Change of Plans

Well, it seems I was too early with my last post. Volunteering in Sangla is not going to happen after all. The road is still completely blocked and there will be no tourists this fall. It really is a shame, but there's not much I can do about it.

Luckily there's Workaway! I've already contacted three other projects and it's looking like I don't need to worry about not finding things to do. I'll give you a little more detailed look into the three after I can confirm the dates with the organizations. It looks like I'm all planned until the Oct. 25th. Missing the Sangla opportunity hurts, but I'm trying to see things positively now. Instead of seeing just one place, I now get to see three projects in the same time. That makes me a lot less sad. I'm starting to feel like I might have to wait for the further planning (from November to January) until I get to India. I've got a bunch of things to do before India still and the clock is ticking.

A Long Break Posting - Time for Some News

I've been a lazy poster the last almost three months. The life sometimes has a way of showing you who's in command! As I booked my flight to India, I remember thinking to myself "Just keep yourself single!" It worked very well. For exactly three days... I met a nice person and fell in love in her. Even if this wasn't what I was looking for, I'm very happy! And nothing to fear! India will still happen as planned!

The visa regulation-jungle is frustrating to say the least. I gave up looking for alternatives and applied for the 180 day tourist visa. I think 6 months will be enough for this tour. The following six months I've got off work I'm going to find other things to do.

Latest updates on planning:

I'm still planned only for the first two months. The latest from Sangla is that they had some problems with rain (as most of northern India did). This is a part of a message from a contact of mine in Sangla:

"Wonder if you know that Sangla Valley received unprecedented rains in mid June and the only road leading to Sangla is close since then.
Power was restored almost after a week. We had full house and all the guests had to be evacuated by helicopter. Business is zero as the road to Sangla will take another month or so to open."

This of course was a shock to hear, but it seems however from mid August I can start helping out as planned.

The planning for the last four months of my stay is exactly there, where it was three months ago. I'm on holiday now and I'm going to contact some of the projects I originally planned on working for the next couple of days.I'm not worried about the further planning yet. There's still plenty of time and I need some flexibility anyway. I'm going to have a busy summer this year, but I hope to find time for some more updates before August 11th.

Vaccinations are almost complete. I'm getting the last shots missing next week. Until next time!