WOOLAVINGTON WI MARCH MEETING 2016
“Mountains and Maharajahs“ was the title of Mike Spencer's presentation, telling of his experiences in India on a fund raising trip in aid of St Margaret’s hospice.
This comprised a 50 mile charity trek in the mountainous area of Dharamsala in the tranquil foothills of the Himalayas followed by a tour round the Delhi – Agra – Rajastan Golden Triangle and showed two sharply contrasting aspects of modern day India.
The walk took the group through open forests, crossing dried up river beds and followed so called footpaths between villages which appeared to be more like tracks than paths. They soon realised that to ascend more often than not meant they first had to descend and learned to appreciate the hot cups of restorative Chai; tea made with sweet buffalo milk. Higher up they encountered vertiginous climbs up the hillside where at one point the way was so narrow that the heavy laden mules were unable to proceed.
Encounters with people were rare outside of the little villages whose inhabitants existed on the results of cultivating small areas of poor ground. In the countryside there were some isolated buildings similar to our ancient long houses and some attempt at terraced agriculture but numerous temples were seen all over the hills in order to allow the shepherds to perform their devotions without bringing the flock home during the day.
The second week was in complete contrast, taking the trekkers to the densely populated Golden triangle to visit Delhi, the beautiful Taj Mahal in Agra and the various palaces of Jaipur in modern day plains India.
Mike's light hearted but informative talk was illustrated throughout with stunning photography with some video sequences. Most notable of these was sharing the experience of a hair-raising trip on the motorway travelling on the minibus. Not for the faint-hearted, since Indian drivers seem to think nothing of performing all sorts of manoeuvres on the road, in addition to attempting overtaking through impossibly small spaces and traffic was not only vehicular but various animals and even a religious procession were encountered meandering along the so called motorway.
Mike was given a well deserved vote of thanks. For those who are up for a challenge the next trip to be organised by St Margaret's hospice is to Machu Pichu, the historic Incan citadel high in the Andes.
“Mountains and Maharajahs“ was the title of Mike Spencer's presentation, telling of his experiences in India on a fund raising trip in aid of St Margaret’s hospice.
This comprised a 50 mile charity trek in the mountainous area of Dharamsala in the tranquil foothills of the Himalayas followed by a tour round the Delhi – Agra – Rajastan Golden Triangle and showed two sharply contrasting aspects of modern day India.
The walk took the group through open forests, crossing dried up river beds and followed so called footpaths between villages which appeared to be more like tracks than paths. They soon realised that to ascend more often than not meant they first had to descend and learned to appreciate the hot cups of restorative Chai; tea made with sweet buffalo milk. Higher up they encountered vertiginous climbs up the hillside where at one point the way was so narrow that the heavy laden mules were unable to proceed.
Encounters with people were rare outside of the little villages whose inhabitants existed on the results of cultivating small areas of poor ground. In the countryside there were some isolated buildings similar to our ancient long houses and some attempt at terraced agriculture but numerous temples were seen all over the hills in order to allow the shepherds to perform their devotions without bringing the flock home during the day.
The second week was in complete contrast, taking the trekkers to the densely populated Golden triangle to visit Delhi, the beautiful Taj Mahal in Agra and the various palaces of Jaipur in modern day plains India.
Mike's light hearted but informative talk was illustrated throughout with stunning photography with some video sequences. Most notable of these was sharing the experience of a hair-raising trip on the motorway travelling on the minibus. Not for the faint-hearted, since Indian drivers seem to think nothing of performing all sorts of manoeuvres on the road, in addition to attempting overtaking through impossibly small spaces and traffic was not only vehicular but various animals and even a religious procession were encountered meandering along the so called motorway.
Mike was given a well deserved vote of thanks. For those who are up for a challenge the next trip to be organised by St Margaret's hospice is to Machu Pichu, the historic Incan citadel high in the Andes.