Preparations for Bir, India

I am just getting stuff ready for the trip in 3 weeks time. Trying to sort out the logistics of getting visas while not living in the UK and the diverse options of actually transferring from Delhi to Bir has been challenging to say the least. Having done it all before does take away some of the trepidation but also makes me realise that however much planning we do it will get screwed up somewhere along the way by Indian Bureaucracy. I guess we can't really complain - the British Colonialists gave India its love of paperwork, they just don't seem to have realised that much of it seems irrelevant in the greater scheme of things! Any why do they have to handwrite everything out in triplicate each time you visit anywhere official?
Anyway I'm getting there now - things are progressing. Passports are on their way back from the Embasssy (..I hope!), flights are booked, accommodation in the Gyurme Ling monastery is arranged. Just when I thought things couldn't get much more complicated I find out that we shouldn't fly over the many temples in the area wearing shoes! So i am sat here with bits of string working out if I can tie my trainers to my harness so that I can slip them off in the extremely likely event that the best thermal is directly above the temple roof. You may think I have totally lost the plot.. its entirely possible! The reasoning behind this panic stems from watching Jim Mallinsons new film - Temples in the clouds - at the Coupe Icare festival. According to a local Holy man in Bir who was consulted due to the continuous problems Jim was having with weather, stolen cameras etc "If you fly over temples wearing shoes the Gods may get angry and say bring that f@*!*!r down!" So you see my dilemma... hopefully my new pod for the harness will arrive in time from Kortel, which makes kicking off the shoes and not losing them feasible - If not the bits of string option is going to have to be tested. I'm just not sure how to get them back on again before my feet freeze though.... sooo back to the hangpoints for a new set of tests......