saigon. So I talked with a
number of private drivers and one came up with the suggestion of the
village of Chail in the foothills of the Himalayas.
I hired him and off we went - some 250 km north of Delhi and a mere 9
hours driving, much of the time looking out the passenger window to
avoid seeing the near misses and possible head-on collisions!!
I straight away knew that Chail was just what I needed. The shops
formed a triangle of about 200 meters on each side; I was the only
person in town of European descent; quite a number of the locals were
proficient in English (unlike the bulk of India where I was surprised
to find that virtually no-one spoke it); the hotel was magnificent as
were its staff. Unfortunately - or fortunately as the case may be -
there was no internet in Chail and hence no regular news from there.
With the mountains being so steep at 6000' altitude, after you walked
into reception, the rooms were then all downstairs - 3 floors down in
fact. The staff work 12 hour shifts and young Arun was the first one
I met. He was a stunning 23 year old with pale grey eyes who seemed
to be a mixture of Indian and Persian origins. That first night there
were tremendous thunder storms and the power went off a number of
times - only for 5 minutes at a time though. I noticed that there was
a candle beside the bed and quickly put it to good use as I knitted
some socks. By 11:00 p.m. though I thought that if the power went off
a few more times I might run out of candle. So I cautiously used it
to climb the stairs and got Arun to find me some spares as I told him
I'd be knitting for some time yet. He then kindly escorted me all the
way back down to my room and shut the door behind him!! Well I'm
afraid you'll have to guess the rest, but I must say I was surprised
at the bruises a good 6-pack can leave - LOL.
The only disadvantage of this hotel was that there was no heating in
the rooms (after Arun had left that is) and so even during the day I
found myself sitting rapped up in my doona as I knitted away. Each
morning I'd wander up to the village and chat with the locals. The
man who sold me my cigarettes took great delight in translating the
daily world news from Hindi for me as I'd heard no world news for
weeks by then. I even managed to find a fabulous skene of pure wool
for only about $2-50 for 400gm (got 3 pairs of socks out of that
lot). The curries were magnificent and surprisingly, sop was the coffee!
One day I walked with my driver about 2km to the nearby farms. You
can only imagine how stunning the scenery was. I don't think my
camera even did it justice. The only problem was that it was downhill
all the way and the return journey really gave me a taste of altitude
sickness. I was surprised: it wasn't like puffing and panting after a
long run, more like lots of big deep sighs.
On the 6th day I was sad at having to head back into the onslaught of
Delhi but did so with a refreshed attitude and ready to fly out to
Saigon. If you care to check out Chail it's worth googling the hotel:
"Chail Inn Hotel".
David in Ballarat, AUS
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