Email exchange with Emma

Hi Emmy

We spent today exploring Delhi a bit... read the blog for a brief summary from me. No photos yet! Can you send me your postal address again? I have it somewhere but am not sure where. We have a postcard from Viet Nam that we want to send to you.

Everything is good. We all enjoyed getting out and exploring today, and relaxing and just being tourists for one of the few times so far. Much love Papa
Papa, Mama, Lena and Ali

hey dad

ok i asked Iva .. and she said she would love to have you all to stay and even me if I wanted :) her husband is called Paolo and their son is Giovanni he is 13 .. they are the family that Camille and I stayed with to help Giovanni with his project on nz... they are all very nice.. oh but i think they are going away in two weeks or so and they just said to let them know the dates so that they will be home!! so thats all good but if Ali and Lena want to spend a night here I would love that and I could show them round Lugano ... and we could just hang out us three .. but talk about it and get back to me as soon as you can with the dates and all.

Hi Emmy

We're just arrived in Varanasi, by the Ganges river, this morning after an 18 hour train journey. Right now we're all sitting together in the small lobby of the guest house here, as we can't get our rooms until midday. I've managed to get a wireless connection for the laptop. I've just read out your message to everyone... and we're all so proud of you. You're awesome for being there on your own, while we're here together... and we all know that you are doing extremely well with your Italiano. It sounds that you have some very good supportive people there. Just keep on believing in yourself and in your own abilities. Here's something from Lena, a Maori proverb:

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you

Anyway, what are we up to? We had a rest day in New Delhi on Monday, just adjusting to being in a different place. On Tuesday we got an auto-rickshaw and went to see Rajghat (where Gandhi was cremated) ... then to a place called the Red Fort... then through the streets of old Delhi. Mum was freaking out at one stage as she thought I was leading us all into these dark and dingy alleys ... but I was just following my nose and exploring. It was actually fun and very interesting.

After a while I stopped and asked someone for directions to a large mosque (Muslim temple) that we wanted to see. It turned out that I was going in more-or-less the right direction. So it was all good and Mum didn't need to worry after all!! After we'd seen the mosque we headed back to our hotel on another auto rickshaw. You have to bargain with the driver everytime before you get inside. I made sure before I left the hotel to ask for the right price, so I knew what price to ask ... which was always about half what the driver would initially ask for.

On Wednesday we booked a car and went to see the Taj Mahal ... a temple built by a Moghul leader after his second wife died. Lena and Ali had no idea what they were going to see, but it is truly one of the wonders of the world and is just an awesome sight. We'll try to organise some photos to send soon. It was a long day, about 4 hours each way, and only time for lunch and to see the Taj Mahal. On the way there we had some confusion with the driver, who didn't speak much English, and didn't have the air conditioning on in the car.... because we thought there was no air con, and he had thought we had said "no air con" to mean we didn't want it!! So we were all so hot on the way there. Fortunately we worked it out on the way back!! Yesterday (Thursday) morning we took another auto-rickshaw to a market .. as everyone wanted some Indian clothes. We've got a surprise for you... which we hope you like ... but you'll just have to wait and see.

Today .... we'll be checking into our room sometime around midday, having a quick lunch, and then going on a 5 hour tour of Varanasi to see some of the famous temples here. Varanasi is one of the main spiritual centres in India. Tomorrow morning we'll all be getting up for a boat ride on the Ganges river which starts at 5.30am and goes for 2 hours ... to watch the sunrise and see activity on the ghats (places by the river where people are cremated). We then have to leave here about 9am .... getting to and from the guest house here is amazing, through a maze of narrow alleyways that you'd never find your way through without someone to guide you to .... so we have to leave about 9am to get to a place where we can get a taxi, then out to the airport.

We depart for Kathmandu at 12.10 pm, and will be there by about 1.30pm. Our trekking guide, Karma Lama, is meeting us at the airport in Kathmandu. Ali and Lena want to tell you about the enormous spider that waits to welcome people on the steps as you come to the guest house here!!

OK.... all the stuff about Milano sounds good. I can't give you exact dates right now, but will do so once we are in Kathmandu once we have time to stop and rest a bit.... but we'll be aiming to be in Milano by 14 or 15 May ... one of those 2 dates... and then down to Rome by 17 May. Could you tell me the cost of the train from Milano to Lugano? And can you also find out the cost of the train from Milano to Rome? We have to decide whether to take the train to Rome, or fly... [..]. Lena & Ali are keen to come and stay with you in Lugano for a night, but we do need to look at the budget. It should be OK though I think.

I think this about the longest message we've sent you. I'm also copying it to a few people so everyone can read about what we've been up to this week!! Email access hasn't been very good...

Much, MUCH, love from all of us and BIG hugs.