A Tourist Day

I had blissful night spent on clean sheets and with a refreshing clean shower. 

Today is our last full day in India, so a day of sightseeing has been planned for us. I can barely believe we'll be leaving tomorrow. It feels we've spent such a short amount of time here and yet at the same time we've managed to fit so much in to these last couple of weeks. 

We had a buffet breakfast together and chatted a bit about how we each feel the trip has been so far. Samuel and Bill will be leaving us this afternoon to head off on the next leg of their journey to Ahmedabad. Robyn will also be heading off on her own after we leave tomorrow to visit friends. 

Kumar, Crownie and Gracia picked us up in the bus after breakfast and we headed off to the museum. 

We weren't allowed to take bags into the museum. Only ladies handbags were allowed, which meant Saloni and I had to give up our backpacks. We had to pay for lockers to keep our bags in and then pay an extra fee for cameras, so Samuel decided we'd only take my camera in and just share the photos. The price to get into the museum was different depending on whether you were a foreigner or local. Saloni and Samuel both got local price, even though they're not locals, simply because they look Indian. I can't remember the exact amount but it was a significant difference in price. 

This marble statue is apparently quite famous because of the delicate carving of the veil. 

The museum has an old wooden mechanical clock which chimes at 1pm each day and all the sightseers gather to see the little men come out and ring the bell. Can you spot the foreigners in the photo above? :)

We walked through room after room of different collections and I lost all sense of direction. There were several room with ceramic and porcelain items. I laughed to read the name plates labelled "vase" "jug" "vase" "bowl" "vase" with no other description. 

Once we'd had our fill of looking at vases and jugs we left for lunch.

We went to a Biryani house with six different levels, all of which serve biryani! Each level becomes more expensive the higher up you go. The food is all cooked the same, you simply pay for the atmosphere. Unfortunately Bill and Samuel had to leave before lunch, though Samuel had been looking forward to this Biryani house. We each said goodbye and Luke and Saloni had a few extra minutes with their dads before they left for the airport and we headed into the restaurant for lunch. Kumar and Gracia ordered for us as most of us will eat just about anything. I only had one request, paneer butter masala, my new favourite dish. The food was delicious, though in my opinion Saloni's mum makes a biryani even better than their's. I'm going to miss eating with my fingers as I'm not sure I'll be able to get away with it at home. :)

After lunch we were taken off to do tourist shopping. :)

We split up, boys one way, girls another, to get a few trinkets to take home with us. I've been admiring the Indian dress so much that I wanted to buy something to wear back home. I knew I couldn't pull off wearing a sari so I compromised by buying an Indian style dress which Robyn and Saloni helped me to pick out. I managed to get a few small things like scarves and keyrings for my family. Crossing the road to look at different stalls was an experience in itself and Saloni, Gracia and I had to hold hands as we madly dashed into traffic. We headed back to the bus to meet up with the boys at the set time but the boys didn't arrive. With no way of contacting them, we decided to go and search for them in case they needed something. Saloni, Gracia and I headed back into the traffic and bustling pedestrians hoping we'd find them at the music store down the street. After a few minutes of searching in shops with no success we decided we'd have to just go back and hope they turned up. Thankfully we met the bus driver on our way back coming to tell us that they'd shown up from the other direction. 

Kumar, Crownie and Gracia took us back to their little flat for the evening and we all sat in Gracia's room together. It felt a little odd to convert her room into a sitting area for us like this. I wondered how I'd feel having a group of foreigners come and hang out in my room and sit on my bed like that. Like a typical missionary's kid though, Gracia didn't seem to mind at all and made us feel at home. 

Luke was pretty happy to pick up Gracia's guitar after doing without his since leaving Bangalore. We did a little more singing, with Luke and Keaton making up songs about our trip and all the little jokes along the way. 

Gracia had collected some henna leaves at one of our stops yesterday and asked if any of us wanted it done. I volunteered and she set to work blending the finely chopped leaves with water and did a traditional design on my right hand. 

Saloni followed suit and so did Alex and Luke, though the boys chose to do different designs. I could barely believe how bright orange it stained my skin after about an hour of soaking. Apparently it will take about a month for it to wear off my palm and for my nails I'll have to wait till they grow out. It's a bit unusual and I keep expecting to wash off but it doesn't. 

We had a dinner of sandwiches and watermelon together with Gracia and her family. It was a nice evening of fellowship with each other as we all tried to forget that we were leaving in the morning. 

On the way back to our hotel we stopped at a supermarket to buy some spices and Luke ran across the road to another store to buy a last minute gift for someone. 

Saloni and I managed to get into bed by 10pm! 

This trip has been such a great experience for all of us, marked by abundant hospitality from the believers and good Indian food. :)

I am looking forward to the chance to have a nice long nap once I'm home but I also feel like it's been such a short trip. Twelve days goes far too quickly for an overseas trip. 

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

Philippians 1:6