Thursday 22 December 2011

Too cold here, going to Europe for Christmas!

It is actually colder in Delhi during the nights at the moment than what it is in London.
Below is the proof of it.

So we wrap up warm during the night and have been counting down the nights until we go home to "warm" Europe.
Not only is it colder but we have no heating in the house as India is (normally) hot and nice, the windows have gaps and we have no insulation in the walls.

See the pictures how we wrap up in the night!
You would not believe that I am a Swede as I'm a bigger chicken than Stephen and wear hat, gloves, two pair of socks, two tops and a fleece to bed.




Weather for New Delhi, Delhi, India

12°C | °FThuFriSatSun
ClearClearClearClear
Haze
Wind: NW at 7 mph
Humidity: 37%22°19°18°18°


Weather for London, UK

12°C | °FThuFriSatSun
FogChance of RainMostly SunnyFog
Partly Cloudy
Wind: W at 15 mph
Humidity: 77%12°10°13°12°


Weather for Kristianstad, Sweden

3°C | °FThuFriSatSun
FogChance of RainFogChance of Rain
Scattered Clouds
Wind: S at 4 mph
Humidity: 100%


We are leaving tonight,
We will try to update as much as possible but we probably will be too busy eating lovely English and Swedish food!
Have a  great Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Christmas party at the Asha Deep Foundation.


This school year is nearly over for the children at the Asha Deep Foundation, the foundation that we are supporting (see earlier posts).
We were invited to their Christmas party as special guests and it was really good.

The children were sitting outside in the school yard and they had a small stage where different groups that the charity are supporting preformed.
As they are supporting different groups we had everything from young girls dancing and singing, mentally challenged boys dancing to old ladies singing.
They all enjoyed themselves so much and you could see it all over their faces.

I did cry on two occasions, first one was when there were quite young girls on the stage dancing away, they just looked so happy! And then the second time when the old ladies where singing as it didn't sound great and I tried not to laugh.
Oh I cried as well when the mentally challenged boys where dancing, they just had the time of their life!

It was great and I wish more people could support places like this!

Here you have three videos and a few photos from the day!




 



The whole foundation.

The younger ones, they got bored quite quickly!

The older ones.

These girls were really good! And this is where I cried !

The mentally challenged boys. They tried so hard and had such a good time!

These girls really enjoyed themselves as well! 

The old ladies singing their heart out!

Boys and girls dancing.

The girl in blue was very good and could go far in Bollywood!

Bored!! needed to be bribed to sit still.

Boys in their school uniform.

Christmas play, notice the very small live goat on their knee!!

Santas!




Monday 12 December 2011

Amritsar weekend.


Last weekend we went to Amritsar, it is a small city up in the north, next to the border of Pakistan and the home to the Sikhs most holy temple.
We left Delhi early Friday evening and we spent the night at a really nice authentic restaurant right next to our hotel, called Crystal. We had a fantastic Indian meal and we all eat far too much! The guy next to us had an amazing chocolate pudding, but sadly I couldn't eat another mouthful!

On the Saturday we went to the Sikh's Golden Temple but the queue was so long so we didn't go inside the temple to look at their holy book, we only walked around the grounds. At these temples they always have a huge kitchen where they serve food for everyone that wants/need food. So we sat down with the locals and had our meal, it was really interesting to see all these volunteers cooking, cleaning, serving
" Thousands of volunteers have scrubbed the floors, chopped onions, shelled peas and peeled garlic. At least 40,000 metal plates, bowls and spoons have been washed, stacked and are ready to go. Anyone can eat for free here, and many, many people do. On a week day, about 80,000 come. On weekends, almost twice as many people visit."

After that we walked around the old town just to kill some time because at 3.30pm we had to leave our hotel to go with the guide to the border of Pakistan to see what the Indians and the Pakistanis do at the border gates every day at the same time the whole year! See the video it is amazing! They marched up to the gates and everyone cheered! But they did it super fast and then kind of kicked their legs over their heads, it is difficult to describe, so watch the video to understand. (videos to follow)

Later on in the evening we went to the Mata temple which is a Hindu temple for woman who pray for pregnancy. It was the funniest temple I have been to in India, there were plastic statues everywhere, plastic man made "caves" that you walked through, mirror walls and you got a scarf around your neck in the middle to prove you had been there. Very weird but entertaining and there were a large number of Indian Women there every day and night to pray.

We ended the evening at the Crystal restaurant again and this time I couldn't resist the sizzling brownie cake with Ice cream on top! mmm

Sunday morning was lazy and we flew back to Delhi at 2pm.

Girls, desperate to have a picture with the white lady!
Old people on a pilgrimage.
Me in front of the Golden Temple
Stephen and the Golden Temple
                                     

Old warriors.
2 Hour long queue to see the Holy Book.
Waiting for our meal
Cooking pots
Washing station
Cooking station, making roti's
Serving us the food.




Indian border crossing
Pakistan border
                                         
The two flags
                                     

Huge crowd watching

India vs Pakistan opening and closing the gate.
Me in the "caves" of Mata Temple

The statues they prayed to.