Here are some pics from yesterday of me climbing on Breakthrough Rock.
Friday, 28 March 2008
Video's From Breakthrough
hi guys
Thought i'd add 2 videos that i didnt manage to add last time
The first video is of me completing the 'Hour Glass' a few feet above the ground...
The second is me playing around on the zip line upside down and doing a pretty good impression of superman!
Im now back at breakthrough agian, we did some climbing yesterday which involved training one of the staff.
We first did some climbing on the man made rock included in the high ropes course, which was good. But because of the heat it made the wall pretty slippery. We made the best out of the morning still. Nandu was climbing too and helping me with some teaching.
After a hot morning we moved on to breakthrough rock to do some real climbing on real rock!
We set up a rope and begun to climb a few different routes.
The guy we were training did well and completed a several climbs and improved alot just from the experiences of real rock.
I too completed a few climbs which i was very pleased with! Some were harder than others and involved more grunting and sweating as the afternoon went on.
Im still at breakthrough now and we are about to start with a group from 'Oracle' a large company based in bangalore. Hopefully we will have a good afternoon and learn alot.
Im heading back to Raj's place this eve then off to Avalanche again on sunday.
Much Love
Charlie D
Thought i'd add 2 videos that i didnt manage to add last time
The first video is of me completing the 'Hour Glass' a few feet above the ground...
The second is me playing around on the zip line upside down and doing a pretty good impression of superman!
Im now back at breakthrough agian, we did some climbing yesterday which involved training one of the staff.
We first did some climbing on the man made rock included in the high ropes course, which was good. But because of the heat it made the wall pretty slippery. We made the best out of the morning still. Nandu was climbing too and helping me with some teaching.
After a hot morning we moved on to breakthrough rock to do some real climbing on real rock!
We set up a rope and begun to climb a few different routes.
The guy we were training did well and completed a several climbs and improved alot just from the experiences of real rock.
I too completed a few climbs which i was very pleased with! Some were harder than others and involved more grunting and sweating as the afternoon went on.
Im still at breakthrough now and we are about to start with a group from 'Oracle' a large company based in bangalore. Hopefully we will have a good afternoon and learn alot.
Im heading back to Raj's place this eve then off to Avalanche again on sunday.
Much Love
Charlie D
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Busy Times!
Hi all I know your all dying to know what ive been up to these last few days so I thought id tell you!
I'm busy the next 2 days and I may not have time this weekend.
Since i last posted my face has gone from a lobster like colour to a more brown colour which is good! I thought id share with you now the times ive had with Breakthrough Centre in Bangalore.
I arrived on monday morning at the Centre greeted by old friends again and also some more breakfast that was more interesting than the mango flavoured cornflakes id had just half an hour before!
As you can see previously the centre is very well equipped and takes mostly corporate groups; e.g. companies, businesses, also colleges and schools from time to time.
The group we had monday and tuesday was an entrepreneurial group from a college. They had recently organised a group called E Cell and wanted to come away for some time and get the group together because most were from different courses and years. There were 2 lecturers with this group numbering 21 in total.
The first session involved getting your whole team across the ground while standing on planks of
wood, otherwise known as plank ski's. This proved difficult for the two teams.
The activity involved alot of team coordination and timing as one faulty step causes chaos, and usually results in the team tumbling over each other and some words being exchanged!
After the first attempt we analysed the processes and went for another attempt which proved more successful, some teams before have made tens of metres within the specified time.
After the activity we moved onto the reviewing stage of the session. this involved analysing the processes and talking about what went well and what we could have improved. and what we can take a way as a group and use in the other activities, such as coordination and goal setting.
We ran another team task which involved passing an answer through touch without speaking or making any sounds. The answers had to passed down the line in competition to the other team, and the final person had to present the answer using one of 2 actions, this becomes harder
After a good lunch we started the nest task. This session involved blindfolds, which always make things fun! The aim was to pick up an object placed on the ground ahead of the blindfolded person. The person blindfolded has to he directed to the object. the problem is the other team members have some hindrances also. the person who can see what the blindfolded person had to pick up cannot speak and had to communicate to the their member through various signs, and the person who is shouting instructions cannot look backwards. This proves very hard when 4 teams are going at the same time!
After completing that session we moved on to more reviewing regarding communication and focusing and following instructions and so on. Also integrity and cutting corners, as most are tempted to look out of their blindfolds.
The next session was a low ropes session designed to get items to a 'village in danger'. Two group were given different routes reaching the same obstacle to finally reach the village.
One item involved pulling a rope to retrieve a zip line to reach the village. Little did the teams know that this was a dual group task and one team had to help the other team to rescue the village as one bigger team!
Instead they made it a competition, this was to do with our framing of the activity and using their assumptions to our advantage! it was interesting to watch.
The lesson was to look at the wider picture as you can tell!
After this we had free time until dinner and meetings were held within the groups.
I was staying on site that night.
The next day was the most fun for both the participants and the instructors!
We lead a session on the high ropes course. This course was very well designed and built including many different sections of varying difficulties.
I was stationed on one pole between 2 sections, one of which was quite difficult.
I had a few turn back and return to the previous platform, but most gave it a go and managed it well enough. The participants completed 6 sections before finishing the final Zip line down towards the ground. Some found this the most scary part of all, and some just went for it! like myself!
After sending most of the group onwards i moved on to complete the rest of the course
and show off a bit... the first section i did backwards most of the way and the second (balance beam) i did with my eyes closed! i really enjoyed playing around 30 feet off the ground!
I have been on a few high ropes courses before, but none as good as this one!
After completing those sections i moved on to the 'hour glass' this is two ropes coming from the top diagonally, crossing over with one rope crossing it in the middle from the other end.
I completed the hour glass
successfully, but not without breaking a sweat... then i was told to do it the other way to come back to where i started, I just about managed it...
I then moved on to the zip line to finish the session. most people had done it the right way up apart from one person who had done it upside down. I thought id give it a go; I got someone to video the moment for me.
But I cant seem to add the video right now, will have to another time...
After lunch we ran an activity that involved spelling! The idea was to arrange a word as fast as possible with the letters on cards provided. The word had to be presented by holding up the letters in your hands as a team. There was heated competition in this spelling bee!
This involved lessons in team roles, team management, trusting team members to do their jobs, involving every member of the team and much more.
one more task that afternoon was a task called the 'meat grinder', not as bad as you would think! Moving your whole team over a rotating wheel above head height.
This is just what i did in 2 days at Breakthrough. I hope to get more experiences when i return tomorrow.
Today ive spent the day with Raj at his house. I will be at breakthrough tomorrow and friday.
I'm then going to Avalanche again with Nandu on sunday to assist with a group of 75 young people coming on monday! This finishes on wednesday morning and then we will travel back to Bangalore for wednesday night, then im leaving thursday afternoon for Chennai to meet my family when they arrive friday morning!
Exciting stuff
Pray for my energy as i will need it!
Much love
Charlie D
I'm busy the next 2 days and I may not have time this weekend.
Since i last posted my face has gone from a lobster like colour to a more brown colour which is good! I thought id share with you now the times ive had with Breakthrough Centre in Bangalore.
I arrived on monday morning at the Centre greeted by old friends again and also some more breakfast that was more interesting than the mango flavoured cornflakes id had just half an hour before!
As you can see previously the centre is very well equipped and takes mostly corporate groups; e.g. companies, businesses, also colleges and schools from time to time.
The group we had monday and tuesday was an entrepreneurial group from a college. They had recently organised a group called E Cell and wanted to come away for some time and get the group together because most were from different courses and years. There were 2 lecturers with this group numbering 21 in total.
The first session involved getting your whole team across the ground while standing on planks of
wood, otherwise known as plank ski's. This proved difficult for the two teams.The activity involved alot of team coordination and timing as one faulty step causes chaos, and usually results in the team tumbling over each other and some words being exchanged!
After the first attempt we analysed the processes and went for another attempt which proved more successful, some teams before have made tens of metres within the specified time.
After the activity we moved onto the reviewing stage of the session. this involved analysing the processes and talking about what went well and what we could have improved. and what we can take a way as a group and use in the other activities, such as coordination and goal setting.
We ran another team task which involved passing an answer through touch without speaking or making any sounds. The answers had to passed down the line in competition to the other team, and the final person had to present the answer using one of 2 actions, this becomes harder
After a good lunch we started the nest task. This session involved blindfolds, which always make things fun! The aim was to pick up an object placed on the ground ahead of the blindfolded person. The person blindfolded has to he directed to the object. the problem is the other team members have some hindrances also. the person who can see what the blindfolded person had to pick up cannot speak and had to communicate to the their member through various signs, and the person who is shouting instructions cannot look backwards. This proves very hard when 4 teams are going at the same time!
After completing that session we moved on to more reviewing regarding communication and focusing and following instructions and so on. Also integrity and cutting corners, as most are tempted to look out of their blindfolds.
The next session was a low ropes session designed to get items to a 'village in danger'. Two group were given different routes reaching the same obstacle to finally reach the village.
One item involved pulling a rope to retrieve a zip line to reach the village. Little did the teams know that this was a dual group task and one team had to help the other team to rescue the village as one bigger team!
Instead they made it a competition, this was to do with our framing of the activity and using their assumptions to our advantage! it was interesting to watch.
The lesson was to look at the wider picture as you can tell!
After this we had free time until dinner and meetings were held within the groups.
I was staying on site that night.
The next day was the most fun for both the participants and the instructors!
We lead a session on the high ropes course. This course was very well designed and built including many different sections of varying difficulties.
I was stationed on one pole between 2 sections, one of which was quite difficult.
I had a few turn back and return to the previous platform, but most gave it a go and managed it well enough. The participants completed 6 sections before finishing the final Zip line down towards the ground. Some found this the most scary part of all, and some just went for it! like myself!
After sending most of the group onwards i moved on to complete the rest of the course
and show off a bit... the first section i did backwards most of the way and the second (balance beam) i did with my eyes closed! i really enjoyed playing around 30 feet off the ground!I have been on a few high ropes courses before, but none as good as this one!
After completing those sections i moved on to the 'hour glass' this is two ropes coming from the top diagonally, crossing over with one rope crossing it in the middle from the other end.
I completed the hour glass
successfully, but not without breaking a sweat... then i was told to do it the other way to come back to where i started, I just about managed it...I then moved on to the zip line to finish the session. most people had done it the right way up apart from one person who had done it upside down. I thought id give it a go; I got someone to video the moment for me.
But I cant seem to add the video right now, will have to another time...
After lunch we ran an activity that involved spelling! The idea was to arrange a word as fast as possible with the letters on cards provided. The word had to be presented by holding up the letters in your hands as a team. There was heated competition in this spelling bee!
This involved lessons in team roles, team management, trusting team members to do their jobs, involving every member of the team and much more.
one more task that afternoon was a task called the 'meat grinder', not as bad as you would think! Moving your whole team over a rotating wheel above head height.
This is just what i did in 2 days at Breakthrough. I hope to get more experiences when i return tomorrow.
Today ive spent the day with Raj at his house. I will be at breakthrough tomorrow and friday.
I'm then going to Avalanche again with Nandu on sunday to assist with a group of 75 young people coming on monday! This finishes on wednesday morning and then we will travel back to Bangalore for wednesday night, then im leaving thursday afternoon for Chennai to meet my family when they arrive friday morning!
Exciting stuff
Pray for my energy as i will need it!
Much love
Charlie D
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Blessings Snow Dwellers!
Hi All! As I have heard its currently SNOWING back in England!
I'm sad to hear this, at least we had a white easter! I'm sad to say that it hasn't been snowing in India today, or will it do so soon...
Today I spent a few hours playing cricket; badly but that's not the point.
Anyway I got sunburnt today during the midday sun!
I'm looking somewhat lobster like at present, and its not the giant pincers! I managed to get a total of 1 run! But I also got a stunning wicket while fielding, but that was about it...
Today we went to church for an easter sunrise service, this started at 6am. Although me and Raj arrived somewhere around 6.25
We were provided with a breakfast after the service which proved good incentive.
Since my last blog i mentioned going to Breakthrough Centre on monday. Thankfully this did actually happen as planned.
Sadly they didn't have any groups in and so the centre was slightly dormant.
I did get a tour around the now stunning looking adventure centre!
They have built some incredible structures for ropes courses and other experiences. When I last went there we taught them to abseil from the rock on site, and there were only a few activities available. But now there are a plethora of team building activities available.
Breakthrough has specialized in Corporate Training and team building which has really benefited them. As well as the high ropes course at the centre in Bangalore; they have built one in Hydrobad, another major southern city and one in Egypt for an adventure centre. As we speak, Robin paul and some of his staff are in America doing some more corporate team building work.
I was so very impressed in what they have achieved in the last several years. As well as the high ropes course they have built a man made cave system covering 100 feet in length. this in pitch black including some declines and inclines too.
Also they have build a monster of a swing, this they called the screamer. As you could guess from the photo. The participants are released from the top of the building and swing to the same height the other side.
This provides teamwork in getting the pulleys to make the swing reach the appropriate height. We spent the morning looking around the centre and helping with some resources. We left that afternoon after a pretty good lunch! www.breakthrough-india.com
The next day (tuesday) we headed to the bible college; SABC and provided some more
abseiling for the conference goers.
This again was the small time of the recreation hour, but we were more slick than before and also more confident in the abseiling instruction. This time we managed to get some girl down the wall, which was great because most indian girls would not do anything like this!
Although a little scared we managed to get 3 or so girls down the wall over the next 2 sessions, along with some pretty exited guys too! many of them had never experienced anything like this, and were also somewhat scared of heights. We helped them conquer their fears by assisting them off a 3 storey building...
The final day in the college (thursday) me and Raj went in to lead some seminars for the morning. Raj spoke about some experiences of adventure and what it was about and I also did a short talk about my life in adventure; including CYE and my degree and placements.
My talk also included why I thought outdoor education was important through my own experience and knowledge.
This went down ok, although a little difficult. The problem is they all speak English and understand it they cant understand it with a different accent to what they are used to! For example a British accent like myself, and with the added problem of my fast speaking anyway. It went fine otherwise, I had to slow down and speak louder and they seemed to be interested in what I spoke about. I answered the questions as best as i could along with some other questions and experiences at the end of Raj's following talk on integrating youth in church.
The next day was good friday. We went to church for a morning service and then back to Raj's place for the rest of the day.
As i mentioned in my last post i went for a shave and a hair cut, also an indian head massage! All for 100 rupees!
It was great fun, i have never had my hair done professionally before and so my first time was in india. Along with the hair cut; which was somewhat short, I had a full shave and a head massage. indian head massages are renowned around the world. This treatment I was enjoying was in a 'mens beauty parlour' The hair cut was pretty good, very neat and slightly shorter as the hot season is coming.
The shave was good also, somewhat unnerving with the razor blade, but you soon get used to it. I also enjoyed an indian head massage consisting of menthol oils and a series of slaps on the head using various hand techniques, accompanied with massaging of the head and face.
They also used an electronic hand massage device for your head and shoulders, they also cracked my neck which felt weird. some of you might be closing your eyes night now, but it was good... honest!
This last few days had been the host to what is called 'Holy' or 'playing holy'.
This is the celebration of colour. This is displayed by people having fights with very colourful paints! I have seen plenty of purple and orange and yellow people all over the place. This is usually involving the people who do not originate from india, but everyone gets involved it seems. some like to include eggs to make it more fun... bystanders are not picked on which is handy too.
The plan for this week is to go to Breakthrough on monday and tuesday and take part in some group work as there is a group in those days.
Me and Raj are hopefully booking tickets for trains buses and planes for when my parents and Andy arrive on April 4th. i plan to meet them in chennai when they arrive and come back to Bangalore with them after a few days.
Anyway that's enough for now, ill update at the weekend possibly, or when something interesting happens!
Much love
Charlie D x
I'm sad to hear this, at least we had a white easter! I'm sad to say that it hasn't been snowing in India today, or will it do so soon...
Today I spent a few hours playing cricket; badly but that's not the point.
Anyway I got sunburnt today during the midday sun!
I'm looking somewhat lobster like at present, and its not the giant pincers! I managed to get a total of 1 run! But I also got a stunning wicket while fielding, but that was about it...
Today we went to church for an easter sunrise service, this started at 6am. Although me and Raj arrived somewhere around 6.25
We were provided with a breakfast after the service which proved good incentive.
Since my last blog i mentioned going to Breakthrough Centre on monday. Thankfully this did actually happen as planned.
Sadly they didn't have any groups in and so the centre was slightly dormant.
I did get a tour around the now stunning looking adventure centre!They have built some incredible structures for ropes courses and other experiences. When I last went there we taught them to abseil from the rock on site, and there were only a few activities available. But now there are a plethora of team building activities available.
Breakthrough has specialized in Corporate Training and team building which has really benefited them. As well as the high ropes course at the centre in Bangalore; they have built one in Hydrobad, another major southern city and one in Egypt for an adventure centre. As we speak, Robin paul and some of his staff are in America doing some more corporate team building work.
I was so very impressed in what they have achieved in the last several years. As well as the high ropes course they have built a man made cave system covering 100 feet in length. this in pitch black including some declines and inclines too.
Also they have build a monster of a swing, this they called the screamer. As you could guess from the photo. The participants are released from the top of the building and swing to the same height the other side.
This provides teamwork in getting the pulleys to make the swing reach the appropriate height. We spent the morning looking around the centre and helping with some resources. We left that afternoon after a pretty good lunch! www.breakthrough-india.com The next day (tuesday) we headed to the bible college; SABC and provided some more
abseiling for the conference goers.This again was the small time of the recreation hour, but we were more slick than before and also more confident in the abseiling instruction. This time we managed to get some girl down the wall, which was great because most indian girls would not do anything like this!
Although a little scared we managed to get 3 or so girls down the wall over the next 2 sessions, along with some pretty exited guys too! many of them had never experienced anything like this, and were also somewhat scared of heights. We helped them conquer their fears by assisting them off a 3 storey building...
The final day in the college (thursday) me and Raj went in to lead some seminars for the morning. Raj spoke about some experiences of adventure and what it was about and I also did a short talk about my life in adventure; including CYE and my degree and placements.
My talk also included why I thought outdoor education was important through my own experience and knowledge.
This went down ok, although a little difficult. The problem is they all speak English and understand it they cant understand it with a different accent to what they are used to! For example a British accent like myself, and with the added problem of my fast speaking anyway. It went fine otherwise, I had to slow down and speak louder and they seemed to be interested in what I spoke about. I answered the questions as best as i could along with some other questions and experiences at the end of Raj's following talk on integrating youth in church.
The next day was good friday. We went to church for a morning service and then back to Raj's place for the rest of the day.
As i mentioned in my last post i went for a shave and a hair cut, also an indian head massage! All for 100 rupees!
It was great fun, i have never had my hair done professionally before and so my first time was in india. Along with the hair cut; which was somewhat short, I had a full shave and a head massage. indian head massages are renowned around the world. This treatment I was enjoying was in a 'mens beauty parlour' The hair cut was pretty good, very neat and slightly shorter as the hot season is coming. The shave was good also, somewhat unnerving with the razor blade, but you soon get used to it. I also enjoyed an indian head massage consisting of menthol oils and a series of slaps on the head using various hand techniques, accompanied with massaging of the head and face.
They also used an electronic hand massage device for your head and shoulders, they also cracked my neck which felt weird. some of you might be closing your eyes night now, but it was good... honest!
This last few days had been the host to what is called 'Holy' or 'playing holy'.
This is the celebration of colour. This is displayed by people having fights with very colourful paints! I have seen plenty of purple and orange and yellow people all over the place. This is usually involving the people who do not originate from india, but everyone gets involved it seems. some like to include eggs to make it more fun... bystanders are not picked on which is handy too.
The plan for this week is to go to Breakthrough on monday and tuesday and take part in some group work as there is a group in those days.
Me and Raj are hopefully booking tickets for trains buses and planes for when my parents and Andy arrive on April 4th. i plan to meet them in chennai when they arrive and come back to Bangalore with them after a few days.
Anyway that's enough for now, ill update at the weekend possibly, or when something interesting happens!
Much love
Charlie D x
Friday, 14 March 2008
Updates! this week and the titanic tent trials...
I thought id post as i have the time now; and i feel like it...
We have done a few things this week since i last posted.
As you can expect, being in india and all; things have changed slightly since i spoke to you all last...
Here is a little taster to whet your blogging appetite!
I said that i was doing a talk at the local bible college, sadly this hasn't happened as yet. I dont mind about that too much...
The plan was to lead seminars and activities at the bible college to give the people a taste of what adventure sports are like by providing a host of activities, seminars and experiences.
Due to miscommunication and poor planning we havent achieved too much of that...
On thursday we finally got some time to run a short abseiling session off one of the dorm roof's!
This proved somewhat challenging as the movie stars make it look so easy!
The hard part was changing from vertical (standing) to horizontal (abseiling) within a short space (the edge of the rooftop). All went well, but it was a challenge for both us and the participants.
The next day (today) we planned to visit the campus again and run some more abseiling and provide an experiences of setting up and staying in tents overnight. We hoped to get more time than the previous day with the students (1hour).
As we found that day we would not be getting any extra time. Our plan was to provide abseiling for some time, as well as a tent erecting tutorial during the afternoon; But the only tome allotted was the same 'recreation period' that we had the day before (5.45-6.45pm)
In order to make the best use of the short time we had; we decided to erect the tents for the students in order for them to sleep in them that night. This was not a small task as we had to cater for 30 or so students possibly. We had brought with us 11 or Raj's treasured tents for use that evening. Between the three of us; me raj and nandu, we managed to put all the tents up in the grass area inside the college grounds. At this time it was reaching the hot part of the day but we carried on! After several hours and several litres of water along with equal amount of sweat we accomplished our goal! We finally put up the various tents, including pegging them into the concrete like ground.
As we finished, the students arrived from their seminars and looked with eager intent towards the fairly unusual sight of tents. Most of the students had never slept in a tent before, let alone in the middle of the college grounds. They crowded around as Raj went through the fairly boring details about good housekeeping when staying in tents. As it was, this was pretty interesting to those who have never slept in a tent before!
They all brought over their pillows and other such bed like things and set themselves up for the night ahead before leaving for dinner, we left shortly after then.
We did not have time to set up the abseiling for that evening, but we planned to abseil some point next week, when we have more time.
Regarding the trip to Breakthrough Outdoor Centre, this has been arranged for next monday as it was not possible for us to come today. Me and Nandu hope to see first hand the activities that they provide and how they go about teaching them. I also would like to see what changed have come about since i last visited the centre (7 years previous)
On the journey back to Raj's place, on the back of hos motorbike it soon became apparent that there was thunderstorm approaching! We had seen the flashed beforehand but it came closer and provided some of the best sights of lightening i have ever seen!
It was fantastic, the sky was a blaze with thunder strikes and flashes lighting up the sky for a split second at a time! as we drove back towards Bangalore central i kept my camera at the ready catching every moment possible as fast as my poor camera could go...
I took plenty of photo's and a few videos. It was incredible to see Gods creation at work right in front of you in the most spectacular display of natures awesome power!
We stopped a few times to get some of these photo's.
Enough for now, I think that will do for the awe inspiring nature stuff. Tomorrow is going to be a day off; i think i will go and get my hair cut, should be fun! i might get a shave as well...
Much love
Charlie D
We have done a few things this week since i last posted.
As you can expect, being in india and all; things have changed slightly since i spoke to you all last...
Here is a little taster to whet your blogging appetite!
I said that i was doing a talk at the local bible college, sadly this hasn't happened as yet. I dont mind about that too much...
The plan was to lead seminars and activities at the bible college to give the people a taste of what adventure sports are like by providing a host of activities, seminars and experiences.
Due to miscommunication and poor planning we havent achieved too much of that...
On thursday we finally got some time to run a short abseiling session off one of the dorm roof's!
This proved somewhat challenging as the movie stars make it look so easy!
The hard part was changing from vertical (standing) to horizontal (abseiling) within a short space (the edge of the rooftop). All went well, but it was a challenge for both us and the participants.
The next day (today) we planned to visit the campus again and run some more abseiling and provide an experiences of setting up and staying in tents overnight. We hoped to get more time than the previous day with the students (1hour).
As we found that day we would not be getting any extra time. Our plan was to provide abseiling for some time, as well as a tent erecting tutorial during the afternoon; But the only tome allotted was the same 'recreation period' that we had the day before (5.45-6.45pm)
In order to make the best use of the short time we had; we decided to erect the tents for the students in order for them to sleep in them that night. This was not a small task as we had to cater for 30 or so students possibly. We had brought with us 11 or Raj's treasured tents for use that evening. Between the three of us; me raj and nandu, we managed to put all the tents up in the grass area inside the college grounds. At this time it was reaching the hot part of the day but we carried on! After several hours and several litres of water along with equal amount of sweat we accomplished our goal! We finally put up the various tents, including pegging them into the concrete like ground.
As we finished, the students arrived from their seminars and looked with eager intent towards the fairly unusual sight of tents. Most of the students had never slept in a tent before, let alone in the middle of the college grounds. They crowded around as Raj went through the fairly boring details about good housekeeping when staying in tents. As it was, this was pretty interesting to those who have never slept in a tent before!They all brought over their pillows and other such bed like things and set themselves up for the night ahead before leaving for dinner, we left shortly after then.
We did not have time to set up the abseiling for that evening, but we planned to abseil some point next week, when we have more time.
Regarding the trip to Breakthrough Outdoor Centre, this has been arranged for next monday as it was not possible for us to come today. Me and Nandu hope to see first hand the activities that they provide and how they go about teaching them. I also would like to see what changed have come about since i last visited the centre (7 years previous)
On the journey back to Raj's place, on the back of hos motorbike it soon became apparent that there was thunderstorm approaching! We had seen the flashed beforehand but it came closer and provided some of the best sights of lightening i have ever seen!
It was fantastic, the sky was a blaze with thunder strikes and flashes lighting up the sky for a split second at a time! as we drove back towards Bangalore central i kept my camera at the ready catching every moment possible as fast as my poor camera could go...
I took plenty of photo's and a few videos. It was incredible to see Gods creation at work right in front of you in the most spectacular display of natures awesome power!
We stopped a few times to get some of these photo's.
Enough for now, I think that will do for the awe inspiring nature stuff. Tomorrow is going to be a day off; i think i will go and get my hair cut, should be fun! i might get a shave as well...
Much love
Charlie D
Monday, 10 March 2008
This week: 'Avalanchi' and the tale of the many buses
Hi all I thought id post to let you all know im still alive...
I could say that ive left a part of my stomach on the so called roads between here (Bangalore) and Ooty.
I dont have many good things to say about my outbound bus journey, apart from that it was a memory to be 'treasured'. We left for Ooty at about 11.30pm after our bus was an hour later than proposed, but it wasn't a problem.
From what i could recall from my previous journey to avalanche it wasn't going to be that bad, but i realized we were going a different route from that i had gone before. This route was much worse, but shorter and quicker. This was obviously better, but not for those who couldn't sleep in a car, let alone an Indian bus for 8 or so hours. As you can guess i didnt sleep very much throughout my journey.
This made me somewhat grumpy for the duration of the journey. The bus was being bashed around so much that the seats were rocking back and forth, which didn't provide very a good sleeping environment.
Anyway that was the only bad bit about my trip to Ooty and 'Avalanchi' (proper spelling?). On wednesday morning we arrived in Ooty to see a good friend of mine and manager of Avalanchi; Richard Ajoo.
We then went on to get more sleep in the scripture union office in town. We slept on the floor in sleeping bags; but it was good to get some rest, and to regain my sanity. That day was spent in Ooty meeting colleagues and visiting friends including Wilson; a friend i met last time i was at Avalanchi. Also a good family friend Ralph and his wife Hannah and family who now work at Hebron international school; who previously worked with my dad at CYE.
On thursday we started our journey to Avalanchi in 2 jeeps as the scripture union truck wasn't worth taking with only 10 or so people. We got a short distance towards the camp when we were met by road re-surfacing, so we had to take a longer route round; but this provided views a plenty!
We carried on along some pretty poorly kept roads and stopped next and a bridge over a stunning lake where we took alot of photo's and then we continued on to the outer edge of the jungle itself.
At this point our jeeps would go no further and we had to walk the remaining 6km or so to reach the camp itself. The jungle paths were not your standard flat bridleways that you would find in the uk. 
We arrived at the camp site greeted by some indian tea , bread jam and fried eggs! As the cooks were ahead of us and got there before us.
We set up our tents we had brought with us and settled down in front of the fire and ate hearty that evening. We slept in our tents very cosily that night, i slept with 3 other lads because they aren't used to the cold like us brits! The next day(friday) was a day for training and getting used to the camp site before the group came on saturday. We started with some breakfast, porridge, bread and egg along with an indian breakfast also; i had both...
We then went on to start some abseiling from a nearby waterfall. This waterfall was only a small one coming down a rock face which provided a very interesting environment to abseil, including a pool of water to finish abseiling into.
That afternoon we
went on to teach some of the staff how to swim, as a majority of India's people cannot swim.
This makes it hard to teach adventure activities sometimes.
That evening we had another semi english/indian meal that was very nice. The camp from Hebron arrived on saturday and were staying until sunday afternoon. Only a 24 hour camp, this was due to exam and coursework pressures meaning they couldnt come for longer.
On saturday afternoon me an Nandu ran an abseil session with 4 girls, this session was good; if not a little slow, but it was good to get some experience.
That evening we went to the dry area near the lake and played some games including a game of ultimate frisbee that i was teaching.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing even though it made me pretty tired out! The next day was less active, we played yet more games on the dry ground including another brilliant game of frisbee.
I think this has contributed to my somewhat red shoulders and neck.
We left Avalanchi along with the group around 3pm and walked back to the pick up point where the Hebron buses were. We managed to beat the Scripture Union truck even though it left the same time also! This did involve some power walking in the heat, but it was good exercise and my ipod helped too!
We arrived in Ooty that evening after continuing our journey in the truck. We went and met Richard Ajoo again as he was not at the camp and we went out for some dinner. We then got out bus back to bangalore.
I expected the bus journey to be rubbish! As the outbound journey had been so bad. But to my surprise i got to sleep and slept on and off all the way back to Bangalore... Obviously this wasnt the best sleep ive ever had, but it was alot better then staying awake for 8hours!
I think the bus driver was alot better then the first driver.
We arrived in bangalore and went back to bed for a few hours and the other girls came over to do some washing and cooked us all dinner too which was handy.My washing was pretty minging too! its all done now though, hooray
Anyway time to stop talking now!
We are running some seminars at the local bible college from tomorrow and doing some activities for them to get them onto our training camp this month in Avalanchi. Also we plan to head to Breakthrough Centre in bangalore this week to see some friends and have a look at the activities and see what has changed since last time i was there (7 years back!)
I have to do a 30min talk tomorrow too, so i need to prepare!
Much love
Charlie D
I could say that ive left a part of my stomach on the so called roads between here (Bangalore) and Ooty.
I dont have many good things to say about my outbound bus journey, apart from that it was a memory to be 'treasured'. We left for Ooty at about 11.30pm after our bus was an hour later than proposed, but it wasn't a problem.
From what i could recall from my previous journey to avalanche it wasn't going to be that bad, but i realized we were going a different route from that i had gone before. This route was much worse, but shorter and quicker. This was obviously better, but not for those who couldn't sleep in a car, let alone an Indian bus for 8 or so hours. As you can guess i didnt sleep very much throughout my journey.
This made me somewhat grumpy for the duration of the journey. The bus was being bashed around so much that the seats were rocking back and forth, which didn't provide very a good sleeping environment.
Anyway that was the only bad bit about my trip to Ooty and 'Avalanchi' (proper spelling?). On wednesday morning we arrived in Ooty to see a good friend of mine and manager of Avalanchi; Richard Ajoo.
We then went on to get more sleep in the scripture union office in town. We slept on the floor in sleeping bags; but it was good to get some rest, and to regain my sanity. That day was spent in Ooty meeting colleagues and visiting friends including Wilson; a friend i met last time i was at Avalanchi. Also a good family friend Ralph and his wife Hannah and family who now work at Hebron international school; who previously worked with my dad at CYE.
On thursday we started our journey to Avalanchi in 2 jeeps as the scripture union truck wasn't worth taking with only 10 or so people. We got a short distance towards the camp when we were met by road re-surfacing, so we had to take a longer route round; but this provided views a plenty!
We carried on along some pretty poorly kept roads and stopped next and a bridge over a stunning lake where we took alot of photo's and then we continued on to the outer edge of the jungle itself.
At this point our jeeps would go no further and we had to walk the remaining 6km or so to reach the camp itself. The jungle paths were not your standard flat bridleways that you would find in the uk. 
We arrived at the camp site greeted by some indian tea , bread jam and fried eggs! As the cooks were ahead of us and got there before us. We set up our tents we had brought with us and settled down in front of the fire and ate hearty that evening. We slept in our tents very cosily that night, i slept with 3 other lads because they aren't used to the cold like us brits! The next day(friday) was a day for training and getting used to the camp site before the group came on saturday. We started with some breakfast, porridge, bread and egg along with an indian breakfast also; i had both...
We then went on to start some abseiling from a nearby waterfall. This waterfall was only a small one coming down a rock face which provided a very interesting environment to abseil, including a pool of water to finish abseiling into.
That afternoon we
went on to teach some of the staff how to swim, as a majority of India's people cannot swim.This makes it hard to teach adventure activities sometimes.
That evening we had another semi english/indian meal that was very nice. The camp from Hebron arrived on saturday and were staying until sunday afternoon. Only a 24 hour camp, this was due to exam and coursework pressures meaning they couldnt come for longer.
On saturday afternoon me an Nandu ran an abseil session with 4 girls, this session was good; if not a little slow, but it was good to get some experience.
That evening we went to the dry area near the lake and played some games including a game of ultimate frisbee that i was teaching.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing even though it made me pretty tired out! The next day was less active, we played yet more games on the dry ground including another brilliant game of frisbee.
I think this has contributed to my somewhat red shoulders and neck.
We left Avalanchi along with the group around 3pm and walked back to the pick up point where the Hebron buses were. We managed to beat the Scripture Union truck even though it left the same time also! This did involve some power walking in the heat, but it was good exercise and my ipod helped too!
We arrived in Ooty that evening after continuing our journey in the truck. We went and met Richard Ajoo again as he was not at the camp and we went out for some dinner. We then got out bus back to bangalore.
I expected the bus journey to be rubbish! As the outbound journey had been so bad. But to my surprise i got to sleep and slept on and off all the way back to Bangalore... Obviously this wasnt the best sleep ive ever had, but it was alot better then staying awake for 8hours!
I think the bus driver was alot better then the first driver.
We arrived in bangalore and went back to bed for a few hours and the other girls came over to do some washing and cooked us all dinner too which was handy.My washing was pretty minging too! its all done now though, hooray
Anyway time to stop talking now!
We are running some seminars at the local bible college from tomorrow and doing some activities for them to get them onto our training camp this month in Avalanchi. Also we plan to head to Breakthrough Centre in bangalore this week to see some friends and have a look at the activities and see what has changed since last time i was there (7 years back!)
I have to do a 30min talk tomorrow too, so i need to prepare!
Much love
Charlie D
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
A few more updates
Afternoon all those outside of my time zone (england)
I thought id post today as im off for 5 days or so until Sunday night.
We are going up by overnight bus tonight to a place called Ooty, near the 'Nilegiri Hills' We will stay in Ooty for wednesday and overnight until thursday when we will journey to Avalanche, the Jungle camp.
The camp is the jungle an hour away from most civilization and takes a death defying truck ride through the roller coaster like jungle roads, or a walk through the jungle taking the same amount of time. Last time i went to avalanche i took the wrong option... We are going to do some training until friday when a group from Hebron, an International Christian school in Ooty come to the camp. We hope to see some friends in Ooty on wednesday including some english people that work at Hebron.
This weekend just gone has been an enjoyable one. On saturday me and Raj and the 3 other girls went to Mysore, a well known historical place with many palaces and other attractions.
We visited a summer palace near Mysore including some displays showing the final stand against the British under the command or Sultan Tipu, Its ok were all friends now...
It was a nice way start to our packed day.
The second place we visited was a bird sanctuary, which included a large stretch of river, and also come crocodiles!
We went on a short boat tour around the river, we did see 2 or 3 crocodiles, but none were within any unsafe distance of us.
We then went on to Mysore itself and went into the palace, no photography is allowed inside the palace but i got some shots from outside. The palace was of monumental grandeur with hundreds or sandal wood doors and some with ivory included. Thousands of tiles imported from countries all over the world, including Scotland. Many glass roof's and decorative pillars.
The front of the palace was designed so that the king could ride in on his Elephant straight into the courtyard.The palace was surrounded by a few temples and places of worship.
After then we went for a meal at pizza corner, as you do.
Then we continued to some botanical gardens. these were a sight i did not expect to see, although the gardens were right next to south India's water supply in the form of a dam.
There were hundreds of small and larger water fountains and features which were more attractive than the plant life as India's floral background isn't too rich...
When the clock hit 7pm the fountains all lit up and provided a very nice colourful water fountain display throughout the garden. people came from everywhere as soon as the lights came on.
We stayed until around 7.30 then we left in our car we had booked for the day.
The journey throughout the late evening was very interesting. The highways in India are places where no law applies it seems. Firstly the polices idea of speed calming is putting chicanes in the road provided by police barriers complimented by several speed bumps in a row...
In India they do drive on the left like we do The Uk, but trucks dont seem to abide by this rule. Whereas in the Uk a slow moving truck will take the left lane on the carriageway (slow lane). they decide to stick in the right hand lane and force all other traffic to undertake including other similarly matched trucks.
Finally one thing that made me chuckle, as me and raj were going to a graduation on Sunday evening of the Southern Asia bible College in Bangalore. (raj sometimes teaches there, and he studied there a few years back) I experienced a method of road surfacing i have never seen before.
On Uk roads we choose to dig up the old road and put a new road on in the same place....
But India they choose to do it their own way. As traffic is heavy all day long they just surface the road; not RE-surface. We came to find congestion along one road and i discovered that Surfacing was going on real-time. Everything was running as if the work was not being done, traffic was moving as usual; if not a little slower.
This made me smile and think; Only in India
Anyway Ive been rattling on for some time now!
I hope you all have a good week and ill post again some time next week
We are running some seminars and activities at the bible college in outdoor sports next week so it should be fun, im doing a talk at some point too....
Much love from India
Charlie D
I thought id post today as im off for 5 days or so until Sunday night.
We are going up by overnight bus tonight to a place called Ooty, near the 'Nilegiri Hills' We will stay in Ooty for wednesday and overnight until thursday when we will journey to Avalanche, the Jungle camp.
The camp is the jungle an hour away from most civilization and takes a death defying truck ride through the roller coaster like jungle roads, or a walk through the jungle taking the same amount of time. Last time i went to avalanche i took the wrong option... We are going to do some training until friday when a group from Hebron, an International Christian school in Ooty come to the camp. We hope to see some friends in Ooty on wednesday including some english people that work at Hebron.
This weekend just gone has been an enjoyable one. On saturday me and Raj and the 3 other girls went to Mysore, a well known historical place with many palaces and other attractions.
We visited a summer palace near Mysore including some displays showing the final stand against the British under the command or Sultan Tipu, Its ok were all friends now... It was a nice way start to our packed day.
The second place we visited was a bird sanctuary, which included a large stretch of river, and also come crocodiles!We went on a short boat tour around the river, we did see 2 or 3 crocodiles, but none were within any unsafe distance of us.
We then went on to Mysore itself and went into the palace, no photography is allowed inside the palace but i got some shots from outside. The palace was of monumental grandeur with hundreds or sandal wood doors and some with ivory included. Thousands of tiles imported from countries all over the world, including Scotland. Many glass roof's and decorative pillars.
The front of the palace was designed so that the king could ride in on his Elephant straight into the courtyard.The palace was surrounded by a few temples and places of worship.
After then we went for a meal at pizza corner, as you do.
Then we continued to some botanical gardens. these were a sight i did not expect to see, although the gardens were right next to south India's water supply in the form of a dam.
There were hundreds of small and larger water fountains and features which were more attractive than the plant life as India's floral background isn't too rich...
When the clock hit 7pm the fountains all lit up and provided a very nice colourful water fountain display throughout the garden. people came from everywhere as soon as the lights came on.
We stayed until around 7.30 then we left in our car we had booked for the day.
The journey throughout the late evening was very interesting. The highways in India are places where no law applies it seems. Firstly the polices idea of speed calming is putting chicanes in the road provided by police barriers complimented by several speed bumps in a row...
In India they do drive on the left like we do The Uk, but trucks dont seem to abide by this rule. Whereas in the Uk a slow moving truck will take the left lane on the carriageway (slow lane). they decide to stick in the right hand lane and force all other traffic to undertake including other similarly matched trucks.
Finally one thing that made me chuckle, as me and raj were going to a graduation on Sunday evening of the Southern Asia bible College in Bangalore. (raj sometimes teaches there, and he studied there a few years back) I experienced a method of road surfacing i have never seen before.
On Uk roads we choose to dig up the old road and put a new road on in the same place....
But India they choose to do it their own way. As traffic is heavy all day long they just surface the road; not RE-surface. We came to find congestion along one road and i discovered that Surfacing was going on real-time. Everything was running as if the work was not being done, traffic was moving as usual; if not a little slower.
This made me smile and think; Only in India
Anyway Ive been rattling on for some time now!
I hope you all have a good week and ill post again some time next week
We are running some seminars and activities at the bible college in outdoor sports next week so it should be fun, im doing a talk at some point too....
Much love from India
Charlie D
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