The last few days

August 9

"Bye Aunty" "Come again quickly" "I miss you"...these were some of the remarks we received on Tuesday morning as we bid our farewells. We awoke with a bright start at 5am and we're called to the front of chapel to say goodbye to the 500+ orphan girls of Michael Job Centre. We sang Psalm 121:4 to the girls which says that the Lord will preserve them in trouble and will keep them from harm and danger. With our suitcases packed and a thorough search in our room we were ready to leave for Coimbatoire airport. A few days before, but especially on Tuesday morning, we received many many letters from children of every age. "From lost of love". "This is me when I saw you (happy face) this is me when I don't see you (sad face)". "I will pray for you and your family". "I don't know you, but I miss you". "I like to play with your hair. It is soft". These were some of the notes that were written to me. At 9am we waved to the hundreds of girls that crowded the entrance to MJC and arrived at the airport about half an hour later only to realize (by then the taxi had alread left) that our flight was cancelled and rebooked (we were supposed to leave at 10:40pm) to 5pm. What? So we are expected to wait for this long? With 3 BIG suitcases and lots of hang luggage? With 6 upset, and angry travellers, we ran to each travel agency along the airport entrance to see if they could book us a flight. We found flight that was leaving in ten minutes so we quickly booked that and were about to pay but our credit cards didn't work. After discussion we decided that it was best to just wait the 7 and a half hours in the smallest airport in the world since you never know if you will be refunded! Well, to make it short, we were not allowed in the airport until 3 hours before the flight would leave which meant that we had to wait somewhere else: a restaurant a short walk away from the airport. At 2pm we finally managed to get into the airport and we sat there for another hour until we could check in and go through security. Two of our hand bags had to be looked through and when the security guy found that we had games in those bags he decided to show us a trick with some cards. After playing a few games, sleeping, eating a chocolate chip muffin and looking at the interesting orange-haired Indians we boarded our flight at 4:30 to Delhi. 50 minutes later we touched down in Chennai, filled up the plane and 45 minutes later we found ourselves ascending above the several layers of clouds and after 3 and half hours we landed in Delhi. With 6 ravenous stomaches, we filled them with...burgers, pizza and fries and then hailed a taxi to a hotel we didn't actually know would except us! The Smyle hostel was booked so we kept looking until the Double R hotel accepted us. As usual, most washrooms in India do not have toilet paper in them and so far we have boughten at least 12 rolls, but tonight we didn't have any left so two of us walked the streets in search and at the end they went in to another hotel to ask and came back with two rolls! At 1am each one of us was finally asleep.

August 10

"Chaj...chaj...chaj." Groan! Here came another mobile vendor through the sleeper class of our train. This morning at 6am the train left and we travelled the 3.5 hours from Delhi to Agra sleeping most of the way. When we stepped off the train, people surrounded us asking: "Taxi, ma'm?" Trying to get some room we told them to leave us alone and frustrated we walked in the opposite direction even though we knew it was the wrong way. They followed us for quite some time, but we kept walking with our faces in one direction. Finally we turned around and walked to the government info booth and booked a taxi. A half hour later we found ourselves riding a camel to the entrance of the Taj Mahal. Wow! What an experience. Astonishment came when we were told that foreigners have to pay 750 rupees entrance fee and Indians 20 rupees. After paying the foreigner amount we walked through the east gate and into court of the Taj Mahal. Awe filled us as we saw the white marble building which took 20,000 labourers 22 years to build! Click! Click! Two hundred photos and two hours later we hailed our taxi and were on our way to visit the place where they made and continue to make the marble for the Taj. Incredible how much work it is to make a square foot of marble with stone flowers and designs: 3 months. At certain times of day the Taj Mahal's white marble gives off a different colour, which is why tourists go at sunrise, sunset and full moon. Have you ever worked on a weaver's loom? I have! It is amazing how quick these Indian men are with their fingers. Anyways, I sat on my knees and the man showed me how to string one thread. It was super neat! At another shop a man wanted me to sell me a sari but I told him it took too long to put on so he said: "I do it." Within seconds I had myself wrapped in a large roll of fabric and a Hindu "dot" was placed on my head. We left this shop and headed over to a market where we bought fruit and snacks for the train trip to Delhi. Confusion and anger filled our minds as we found out that we were waitlisted on the train ticket. Here and there we ran around trying to figure what we were supposed to do. Everyone wanted to help (of course, we were white people), but that got very annoying. We decided we would look on the reservation paper, which is glued onto the side of the train as soon as the train reaches the platform. There we found our names and seated ourselves. Since we were tired we slept nearly the entire way to Delhi and then treated ourselves to naan, butter chicken masala, chocolate cream roll, cream of tomato soup. I have never seen anyone move so fast! I saw a mouse scurry across the floor in the direction of our table and instantly one of us screamed and the other had her feet up on another and then the mouse came closer and that girl was standing on the wall before anyone could blink an eye! Laughter filled us as the rest of us watched the scene play out. By 11:30 we were back in our hotel and after quickly interneting in a cafe we showered and by the time the clock ticked 12:30 we were sleeping.

August 11

Lovely! This is the first day that we were in India that we slept in, and we sure were rested. Leaving our luggage in our hotel and taking only our valuable, we walked a short distance to a cafe where we ate a delicious, filling breakfast. What a sight! 6 of us piled into a 3 person tuk-tuk all thinking the same thing outloud: what happens if this three-wheeled thing tips? Quit imagining! Our driver brought us to a music store which had about 5 musical instruments and for the rest clothes, jewellery and picture frames. Irritated with the salesperson in the clothing department, I walked into the jewellery store. Mistake. Big mistake. Nothing caught my attention so I started walking out but then a man called me back in: "Madam, I have something that look cute on you. Come, look." Since the others were busily looking around I decided to take a look at what this man had to offer me. He pulled out a huge silver ring and told me to put it on. The ring covered half of my finger but he told me: "Ahhh beautiful!" I shook my head to let him know that I was not at all interested and then he asked me where I was from. I told him Canada and he said: "When you leave?" I gave him a random date and he asked me to take him with him. Disgusted, I told him no. He said: "You take me with. I open shop. I make money and you come with me." I was so shocked, that I just stared at him and finally said: "I have a boyfriend waiting for me in Canada." He gave me the look that "who cares". I walked away from him so fast that you would have thought I was running from the police! After hailing a taxi, going to a music store and buying a guitar and violin for a really good price we make our way back to our hotel where we eat lunch sitting on a rug. All very interesting here and so much to see and take in that it's no wonder at the end of the day we crash in our beds. Baji Temple was a sight to behold in the daylight but also a night! Outside the temple gates we had to wait for quite some time to find a taxi, and then we decided to take the metro to the airport. What a contrast between the slums of India and central Delhi. At around 10pm we arrived at the airport, headed straight to the bathrooms and "showered". I have never had such a "shower" in my life and I have never felt so dirty and so clean in such a short time! Honestly, if you would have seen us, you would have fled in embarrassment. Pacing back and forth several times in the same one-kilometre distance, we finally seated ourselves in a restaurant