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Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th February

Posted: Feb 12, 2017 by: dmanton on: India Blog 2017

We've made it to India! Its been a long journey but Mrs Smith, Miss Tomlinson and Mr Manton are now installed with Sam, Owen and Lottie in the Surendranagar home of Sanjay and Meena.

The journey of 4000 miles felt at least that, as we visited Abu Dhabi airport on the way. The flights were on time and plenty of films were watched as we made it to Abu Dhabi, after a 8 hour flight. With 3 hours in transit, another 2 hour flight and a 5.5 hour time difference, we arrived fatigued into a warm and bustling aiport in Ahmedabad at 3am! A huge welcome of course from Sanjay and Meena, who came to meet us.

We needed a brief snooze before we started our day. Sanjay and Meena took us for a walk around their Ahmedabad complex, where we enjoyed a brief game of cricket, attracting some interest from the friendly locals. After a delicious lunch, we then took a drive to the river in Ahmedabad to enjoy a stroll, in a popular new resort for the city. There was time for a mini-car ride and plenty of photo opportunities to end our first travel day.

After a fantastic and welcome sleep, we awoke to the traffic sounds of a Sunday morning - and yes, the sun was shining of course! 8 teachers and old friends joined us from Bachpan School, as we investigated a vintage car museum on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. And what a lot of classic cars too!

One of the highlights of a warm walk around the museum was enjoying a fresh coconut drink for some (yes, Year 2 - just like the ones you studied!) The other option was a fresh sugar cane drink - you could see the operator push fresh sugar cane into a machine and hey, presto - out came a delicious sugary drink!

We had a lunch at Sam's Pizza, which was well enjoyed by the group, before a 2 hour journey back to Surendranagar to settle into the house. What a journey too! So much to see and so many things to reflect on, on our first night at home!

As we write this first post of the blog, we can hear the sounds of a nearby wedding (yes, its wedding season here) and the intermittent sounds of the local muslim call to prayer! Everyone is a bit tired but excited about our first day at Bachpan School tomorrow.  Sorry for the brief blog but bed calls!

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