Were Back!

Hey everyone!
As you may have guessed... were back in the country!
I thought id still post to let you know a few more things.
There are a few things i managed to forget to speak about or add photo's for!
This was due to me being forgetful and also the lack of good quality internet some of the time...

Firtsly is the addition of several huts to the camp site at avalanche!
These are both for staff and campers, they are made completely from natural materials such as wood and grass along with twine made of bark from certain trees.
This is a really exciting prospect for future development on site because there will be perminant shelter for more campers without using bricks and mortar. The site is jungle based and should be in keeping with its surroundings. The huts only need re-roofing every 4 or 5 years also.


Since i went there in march before my family arrived there was hardly anything of the such built. When i arrived the second time i found that three had been finished along with another on the way!
It was great to see so much happening over the time i was there!



We thoroughly enjoyed our time in kerela after leaving Ooty. We enjoyed the company of Anupa very much also, even though she wanted us to take picures of her posing all the time...
She was great to have with us also because she could speak the local language too!

We flew back to chennai as i mentioned previously, and were greeted by anupa's parents.
That day was the day of their 25th anniversary party also.
We helped with the setting up of the chairs and the house.... well i didnt cos i was doing my blog and procrastinating!

The evening went really well, a pastor and long term friend of the family lead some songs and a short talk and gave blessings for the couple.
Food was served afterwards as 'any meeting without eating is cheating' once said by Raj.
The whole event was lovely, seeing great friends and family who have been part of their lives for so long!






The next day we flew home via Sri lanka in the morning. The flight to Sri Lanka was fine although it was in the opposite direction to home! But due to pricing it was cheaper to fly via there, even if it took longer. We connected straight onto our second flight homewards!
The flight took about 12 hours including time difference (4.5 hrs).
We were picked up by a friend and driven home while catching up on church buisness and the premiership!

That night we went to bed English time, 4 hours or so later than we would have in india!
I adjusted ok, but mum and dad are still feeling the effects of jet lag

Since we have been home some have still not fully adjusted, but were still doing well if not a little tired!

Now were back ill have to stop badgering you to read my blog!

If you want to i might add some more stuff not necessarily connected with india, but your welcome to look out for it.

Kerela and the Boat'y Birthday - More pics to come....

Hi all!
We are now back in Chennai after our flight back from Kerela. We flew for one and a half hours instead of 12 hours by train!
Kerela was great, especially as it had my birthday in the middle of it!
We went from Ooty to coimbatore to get a train to kerela which arived around 4am. We seem to have a nack of getting trains that arrive at stupid o'clock in the morning! Raj had previously arranged accommodation including the day boat trip over my birthday. We met anupa at the station in kerela, she had got the same train as us; but she sarted in chennai.
We all arrived at 'Coconut Creek' where we were staying for 3 nights and went back to bed!
That day was spent looking around the local area including the lake, which is massive! We went out for lunch at the KTDC Hotel on the lake side which provided a very nice view.

The next day My Birthday! April 21st was spent on a Kerelan House Boat, otherwise known as a Rice Boat. This boat was mostly made from wood and Palm matting all over the exterior making it look prett good. The boat was equipped with 3 staff, electricity, 2 air conditioned bedrooms for night time, and some stunning views of the backwater lake area's.
Dad secretly bought a cake and brought it out at dinner time.
We motored around the lakes for the day being waited on hand and foot and provided with alot of food! We stayed on the boat that night before returning back to our rooms at coconut creek in the morning by boat.

That day we went to Cochin, the nearby city. We saw the harbour, jewish quarter, and the dutch palace. We then paid extra for AC in our taxi because it was so hot!
On wednesday we took a local bus, costing only 7 or so rupees for the equivalent distance to guildford... although a little more bumpy and faster!

We looked around some shops including 'Seemati' a large Sari shop, and several extravagent and very busy gold shops! Gold is not rare in india, and the gold is costed by weight; 1 gram only Rs1120 = 14 pounds. Dad bought mum a present for her birthday which she chose, of course! After we came back we went fo a swim at a local resort to cool down, although the water was quite warm, but still very nice

And now we come to today; we got up pretty early and got to the airport at Cochin to leave at 0940. Surprisingly our plane was on time, unlike most other public transport...

We were greeted by anupa's parents and now we are gettin ready for celebrations of their 25th anniversary. There will be around 50 people here, most of whom we wont know!

Tomorrow we fly home to england to end this chapter of the Doneys India Experience!

We would love to come back again, but we have to leave it for a few years i think.

Dad has a boat to build, i have a degree to finish, mum has a class to teach, and andy has something to do... (A-Levels) Which mum has made him revise all over india...

BEST BITS!

Most memorable images

Andy: Going to Avalanche Camp and being in the jungle. Walking around the place and seeing the amazing scenery. The place was stunning!

Norm: Meeting up with old friends, and seeing how there are progressing . Observing camp sites and hearing the vision and passion of others. Appreciating afresh the worldwide benefits of camp work in peoples lives of all ages and backgrounds.

Mum: Probably the faces of the children we have met whether aids orphans, abandoned, school pupils or children of our missionary friends. They all need love and they all smile at the same things. I pray that the little girl at Divia Shanti, who had only been rescued a week before i saw her, can smile soon too. The whole experience has left a lasting impression which i take home with me.

ME: Seeing others learning and enjoying teaching. I pray that the people i have helped will go on to many good things and pass on their knowledge to others, as i have enjoyed doing. I have also enjoyed making so many great friends: including Raj, Nandu, Dinesh, Davis, Shreeni, Rajesh, Gladwin, Melvin, Nelson and many more along the way. God Bless you all!

Enough from us for now!

I plan to add more photo's when im back home.

We fly tomorrow morning to sri lanka, then homewards; arriving late friday night.

We hope to tell you more in person!

Much Love

Charlie, Norm, Rosslyn, Andy

x

Avalanche!

Hey guys!

Were back from the jungle safe and sound, if not a little more muddy and tired!

We arrived in ooty at around 7am monday and went to a guesthouse called montoban for the day, we met up with some friends; the buckingham family who we know through CYE.

It was great to spend the day with them looking around a tea factory, as it all come from here anyway. As norman said ' i do love tea!' so we all enjoyed learning about it and having a cuppa afterwards. We also went on a train along the moutnainside for some time. We went for a posh tea at a Tea room later that day, we pretended that the tea was nice... although it was pretty weak and looked like dish water...

During the day we also met a lovely english family with 2 young kids which we really enjoyed spending time with. We found out that the father had met Raj at a conference once... small world!

On tuesday we got picked up by the scripture union army style truck to be taken with the group to avalanche, we drove to the edge of the jungle on poorly maintained roads and then walked into the camp for some 5 or so kilometres. We arrived in time for some lunch and we then set up our tents to sleep in for the next few nights.

That afternoon we started our activity rotations of kayaking, gorge walking, abseiling and swimming. I ran abseiling with nandu and managed to send a majority of the group down over the 2 days sessions.

The group didnt all speak english and so lanaguage was difficult. The speaker was talking in 'canada' one of the bangalore languages, as well as saying some in english.

We completed all the rotations and had some great fun with the group. Dad was in charge of kayaking and mum was running swimming sessions.

Andy was helping and being the official photographer.

On thursday we ran some team challenges including a river crossing challenge and another activity dad brought from cye. The activities went down well and everyone learnt from it!

We brought with us a safety line and a life ring to help the avalanche staff with water safety and the training was in 3 languages!

We came back to montoban on friday afternoon to some hot water and a swim at hebron school, where the buckinghams and the fairfields live. That evening dad met with some camp leaders and discussed ideas for the future.

This evening we are heading off to kerela joined by our friend anupa for a few days, then back to chennai for friday to fly home.

I will post again if possible, but otherwise i will post again in england!

Much love

The Doneys

x

Bangalore! or 'Bengaluru' as it 's to be called now... Photo's at a later date...

Hi all
I thought we would post now as we are leaving for Ooty on sunday evening for the camp at Avalanche and to meet friends in Ooty also. Then on to Kerela and back to Chennai to fly home!

We arrived in Bangalore on wednesday morning pretty early after getting a train from Chennai at 9.30pm. The train was surprisingly on time and well organised, stuck onto the train carriage near the door was the seat bookings for the carriage and destinations and so on.
The indian railway caters for over 1 Billion people, so they are doing pretty well!

We arrived in bangalore at around 3.30am where Raj met us at the station after calling me to let me know our train was arriving at the station as we spoke!
Raj ran to catch up with our carriage as it arrived and we off loaded our many bags!
We arrived at Raj's place and then went for a sleep for some time until around 12 noon.

That Afternoon mum went on Raj's motorbike through the city, where she would never do so in england... they went to the Divya Shanti school nearby where they were having their sports day. She was shown around the school and met a number of orphan kids, one who has only been rescued the week before. Mum took video's and some pictures to show back home.

That afternoon we took rickshaws to do yet more shopping to get some indian sheets and see the commercial district.

Thursday we travelled with some friends of Raj, including Nandu., and Stevie who has ownership of a potential camp site land that we had a look at. This made Norman somewhat excited and for a moment forgetful about his own boat projects...

We continued to the Nandi Hills, around 3000 feet or more. We drove to the top to be greeted by many nosey monkeys. Some of these would do almost anything for a meal... including mounting one couples lunch table!
The view of the region from the hills was stunning and pretty high!

On the way back we visited an aids orphanage and centre called 'Accept'. We played with the kids and showed them some magic tricks, including a few from the so called 'uncle Raj' who had been once before.
The centre is destined to close due to the government building a highway to the new international airport, this seems a bit unethical as pay off's are not sufficient to rebuild facilities elsewhere...

The surrounding highways were well maintained, although they had speed bumps near most junctions for so called traffic calming, this means going from 60km to 10km in a short space of time! This is not too enjoyable when in the back seats of a jeep...
All this was done in a rented taxi, which only cost a small amount for the whole day!
That evening we went out for a steak dinner at 'millers' restaurant; This wasn't very indian... We all ate to our hearts content!

On friday am we attended a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian centres in Bangalore. Discussions were about how they could assist and encourage one another, and how to bring others doing camps or running centres into the group.
In the afternoon we went to Breakthrough which is the centre that i have worked at earlier.
Norman had been there 10 years before when it was only a bare site, so it was amazing to see the low and high ropes, accommodation and Zip line which we all tested out!! That evening we stayed at breakthrough catching up with old friends; some of which are now married, or have older children.

Today, Saturday we have been relaxing after a long day on friday. This morning we went out for an indian breakfast at my favourite eating place 'Shanti Sagar' where we had Dose (dough-say) and some other foods.
After that Me Andy and Norman had a haircut and a shave, along with an indian head massage! Mum watched on, bemused as to how the so called 'massage' could be beneficial; but it was still good and surprisingly relieving on the head!

This evening we are celebrating my birthday early with friends from bangalore before we leave on sunday. We plan to have much food and fun this evening!
Sunday we are going to Raj's church in the morning and leaving for Ooty in the late evening.
We hope for safe travels and hopefully to sleep on the overnight bus...

I apologise for the lack of photo's and I plan up upload some onto this post when i find a computer that isn't broken...

Much love
Charlie D
Norman, Rosslyn and Andy
xxx

Chennai!

Hi all
Thought we would post to let you all know what we have been up to as a family. We have been doing quite alot of sight seeing. Me and Andy have been feeling pretty awkard while mum takes photo's of anything slightly interesting, and also striking up conversations with complete strangers!

Since my family have arrived on friday we have been quite busy!

After my parents slept for some time we went out for a walk to visit a Hindu temple and later went for some pizza at Pizza Hut, an unexpectedly popular eating place in India. While munching on pizza we got to know Anupas parents Paul and Rani quite well. After the meal we all rang the bell by the door to say that we had a good time that was greeted by chorused 'Thank yous' by the Pizza Hut staff.

Saturday was mostly filled with shopping and riding in rickshaws, for those who don't know this is a cross between a motor-bike and a Smart car. Mum bought loads of stuff along with me and Andy, who got shirts and leather belts and wallets. That night we went to an Indian vegetarian restaurant to give Norman and Andy a chance to try some south Indian cuisine.

We got up ridiculously early on Sunday morning to go to Anupas church, which is similar to a CofE church. As we entered we were ushered to the front row where we could'nt see when to stand up and sit down! This proved difficult and resulted in us turning round alot of the time...

The service finished around 9 am and we were invited for breakfast with the pastor. When we returned we went back to bed and in the evening we went to the Marina beach in Chennai. This is the second longest beach for a city in the world. The beach was packed with people but no one was allowed to swim, because most people can't swim anyway; and the tsunami changed the sea bed alot also. We bought kites and ran around the beach trying to keep them in the air.

Later that evening we went to a hand loom exhibition... apparently this was interesting? Mum bought some stuff while we wandered around trying to find things to do.

On Monday we visited the Santhome Basilica Church which is built over the tomb of St.Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus. We then went on to Mahabalipuram to revisit a place close to our hearts; Cornerstone House. This is a place which was founded by some good friends Rod and Ruthie Gilbert. We met Jacob and Rani who are running the place now and also saw the changes after the tsunami over 3 years ago. Thankfully the water did not damage the actual structures although it did damage many trees. After walking around in the sun for some time we went for a swim in the pool on site! This was very refreshing and the water was bath like!

We went back through the village and bought some leather sandals for some good prices and also looked at the beach where all the fishermen work from, this all looks very traditional with some boats made from beams of wood and other more expencive models. On our way back to chennai we stopped at an indian household to get some video for mum of a child in india to show back in school.

After returning, me and dad went for a meeting with the J Team (Jesus Team) to talk about networking between CYE and so on. Anupa's Dad paul; is chairman of J team. After the meeting other members joined us along with the rest of our family for dinner, free food is always a bonus! We also played a few songs after dinner on guitar for some time.

Today me andy and dad slept in while mum and Anupa went to Rani's school to get yet more video and for mum to see an indian, english speaking school in action.
The rest of today has been spent packing and relaxing before we leave for Bangalore tonight on the train, we leave around 9pm and arrive in bangalore at about 3 or 4 am, so early rise tomorrow; but we can sleep at Raj's place again.

Ill update again some time in the next 5/6 days

Much Love

God Bless

Charlie, Andy, Norman and Rosslyn

New Arrivals!!

No i havent had a baby!

My parents have arrived! Along with my brother andy!

We picked them up from chennai airport at around 9 this morning

Raj and his dad also met us at the airport.

We are staying in chennai until tuesday night when we are leaving for bangalore to stay with Raj.

We hope to get some sight seeing and shopping done while we are here, also seeing some schools and other locations.

I travelled from bangalore on wednesday night with Raj

The journey was ok, but sleep wasnt really that great.

We were on a sleeper train, but it was hot and i dont sleep well while travelling anyway.
I stayed the day with Raj's family and came to my friend anupa's house yesterday evening.

Anupa is a long term friend through CYE and my parents were thrilled to see her again finall

We are now relaxing in the high temperatures after they have all had a sleep for a while.

Ill post again soon, but i thought you might all want to know

Bye

Charlie D

climbing photo's

Here are some pics from yesterday of me climbing on Breakthrough Rock.

Video's From Breakthrough

hi guys

Thought i'd add 2 videos that i didnt manage to add last time

The first video is of me completing the 'Hour Glass' a few feet above the ground...





The second is me playing around on the zip line upside down and doing a pretty good impression of superman!



Im now back at breakthrough agian, we did some climbing yesterday which involved training one of the staff.

We first did some climbing on the man made rock included in the high ropes course, which was good. But because of the heat it made the wall pretty slippery. We made the best out of the morning still. Nandu was climbing too and helping me with some teaching.
After a hot morning we moved on to breakthrough rock to do some real climbing on real rock!

We set up a rope and begun to climb a few different routes.
The guy we were training did well and completed a several climbs and improved alot just from the experiences of real rock.
I too completed a few climbs which i was very pleased with! Some were harder than others and involved more grunting and sweating as the afternoon went on.


Im still at breakthrough now and we are about to start with a group from 'Oracle' a large company based in bangalore. Hopefully we will have a good afternoon and learn alot.

Im heading back to Raj's place this eve then off to Avalanche again on sunday.

Much Love

Charlie D

Busy Times!

Hi all I know your all dying to know what ive been up to these last few days so I thought id tell you!
I'm busy the next 2 days and I may not have time this weekend.
Since i last posted my face has gone from a lobster like colour to a more brown colour which is good! I thought id share with you now the times ive had with Breakthrough Centre in Bangalore.

I arrived on monday morning at the Centre greeted by old friends again and also some more breakfast that was more interesting than the mango flavoured cornflakes id had just half an hour before!
As you can see previously the centre is very well equipped and takes mostly corporate groups; e.g. companies, businesses, also colleges and schools from time to time.
The group we had monday and tuesday was an entrepreneurial group from a college. They had recently organised a group called E Cell and wanted to come away for some time and get the group together because most were from different courses and years. There were 2 lecturers with this group numbering 21 in total.
The first session involved getting your whole team across the ground while standing on planks of wood, otherwise known as plank ski's. This proved difficult for the two teams.
The activity involved alot of team coordination and timing as one faulty step causes chaos, and usually results in the team tumbling over each other and some words being exchanged!
After the first attempt we analysed the processes and went for another attempt which proved more successful, some teams before have made tens of metres within the specified time.

After the activity we moved onto the reviewing stage of the session. this involved analysing the processes and talking about what went well and what we could have improved. and what we can take a way as a group and use in the other activities, such as coordination and goal setting.
We ran another team task which involved passing an answer through touch without speaking or making any sounds. The answers had to passed down the line in competition to the other team, and the final person had to present the answer using one of 2 actions, this becomes harder
After a good lunch we started the nest task. This session involved blindfolds, which always make things fun! The aim was to pick up an object placed on the ground ahead of the blindfolded person. The person blindfolded has to he directed to the object. the problem is the other team members have some hindrances also. the person who can see what the blindfolded person had to pick up cannot speak and had to communicate to the their member through various signs, and the person who is shouting instructions cannot look backwards. This proves very hard when 4 teams are going at the same time!
After completing that session we moved on to more reviewing regarding communication and focusing and following instructions and so on. Also integrity and cutting corners, as most are tempted to look out of their blindfolds.

The next session was a low ropes session designed to get items to a 'village in danger'. Two group were given different routes reaching the same obstacle to finally reach the village.
One item involved pulling a rope to retrieve a zip line to reach the village. Little did the teams know that this was a dual group task and one team had to help the other team to rescue the village as one bigger team!
Instead they made it a competition, this was to do with our framing of the activity and using their assumptions to our advantage! it was interesting to watch.

The lesson was to look at the wider picture as you can tell!

After this we had free time until dinner and meetings were held within the groups.
I was staying on site that night.

The next day was the most fun for both the participants and the instructors!
We lead a session on the high ropes course. This course was very well designed and built including many different sections of varying difficulties.
I was stationed on one pole between 2 sections, one of which was quite difficult.
I had a few turn back and return to the previous platform, but most gave it a go and managed it well enough. The participants completed 6 sections before finishing the final Zip line down towards the ground. Some found this the most scary part of all, and some just went for it! like myself!

After sending most of the group onwards i moved on to complete the rest of the course and show off a bit... the first section i did backwards most of the way and the second (balance beam) i did with my eyes closed! i really enjoyed playing around 30 feet off the ground!
I have been on a few high ropes courses before, but none as good as this one!
After completing those sections i moved on to the 'hour glass' this is two ropes coming from the top diagonally, crossing over with one rope crossing it in the middle from the other end.

I completed the hour glass successfully, but not without breaking a sweat... then i was told to do it the other way to come back to where i started, I just about managed it...

I then moved on to the zip line to finish the session. most people had done it the right way up apart from one person who had done it upside down. I thought id give it a go; I got someone to video the moment for me.
But I cant seem to add the video right now, will have to another time...


After lunch we ran an activity that involved spelling! The idea was to arrange a word as fast as possible with the letters on cards provided. The word had to be presented by holding up the letters in your hands as a team. There was heated competition in this spelling bee!
This involved lessons in team roles, team management, trusting team members to do their jobs, involving every member of the team and much more.
one more task that afternoon was a task called the 'meat grinder', not as bad as you would think! Moving your whole team over a rotating wheel above head height.

This is just what i did in 2 days at Breakthrough. I hope to get more experiences when i return tomorrow.
Today ive spent the day with Raj at his house. I will be at breakthrough tomorrow and friday.
I'm then going to Avalanche again with Nandu on sunday to assist with a group of 75 young people coming on monday! This finishes on wednesday morning and then we will travel back to Bangalore for wednesday night, then im leaving thursday afternoon for Chennai to meet my family when they arrive friday morning!
Exciting stuff
Pray for my energy as i will need it!

Much love

Charlie D

Blessings Snow Dwellers!

Hi All! As I have heard its currently SNOWING back in England!
I'm sad to hear this, at least we had a white easter! I'm sad to say that it hasn't been snowing in India today, or will it do so soon...

Today I spent a few hours playing cricket; badly but that's not the point.
Anyway I got sunburnt today during the midday sun!
I'm looking somewhat lobster like at present, and its not the giant pincers! I managed to get a total of 1 run! But I also got a stunning wicket while fielding, but that was about it...
Today we went to church for an easter sunrise service, this started at 6am. Although me and Raj arrived somewhere around 6.25
We were provided with a breakfast after the service which proved good incentive.

Since my last blog i mentioned going to Breakthrough Centre on monday. Thankfully this did actually happen as planned.
Sadly they didn't have any groups in and so the centre was slightly dormant. I did get a tour around the now stunning looking adventure centre!
They have built some incredible structures for ropes courses and other experiences. When I last went there we taught them to abseil from the rock on site, and there were only a few activities available. But now there are a plethora of team building activities available.
Breakthrough has specialized in Corporate Training and team building which has really benefited them. As well as the high ropes course at the centre in Bangalore; they have built one in Hydrobad, another major southern city and one in Egypt for an adventure centre. As we speak, Robin paul and some of his staff are in America doing some more corporate team building work.


I was so very impressed in what they have achieved in the last several years. As well as the high ropes course they have built a man made cave system covering 100 feet in length. this in pitch black including some declines and inclines too.
Also they have build a monster of a swing, this they called the screamer. As you could guess from the photo. The participants are released from the top of the building and swing to the same height the other side. This provides teamwork in getting the pulleys to make the swing reach the appropriate height. We spent the morning looking around the centre and helping with some resources. We left that afternoon after a pretty good lunch! www.breakthrough-india.com




The next day (tuesday) we headed to the bible college; SABC and provided some more abseiling for the conference goers.

This again was the small time of the recreation hour, but we were more slick than before and also more confident in the abseiling instruction. This time we managed to get some girl down the wall, which was great because most indian girls would not do anything like this!
Although a little scared we managed to get 3 or so girls down the wall over the next 2 sessions, along with some pretty exited guys too! many of them had never experienced anything like this, and were also somewhat scared of heights. We helped them conquer their fears by assisting them off a 3 storey building...

The final day in the college (thursday) me and Raj went in to lead some seminars for the morning. Raj spoke about some experiences of adventure and what it was about and I also did a short talk about my life in adventure; including CYE and my degree and placements.
My talk also included why I thought outdoor education was important through my own experience and knowledge.

This went down ok, although a little difficult. The problem is they all speak English and understand it they cant understand it with a different accent to what they are used to! For example a British accent like myself, and with the added problem of my fast speaking anyway. It went fine otherwise, I had to slow down and speak louder and they seemed to be interested in what I spoke about. I answered the questions as best as i could along with some other questions and experiences at the end of Raj's following talk on integrating youth in church.

The next day was good friday. We went to church for a morning service and then back to Raj's place for the rest of the day.

As i mentioned in my last post i went for a shave and a hair cut, also an indian head massage! All for 100 rupees! It was great fun, i have never had my hair done professionally before and so my first time was in india. Along with the hair cut; which was somewhat short, I had a full shave and a head massage. indian head massages are renowned around the world. This treatment I was enjoying was in a 'mens beauty parlour' The hair cut was pretty good, very neat and slightly shorter as the hot season is coming.

The shave was good also, somewhat unnerving with the razor blade, but you soon get used to it. I also enjoyed an indian head massage consisting of menthol oils and a series of slaps on the head using various hand techniques, accompanied with massaging of the head and face.

They also used an electronic hand massage device for your head and shoulders, they also cracked my neck which felt weird. some of you might be closing your eyes night now, but it was good... honest!


This last few days had been the host to what is called 'Holy' or 'playing holy'.
This is the celebration of colour. This is displayed by people having fights with very colourful paints! I have seen plenty of purple and orange and yellow people all over the place. This is usually involving the people who do not originate from india, but everyone gets involved it seems. some like to include eggs to make it more fun... bystanders are not picked on which is handy too.

The plan for this week is to go to Breakthrough on monday and tuesday and take part in some group work as there is a group in those days.

Me and Raj are hopefully booking tickets for trains buses and planes for when my parents and Andy arrive on April 4th. i plan to meet them in chennai when they arrive and come back to Bangalore with them after a few days.

Anyway that's enough for now, ill update at the weekend possibly, or when something interesting happens!

Much love

Charlie D x

Updates! this week and the titanic tent trials...

I thought id post as i have the time now; and i feel like it...
We have done a few things this week since i last posted.
As you can expect, being in india and all; things have changed slightly since i spoke to you all last...

Here is a little taster to whet your blogging appetite!

I said that i was doing a talk at the local bible college, sadly this hasn't happened as yet. I dont mind about that too much...
The plan was to lead seminars and activities at the bible college to give the people a taste of what adventure sports are like by providing a host of activities, seminars and experiences.

Due to miscommunication and poor planning we havent achieved too much of that...
On thursday we finally got some time to run a short abseiling session off one of the dorm roof's!
This proved somewhat challenging as the movie stars make it look so easy!










The hard part was changing from vertical (standing) to horizontal (abseiling) within a short space (the edge of the rooftop). All went well, but it was a challenge for both us and the participants.

The next day (today) we planned to visit the campus again and run some more abseiling and provide an experiences of setting up and staying in tents overnight. We hoped to get more time than the previous day with the students (1hour).
As we found that day we would not be getting any extra time. Our plan was to provide abseiling for some time, as well as a tent erecting tutorial during the afternoon; But the only tome allotted was the same 'recreation period' that we had the day before (5.45-6.45pm)

In order to make the best use of the short time we had; we decided to erect the tents for the students in order for them to sleep in them that night. This was not a small task as we had to cater for 30 or so students possibly. We had brought with us 11 or Raj's treasured tents for use that evening. Between the three of us; me raj and nandu, we managed to put all the tents up in the grass area inside the college grounds. At this time it was reaching the hot part of the day but we carried on! After several hours and several litres of water along with equal amount of sweat we accomplished our goal! We finally put up the various tents, including pegging them into the concrete like ground.

As we finished, the students arrived from their seminars and looked with eager intent towards the fairly unusual sight of tents. Most of the students had never slept in a tent before, let alone in the middle of the college grounds. They crowded around as Raj went through the fairly boring details about good housekeeping when staying in tents. As it was, this was pretty interesting to those who have never slept in a tent before!
They all brought over their pillows and other such bed like things and set themselves up for the night ahead before leaving for dinner, we left shortly after then.

We did not have time to set up the abseiling for that evening, but we planned to abseil some point next week, when we have more time.

Regarding the trip to Breakthrough Outdoor Centre, this has been arranged for next monday as it was not possible for us to come today. Me and Nandu hope to see first hand the activities that they provide and how they go about teaching them. I also would like to see what changed have come about since i last visited the centre (7 years previous)

On the journey back to Raj's place, on the back of hos motorbike it soon became apparent that there was thunderstorm approaching! We had seen the flashed beforehand but it came closer and provided some of the best sights of lightening i have ever seen!
It was fantastic, the sky was a blaze with thunder strikes and flashes lighting up the sky for a split second at a time! as we drove back towards Bangalore central i kept my camera at the ready catching every moment possible as fast as my poor camera could go...
I took plenty of photo's and a few videos. It was incredible to see Gods creation at work right in front of you in the most spectacular display of natures awesome power!

We stopped a few times to get some of these photo's.
Enough for now, I think that will do for the awe inspiring nature stuff. Tomorrow is going to be a day off; i think i will go and get my hair cut, should be fun! i might get a shave as well...

Much love

Charlie D

This week: 'Avalanchi' and the tale of the many buses

Hi all I thought id post to let you all know im still alive...
I could say that ive left a part of my stomach on the so called roads between here (Bangalore) and Ooty.
I dont have many good things to say about my outbound bus journey, apart from that it was a memory to be 'treasured'. We left for Ooty at about 11.30pm after our bus was an hour later than proposed, but it wasn't a problem.
From what i could recall from my previous journey to avalanche it wasn't going to be that bad, but i realized we were going a different route from that i had gone before. This route was much worse, but shorter and quicker. This was obviously better, but not for those who couldn't sleep in a car, let alone an Indian bus for 8 or so hours. As you can guess i didnt sleep very much throughout my journey.



This made me somewhat grumpy for the duration of the journey. The bus was being bashed around so much that the seats were rocking back and forth, which didn't provide very a good sleeping environment.

Anyway that was the only bad bit about my trip to Ooty and 'Avalanchi' (proper spelling?). On wednesday morning we arrived in Ooty to see a good friend of mine and manager of Avalanchi; Richard Ajoo.
We then went on to get more sleep in the scripture union office in town. We slept on the floor in sleeping bags; but it was good to get some rest, and to regain my sanity. That day was spent in Ooty meeting colleagues and visiting friends including Wilson; a friend i met last time i was at Avalanchi. Also a good family friend Ralph and his wife Hannah and family who now work at Hebron international school; who previously worked with my dad at CYE.

On thursday we started our journey to Avalanchi in 2 jeeps as the scripture union truck wasn't worth taking with only 10 or so people. We got a short distance towards the camp when we were met by road re-surfacing, so we had to take a longer route round; but this provided views a plenty! We carried on along some pretty poorly kept roads and stopped next and a bridge over a stunning lake where we took alot of photo's and then we continued on to the outer edge of the jungle itself. At this point our jeeps would go no further and we had to walk the remaining 6km or so to reach the camp itself. The jungle paths were not your standard flat bridleways that you would find in the uk. We arrived at the camp site greeted by some indian tea , bread jam and fried eggs! As the cooks were ahead of us and got there before us.
We set up our tents we had brought with us and settled down in front of the fire and ate hearty that evening. We slept in our tents very cosily that night, i slept with 3 other lads because they aren't used to the cold like us brits! The next day(friday) was a day for training and getting used to the camp site before the group came on saturday. We started with some breakfast, porridge, bread and egg along with an indian breakfast also; i had both...
We then went on to start some abseiling from a nearby waterfall. This waterfall was only a small one coming down a rock face which provided a very interesting environment to abseil, including a pool of water to finish abseiling into.

That afternoon we went on to teach some of the staff how to swim, as a majority of India's people cannot swim.
This makes it hard to teach adventure activities sometimes.
That evening we had another semi english/indian meal that was very nice. The camp from Hebron arrived on saturday and were staying until sunday afternoon. Only a 24 hour camp, this was due to exam and coursework pressures meaning they couldnt come for longer.
On saturday afternoon me an Nandu ran an abseil session with 4 girls, this session was good; if not a little slow, but it was good to get some experience.


That evening we went to the dry area near the lake and played some games including a game of ultimate frisbee that i was teaching.






I thoroughly enjoyed playing even though it made me pretty tired out! The next day was less active, we played yet more games on the dry ground including another brilliant game of frisbee.
I think this has contributed to my somewhat red shoulders and neck.


We left Avalanchi along with the group around 3pm and walked back to the pick up point where the Hebron buses were. We managed to beat the Scripture Union truck even though it left the same time also! This did involve some power walking in the heat, but it was good exercise and my ipod helped too!
We arrived in Ooty that evening after continuing our journey in the truck. We went and met Richard Ajoo again as he was not at the camp and we went out for some dinner. We then got out bus back to bangalore.

I expected the bus journey to be rubbish! As the outbound journey had been so bad. But to my surprise i got to sleep and slept on and off all the way back to Bangalore... Obviously this wasnt the best sleep ive ever had, but it was alot better then staying awake for 8hours!
I think the bus driver was alot better then the first driver.
We arrived in bangalore and went back to bed for a few hours and the other girls came over to do some washing and cooked us all dinner too which was handy.My washing was pretty minging too! its all done now though, hooray

Anyway time to stop talking now!
We are running some seminars at the local bible college from tomorrow and doing some activities for them to get them onto our training camp this month in Avalanchi. Also we plan to head to Breakthrough Centre in bangalore this week to see some friends and have a look at the activities and see what has changed since last time i was there (7 years back!)
I have to do a 30min talk tomorrow too, so i need to prepare!

Much love
Charlie D