Tuesday, 30 January 2007
GOA YO!!!?
Thank you for all the posts...its soooooooo nice to here from everyone back home.
We've escaped to Goa now and it's fantastic! We popped to the beach this morning and it was even better than we imagined it!
We felt a little guilty to leave early from our work with Asha in the slums but we had had enough of Delhi. Hassle all the time from sellers, beggers, con men and taxi drivers wore us out and Rachel had to face Indian men staring at her 24/7 and worse than that. Asha are great but they sadly very much left us to it in the slum. God was looking after us all the time though. There have been lots of sketchy moments so far cos we are rich and white everybody wants to fleece us for what they can get. Lots of the men in particular stare at Rachel and children want to take her photo. She hates it. Goa seems to be better in that way so far.
I was gutted the other day cos i'm sure somebody heckled at me saying i looked like Wayne Rooney. It must be my belly...or my football skills.
Sorry to everyone about the McDonalds! Just to remind you, your not missing much. Sure i felt dizzy after the first one. The food is great everywhere else, from small cafes to bigger restaurants. its all good. loving it. not had the runs yet, but Rachel is fighting an upset stomach today and also a cold/cough and is resting.
Goa is lush. A nice relief from the cities. The bit we're in is sort of like the Ibiza/ Costa del / Tenerife but far less people and less development. The beach is so beautiful. In 10 years time it will probably have been over developed like the mentioned places. Our apartment is also great, clean, spacious, quiet with verandas and balconies. It's just what we need after scabby noisy hostels! We are going to properly rest here i reckon. Not sure how long we'll stay but we're going to rest and chill and eat and get fatter.
love Jared
p.s. (Adina - i never got your email. Check the spelling with Mum. Hope your well and Leon and Jedidiah too. love Jared)
We've escaped to Goa now and it's fantastic! We popped to the beach this morning and it was even better than we imagined it!
We felt a little guilty to leave early from our work with Asha in the slums but we had had enough of Delhi. Hassle all the time from sellers, beggers, con men and taxi drivers wore us out and Rachel had to face Indian men staring at her 24/7 and worse than that. Asha are great but they sadly very much left us to it in the slum. God was looking after us all the time though. There have been lots of sketchy moments so far cos we are rich and white everybody wants to fleece us for what they can get. Lots of the men in particular stare at Rachel and children want to take her photo. She hates it. Goa seems to be better in that way so far.
I was gutted the other day cos i'm sure somebody heckled at me saying i looked like Wayne Rooney. It must be my belly...or my football skills.
Sorry to everyone about the McDonalds! Just to remind you, your not missing much. Sure i felt dizzy after the first one. The food is great everywhere else, from small cafes to bigger restaurants. its all good. loving it. not had the runs yet, but Rachel is fighting an upset stomach today and also a cold/cough and is resting.
Goa is lush. A nice relief from the cities. The bit we're in is sort of like the Ibiza/ Costa del / Tenerife but far less people and less development. The beach is so beautiful. In 10 years time it will probably have been over developed like the mentioned places. Our apartment is also great, clean, spacious, quiet with verandas and balconies. It's just what we need after scabby noisy hostels! We are going to properly rest here i reckon. Not sure how long we'll stay but we're going to rest and chill and eat and get fatter.
love Jared
p.s. (Adina - i never got your email. Check the spelling with Mum. Hope your well and Leon and Jedidiah too. love Jared)
Friday, 26 January 2007
Delhi Helli
Well its safe to say we are not enjoying delhi. we dont really like the vibe of the place (constant sellers, swindlers and pesky rickshaw drivers.) we have also seen the aftermath of 2 deaths, one a murder, one unknown and we saw a body yesterday with some policemen which i think was also dead.
Our worker ASHA is tough, we are right in a slum and are running a kids club 4 hours a day, but the commute takes us nearly 1 hr each way. the kids are lovely though. we have taught them some welsh! we are only going to do a week though as it is so hard. it takes us half an hour to find somewhere to eat lunch and the only place we would risk is mcdonalds! we hate ourselves for it, and the slum dwellers would happily have us round for food as they are very friendly, but obviously we cant eat their food. Seeing a slum from the inside is very different from outside. They are mostly surounded by rubbish, sewage and animals, but it is obvious even in a 6ft by 6ft living space the women here are still proud of their home and they are swept and dont smell too bad. ASHA do amazing work here, they are literally saving lives. They have pretty much left us to run these kids clubs on our own though.
well we are going to goa on monday and we cant wait, we are with ASHA tomorrow and then in Agra to see the Taj Mahal on sunday so the end is in sight. Thanks for your comments, they really lift our spirits. we heard about that boat thing in devon! we met someone from exmouth yesterday. So i know thats true, though not sure about some of the other things tim oakes has said??
we have tried to put up some pictures but the internet cafe we have here is pretty basic. Once we find one with some half decent computers it will definately be our first job.
Our worker ASHA is tough, we are right in a slum and are running a kids club 4 hours a day, but the commute takes us nearly 1 hr each way. the kids are lovely though. we have taught them some welsh! we are only going to do a week though as it is so hard. it takes us half an hour to find somewhere to eat lunch and the only place we would risk is mcdonalds! we hate ourselves for it, and the slum dwellers would happily have us round for food as they are very friendly, but obviously we cant eat their food. Seeing a slum from the inside is very different from outside. They are mostly surounded by rubbish, sewage and animals, but it is obvious even in a 6ft by 6ft living space the women here are still proud of their home and they are swept and dont smell too bad. ASHA do amazing work here, they are literally saving lives. They have pretty much left us to run these kids clubs on our own though.
well we are going to goa on monday and we cant wait, we are with ASHA tomorrow and then in Agra to see the Taj Mahal on sunday so the end is in sight. Thanks for your comments, they really lift our spirits. we heard about that boat thing in devon! we met someone from exmouth yesterday. So i know thats true, though not sure about some of the other things tim oakes has said??
we have tried to put up some pictures but the internet cafe we have here is pretty basic. Once we find one with some half decent computers it will definately be our first job.
Sunday, 21 January 2007
...Delhi
Thank you for all the comments, it's great to hear from you!
We have arrived in Delhi! We went by train in the end. It was quite fun, we shared a carriage with some lovely Indian-American ladies who gave us some good advice, though they snored like troopers! The journey was great, we saw some great sights, and rachel had the best nights sleeps shes had since weve been away. Delhi, is a bit more organised than Mumbai but the touts are worse. Getting a taxi was awful. Our original accomodation was horrible, we couldn't get out fast enough. So now we are staying a bit futher from New Delhi where are two contacts are, but we are in a more touristy distict which is nice for Rachel as she gets stared at a lot and she is not such a novelty here. It does mean there are more sellers here and they are very persistent!
Yes Tim we did get asked to be in a Bollywood film as an extra while we were in Mumbai, but it was a long day and we didnt have time. We would like to think it was because of our good looks, but it was simply because we are white.
Adina, we have not seen any other gingers but there is a trend for old Indian men to die their hair a dark orange colour!
We start with ASHA tomorrow, a Tearfund charity which we are nervous about, and we are tired from our train jouney and from all the sellers, but other than that we are fine, no Delhi belly yet.
We are missing:
coffee, sofas, pubs, unspicy food, peace and quiet, family and friends
We have arrived in Delhi! We went by train in the end. It was quite fun, we shared a carriage with some lovely Indian-American ladies who gave us some good advice, though they snored like troopers! The journey was great, we saw some great sights, and rachel had the best nights sleeps shes had since weve been away. Delhi, is a bit more organised than Mumbai but the touts are worse. Getting a taxi was awful. Our original accomodation was horrible, we couldn't get out fast enough. So now we are staying a bit futher from New Delhi where are two contacts are, but we are in a more touristy distict which is nice for Rachel as she gets stared at a lot and she is not such a novelty here. It does mean there are more sellers here and they are very persistent!
Yes Tim we did get asked to be in a Bollywood film as an extra while we were in Mumbai, but it was a long day and we didnt have time. We would like to think it was because of our good looks, but it was simply because we are white.
Adina, we have not seen any other gingers but there is a trend for old Indian men to die their hair a dark orange colour!
We start with ASHA tomorrow, a Tearfund charity which we are nervous about, and we are tired from our train jouney and from all the sellers, but other than that we are fine, no Delhi belly yet.
We are missing:
coffee, sofas, pubs, unspicy food, peace and quiet, family and friends
Tuesday, 16 January 2007
will the real Jared Percival please stand up!
It was that dreaded moment when your name is called over the tanoy at the airport! The airline had broken Jareds bag, (sorry Leon!) not the best start to our trip but it could have been a lot worse. Well we are here and is Mumbai and its not too bad! Our accomodation at the YMCA is basic but clean, and it turns out we get breakfast and dinner included which is a real help.Especially when we are only paying 5 pound a night each. I wouldn't say "its fun to stay at the YMCA" but its not bad.We are slightly out of the main tourist district but it is only 1 pound to get a taxi there. Taxi-ing is quite fun, Indians use horns instead of, well any form of highway code. cars share the same roads as rickshaws mopeds and even jcbs! there are certainly no lanes here its like car dodgeball!
There are a few other tourists which is nice to have someone to talk to, and smile to, as if you smile at an Indian they think you want to buy something. Jared is having a hard time not speaking to every single person he sees, and he keeps saying im ok thanks rather than no and some of them think he means yes, so hes going to have to learn to be firm if we want to get further than a few feet. Everything is here though, we even found an Italian coffee shop, it is strange paying 70p for something you would pay 1.50 for in verdis and its the same quality.
Well we are here till Saturday when we head to Delhi and we cant decide whether to brave the 17hr train journey or 2hr flight! we'll see how we feel. Bye for now
There are a few other tourists which is nice to have someone to talk to, and smile to, as if you smile at an Indian they think you want to buy something. Jared is having a hard time not speaking to every single person he sees, and he keeps saying im ok thanks rather than no and some of them think he means yes, so hes going to have to learn to be firm if we want to get further than a few feet. Everything is here though, we even found an Italian coffee shop, it is strange paying 70p for something you would pay 1.50 for in verdis and its the same quality.
Well we are here till Saturday when we head to Delhi and we cant decide whether to brave the 17hr train journey or 2hr flight! we'll see how we feel. Bye for now
Monday, 8 January 2007
less than 1 week to go...(oh sheesh!)
I'm feeling...worried...excited...fortunate.
Been very spoilt over the last few days...
Was spoilt yesterday with prays, support and food from the Linden family and the Percival family. Was great seeing Kit and Linda on Saturday too and then we were so shown such hospitality by Tim Tudor and then Paul and Jo at Linden.
Rachel's family were great over Christmas/ New Years too. Lots of hugs, prays, advice, tips, presents, food, drink there too. We've been well blessed.
...it's all getting a bit much! It's one of those times at the moment where you find out who matters most.
Jared
Wednesday, 3 January 2007
Less than 2 weeks to go...(oh boy!)
Less than 2 weeks to go
| Less than 2 weeks till we go... Still need to confirm our first 2 weeks in India (our first stop!) and a million other tasks it feels like! It's nice being off work though. Feels strange but good. The Route: India (Mumbai, Delhi and Goa) January 15th - February 26th Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - Februrary 26th -April 16th Australia (Sydney to Carins) April 16th - May 20th New Zealand - May 20th - June 10th Cook Islands - June 10th - June 30th USA (LA and San Francisco) - June 30th - June 16th |
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