Stuck in Mumbai. We were rerouted to Mumbai due to fog in Delhi. Fortunately these “deck” chairs provided plenty of rest during the 15 hours we waited for our flight back to Delhi. After about 12 hours or so, a few generous but extremely frustrated passengers paid for the airline’s landing fee and refueling costs because the airline didn’t have the money to get us off the ground. After about 14 ½ hours or so, there was no word still, so we banded together and stormed the security guards, demanding that we leave. After about 15 minutes of angry Hindi conversation, they boarded us. We learned that first day that when in India, raise a ruckus if you need something done.

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Delhi traffic.
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Cattle crossing on the way to Sewa Ashram.
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Our first Monday we visited a place called Sewa Ashram, a facility that houses some of the poorest of the poor of Delhi...people with HIV, TB, drug addictions, or simply abandoned, homeless, or cast out of society. Please check out their website, http://www.delhihouse.org/ It was an incredible experience for us. It was a respite from the hopelessness you tend to feel witnessing the extreme poverty on the streets of Delhi. This little girl was found under a bridge. We wanted to take her with us, and seriously inquired how we could possibly do so. Obviously it's a grueling process. But even now it's hard for me (Amy) to get her out of my thoughts some days.

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Woman living at Sewa Ashram. She could only speak Hindi, and not even clearly at that, and tried to keep telling us about some fight she’d been in, showing us her scar. Finally Travis gave up trying to understand her, and started showing her his scars.

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School at Sewa Ashram.
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Our one day to be tourists. The Red Fort in Delhi.
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City shots.
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This girl did tricks for us for 10 rupees, bending and slapping herself against the hard pavement. She got the well deserved 10 rupees and a peak at herself on film. She loved it.

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Chaos waiting for the train in Delhi to go to Mussoorie.
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Our first monkey sighting, right outside our window at breakfast at Shanti Kung.


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The Eicher's house in Mussoorie: Shanti Kung (alcove of peace)...our respite in the mountains. This was our little apartment downstairs.
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Cooking in the kitchen with Christa. She and her daughter made the most amazing meals all week long for us. And we ALWAYS had dessert.
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On a hike at sunset near Shanti Kung.
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Part of Mussoorie.
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Opening gifts on Christmas morning.
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Travis and Stefan leading us in Christmas carols on Christmas morning.
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We followed the Eicher family on their traditional Christmas day hike.
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Stefan under Buddhist flags on flag hill.
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Christmas lunch.
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Christmas night we play games and sing carols at Shanti Kung.
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Views of the mountains from Shanti Kung.
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Our frigid getaway spot at Cloud End. We only stayed one night out of the four we were supposed to. For one, it was absolutely freezing, and all we could do was sit around our tiny fireplace in our room wrapped up in full winter gear all night. Two, the electricity was sporadic, so we kept having to pause while reading and wait for the lights to come back on. Three, the hotel was deserted except for the staff, and the closest neighbor was way down the road. We kind of felt like Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall in “The Shining”. Creepy.

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The warmest spot at Cloud End and where we had our tea.
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The excellent staff at Cloud End.

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From Cloud End we moved down the mountain to a much warmer hotel above the bustling shops of the Library Mall in Mussoorie. We had company on our balcony a few times.

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A Nepalese “Coolie” working in Mussoorie. They come here for work, offering to carry your bags and any loads the shopkeepers need transported for just a few rupees. Honestly, the city couldn’t run without them.


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Train food on the way back to Delhi.
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The view from the plane arriving in Almaty.
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