The Parents

My Mum and Dad are celebrating their 30th Wedding Anniversary in India. They left Friday night and will return in three weeks. We got emails from them this morning.


Mum's:

Hello there everyone, well the going has been rough but I've survived the first three days. The poverty is more than I had feared but the people are very friendly, our hosts here are especially nice. But my first reaction is that I will never let Dad totally plan our vacation again. Today we went to see some typical tourist sights and it was comforting to see some familiar faces. Have seen lots of neat stuff to bring back home, of course Dad has bought first! I'm still deciding. We have been having some trouble with the different time change, and were surprised at how warm it is.We leave here on Fri on an over night train, now that will be something else. Talk to you later. Miss you all special hello to Shaun and kisses for my babies. Love Mum


Dad's:

Oh the chaos, the exhilaration, the sadness, and oh, the stress. Still suffering from jetlag and the stress of navigating, communicating and sorting everything out while keeping mum from having a heart attack is quite real. No one except high class people speaks English, so that means all the rickshaw, taxi and vendor people speak only Hindi. Try asking your rickshaw driver to stay while he's got his hand out trying to get paid and then finding out when you do want to pay him that he has no change. The rickshaw guys are more lost than we are and I have had to quickly learn Baayan! Daayan! Seeda! (left, right, and straight ahead my good man). A good cuff on the shoulder works wonders. And then trying to figure out which is the correct road on a roundabout while he screams his engine at top rev, honks his horn CONTINUOSLY, and while you see out of the corner of your eye naked children living in makeshift shacks at the side of the road and try to snap a picture without crying, is well, stressful. But exhilarating too. Wouldn't miss it for the world (Mum is having a harder time coping, but is a good trojan). Ate lunch today at the Taj Mahal hotel - best chinese restaurant in India (so says the guide book and now I agree) for $150 and yesterday we ate lunch at a muslim market (very freaky) for 20 cents. No kidding, the contrasts in India are mind boggling. Anyway, know we're safe (not a single bit of trouble yet, yes, we've been very nervous, but for no good reason it turns out - every single person has been wonderful and full of wonder (at us!)). So we'll write again (I didn't see mum's note and she isn't seeing mine - it will be fun to compare later!). Wishing you were here, Dad


While I'm wishing I was seeing all the things they are, I'm happy to be home snuggled up with Craig and my familiar bagels in the freezer. I think the stories will be enough for me.