Lotus temple in Delhi and photos of the inside and outside of the Amber Fort in Jaipur,

Mother and daughter working at the garden

Elephant at the gate of the Fort, Cobra demonstration, Palace on the lake,

Steet life in Jaipur, Woman getting henna done on her hand

Birds circling the museum, locals on motorbike, Ashok on the phone, traditional Rajasthani food

Mumbai/Bombay

Bombay streets, Crawford Market, Public praying on the streets,

Crowds at Chowpatty beach at night, Young girl on the beach

Taj Mahal Hotel, Gateway of India (from land and from the waters),
Son of an Indian family I sat with on the train, Monkeys on the trees, Rock-cut temple on Elephanta Island

Parikrma Children in Bangalore

Children playing in the jungle gym at school during break time

One of the many nights at Hope Home....playing Twister!

More photos at Hope Home, Obed holding his son, Aww sleeping on the bus going home

Fashion show showcasing clothes designed by a teacher at one of the Parikrma school,

Stephanie and Thomas, At Sumungali hostel...children were lining up to receive their new toothpastes and brushes

Posing with their new brushes@!

Pondicherry

A nice bike ride to the beach, Reppos beach scenes, Matrimandir in Auroville

Outside the Ganesh temple, Kim and I, Cathederal at night, Woman selling flowers you put in the hair, Kim and Monique

International Food Day at School

Table with plates of food of different cuisines: french crepes by Stephanie, chinese fried noodles by me (it came like okay!), pakoras (which are fried vegetables) by Priyanka, risotto by Monique (except she is from New Zealand which makes it hard) etc. Photos of the kids eating! and Thomas eating too.

At Hope Home again, and yes, Twister again! I love the second last photo with all their butts pointing up. So funny.

Me attempting to play cricket, the boys playing cricket

Mysore

Outside and inside the colourful Devaraja Market, Indian sweets (are soo sweet), Stalls lined up with bananas, Incense seller



St. Philomena Cathederal, Maharaja Palace (no photos were allowed inside), Us posing outside, more rock-cut temples

Srirangapatnam, old dungeon, Kachana demonstrating how the prisoners were once chained

Daria Daulat Bagh (Tipu summer palace), decorated interior wall, Gumbaz (memorial), Top view of the dam in Brindavan gardens, Peacock in Mysore zoo, Me in the gardens

My first coracle ride (you sit in a small round dish shaped boat), the boat guy took us for a spin, Thomas, Monique and James on the coracle, More photos taken at Mysore zoo

Mini-Olympics at School

Thomas and I preparing for the games the night before, Children seated in team lines, Face-painting (!)..the kids loved getting their faces painted, Tug-of-war!

Relay races, Island-hopping, Three-legged race photos. I didnt have the chance to take many photos but Im waiting photos from Rachna.

Mammallapuram

Mandapam on the hill, and view from up there, the famous Shore Temple, An Indian family and I posing outside a shrine, an alleyway within the Shore Temple

Photos of the Five Rathas, the animals (elephant, lion..) are the temple chariots

Arjuna Penance (huge rock panel), Butter ball, On the road biking towards Tiger Cave, Tiger Cave, Two young boys I met there

The beach at night, Sea Breeze hotel swimming pool (I indulged (!) but it was still just $12 a night), Restaurant on the beach (couldnt capture the sunset on my camera), a local woman selling silk scarves

Christmas Celebrations at School and in Hope Home

Christmas decorations around the school, the Christmas concert that the children did so well in, Santa Claus!

Decorating Hope Home, Christmas party in action, Games start!

Pass-the-parcel and Bob the Pears games

Each kid was able to bite into a pear!

More pear shots, unwrapping gifts, one of the gifts was a football. The boys were ecstastic and went to play out into the fields, despite the sun coming down. Piao Siang outside Hope Home.

Hampi

Photos dont do justice to the beauty of Hampi. The scenery is breathtaking with the ruins, large rounded boulders, paddy fields, lakes.

The ruins on Hemakuta Hill

More ruins and of the passing landscapes whilst on the motorbike



More photos again taken on the road, A local fixing our bike

There was a huge lake not far from Hampi Bazaar. We spent the afternoon skipping rocks and reading on the shore

On the road towards Anegondi to visit Hanuman Temple (aka Monkey Temple) which is perched on top of a steep rocky hill. I was breathless when I got up.

At the foot of the hill, we met locals who wanted to take photos with us. The bottom two photos are of the river we had to cross each day on a coracle to get from our bungalow to Hampi Bazaar. The guesthouses on the other side of the river is more peaceful and laid back than Hampi Bazaar.



More photos of the river, the Mango Tree restaurant that had a beautiful view, Sunset photos of more ruins

Locals on the road

Vittala Temple - watching the sun setting

My Birthday

I brought chips, candy floss and bikkies to Sumungali hostel. We promised the children we would have a Christmas party with them but we werent allowed because the children were of different religions. So I thought I would have a kind of birthday party there.

Afterward food, we danced! look at their moves :)

more dancing photos

we had a ball! we hated to leave but I had promised my other friends to meet at half past seven for dinner.

Birthday cake Ashok gave me. And Magnolia, the chinese restaurant where we had din din. From left to right, Thomas, Damianne, Candice, Arlette. Then the photos directly below it: Kachana, Me, Monique and Rachna.

Chennai/Madras

I went to Madras with Candice to help with the tsunami relief. Here we were sorting out clothes. It was fun but very tiring.

We spent a day visiting the coastline

At the NGO coordination meeting; we visited the beach again to help distribute the food; Candice on the train

Candice posing next to a sign that reads Raghara Veera Avenue. When we had first arrived in Madras at like 4am in the morning, we had to find our way to my friends friend house address. We spent two hours walking in Poes Garden (the suburb) and looking for this avenue! Our hilarious rickshaw driver (Candice has a funny photo of him posing), Bharata Natyam dancer

On New Years Eve, Candice and I decided to indulge ourselves to a Thai buffet. Ironically, their chocolate mousse dessert was the best item. Us on the auto rickshaw. Our rickshaw driver, Rama. We became really good friends. And farewell photos with Rama and Ashok.

Art n Craft time at School

Making greeting cards and bookmarks!



More bookmarks and cards...and friendship bracelets

Personalized photo frames

these photos are in chronological order :) more to come!