Travel Along With Me

We woke extremely early again to meet our taxi outside the gate of the hotel. The taxi took us to Haridwar where we were to catch a ride with a tour guide to Rajaji National Park. We got there with no problems. We had a little time to eat some breakfast that we had brought while we waited for our tour guide to arrive.

Our tour guide was Sanjeev Mehta, a gentleman full of passion for animals and photography. He brought his camera along with us to the Park. When we got there we all rode in the back of a jeep throughout our safari ride (a 5 hour tour). There was a beautiful sunrise happening as we began our trip through the woods. The tour guide would have the driver stop as he saw animals that he wanted us to see and to tell us about. He was very knowledgeable and wanted us to have a good time.

We saw all kinds of animals while we were on the jeep ride: wild elephant, peacocks, spotted dear, vulchors, an eagle, tiger tracks – no tiger though, etc. There were a couple places we stopped where we were allowed to get out of the jeep and climb an observation tower.

Once the safari was over our tour guide said that he would see what he could do to let the kids ride on one of the captured elephants that they cared for there at the Park. He took us to see those elephants and while we admired them he worked his magic with the care-takers of the elephants. When he came back over to us he told us that they would let the kids ride the elephant for 100 rupees. We agreed and the kids rode on one of the elephants. They were thrilled. It was one of the things they wanted to do most when we told them that we were going to go on a safari when we came to India.

As we were leaving the National Park we saw a baby elephant coming up the road hauling a lot of leaves on its back. We found out that the baby elephant was an orphaned elephant that our tour guide had legally adopted. We stopped the jeep and the tour guide walked up to the baby elephant and it wrapped it trunk around him and they hugged. It was sweet to see.

When we got back to the tour guides office we collected our belongings and he directed us to the bus stand so that we could purchase a ride back to Delhi to catch our flight back home. We got to the bus station just in time to load our stuff before it was to leave.

It was a long trip back to Delhi (about 5 hours). The bus driver drove like a maniac! He swerved in and out of traffic and would pass other busses and trucks leaving only inches between them. You could definitely not rest on that ride. One thing that we found humorous while we were riding the bus was that at stops that the bus took, salesmen would get onto the bus and stand in the front of the bus and give a “commercial” about their product and then walk up and down the bus to collect money from people that wanted to purchase their product. The men sold a little bit of everything: food, table cloths, tooth cleaner, pencils, etc. It was comical to Tilak and I.

When we arrived in Delhi at the bus stop we decided we had enough time to go to the All American Café to eat supper before we went to the airport. We found a rickshaw driver to take us to the restaurant and then pick us up and take us to the airport.

We enjoyed our meal at the restaurant though we were all beginning to feel exhausted from our long day. After we ate we were picked up by our taxi driver and brought to the airport. Llyn and Carter had to go to the domestic airport and we had to go to the international airport. We were dropped off first and we said our good byes to Llyn, Carter and to India.

I was relieved as we walked into the airport. I was ready to head back home. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in India but I was ready to be in my cozy home and in my cozy bed and be closer to our family and friends again.

The airport was so chaotic. Not that I should have been surprised by that. Everything was sort of chaotic in India. There were few staff to direct one where to go. There were people everywhere. We got there around 8:00pm and we had just 2 hours before our plane was to leave. We had to exchange our money back to American money, check our luggage, go through security and then go through customs and each of those places had very long lines! We got through all the lines and to our terminal just as it was making its first boarding call. I sighed a sigh of relief. I surely did not want to miss our flight.

When we got on our plane Texil seemed really sleepy and sluggish. Once the plane took off we realized why. He was sick and he threw up everywhere! We tried to get the “barf bag” out of the pocket in front of him but were too slow. Only half made it into the bag. Thank God we were all sitting next to one another on this flight and he did not throw up on someone else. We cleaned him up and gave him another “barf bag” in case he was to get sick again. We then used one of our blanket that the airline gave to us to clean up the seat and floor. I was able to get a bunch of wet wipes from a flight attendant and things were cleaned up in a matter of time. What a start to our 36 HOUR TRIP HOME!!

When we got to Paris for our lay over we learned that our flight back to VA had been cancelled. Tilak waited in long lines to reschedule our flight while I entertained the kids. It ended up that we had to take a trip to Canada and then to VA as there were no other flights into Washington DC airport that day. The airport gave us food vouchers and we had a 5 hour wait until our flight left for Canada. We slept, ate, played games, slept some more, got on the internet café computers and finally boarded our plane to Canada.

On our flight to Canada we were served yummy food and wine and we watched TV and chit-chatted with people. It was pleasant. Once we arrived in Canada we waited in long lines again to go through customs, etc. It was -14 degrees outside and it was snowing. Once we got to our terminal we watched the snow out the window, read and ate snacks while we waited for our flight to leave. I was praying that the flight would not get cancelled due to the weather. Thank God it did not and we loaded the plane on time. It was a very small plane. Only about 20 passengers on it.

When we arrived in Washington DC airport we were all tired of traveling but we still had to rent a car and drive another couple hours home. Tilak and I tried very hard to keep each other awake and we finally made it home! It was wonderful to walk into our home and collapse in our beds! We stayed in our beds mainly for the next couple of days while our bodies were getting used to USA time again.

We our thankful for the wonderful journey that we had in India!!!!

We got on a train again this morning @6:50am headed to Haridwar. We arrived in Haridwar at around noon. There was a taxi waiting on us there to take us to Rishikesh. We arrived at the Divine Ganga Hotel at 1:30pm. I went straight over to the orphanage to see what the plan would be that afternoon to help the children get their shoes we were purchasing. Tilak, Llyn and the kids went to check into the hotel.

I found Cara and Gary after some time looking in his room making Christmas cards for the sponsors of Ramana’s Garden. They said that Prabha had decided that all the children should have the same shoes and she is having a shoe salesman deliver a bunch of shoes around 5:00 to have the children try on and determine each of their shoe sizes. I was excited about this!!! I stayed with Cara and Gary to help them with the Christmas cards. We laughed and told stories while we worked. Some of the kids joined us as well. We put dove ornaments that the kids had made into the cards that we were making. I stayed there for about 3 hours helping and decided I had better go check on the rest of the family.

We decided to get a snack and we worked with the kids on some of their school work.

Tilak and I returned to the orphanage around 5:00 to help with the shoes. They took us to the room that they have satsang each night. The shoes were piled in boxes there. The kids were outside the room in line waiting to try on their shoes. They were so excited and so was I!!! The small children came in first and we began trying to find the right size shoes for them. Then the next older and so on. It made my heart more happy than I could ever describe to see these children excited about getting shoes. Many of them had never had shoes that tie (only flip flops) and we had to show them how to lace and tie their shoes. They were very grateful for them and it showed with their “thank you’s” that they gave us along with the smiles and hugs!

We left there feeling high. We came back to the room and decided to have a late supper at Dev Raj restaurant with Llyn and Carter. We all ate well. We then went shopping for awhile afterward.

We retired to our rooms and had the first good night’s sleep in several days.