Going Home

Hi Everyone

We are back in Delhi again and going 'round the old market for the day before we head to the airport to fly home!!!!

We have had a great tour with Gecko's. The week was packed with Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur and a small village in Rajastan. We have included a few pictures for now but will add more in a few days.

Looking forward to seeing everyone !!!

Love Beth and Kerry

Varanasi, Agra and Jaipur

We have joined our tour group in Varanasi and are enjoying seeing all the sights. The group is just 8 other people. Very friendly. Mostly from Austrailia and New Zealand, mid to late 20's.

We took a early morning boat ride down the Ganges and we also had an evening boat ride. The evening boat ride was very crowded and quite beautiful. We headed off to Agra the next morning and saw the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. The pictures will not do it justice. It is a beautiful building and the grounds are peaceful.

We have spent the last two days in a very remote village, staying at a Raj's castle that was converted into a hotel. The walk throught the village was fun. We saw a local potter making pots and went to a school and a temple. We took a camel & cart ride up to the sand dunes to watch the sunset. In the morning we got up at 6:00 to climb a hill to the the fort. Kerry stopped 3/4 the way up and while he sat a monkey came to visit with him (big one too......showed his teeth and then just sat there) He was about 5-6 feet away from Kerry.

Today we are in Jaipur and have just come back from the Amber castle and Fort. Very beautiful. Kerry has headed off to a cricket match with the Australians. They all got their pictures taken for the local papers.

Tomorrow we are back in Dehli for the day and then we head off to Shimla in the Himalayan foothills for a few days and then HOME !!!!

Stay well, We miss you all
love Beth and Kerry

I have my registration # !!!!!

I've got a registration # YEAH !!!! It took a few trys and lots of help from Child Haven but we have an official stamp and number on my VISA. We are heading off to Varanasi in an hour or so, to join up with our Tour. We have also booked our train up to the foothills of the Himalayas for next week.

Will write soon............
Love Kerry and Beth
xoxo

change of plans

Hi everyone

This post is not from the Himalayas......I got stopped at immigration and was not allowed on the plane , I didn't have the proper registration number on my VISA. I was to register within 14 days of my arrival and I did......... but the small town police didn't give me a number , they just stamped it.

The past 4 days we have been trying to straighten things out. We still need to go back with forms one more time, but we have decided to hire a car and driver, and head out of town for a few days and then join our tour group next Wednesday here in India.

If we went to Nepal, we might not be allowed back in for 2 months. (It's a new policy) We decided to just stay in India and do Nepal in another trip.

It's great to be hanging out with Kerry. We are enjoying Delhi. Kerry loves the tuk tuks. We are taking lots of pics.

Hope everyone is well

Namaste
Beth and Kerry

Good bye to Savarsai

I head out tonight to the Mumbai airport to meet Kerry and then head north to Nepal and northern India. It has been quite an experience here. I have enjoyed my 3months at the Ashram. We have been without power for 3 days now. We often loose power for a few hours each day, but this is the first time in six months that it has been so long. The solar cells were so dirty on the roof that we didn't even have our solar lights for the childrens dorm area. Dinner was by kerosene lamps each night. (we eat around 8:30pm) The drinking water is filtered with an electrical pump and so we ran out of water to drink for the second time this week. Our power was finally restored an hour or so ago. The managers are quickly trying to fill the water tank and make clean water in case it goes off again.

Next post will be from the himalayas.

Beth

Clean Water

Water

In India, clean water is often hard to find. The Mumbai newspaper has reported daily leaks in the water lines and a few major breaks. The one a few days ago, will leave Mumbai with 35% less water for a week or so until they can drain and repair the pipe. We ran out of water last week at the home, and the children had to go to the village to get some. Many village people go to the river each day to wash, and each morning they carry pots of water on their heads from the communal water taps around town. In the city of Pen, there are open ditches along the roads, which I don't think carry sewage any more but they do smell of garbage.

It really makes me thankful for our relativley clean water in Canada and even more interested in finding ways to keep water clean and accessable to all.

Stay well

Beth

Karla Caves

I went to the Buddhist caves in Karla this morning. I left at 6:30 and caught the bus into Pen, then caught the 7:00 am bus out to Karla. I arrived there about 9:00 and took a 3 seater to the base of the mountain. Then its a steep 100 meters up this mountain to the caves. There is a Hindu temple there too, and all along the stone walk way were people selling flowers, incence and coconuts for puja offerings. The main cave was lovely with elephants, decorations and people carved into the stone. The rest was a little disappointing. A large section was closed. I tried to follow a path that went around the mountain to the gompa, but the path got so narrow and it was a long way down, with the rock wall squishing me on the up side. The picture above is at the wider part of the path........it gets narrower around the corner. As most of you know, I am not comfortable with heights and I gave up and went back. I sat for a while under a huge beautiful tree looking at the caves, but the beggars were calling for baksheesh, everyone was staring at the foreigner, calling out "hello" and asking "from where"? It's all very friendly, but not very mediative. I had a bunch young of guys who each wanted to take their picture with me. After a couple of snaps, I was able to stop them by bringing out my camera and I took a couple pictures of them instead. They laughed and mugged for the camera. People here want you to take their picture. (with your camera) they will never see the photo.......... Weird!

Anyhow, I went down the moutain, walked through town and caught the bus back to Kopali, then on to Pen. I saw my first Sadhu (holy man) while waiting for the bus on the highway, and I saw 2 elephants walking down the street in town while sitting at a stop in Lanovali. A couple pigs went down the road too. The 1:30 bus to Pen was jam packed full and yet 10-15 of us squished on as the bus kept trying to leave. Must have been twice the amount of people than is allowed (in Canada any how) on the bus. The countryside was beautiful and we climbed up in the western ghats (mountains) to reach the cave area. Lots of steep hills and switchbacks with good views all around.

I am having trouble adding pictures today. It has taken 1 1/2 hours to upload 2 1/2 pictures. India is not for any of you techie junkies....... Things are very slow, I had picked 7 or 8 to show but I think I will stop at 3 or 4.

Hope everyone is well,
Namaste Beth

Bonnie Ma, as she is affectionately known to the children, one of the founding members of "Child Haven International", came for 3 day visit. The children dressed up and did performances, we had lots of great foods and we had all sorts of meetings. It was a busy few days. It is very interesting to watch and learn all the various things that Bonnie needs to attend to during her short stay. The girl with the chalk on the sidewalk is doing ragoli, it is a colourful welcome that is done outside of the door ways. And that's me in a different sari. (as requested) They are actually quite fun to wear and they certainly do stir up a fuss with the children.

I have just 3 weeks left at the Ashram before Kerry and I do some travelling up in Northern India and Nepal. Next week I hope to tour some Buddhist caves near by here.

Hope all is well,

Love Beth

Pictures of the Ashram, Savarsai Village and city of Pen

Hello from India........

We had a special guest on Sunday, a Dr with 18-20 of her colleagues and family came from Mumbai.

The Silk Factory provided the food and a cook. The cooking was done mostly on the floor.....the cutting, the propane burners with pots bubbling and the deep frying too. There were 6-7 of us in the kitchen at one point all preparing the food on the floor. We served breakfast and lunch to them.

The children performed for them. They did some yoga, a skit, some songs and prayers. I gave a history of "Child Haven" and the founders, Bonnie and Fred.

It was a lovely day and most of the doctors spoke English well so I was able to have several discussions with them. They made donations of Books, school bags and towels for the children.

I have included a couple truck pictures for the boys at Sunflower.. ..I would have liked to send more but the uploads take too long.........next time maybe.......Namaste to all........

A bit about the Hindu Gods

Hindu Gods and Goddesses

The area I am in is predominantly Hindu and they have many festivals and many Gods.
I thought I would mention just a few to peek your interest.

Shiva God of the universe. Draped in serpents and bearing a 3rd eye on the forehead. Nandi, his trusted bull escort.

Ganesha is a chubby, smiling elephant headed god. Son to Shiva and Parvati. Invoked before every undertaking (except funerals). He is seated on a lotus flower. His image is often placed above temple gateways, shops, and houses. He is regarded as the god of learning, lord of success, prosperity and peace. (The city I am in is world renown for making plaster cast Geneshas.) His friend is the rat, who is always with him.

Vishnu is in charge of keeping the world in order, restoring and protecting. He is blue skinned and has 4 arms.

Krishna is one of the most important Avatars. He is the hero of the Bhagavad Gita (famous Hindu story) He proposes 3 routes to salvation(moksha) Self-less action(karmayoga) knowledge (Jnana) and devotion(bkakti). He has many faces, the most popular is as a cowherder.

Durga is a fierce female deity, and is an aspct of Parvati (Shiva's wife) also known as Kali, Mahadeva. Called the Great Goddess

Lakshmi is the goddess of loveliness, grace and charm. Also the goddess of prosperity and wealth.

Hanuman is the monkey God, featured in the story Ramayana. He is Rama's chief aid in the fight against the demon-king. He is the acrobat and wrestler. As protector for Rama and Sita, monkeys in India find sanctuary in temples across India.

Saraswati is the most beautiful goddess, wife of Brahma. She has white complexion and sits on water lily or peacock, playing the lute or sitar. She is the goddess of purification and fertility. She is also the inventor of writing, queen of eloquence and goddess of music.

Khamdenu is the scared cow. He recieves devotion through respect shown to all cows all over India. Not sure where the origin began....said the Brahma created cows at the same time as Brahmins so that they could have ghee (clarified butter) for their ceremonies. To this day cow dung and urine are used to purify houses. In fact it keeps the insects at bay. Killing or harming of cows by any Hindu is a grave offence. The cow is referred to as mother of gods.

HOLI festival is not one of the gods but it is a festival that is coming up next week. It is celebrated on the full moon to mark the beginning of Spring. They decorate a tree and then on February 28th they will set it on fire. They will spend the day bombarding everyone on the street with colour.........water, paint and powder is thrown at everyone. Very colourful

Enough for now Stay well everyone!!

Namaste

Love Beth