Mosquito Bites, Leech Bites or Delhi Belly. The Choice is Yours!

Project Managers arrive tomorrow! Everyone is pretty calm and Tom our logistics manager has to be fair done a cracking job at sorting out all the equipment and chivvying us all along to get the jobs done in preparation of their arrival. Over the next two weeks we have a hardcore training schedule that will ensure that we will be the most knowledgeable beings possible before we are deployed to the projects. I am excited even mentioning getting out there!

I am going to do a feature on the blog every day introducing a new project manager so you will get to know the whole team. So look out for your loved ones. I will be shaming them by asking them all the same three questions:-

1. What is the most luxurious item you brought with you?

2. Which famous person would you most like to trek with (alive or dead)?

3. If you have to have one of these whilst you are on expedition which would you choose?

a) 5 mosquito bites on your face

b) 50 leech bites on your stomach

c) ‘delhi belly’ whilst you are trekking

I thought it only fair to ask the questions of our field base team here first.

Right first up

Helen (Medic)

1. Most luxurious item was her cuddly toy, a rabbit inspirationally named “Rabbit”

2. The famous person that she would like to trek with bizarrely would be Alan Titchmarsh. Apparently he is her hero and she once queued for an hour and half to meet him at Gardeners World but when she finally met him she was so star struck she couldn’t speak. That little anecdote is still making me laugh even as I put it on the blog. Alan Titchmarsh?? Anyway enough already!

3. She went for the leeches.

Sophie (Finance Wizard)

1. Most luxurious item is her ‘kindle’. The kindle is an e book which you can download all your favourite books onto saving much needed space in the ruck sack. It is brilliant.

2. Her famous person was David Attenborough as she would learn lots from him along the way and also any beastie that is potentially fatal would be brought to her attention sharpish. Again a good choice Soph!

3. Controversially she chose mosquitoes on the face.


Amanda (Administrator) (Back)

1. Fleecy blanket purchased in New Zealand and accompanies here everywhere on her travels

2. Bear Grylls

3. Delhi Belly as she is pretty used to it now




Mark (Country Director)

1. His instant reaction to his most luxurious item was his girlfriend. Aggh. Although if the boys are reading he said pillow!

2. Penelope Cruz as he said he would look after her and practice his  Spanish.

3. Leeches






James (Project Manager)

1. He has brought a ukelele and he can play it (well a bit) so those lucky enough to be on project with James can look forward to a George Formby styley sing song. Should make the nights fly by.

2. He chose Bill Bailey as his famous trekker buddy as apparently he knows about ‘birds’.

3. Again he goes for leeches rather despondently – not sure James was inspired by my 3rd question

Shall I do me now….

Jo Burton (Communications Officer)

1. The Complete Season 1 of ‘the Hills’ on DVD which I thought I could watch on the laptop whilst travelling. I can’t believe I have admitted to that. How embarrassing. I just thought if I couldn’t live the glamour maybe watching a bit from time to time would get me through the more skanky moments.

2. I would choose Ranulph Fiennes or James Cracknell as my famous trekking companion but probably the latter is for all the wrong reasons so I will go with Ranulph.

3. It will have to be the mosquito bites on the face.



Tom (Logistics Manager)

1. I-pod is the luxury item with his favourite track being Van Halen’s Jump. I tried to get him to sing it to me but he was having none of it.

2. He chose Nelson Mandela which everyone was in support of as a good choice

3. and it was leeches all the way for Tom.

Anna (Country Deputy Manager) (Front)

1. Anna is here full time so her luxurious item was rather grandly a multi gym!

2. George Clooney is her famous walking partner.

3. Mosquito bites to the face please!

Vijay (Host Country Venturer) (Left)

1. Ipod again although he couldn’t decide on his favourite tunes as he has literally thousands of tracks including some really obscure Indian bands.

2. Alexander the Great!

3. Leeches

Claire (Photographer)

1. Luxury item is her mascara.

2. She would most like to trek with Greg Mortenson author of "Three Cups of Tea" which made her cry when she read it although she says that she cries a lot whilst reading and they are usually happy tears.

3. The leeches.

Dave (Project Manager)

1. Luxury item is a blow up mattress.

2. Ursula Andres. She is the Bond Girl hotty that comes out of the sea. In her hay day though obviously and not present day.

3. Leeches again for Dave!

And finally we had a staff night out last night for a trip to the palace and would you believe it a curry!

97,000 light bulbs illuminate the palace for one hour every Sunday

     

(L to R) Anna Dave Tom James Jo Helen and Sophie

Joy of joys today in Jaypura

Field base has recently moved location to a more rural location and we are now 15 kilometres out of Mysore.

The nearest village is called Jaypura and is a 10 minute walk and the villagers have had little or no contact with westerners before. It is important for Raleigh to establish good relations and to integrate into the community and we have mooted ideas of perhaps teaching at the local school but more of that to come later in the expedition.

We have simple plans today and hope to browse the handful of hut like shops and gain our bearings but this is not what Jaypura had planned for us. We are treated like celebrities and cause as much of a stir as if Brangelina had just strolled down Oxford Street. A kind of “Delboy” character adopts us as his long lost family introducing himself proudly as Nagesgh. We are ordered to take Chai (tea) and I am gifted with jasmine garlands in my hair.

The children swarm to have their photographs taken as they giggle shyly as they are presented with their digital camera images demanding us to take more and more and the game does not appear to become tiresome. The children’s laughter is completely infectious and hypnotic and we leave the village full of joy.

Maha Shivarathri

As promised I want to share my experience of Maha Shivarathri which means ‘the night of Shiva’ and is the Hindu festival in honour of Lord Shiva. It is believed that those who utter the name of Shiva during Shivrah with utmost devotion are freed from all sins. I like the concept and I am eager to witness the festival first hand.

The route to the temple is along a dusty muddy red path and is surrounded by sparse scorched fields. The only house in view is one to the left of the temple and a handful of locals sit outside their front door enjoying the warmth of the sunset chatting merrily.

I am impressed by the ornate colourful statues of the gods which sit row by row covering the outside of the temple and I take time to study the paintings of the gods riding tigers whilst Vijay our host country venture coordinator politely explains my presence to the men on the door who smile encouragingly at me with interest.

I remove my shoes and enter the temple with silence, caution and self awareness to ensure that I am following the many rules of etiquette that formulate the Indian culture. Although my presence is slightly disruptive as many of the younger children are fascinated by having a western visitor and they conceal their intrigue rather less than the older members of the community. I take a seat on the floor and again it is the array of colour that strikes me, the colourfulness of the saris of the women and children who are sat in two aisles facing the abhisheka and the rows of marigold yellow, white jasmine and pink hibiscuses which make up the flower garlands draped around the temple. I presume that the locals understand the low chant of prayer as milk, honey and water are washed over the shivlinga but later I discover that the prayers are in Sanskrit. I watch respectfully, fascinated taking time to listen to the rhythmic chanting and breathing in the scented air reflecting on my surroundings before Vijay signals to me that it is time for us to leave.

Rescue Mission

Ok lots of gossip here from field base.


More arrivals!
One to watch.........Dave a Project Manager arrives early full of laughter and complete with 1001 travel stories to keep us entertained. He has been travelling in India prior to his arrival with us, revisiting a project that he was involved in back in 2004 run by SIFF (Save Indian Family Foundation). The project involved the construction of 1500 replacement homes after the devastation of the tsunami. The successful project has now completed and he is overjoyed at the results.

We also welcome Claire our photographer to the expedition. She arrives complete with her camera, yoga mat and chant book straight from the Sivananda Ashram in  Neyyar Dam. So it looks like the yoga morning sessions are on!

Onto our next story.........

Anyone got a compass?

Our first rescue mission occurs here at field base. However rather than concern for our red faced victims they receive banter and gentle teasing at their expense. Anna and Claire our keenest members at field base head out at sun rise for a light 10k run but somehow in their enthusiasm lose their way. Claire realizes that they are off the beaten track and suddenly nothing looks familiar in any direction. Panic! Every route looks wrong! Eventually a local village is found (I would like to give you more details of the whereabouts of such village but the location is still unknown and selfishly Claire didn’t have her camera on her run). The arrival of our runners is the ‘talk of the town’ and they are treated as new celebrities as news spreads within minutes to the next village of the two lost western women in their jogging pants. Despite the excitement of the locals of the debacle no directions materialize and instead only cups of tea and much interest are offered to our lost staff! Luckily a phone call is made and finally a land mark that everyone can indentify is found and the rescue mission is completed by our very own hero and Country Director, Mark. A clear indication that exercise and keenness in the early hours of the morning should be avoided at all costs. The first of the many lessons that I shall be taking away with me from Raleigh!

I was suppposed to be telling you about the Hindu festival that I went to yesterday but in my excitement to shame my colleagues I have run out of time. I will keep you posted after I return from Mysore. We are off to buy meat for a well earned BBQ.

New Arrivals

Hello it is Jo here. I have arrived! I am the communications officer and I have the role of keeping you entertained with the up to date news from the projects and field base throughout the expedition. I am also joined at field base by Sophie Cragg who is the finance officer on the expedition.

Sophie Cragg hard at work as our finance officer

Both of us are new to Raleigh and newcomers to India so we are both understandably excited as to what our adventure is going to bring and the last 24 hours have not disappointed us. The trip from the airport to field base is packed with fairly overwhelming sights to an inexperienced visitor to India. Cows roam the streets, the smell in the air is not unpleasant but indefinable at this stage and the Indian driving can only be described as madness although that said there appears to be a system that everyone understands and everyone races about their business without crashing or drama.

First stop is breakfast and it is our first chance to experience authentic Indian cuisine. I am if I am honest a bit out of my depth with the menu but I am helped out by our driver Manju who recommends the Masala Dosala; a scrumptious South Indian dish which is essentially a light crispy pancake stuffed with spicy potato. The idea of curry for breakfast is, for me anyway, a bizarre concept but I have to say I am pleasantly surprised.

On arrival at field base I am shown our new home for the next 3 months and I am delighted at how welcome I am made to feel and how green and picturesque my surroundings are.

Our new home

We chat and plans are formulated to keep fit at field base. Anna who is a keen runner discusses the possibility of a daily 6am run through the local village and we are all keenly awaiting the arrival of Claire who we understand is a yoga teacher. We are all hoping that she will have us maneuvering through the downward dog in no time at all. It is of course a possibility that we are all talk especially taking into our account our demanding schedules and the imminent arrival of the venturers but I will let you know how we get on.

Now to work! The music is turned up and with the sun on our faces we set to putting up the tents to ensure that they are in full working order. Hard work but after the twentieth tent goes up we decide that’s enough hard graft for one day.

Mark (Country Director) fiddling with pole again!

  Jo Burton (communications officer) putting up the last tent of the day

Venturing out

With a new field base location we needed to find a new trek for our trek training which will take place during both the staff and venturer inductions.  Tom, Helen and myself (Anna) headed out into the early morning sunshine to recce the new route and test our navigation skills (it's right, then left and left again!).  Three hours later we had covered the 14 km route and taken in some of the lovely local sites, ending up at the lake where we will hold swim tests in a week or so time.

 

Anna with newest piece of kit - fab day pack - thanks Dad!

Tom tries his hand at collecting water the local way.

I swear the best smiles in the world can be found right here in India - I know it sounds corny but they truly touch your heart!

And the lake where staff and venturers will take the plunge.

So hopefully by now people are breaking in their boots and testing out their backpacks in preperation for what is to come.  We promise this is only the beginning of something amazing.

The cavalry have arrived

Yesterday we welcomed the first of our advanced staff team Tom and Helen. Tom will be our Logistics Manager and part of the management team for 10C and Helen is one of our four medics. Both have completed previous Raleigh expeditions in Borneo and Namibia and have arrived with loads of energy and enthusiasm. This is good news as they will be kept pretty busy over the next few weeks preparing for our new arrivals, sorting out the logs store (see below) and medical rooms.


It’s great to have them here and I for one very much appreciate how much they have already done and all with a smile!  Amazing!

Oh the joys of an Indian Summer

As the sun set on yet another glorious day here in India I took the opportunity to grab a few snaps of our new field base which hopefully capture the fabulous zen (shall we say) that surrounds the place. 

I even managed to exchange a few pleasantries with our neighbor and established his name to be Rom or Raam or even Ream – the local lingo still manages to escape me!

And here is Vijay our Host Country Venturer Coordiantor, in his element with his one true love - the cricket bat!

And finally the logs store and dining room which lies in wait of our unsuspecting logs manager Tom, who is currently enroute with Helen, one of our Medic team.  They have kindly volunteered to come early to give us an extra hand - that's the Raleigh spirit we love!

An Indian Wedding to start 2010

It's Monday morning and while the rest of the world is gearing up for the start of their working week, the newly complete permanent staff team headed to a local temple to witness the marriage of our much loved and respected driver Manju - or 60 60 as he is known in these parts. 

As are 85% of the marriages in India, Manju's marriage was an arranged marriage.  Today the couple received the blessing from the temple and close family and friends and next week will celebrate in their home with a full wedding reception.

It was a great honor for us to attend the ceremony and certainly an experience we are not likely to forget.  It was certainly a lovely break from what has been a very busy time setting up our new Fieldbase.   Situated approximately 20kms from Mysore it is a change of scene for us and as you can see from the pictures below we are now in the real rural India. 

This photo is taken from our driveway - our new neighbours take a break from grounding millet with bullock and man power.

Where we go to ask for a cup of sugar!

 

And this is our new Fieldbase house from where we will run it all.  Right now we are on the count down for the arrival of 10C staff and venturers.  We can't to share Incredible India with you all.  Until then stay tuned for more updates, introductions and news from us here.