Famtrip Diamir- The horse dances at 40 degree

13. April 2025

 

 

The Diamir famtrip is over and I’ve just arrived in Darjeeling. From 40 degrees plus to maybe 12 degrees now in the evening. Sounds exhausting? It was! The 40 degrees, that is. And a lot more besides.
10 people, 9 female, 1 male
1 German-speaking guide from Agra, highly praised
7 accommodations
7 tigers
10 surprises
5 vehicle types
a huge number of sights
the really big emotions with laughter and tears
and me in between.

 

I think I still need time to digest it – and perhaps I’ll just sketch out the surprises here. A few years ago, a good friend offered a short Qi Gong journey with surprises every day. I really enjoyed it and was eager to finally try it out for myself. And here on the famtrip it finally worked!

 

Let me start by saying: what exactly is a Famtrip? People who work in travel agencies and sell or want to sell Diamir trips apply for a trip that costs them very little and during which they learn a lot and are hopefully fully motivated afterwards to sell the Diamir trips to this destination even better. So 10 were selected and they travelled with me on a special tour at the invitation of the local agent and Diamir, where they got to know parts of several group tours. And to make it really cheap, they travelled in the off-season. In India that means: sweating….

 

 

1. surpise: meeting Air India

Air India has a bad reputation. They want to improve it, because the reputation no longer corresponds to reality, and then they thought that they could support our efforts even better by meeting the group at the airport and talking, laughing, joking, giving gifts – and especially welcoming them. Only an upgrade was not included – but still great!

 

 

 

2. surprise: presentation

 

Well, it wasn’t really that surprising because we are supposed to tell all sorts of things about Diamir in a presentation anyway. But I took the opportunity to give my own presentation about Incredible India and Diamir’s trips to India and hoped that it would be a bit more entertaining.

 

 

3. surprise: visit at Sheroes

 

After Delhi we were in Agra – and there is a café run by women who are victims of acid attacks. A violent thing. But also a great thing. Very touching. We not only ate lunch but also donated something. It was very much appreciated by the group.

 

 

4. surprise: trying sweets

 

India has a huge range of sweets, mainly made from milk and sugar. In hotels, the only dessert they usually serve is gulab jamuns. The sweet stuff is very mighty. That’s why it’s a good idea to get different flavours and chop them up – then you have a comparison. So all good sweet stuff in the belly, but very different. It made the journey to the Tiger easier as we didn’t get there until late lunchtime

 

 

5. surprise: Massage-offer

 

At the Tiger, you have plenty of time for idleness between safaris – and can do nice things like massages. To make sure that everyone gets their turn, it’s good to organise this in advance and let the accommodation know the number of guests etc.. That way there was enough staff and a schedule – and a relaxed group. We actually saw 7 different tigers on these 2 safaris. That was quite a lot.

 

 

6. surprise: Mango-Tasting

 

The mango season in India starts in April. I mistakenly thought that all the mango varieties would be ripe together, but I was wrong. Only one variety was ripe. I actually wanted to do a mango test, i.e. try and judge many different varieties – like wine or whiskey. With one variety, that’s a bit small. So we changed our plans and learnt all the different ways you can eat mangoes and even more. That was also very nice.

 

 

7. surprise: getting Mehndi

 

Mehndi are the henna paintings that are so popular with Indian women and it feels like anyone can make them. Patterns are painted onto the skin with a piping bag, it dries and soaks in for an hour. Usually then you look stupid because it is barely visible – and the next morning you are amazed at how much it has darkened.

 

 

 

8. surprise: dressing like a local

 

I always think it’s great to dress the way they walk around somewhere else – it immediately gives you a different body feeling. So that’s what we did. You can see the result at the top. And then there was also a horse that danced. First in front of us, then around us. And our dresser and we danced too. That was funny. And hot.

 

 

 

 

9. surprise: Bollywood-dance lesson

 

As the dancing was so nice, we went straight on and booked a Bollywood dance lesson. It wasn’t quite as hot there, but we were still tired and so we were able to persuade the teachers to show us something. I loved both: dancing around and watching.

 

 

 

 

10. surprise: Laughter-Yoga in Lodhi Garden

 

Our teacher is the Guinness Book record holder: 36 hours of uninterrupted laughter yoga! Unfortunately, he wasn’t that compatible with the group – so although we laughed sometimes, we didn’t really like it or him. That was a shame. Especially because I had so much fun the previous time with a very large private group. So perhaps the idea wasn’t bad, but the execution was poor. On the other hand, the morning atmosphere in the park with the other people was really nice.

 

 

11. surprise: I don’t know yet!

 

Then the journey was over and the group drove to the airport and I drove a little later too, but to a different terminal. We said goodbye beforehand. And I got a gift: 1 surprise! But only in Dresden. I was very pleased and touched – and now I’m already very curious!

 

 

As already mentioned above: it was a lot and exhausting and not at all easy for me and my role. I thought so much about groups and travelling and tourism and India. There were sleepless nights – and a lot of laughter and nice conversations and group trouble during the day. Now I’m still very full of it and am looking forward to letting it sink in while trekking. And India: never again this area in April! Too hot! But it was great to refresh my memory and see new things!

 

 

And how does Darjeeling feel? There was also a surprise on the journey there from the airport! That will be in the next blog post.