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Location Date Pakistan 1707091200 South Korea 1531004400 India 
1530918000 Thailand 1529967600 United Arab Emirates 1503097200 -
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Location Date Mon, 28 August 2017
1503930460 Sun, 27 August 2017 1503843750 Sat, 26 August 2017 1503757118
- Josh, the guy sleeping next to me, was up & down quite a few times during the night as he was throwing up & had diahorrea. Poor guy!
- He decided not to go on the walk to Hemkund Sahib (also spelt "Hemkunt" sometimes but I'm going to stick with "Hemkund" for obvious reasons). Matthew, the husband with the fever also still not good so he & his wife Gloria elected not to go too. Manisha had a cold so her husband, Ahmeh, also stayed behind.
- I'm feeling lucky I'm ok!
- Up for our usual breakfast & getting ready then off by about 8am.
- Today's hike is to a high lake that's also a Sikh temple & the highest Gurudwara (Sikh temple) in India (14,200 ft)
- The waters of the lake are glacier-fed & believed to be purifying if you take a dip. Apparently lots of crazy Sikhs go there every day to take a dip, a bit like a pilgrimage, as it's the highest Sikh holy place in India.
- Not ideal trekking weather unfortunately as it was raining quite a bit. A big change from yesterday where there were just a few light showers.
- So we put our ponchos on & started out, heading up the mountain.
- Walked with a few different people for a while (Nitin, Jagmeet, Hasneet, Natasha, Angitha, & Latika) then was feeling quite fit so picked up the pace a bit.
- Met Rajul on the track & she was really struggling with the cold & rain. She hadn't prepared properly so was struggling to walk up the continuous incline, her hands were freezing as she didn't bring any gloves & was walking so slowly, she didn't have a poncho so her jacket was soaked & she also didn't have a trekking pole. She was almost in tears & asked if I'd walk with her.
- I warmed up her hands, gave her my gloves (& put my hands inside my pockets to keep them warm) & gave her my trekking poles since I didn't need them for walking at such a slow pace.
- It was extremely slow going as she wanted to stop & rest every few paces.
- She's a very funny 25 year-old from Gujerat who loves music & movies (she tried to teach me some Indian dance moves). She's single & kept asking me if I had any plans to divorce Sherry & move to India because I was being kind to her & looking after her! I had to let her know that was quite unlikely unfortunately!
- She was wearing shorts yesterday as it was quite warm & was telling me about all the disapproving looks she was getting from all the local guys here that she dared to show so much of her legs! Apparently the north is a lot more conservative than the south.
- About 2/3 of the way up you can choose whether to complete the last third of the journey via a shortcut comprised of 800-1,000 stairs (depending who you ask), or continue on the path (much longer but not as steep).
- I decided to race Hasneet & Natasha to the top by taking the stairs as Rajul was ok by then since the rain had stopped.
- The stairs were hard going as they were quite big, plus I was at nearly 3,500m elevation so I had to stop quite a few times but I got to the top about an hour earlier then the girls.
- Found Sandeep at the top & filmed him & Nitin taking dips in the freezing water. I declined because I'm not a total nutcase!
- Had a nice free lunch provided by the Sikhs. This is something they do for all travellers & pilgrims as a big part of their religion involves service so they're very active in caring for the poor & those in need.
- Took a photo of a Brahma Kamal, a lilly that only grows at high altitudes in the Himalayas (pronounced "Him-mar-lee-ars" by the Indians).
- Walked back down with Nitin in record time & we were the second group to arrive back in Ghangaria. Spotted a cute little Pika on the way down.
- We discussed a wide range of topics including:
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- How India is becoming less religious
- How some Indian parents will abort their baby if they know it's a girl because they want a boy to carry on their family name so the Government made it illegal for doctors to disclose the sex of the baby before it's born. But rich parents just go to Thailand or Dubai & find out anyway! He has one child who is a girl & some of their friends have asked his wife why they aren't trying for another one.
- The Army's role in the north of India (there are a lot stationed in this area since it's close to the border with China). Many people here look Tibetan or a little Asian.
- Money laundering through charities in India
- The current PM's approach to reducing corruption, which seems to be succeeding
- Did some stretches on the roof with Sandeep when he, Latika & Angitha got back. Felt so good to massage my neck & shoulders!
- Another noisy group arrived for their trek. There are now 70+ people here from India Hikes. Were we that excited when we first arrived a few days ago??
- Bought myself a lower leg & foot massage for 200 Rupees ($4) - painful but also kind of nice. I had to stop him when he was cracking my toes however! Oww!
- Dinner included gulab jamon which was nice. Hasneet bullied me into having 3 of them. They're good but also full of sugar! Not that it really matters as we're burning so many calories each day anyway.
- After dinner, Hasneet ("Hasu") was asking me about how to become a trainer. She's a funny, outgoing 22 year-old who has just finished her MBA, although she seemed to spend a lot of her university time partying in Goa! She's currently working for a NY-based hedge fund but wants a job that will let her travel more, especially internationally.
- UNO again which was fun
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