hey guys decided it was time for an update on here as we havnt done one in a few days! On Friday we decided to have the day off and head to Colaba for some shopping! Got some amazing stuff (and lots of it!!) and some lovely presents for people! We're getting good at haggling with the market sellers- getting things for half the price we are first told! We've also found that u get quite good and ignoring the sellers as they try to attract ur attention as ur walking by (very annoying and very repetative!!) Yesterday we went to central mumbai with the hope of heading out to elephanta island- an island where there are caves full of carvings and sculptures! It also has monkeys, beautiful scenery and market stalls (or so we're reliably informed!) unfortunately by the time we got to Mumbai it was raining very heavily and continued to do so all day (typical!!) and we decided walking around an island in the rain didnt sound like much fun! Instead we found a coffee shop and ordered some coffees and cakes! Then when the rain eased a little we headed for the Taj Mahal Hotel which has shops like Louis Vuitton and Moschino! We had a look around them and the hotel very whistfully!! Claire did very well and resisted some GORGEOUS bags (cost between £700-£3000!!) then we had a wander around Colaba again.
Today we've been at the boys shelter for the day! We had prepared some activities and thought we were going to both the boys and girls shelters but instead they had brought them all together at the boys shelter! So we had to do activities with 72 children which was a bit chaotic!! When we first arrived we headed around the corner to meet up with the boys who were at a religious ceremony in a hall type thing around the corner. We were invited in, had to tie scarves around our heads to cover them and the boys showed us what to do every step of the way! Thank god we had them because we wouldnt have had a clue otherwise! People were really friendly towards us! After the ceremony they all eat, and we were offered all the food, but we just tried one that was like rice pudding! We also had to try 'gods pudding' straight after the ceremony which tasted a bit like sugary weetabix!! After that we headed back to the shelter where we played games like pass the parcel and musical statues! The boys (and some of the girls) showed us their dancing as their dance teacher was there for their lesson! We also did some arts and crafts with them- colouring in masks and building wooden animals! By the time we came to leave we were absolutely exhausted! The children are absolutely gorgeous and so happy, but we were definitely ready for a break from hearing 'DiDi' constantly (it means big sister and everyone calls us it constantly!! very sweet though!) Tomorrow we're heading to CST again to the offices to find out what the plans are for the rest of our time, and to plan our trip to the Taj Mahal hopefully!
Speak soon, Missing you all,
Love Lisa and Claire xXxXxXx