Adventure Friday/Weekend #1 - Siliguri and Nepal.

Shortly after we moved into our new house Ray made the announcement that Fridays would be adventure day, when we would go somewhere or do something. This plan of Adventure Fridays sort of morphed into Adventure Weekends which are tentatively scheduled to happen every three weeks or so. Last Friday began our first Adventure Weekend.

We left our house at 6AM to catch our 7AM train, the Rajdhani Express, to a city called Siliguri in the state of West Bengal. It was a six hour train ride. The train was reasonably comfortable and the service was good. We were served tea and breakfast and even got to take advantage of the fold down bunk beds.

The Rajdhani Express.

Raysha and Autumn getting settled in on the train.

Ellen enjoying a cup of tea.

Andrew digging in to breakfast.

Ray getting comfy on the top bunk.

The Rajdhani Express also provided me with my second Indian squatty potty experience. I've decided that I prefer stationary squatty potties as opposed to squatty potties on a moving train. Not to mention the fact that you could look right through the squatty potty down to the tracks speeding by below. It is one cultural experience that I don't think I'll choose to repeat.

The picture doesn't do it justice because it looks stationary. It was anything but however. I took a video to show how much movement there actually was but the sound of the train is so loud that you can't hear my narrative so I'm not going to bother posting it.

Friday evening we met with the small congregation who worship in Siliguri. They showed us a very warm welcome and presented us each with a white scarf, a Nepalese tradition if I am not mistaken. We met Naresh & Shamila Chhetri who are ministering there. They have a son, Asshish, who is 15 months old and absolutely adorable. We also met a man named Mahindra, one of Ray's former bible students.

Siliguri Church of Christ, in West Bengal, India.

Shamila, Naresh and Asshish Chhetri.

A young girl presenting me with my scarf.

Naresh translating for Ray on Friday evening.

On Saturday morning we visited Mahindra's home, where he tutors some Muslim students. We shared a little bit about ourselves and about Canada.

Mahindra translating for us on Saturday morning. Note the Canadian map on the blackboard, drawn by Raysha.

Mahindra's students and neighbors.

After our time at Mahindra's we took a little drive to Nepal. It was really just so that Raysha and I could say that we've been there. The drive to Nepal was a very pleasant one with lots of scenery to enjoy. The terrain was much flatter than I had anticipated. We saw many fields with various things being grown. Nothing like Saskatchewan though, that's for sure!

Tea gardens all over the place.

A Pineapple field...Yummy! Reminds me of Crystal Downton, my Pineapple Girl! :)

Rice Paddies

I think that we probably spent just as much time in Immigration, both Indian and Nepalese, as we did looking in the shops once we got there. There were no computers at the immigration offices so everything was copied by hand into an entry or exit book. It made me laugh to see that my name was spelled differently each time that it was written down. If you're wondering, no, I didn't bother to correct them. When we arrived at the Nepalese side of the border there was no one at the immigration desk, we actually had to go looking for them. We filled in applications for visas, and paid them the fee. Then they asked us how long we would stay, our response, only a few hours. They then explained to us that they were going to give us our entry visas as well as our exit stamps so that we didn't need to stop on our way back out of the country...Who does that??? I thought it was the funniest thing. Honestly I think it was more for their own convenience than ours, they didn't want to be bothered by dealing with 6 foreigners twice in one day, at least that's my theory.

Immigration on the Indian side.

Look how close we were to Mt. Everest.

Back in India. :)


On Sunday morning we met with the small Siliguri congregation . Ray shared the lesson . During the service they sang one song in Hindi, Bengali, Nepali and English. What a neat experience! In the afternoon Naresh took us to Lelin Colony, a recovering leprosy village. The people of the village are all recovering or being treated for leprosy and have been relocated to this place. The children of the village are also receiving treatment so that they are not at risk. It is hoped that this new generation of children will be leprosy free. Each week Naresh and a few others go and teach Sunday school to any children who choose to come. On this day Ellen shared some Bible stories about how Jesus is with us always and Raysha and Autumn and I helped to teach the kids some action songs. Indian children really seam to enjoy any song when it is accompanied by actions. There were about 30 children in attendance. They sat very attentively on burlap sacks laid out on the ground. There was also a large group of people who were watching us closely from the "sidelines."

Ellen sharing the Bible story.

They were all very interested in the new white people who had come. :)

We handed out some biscuits after the lesson. I think this little girl is absolutely adorable!

Here are some of our "sideline" viewers.

The sun beginning to set over a tea garden as we were leaving the leprosy village.


And here I am back at our hotel making balls out of the yarn I bought. I'm going to teach Autumn how to crochet. :)

We were supposed to fly back to Guwahati on Monday afternoon. We had tickets on an airline called Spice Jet. When we got to the airport we were informed that our flight was on schedule but we wouldn't be allowed on it. Apparently Spice Jet Airline doesn't have clearance to transport foreigners. Haven't had that experience before, but I guess there's a first time for everything. They scheduled us for the following afternoon on a different airline. So back to our hotel we went. We made the best of our extra day in Siliguri by going and checking out the shopping. All in all it was a pretty adventuresome Adventure Weekend. :) Really I think everyday in India is an adventure, whether I even leave the house or not. :)