ANNA

Anna is from Tampere, a lovely town surrounded by lakes in southern Finland. She finished her Master's degree in International Relations this spring and is now ready to explore the world. Her initial plan for the summer 2006 was to work on organic farms in Austria but she metamorphosed her mind in going to Indian Himalayas when she came to know about these trekking expeditions. She is looking forward to hiking and would also love to find her way to outstanding yoga centers.

Anna believes in keeping her life simple and is one of those rare people in the developing world who do not own a computer yet. She is a real nature girl and feels most like home in the middle of forest. Anna loves dancing, sewing and swimming in the lakes year around (there are more than 200, 000 lakes in Finland). She is also an excellent vegetarian cook. As regards to trekking in the Himalayas, she is scared of heights but as long as someone is holding her hand she is okay with even traversing along the steep cliffs.

Anna who cut her long hair short for the first time in life in May 2006 and is more than happy now, ready to move on in life.

PATRICK

29 ans, à peine une maîtrise en environnement de terminée que je me lance à la découverte de l'Asie avant de viser le marché du travail. Quelques six mois devant nous pour un voyage de découverte: équilibre entre le corps et l'esprit, un peu de temps pour réapprendre à penser, pour se donner du recul avant de repartir dans une direction qui reste à déterminer. Je prends donc ce temps pour vivre la vie pour ce qu'elle est, pas simplement le travail, pas simplement l'occident mais bien l'aventure sous tous ces angles. Au plaisir de partager quelques-uns de ces riches moments en votre compagnie... Vivre sa vie au présent, voilà ce qui nous attend...

JULIE

Julie est une homo sapiens sapiens, comme tant d’autre, avec une tête, deux bras et deux jambes. Comme tout membre de son espèce, Julie a des envies, des besoins, des instincts. Dernièrement, elle a décidé de combler l’un de ses désirs, soit celui de vivre un moment de liberté, une liberté grisante, qui l’élèvera jusqu’au sommet des montagnes.

NATHALIE

Nathalie lives in Sudbury, Canada and is an ardent lover of nature, Nat indulges into a lot of Canoeing and Biking and loves camping. She teaches Aerobics and works for Environmental Networking Initiative Project in Sudbury.

This is what Nathalie had to say about herself:
I'm Nathalie, I graduated from Environmental Studies and Geography in 2003 from U of Ottawa, Canada. Then I went on to study ecotourism at Sir Sanford Fleming College to combine my love for travel and tourism.

Usually I get junk mail in my inbox, however when I stumbled across the opportunity to find myself and do some soul searching in India... doing trekking... I figured why not...you're only young once and for the first time I've paid off my student loans and have a bit extra cash to spare!

So I"m up for the challenge!!

CHRIS

Hey! That strapping young fellow in the picture is me – Chris! Welcome to my profile on India Trekkers blog!

Our friend/guide/fellow conspirator Sarju thought it would be a good idea to put our profiles up in this type of forum both to keep friends and family updated on what we’re doing, and to keep in touch with each other. So keep reading to find out more about me and why/how I came to be part of this trip.

I’m a recent University of Ottawa grad – major Environmental Studies, minor Communication – loving living life outside of school and looking for new life experiences. I feel like I’ve passed a major stage in my life, and am now transitioning into the next. What this next stage is I’m not entirely sure of yet, however, I know that it’s going to be a good one.

Part of moving on to this next stage has involved a lot of soul searching recently. Who am I? What do I want to do in this life? How can I give back to my community? How can I be the me that I want others to see? These are the questions I’ve been posing myself lately. And it’s all part of this stage. The path isn’t clear anymore. There’s no “next semester”. There’s no paper to hand in or project to work on. There’s just life, and the choices I have to make - .

I’ve got a decent job, though I can’t stand my boss. I’m working with the Environment Directorate of Indian and Northern Affairs. As an organization, we manage environmental issues on Reserve, and provide environmental guidance and expertise for the protection of First Nations and Inuit health and safety on Reserve. But this isn’t my calling. It’s interesting, and the First Nations perspective has taught me things about life I would have only guessed at. But this position itself is limiting in the sense that it’s too focused and too top level. I would like to see the impact of my daily activities if possible, and this job won’t provide me with that.

So, India. Where does that come in? Well, I’ve always wanted to travel. And I’ve always wanted to go to India. And when Sarju asked me if I was interested in going with him, I couldn’t refuse.

I’m hoping India is going to give me a greater perspective on this life and help me with some of these questions I have. I want to see life as it’s lived outside our little bubble here in North America – Canada especially. After this I’m hoping I’ll have a little bit better of an idea of how to be the me that I’m supposed to be, and in doing so helping out others do the same.

Felix

This is what Felix had to say about himself
"I got on this trip because of Yvan which is a good friend (up to now anyways). I'm from the region, growing up in Aylmer where my parent have a farm with horses. As of my educational back ground I have a bachelor in mechanical engineering from Ottawa U gave me enough to get a job at the canadian pantent office. When ever I'm not working in the office I either think about or shoot a short film."

YVAN

Yvan is from Aylmer, Quebec. He completed his degree in Advanced Geomatics from University of Ottawa in 2003 and is currently working as a GIS Technologist with the Canadian Forces based in Ottawa.

An audacious enthusiast of the outdoor sports, Yvan is an avid x-country skier in the winters and a stupendous mountain biker in the summers. Yvan's initial plan for the summer 2006 was to climb the mountains in Peru, but when he came to know about this trekking and cultural extravaganza in the Indian Himalayas, he changed his mind and booked his flight to Delhi. (He was the first person in the group to book his flight to India)

Yvan loves the spicy Indian food and is very excited about eating "momo" and drinking "butter tea" and "chhang" in Ladakh. He plans on doing treks in Ladakh and Himachal during the month of September.

ABOUT MYSELF

I am Sarju. I guess this will be enough for most of you as I am pretty famous ;-) .... giggling modestly .... I know I know, you don't have to comment on what I just wrote over here, but hey I am entitled to my minute of fame too.

To give you guys more info about myself:
I finished my Masters in GIS (Geographical Informtion Systems) from University of Ottawa in 2005 and so I thought that "Summer of 2006" was an appropriate time to do some travelling on the part of Earth that I adore so much. So, this year I plan to lead many expeditions in the cultural and scenic settings of the Indian Himalayas.

I was born in the Himalayas so it will not be an understatement if I were to say that Himalayas are in my blood. Before moving to Canada in 2001, I did extensive trekking in the Indian Himalayas for seven years. Many of my Canadian and European friends who are very enchanted by India had been pushing me to take them to my native Himalayas and organize and plan some treks for them. This should explain my intentions for the summer of 2006.

YES !!! I am going back to the mightiest mountain range in the world so that I can show it to my friends the way it impressed, influenced and shaped my life. I intend to be in India from late July till the end of December and I will be planning plentitude of Trekking, Cycling, Rafting, Motor-Biking and Safaris for my friends.

We intend to:
# Cross many passes higher than 5000 meters.
# Camp for many days in a row at more than 4000 meters.
# Camp underneath the stars.
# Visit villages and monasteries in the remote Himalayas where time seem to have stood still since ages.
# Stay with families, nomads, having that unadulterated cultural and culinary experience in the Himalayas.
## & everything else that Himalayas have to offer.

PHOTOGRAPHY:
Usually I do not mix photography and travelling as I always feel that when we are trying to take photos we loose that moment in real life. There is nothing like travelling care free without being hooked to your camera. But ....(btw I find "But" as the most dreaded word in english dictionary. There is always a catch after this three letter word. What goes before this word is the balm that the person wants to put on its prey before giving the final blow so that it does not hurt too bad). Anyways there is no such blow coming in my next sentence :). Coming back to what I was saying .......

But recently I have been getting a feeling that I should share with rest of the world, the stories of the nice and simple people of Himalayas. So this year I will be taking my camera on my travels and would attempt to tell the stories of the native people of the Himalayas through my photos. Stories from the socio-culture that I was raised in and have cherished throughout my life. I am not sure to what extent I will be successful but I am definitely very excited about what I am doing this summers.