Guest suite

I am staying in one of the guest suites at the school, right off of the alumni office.  I also have use of a nice verandah with a great view of Midlands, St. George's School and Wyneberg-Allen School.

The suite has a bed, sitting area, a nice tiled bathroom (well, at least much nicer than the old cement & spidery bathrooms of our childhood here) and a little kitchenette with electric kettle & refrigerator.

There is also hot water from what is called here a geyser [pronounced geezer] and treated drinki water from an filter/ultraviolet treatment unit. I turn these on just when I need to use them.

more walking

No pictures with this post ...
Yesterday morning I walked to the bazaar... along Tehri Road, down Mullingar Hill and through the Landaur Bazaar ... all much the same and not too any cars.  Very odd to NOT see the Clock Tower [FYO - The Clock Tower marked the end of Landaur and the beginning of Mussoorie and was a significant landmark.  It was probably built 100 years ago or so and eventually had to be torn down as it was falling down.  The intent was and is to build a new one, but there has been much political controversy so nothing has happened yet.]  I walked as far as Picture Palace & then turned around and came back .. buying a couple of oranges and a pumelo along the way.

In the afternoon the clouds and mist came up over the hillside.  I had forgotten how dark it gets (especially inside) when that happens.  I am glad to have the verandah to sit on (above the old Teacher's Garden area .. and that I can pick up the good staff wifi here!

Today I walked up to Oakville to see the A. family - had been trying to reach them by phone but had been given an old number and I knew at least some of the family was there.  Had a good visit with Ellen and with the 3 sons and 2 of the wives.  After lunch went over to the Prakash store at Sisters' Bazaar [and the senior Mr. Prakash still looks very healthy although a son is running the store] to get some bread and peanut butter as the staff dining room seems to be closed for a few days for the October quarter break.

I had been back at the school only 15 minutes when the rain started .. with lots of thunder as is typical of an end-of-the-monsoon rain.

To the Chukkar!

Yesterday afternoon I made it up to the Chukkar at the top of the hill! I did take it slowly and have to stop more than a few times to let my heart rate recover.
Picture 1: Upper Woodstock where my family lived when I was very young and then again in high school.
Picture 2: Redwood Cottage where Uncle Caldwell & Aunty Betty lived.
Picture 3: the big tree near Woodside .. photo is sideways, alas!

Picture 4: The Lollipop tree [an inside family thing]
Picture 5: View of Pepper Pot from the chukkar
Picture 6: View towards Sisters' Bazaar

A few old friends

I know you are waiting for exotic photos of exotic India, but here are some photos I wanted to take (my family will know why).  It is the end of the monsoon, and the ferns that grow on the trees have dried up, but there are still ferns on the hillside.. 1st is what we called the "Bible Fern", then there is a Lip fern  and Christmas fern (scientific names have flown out of my head for the moment).  The last two are stinging nettle & dock leaf  (the latter to rub on your skin to ease the pain of an encounter with stinging nettle).

Outside my window this morning were several different kinds of birds .. alas, all the efforts of Bob Fleming, Jr. in biology class were lost on me when it came to birds.

Delhi

I'm finally at a place where I can resume posts ..

The flight from Amsterdam to New Delhi took less than 8 hours. The New Delhi airport was remodeled and upgraded a few years ago for the Commonwealth Games and is quite modern. Getting through immigration and customs were easy, then I was met by a rep. from the travel service I used (Uday Travel)  who transported me to the YWCA guest house. I had chosen to stay at the YWCA as that is where my family often stayed and I know my way a bit around there.  The next day, Wednesday, I walked down to Tolstoy Marg and over to Janpath to the Cottage Industries store where I bought a dupatta (long scarf) as one canNOT travel in India without one.  CI has some really nice 'women's suits' (salwar, kameez, dupatta .. or trousers, tunic & scarf) that I may check out on my last day.  I had hoped to look in the Tibetan shops that are in front of the Imperial Hotel on Janpath, but the road was being torn up and access to the shops not possible. Here is a picture of the bed in the hotel room - with the garland of marigolds given me by the travel rep when he met me at the airport.

Amsterdam

I know some of you are expecting exciting posts from Amsterdam, but there is not much to report.  My trip here was without incident and I managed to sleep a couple of hours on the flight.  S. met me at the airport and brought me back to their house, but then had to get to the church to open it up for some function.  She works as the 'koster'for the English Reformed Church in Amsterdam.  I napped for a bit and then wandered around the west side of the old city, changed some money at an ATM in the Spui square, and made my way back to the house via the Nordekerk. On Friday S and I went to the film museum and saw a movie, then lunch at a restaurant at the top of the Openbare Bibliotheek [public library] with its great view of the harbor and Central Station. This morning we went to a weekly open-air market on the Lindengracht, ending up at the organic market at Noordermarkt. I enjoy just walking down the streets and side lanes as there are always interesting sights. I was going to add some pictures from my visit this past spring, but they are on a different computer.

Pre-trip 3 - Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama recently spoke at Woodstock - see article in WSJ.  When he first came to Woodstock after fleeing Tibet in 1959, my older sister Kathy was among the senior girls that served him tea.  A lot of Tibetans fled to the Mussoorie area starting in 1959, and currently have a large settlement and school on the far west end of the town.  I hope we can get there this October as I don't know that I've been out there since the early 60s [FYO .. when I was in school you had to walk everywhere: Happy Valley, the Tibetan settlement area, is at least 7-8 miles from the Landaur area.  Now it is possible to take taxis.]

Pre-trip 2

While this blog is intended as letter to my family who have been to most of the places I'll visit, I know others may be reading it also.  For you I'll add an occasional 'FYO' (for you others) linking you to other info or photo sites.

For much of the trip I'll be volunteering at Woodstock School, Mussoorie, India .. so

FYO: Woodstock School is a Christian International School situated at about 7,000 feet in Landour in the foothills of the Himalayas near the town of Mussoorie, in the Indian province of Uttarkhand. Tehri Road is the main road for motor vehicles that goes from Mussoorie to the city of Tehri and beyond into the mountains.

Pre Trip 1

F&R -
I'm going to see if this works to blog about my trip, and thus not have to send individual emails to all. I shall have to see what sort of internet access is available in the various places along the way.