Day 60 Vashisht

9:05 am. Raining. Really clagged in like Scotland [clag = low cloud, smog or fog, clagged = to encumber, e.g. As when the orchard boughes are clag'd with fruite]. Headache. Cold a bit better, but definitely still there. Good news: only three weeks left - I fly out Delhi on Thursday 21st August. Think I'll have a couple of asprin then have a wander about - we are actually in a town 3 km up the road from Manali proper, called Vashisht. Laid out along a single main street, lots of hotels, guesthouses, internet cafes, lots of shops selling either food or things like brass sounding bowls for gap year students. Posters advertising yoga. No point trying to climb in this weather. (Yesterday the weather was overcast, but okay - no rain really most of the day, so I have some hope. The trouble is we should expect monsoonal rains here really, I think.)

5:24 pm and the good news is that I've managed to go climbing in India. A small crag up the left hand side (5 minutes' walk from road), about 15 minutes' walk down from the Himalayan Extreme Centre in Vashisht. Climbed a 6a, called Krishna, thuggish pitch, about 15 or 20 metres. Some sort of black gritstone or maybe a basalt. Bolted, though a bit spaced. Situated amongst lush green vegetation - including lots of British things like nepeta (cat mint) and apple trees (with fruit). Light drizzle on and off. A big palarver trying to climb here at all...(a) we couldn't find the crag to start with, (b) went back to the Himalayan Extreme Centre to ask directions (c) they just said that you are not allowed to climb on the crag at all, although (oddly) they did say where the crag was which was helpful; (d) we got there and roped up - then some kid from the shop came along to tell us that we mustn't climb there unless we paid money. We tried to negotiate - there were a few of us - but I didn't really have a clue what he wanted - during all of this I was trying to get up the route - whilst saying things like "I'll pay you 500 rupees for this route", and "can you get the money out of my rucksack?"; I'd come prepared to pay something to climb. Then the kid said he wasn't interested in the money, but he wanted 5000 rupees. We sort of agreed that Lianna would pay this the next day - so long as everybody on Hot Rock could do the two routes on the crag. During all of this I was mainly trying not to fall of the route - thought that'd make me look a bit silly.

Needless to say Lianna (when we met her that evening) was very unhappy about all of this - but - as I said to T, it's only a result of their negligence in the first place...they chose to have a newbie drive the truck on a too-narrow road back by the paddy field.

The latest plan from Hot Rock is for us to go to Chattru and camp and do climbing, a few hundred km north of here. Great, except we do not have enough gear - it's stuck on the truck which is not here: all I have is a pair of flip flops for my feat - and I do not think the crampons would fit properly. Don't even have any socks here. Of course, according to Lianna, it's all our fault - not their's.

By the way I feel pretty ill indeed. Nauseous and persistent headache, which I am unable to shift with asprin. Think I am running a temperature too. Perhaps it's all down to stress.

9:43 pm. Have had supper. In a place with a big TV / DVD and gap year students discovering themselves: watched Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Difficult to follow the plot - missed the start and then there were several power cuts along the way.

Day 59 McLeod Ganj

5:55 am. Green hotel. I have a cold. Not a bad one (at the moment at least), hopefully it'll get better. Anyway, the plan is to get a taxi back to the truck, thence on to Manali. Geoff and T have organised this originally, and the plan has been adopted by Duncan et al. It's obvious (at least to me) that this is the best solution. Apparently a crane was obtained yesterday - but it was too small, and then another crane, also too small. To me you need a 20 tonne crane - in part because the truck is stuck in the mud. Also the road the thing is on is like a minor road back in the UK, so I'd imagine access would be difficult for a big enough crane.

10:15 am. En route to the hill town of Manali, in the Himalayan mountains of Himachal Pradesh province. Sat in the back of a 4 x 4 jeep like vehicle. We went via the truck to recover our stuff. Pulled out most of my important stuff - well at least all the climbing stuff. A bit short on the warm clothing front. Breakfast stop at Davnt Restaurant in Tharu Paprola; omlette and coffee - very black.

3:16 pm and just had lunch at a roadside place about 50 or 60 km short of Manali. The rock hereabouts looks better - I can see some nice climable slabs for example. But travelling in the back of the jeep thing it's difficult to see much. Particularly since we go so fast. Weather seems better too - we have left behind the mist and rain in the Tibet-esque parts. Plan is to get to either the Mountaineering Council or perhaps just a climbing shop in Manali. Rumors of a hotel near a crag. No further news about the truck. Just seen my first elephant (Indian I assume); lot of monkeys.

10:20 pm. Latest news: arrived Manali (1900 metres); Lianna has arrived. As usual, T sorted out an awesome hotel, a completely brand new non-skanky hotel. Good job T did this before the B group led by Lianna arrived! Eating in a tiny eating place - pretty much just a room with long table and chairs; the food seems to be cooked someplace on the opposite side of Manali's high street and the service is really quite slow, but food really quite good. I am having rice and garlic. Much discussion about Hot Rock - especially ways to avoid getting lost (e.g. maps). My suggestion of hiring a local man on a moped to lead the way was met from Lianna with "the problem with that is that we'd have to leave on time", the logic of which I do not follow. Anyhow the truck is still stuck; latest efforts are to include the Indian army - hope they blow the thing up.

Day 58 McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala

6:55 am. Spent the night in a town called Sihunta; plan was to stay in some sort of guest house. In reality we had to camp just outside the guest house in tents, on the concrete pavement. Apparently some sort of mess up (by the guest house) - when we got here the place was already full - despite Hot Rock having booked it up. Something along those lines anyhow. Anyway, at least I got to sleep somewhere flat for once, even if it was concrete.

Today, I hope, we get closer to Manali i.e. closer (but probably not reaching) some climbing. Rain has stopped, leaving a distinct dampness in the air.

1:35 pm. McLeod Ganj - as you can see we have failed to reach Manali, as predicted. Briefly, the truck is stuck in a paddy field, a result of front nearside wheel coming off the paved road, a perfectly good road by the way. Got out of the truck - it was clear in an instant that the only way out would be a vertical lift - and that would need a big crane. Given that there wasn't a big crane a few of us more sensible types wandered off to find some sort of breakfast, rather than fiddle about with an impossible task of trying to push several tons of scrap out of a rice paddy. A short way up the road and we indeed came across tea and omlettes - the latter so good we (Geoff, T and I) had two each.

Back at the truck - still stuck of course - we got what gear we could - not easy given the positioning of the vehicle: when I opened the side locker all my junk wanted to slide out into the field. T had real trouble getting at her stuff. Got a taxi to take us to McLeod Ganj. Now we are in the Green hotel at McLeod Ganj; further food: hot chocolate and coffee and walnut cake. McLeod Ganj, the upper part of Dharamshala is the residence of the Dalai Lama; Tibetan culture; backpacker hotels, gap year students and yoga. Light drizzle on and off.

7 pm. Green hotel reception area / restaurant. Plate of chips and a bottle of Pepsi. Chatting with the other renegades about how crap Hot Rock is...decided we need to get some control of this crazy trip; looks like we'll make our own way to Manali (and climbing). At this rate we are literally going nowhere.

Day 57 Himachal Pradesh

7:50 am. Just settled the bill for Mrs Bhandari's Guesthouse - paying for the room and a few dozen bottles of coke, fanta derivatives etc. Glad to report I had a fantastic night's sleep in air conditioned comfort. Worth every rupee: it's become very clear that we need good sleep and good food on this trip, else we get ill. And several people are pretty ill.

8:56 pm and we are somewhat short of where we should be, despite several hours' driving. But mostly this was in the wrong direction; one bridge was way too low also (it was called the Dehri Khad bridge); 30 km detour. We have stopped up at some small village and are in the process of trying to get some supper. My diet is appalling: today I have had two slices of bread; two ice creams; a Pepsi; some cheese snack puff things, and a few biscuits. Scenery changed to very green; hills and red sandstone outcrops; heavy rain started at 7 pm - making the more distant mountains misty. Not certain exactly where we are, but I think it's not far from the town of Sihunta in the Himachal Pradesh region.

Day 56 Amritsar, India

3:20 am; cannot sleep; the air is extremely humid. We are staying within the grounds of Mrs. Bhandari's Guest House, in Amritsar, Punjab, India; beautiful mature gardens; colonial buildings; swimming pool. The problem is that we are not actually staying in any of the buildings - rather we are camping, and the problem with that is that it's simply too hot and humid. Put my tent up on one of the lawns (about midnight) - but pointless - quickly ended up laying on a sleeping bag saturated with sweat; you could just ring it out. Mosquitoes - I have a net but not sure where it is on the truck. The best solution to this seemed to be the most obvious - get in the swimming pool - which I did, the problem being this was about half past midnight: a tedious waiting game for dawn and tomorrow to start. A few of us in the pool and the bats flying overhead. I have baseball cap with built in net: the rest of me is under water.

It's now 3:20 am and I've got out to write my diary. I am going to be tired tomorrow. Mrs. Bhandari's Guest House is an unusual place for Hot Rock to stay at:- it has charm. A sort of colonial charm. Apparently very little has changed here since the 1930s - the main building, a late-Raj family residence, surrounded by an English garden with brick paths, pergolas and arches, the whole being screened off from the outside world by mature trees. There is guest accommodation in various wings off the main house, and bungalows in the grounds. Given the impossibility of camping I'll investigate the option of staying in a guest house room tomorrow night, complete with air conditioning.

Earlier today we drove in the truck from Lahore to Amritsar via the Wagah border crossing. Border crossing straightforward, apart from having to take everything off the truck, take it through the customs hall and put it all back on the truck. Initial impression of India is one of greenness and also it looks cleaner than Pakistan. And one can buy beer.

Think I'll return to the pool now.

8:10 am. Well, at 4:30 am I felt a bit cooler and abandoned the pool to sleep on my foam mat in my tent. Did eventually get some sleep. Sleeping bag drying out on the swing.

7:22 pm. Have ordered macaroni cheese from the guest house kitchens (magnificent kitchens indeed: high ceilings, copper pans, the works); Geoff, T, Mel and I have sorted out a huge colonial room - the air conditioning is on maximum. Geoff, T, Mel are pretty ill in various ways; but at least they've got a chance of recovering.

Earlier today T and I went into Amritsar - a short rickshaw ride away; started off with coffee and internet. We visited two important sites in Amritsar.

The site of the infamous Amritsar massacre also known as Jallianwala Bagh massacre, named after the Jallianwala Bagh Garden in Amritsar, where, on April 13, 1919, British Indian Army soldiers opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. Bullet holes are preserved in the brick walls. Official sources place the casualties at 379. At least 120 people died trying to escape the death by jumping into a deep well.

Walking five hundred metres to the south, via street cafe lunch stop, took us to the Harmandir Sahib, Hari Mandir or Golden Temple of Amritsar. Visitors leave their shoes at near the entrance, cover their heads (baseball cap is okay), and wade through a shallow pool (to wash feet) before entering. I guess the most famous (and sacred) part of the Golden Temple complex is the Hari Mandir (Divine Temple) or Darbar Sahib (Court of the Lord), which is the central golden structure in the lake of water. Large numbers of people around the temple complex: there seemed to be a great deal of 'hidden' organisation - some people filling buckets with lake water, some different people passing buckets to some further different people who emptied the buckets, onto the pavements.



8:25 pm. Have had the macaroni cheese and a rather nice pumpkin soup, plenty of pepper. Plus buttered toast. All served to us on a table set up (complete with pressed table cloth), in our Raj room, by Raj waiter: British Raj at its erstwhile finest. (Of course I tried to help the waiter by holding the door open for him and his trays, but he would have none of it!) Poor T and Geoff pretty ill.

Day 55 Lahore

7:20 am. Hot, the hotel room remains at a steady 35 degrees. There is a ceiling fan, but that just moves the hot air about. Breakfast at 9 am, then we are due to set off for the Wagah border and hence into India.

Day 54 Lahore

10:14 am. Coffee and two pain chocolates in Hotel Pearl Continetal - clearly a five star establishment: here with T, on the recommendation of her friend back in Ireland. We were determined to get a decent cup of coffee somewhere in Pakistan - and we've found it. Used the internet at the hotel - complete with its own mini-office, costing 580 rupees for the hour's privilege, that's about 7 dollars and worth every penny. Later on we found some fantastic and cheap street food for lunch; deep fried food: I always think this should be good to eat. Disapointed by Lahore's 'botanic garden' (or at least I think we found the botanic garden) - it's not so much a garden but rather a (nice) park; locals playing cricket, with piles of bricks for stumps. Visited the Old Fort, Shahi Qila, in northwestern Lahore, in the older walled part of the city. Huge, red sandstone structure, very hot to walk on (bare feet); carpets were spread here and there and soaked in water - these were okay to walk on though. The fort is a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited by large numbers of locals, who get a preferential rate at the gate (this is common in Pakistan - there's a tourist rate and a local rate). Rickshaw back to the hotel. 5:00 pm and it's very hot and humid in the hotel room: the temperature is an absolutely constant 35 degrees - night and day. Feels like 90% humidity. Dripping all the time.

The Wagah Border is the only road border crossing between India and Pakistan, and this is the way we'll travel into the next country, probably tomorrow. Today however we got a rickshaw (or rather, a couple of rickshaws) to take us from the hotel to the border and back again - it's a fair way (25 km maybe) and the rickshaw drivers were dubious - but then there's lots of rickshaws and it's very easy to negotiate - just say "sorry, I don't want your rickshaw", and move onto the next guy with his rickshaw. Basically I think that the drivers couldn't understand why we'd want to go 25 km in a rickshaw, rather than a taxi. In the end 1000 rupees (which got split six ways) got us the return trip - and the driver quickly entered into the spirit of the thing - ending up with the two rickshaws racing each other.

Border closing ceremony: seems to basically comprise Pakistan vs. India trying to outdo each other with a Monty Python ministry of silly walks afair: the Pakistani guards march right up to the Indian guards, until their noses are touching just about. The two sides must pick their tallest to be in the parade: I'd say we're talking 6 foot eight inches or thereabouts. The Indian guards wear khaki, and the ones wearing black are Pakistani (here the Pakistani's have the edge - the khaki tends to show much sweat, quite unsightly). Lots of loud shouting and stamping of heavily booted feet and 'rave' music and cheering. The latter cannot be good for the feet I feel.

Flags are lowered. Rickshaw ride back to the hotel. Uneventful apart from the driver crashing into the back of a bus, he seemed okay, but I think the headlamp no longer worked, and he kept looking at the front wheel.