Today dad said we had a free day so I did nothing basically all day. We did two big things today; first we went swimming from 10:30 to 3:30 plus lunch that was club sandwiches. Then we took a taxi to a place called Durbar Square that had many temples. Sadly we had to wait because mom, grandpa and a friend called kiran he works for Ansab got lost so we waited for 15 minutes. Then finally we went into a palace kiran said is where the living goddess lived and then she came out she was 3 ½ years old. Then we were walking to get a taxi and we saw an army solder that was carrying a musket. Finally we went back to the hotel had a swim again, had dinner and a man called Parbat came and gave us all presents I got a chess board and a cool knife (Kukri – a Gurkha knife – the name of British soldiers from Nepal – a fearsome soldier). And finally we went to bed.

Early in the morning we flew to Delhi. So tired we stayed in the hotel and dad went to work in Delhi. Tomorrow we fly home, have to get up at 4.30am.

Very hot, hot, hot

Today a 5:00 wakeup call. We got up and we felt the heat coming, our rooms did not have electricity. Dad had to leave to a village to work with them in making a butter from a nut from a local tree. Any way when we got to the meeting place our Guide told us we were going to see the baby elephants, and we were going to get there by canoe. We all five us got in one canoe and we were off. Half an hour later we saw an alligator nest under a tree in the river, but we did not see the mom. A half an hour later we could see the babies our Guide said that they were twins and that was very rare. When I was looking at a baby elephant one of the babies escaped and stole my tripod which had the camera on. We got it back after a while, and we were off on a Landover picked us up to go to the camp. We had lunch at camp (it was Chinese) and they rang the bell to go the meeting place. They told we were going to have a shower with the elephants. We ran to the river the elephants were waiting Tamsin jumped on her elephant first then I got on (check the movie) it was amazing. After we had a talk about the elephants, we then had dinner. After dinner dad arrived back just when we were watching the fire dance. An hour later we went to bed.

The next day we woke at 5.00am for a last elephant ride through the jungle and then for a 6 hour drive to Katmandu the road was very twisty and many trucks and buses did not make it and had fallen into the canyon or were wrecked on the side of the road. At last we got into Katmandu and had a swim which was wonderful. We then went to dinner with our friends and his son, it was fun and half way through the dinner all the lights went out, quite usual.

Look Look Look

We arrived at Kathmandu and was met by Daddies friends with flowers and scarves and went to the Dwarakis hotel. The hotel is amazing with gardens and rooms are wonderful and there is a pool. It is like a museum.

We then met Grandma and went on a tour of Katmandu - it is very different from India - we went to the Monkey Temple.

A monkey attacked Daddy.

We then went in the hotel pool.

On Tursday we went shopping at Thamel, for jewllery for the bike club and presents, the streets are crazy. We finally got to the bangle and necklace store and bought thousands of bangles it took hours as there are hundreds of colours.

We then got back to the hotel and went for a swim and in the evening we went to a Nepali restaurant with friends and there was dancing and a yak tried to eat daddy and a yeti was hugging people.

This morning we are off to the mountains to film a documentary for 4 days.

Run Run Run

Today Sunday the 7th of June, 2009 we had one of the best walks in my life. First we walked to a hunting lodge that was 600 years old. Then me, my dad and a friend called ohm climbed up one of the mountains it was 110 F and we were boiling. Then finally we gave the bikes to the children, we knew that the children were happy because when we gave them the bikes they could not stop riding them. Most of the bikes we got were for the girls so they could ride them to school, most girls did not go to school.
Then we drove home it was crazy, roads are not like the roads we have in the US, first we got in a traffic jam. When we were in it I looked across to the other side of the road and I saw cars going the wrong way the miss the jam.

Finally we got to our hotel, and my mouth was open it was huge! It had 28 floors. After we got lost a lot in the hotel we found the pool it was only 4.5 feet deep in the deep end but it was very nice. Then we found the dinner place it was huge and all different food and even had a chocolate founding. Finally we went to bed and watched lots of TV.
Now it is Monday and I have typed all of this on the train that is very nice.
Monday morning 6.00 AM. We have arrived at the train station and it is so crazy thousands of people wait for the train, are porters and most are sleeping in the station. When we get to Haridwar that is even crazier but there was a car waiting for us to go to the hotel it was beautiful it is right next to the river Ganges. In the evening we went to an arti in Rishikesh the crowds were so big you could not walk due to the cows, monkeys and motorbikes on the side walk. It was good to go to the hotel.

The next day we had the day off we slept in late, finally. After breakfast we went swimming in the Ganges being very careful because there was a small flood. We swam in a outlet in the rocks and mom dad and I jumped in, it was freezing as the river was fed by glaciers. In the afternoon we had lunch (I am eating Dal Bat). Then it was to leave for the train station, a 3 hour drive. We had dinner on the train, and when I went to go to the bathroom I nearly fell out because the door was open to the outside. The bathrooms are either Western or Indian style.

Hot hot hot

For the past three days we have been travelling, eventually arriving in Delhi at 11.00 at night on Friday, to be met by Sandhya, who works for the BBA – Save the Childhood Foundation in India with my dad. We stayed in Delhi in an apartment at the BBA office, it was but very hot even with air conditioning. In the morning we went for breakfast with Kailash Satyarthi at his home, and had Indian breakfast – no cheerios or pancakes or waffles. They had a massive dog called Ceasar.
We then started to travel to the Child Friendly Villages in Rajahstan, to the BBA school called Bal Ashram. When we arrive we were greeted by over 100 children singing and dancing and they put a Bindi mark on my forehead – Bindis proclaim prosperity.
We had lunch (Indian!) and then travelled to a child Friendly Village about 30 mins away. We were greeted at the village by at least two hundred people who gave me another Bindi. At this meeting the village discussed how to become a Child Friendly Village, that all children must be able to go to school and a part of the village parliament (Panchyat). We had talks from the chief, my dad, the children, there was lots of dancing and singing. Then I had to give a speech – I said it was a great privelage to be here and that I would go back to my school with pictures to tell my friends that we must all work together for all children of this world. Because every child has a right to Love, Play and Education.
We then went to meet the bridegroom at a local wedding for a short time. Being very careful not to eat anything just in case.
We then went to a mountain temple with amazing rock formations, which I could not sadly climb as it was a sacred temple. We met the priests and they gave us some food. It looked like munchkins but it was yellow and very sweet. It was amazing, this was now 7.00pm and about 105F.
In the evening the children at Bal Ashram put on a number of mini plays, songs, jokes and dances. This was to tell us of the life they had before being rescued. They rescued from mining, domestic slavery, carpet work, begging, making roads, shoe shining, many children there looked from 5 years old.
It was now very late and before bed I organized a meeting with the children to climb the mountain in the morning at 6.00am.
The temperature today is 42C about 110F.
Sens other stuff soon.

Some of the images are of Tamsin dancing at the school.

We are getting ready to go to India and Nepal. We are going to India to help children over there form bike clubs. Bike clubs are where children get bikes and ride to other slave villages to tell the children that they have a right to education. We have raised about $261 dollars from my school (DVFS), $288 from Tamsin school (SFS) and we got $100 dollars from Marie a friend of ours that runs a pizza resturant where we eat at. We got $649 dollars that will make 4 clubs of 3 bikes 12 bike that will have a repair kit and extra wheels.

Maps of travel in Nepal

We are using Kathmandu as our base - and travel by 4WD to Dolahka and Chitwan