HENNA

In the Indian culture, they have henna, a paste that you use to put designs on your hands, feet, arms, etc.     In Bangalore we are staying with, Rashmi, Deepak, and their five year old daughter Shruti. Rashmi is very good at doing henna so one day she did it for me and Shruti. The henna is dark brown and when it dries up on your body you peel it off and it leaves a dark orange stain on your skin that will last for about three weeks. I've been practicing on paper and it's pretty hard to do at first because sometimes it comes out in globs and sometimes it doesn't come out at all. Then I sort of got the hang of it and did it on my mom's foot and Shruti's knee. I think that I've become obsessed with henna!

Rashmi doing my mehendi (henna designs)

This is what it looks like when the mehendi is dried up and then peeled off.

This is the last blog I am going to write while I'm in India, and I've had a great time here with people, elephants, monkeys, foods, swimming pools, friends, and henna!

An exciting elephant ride

I have seen so many elephants on my trip to India as well as Sri Lanka. After all of the many elephants I have seen, I thought that was it for me in the elephant department...

BUT FORTUNATELY I WAS WRONG!!!

The last place that my family and I wanted to go in India was the Cardamom Hills, and we stayed in our own cottage in the mountains.

What does this have to do with elephants????

On our third day there, we went on a one-and-a-half-hour drive to ride on an...elephant!!!!

Arjun, age 50

It took about 45 minutes to ride the elephant, then I thought we were done...

But then we went to a small pond and...we got to wash it, and I got to sit on the elephant and it turned over and sprayed water at me again and again and again!

Rani, age 27 

After I was totally soaked, we got to feed the elephant bananas!

We got to touch the elephant's trunk and body!! I never ever in my whole entire life thought that I would get to ride, feed, wash, and get showered by an elephant!!!!

Sri Lanka!

I have a close friend named Zoe, whose parents work for the Foreign Service. She was born in Seattle, then moved to Peru, then Mexico, and now she lives in Sri Lanka, an island off the south coast of India.

We took a one-hour flight to Sri Lanka, and drove to my friend's house in Colombo. We stayed in their house for a few nights, then they rented a bus to take us to a hotel called Kalu's Hideaway, owned by a famous cricket player who we got to meet in person!

One day Zoe, her two siblings, Ciara and Jude, my mom, dad, and I went to a rehabilitation center for baby elephants. They take small elephants who have no parents and supply them with milk and a safe place to be until they are old enough to return to the wild. It was really fun seeing baby elephants drink milk from a bottle!!!

Later that day everyone decided to go on a safari so two convertible-top Jeeps came and the safari began.

We saw lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of elephants!

After we spent a few days at that hotel, we took the same bus to another hotel called the Eden Resort, which has the biggest swimming pool I've ever seen!

After two whole days of swimming, swimming, and more swimming, we got on the bus, went back to their house, got our things all packed, and went to the airport to go back to India. I've had so, so, so much fun playing with Zoe, Ciara, and Jude!

THE BELLAND FAMILY

SPOON AND LIME RACE

Indian safari and more!

This Wednesday we went from Mysore to Coorg, India. On our first and only full day in Coorg we did lots of AMAZING things!

First, we went to the Irpu Waterfalls!!!!! We even got to go under the waterfall!!!! I GOT SOAKED!

Afterwards, we went on a...SAFARI!!!!

On the SAFARI we saw tons and tons and tons and tons of different animals. We saw:

7 turtles

6 wild boars

3 peacocks

12 water buffalo

1 mongoose

8 monkeys

47 spotted deer

and.... 13 ELEPHANTS!

My favorite animals I saw on the SAFARI were the elephants! One was standing in the road and we had to wait until it moved away, and then it trumpeted at us! I also saw 1 baby elephant with his mom and dad on either side of it! Most of the elephants traveled in packs except for 1 that was playing in the water. I have never seen so many elephants in my whole entire life!

Bye from India,

Janet I.R.

Indian monkeys!

On Monday night we drove to a city in India called Mysore. The thing that's different about Mysore from Bangalore is that in Mysore there are lots and lots of MONKEYS! 

So far I've seen: a baby monkey with his mom and dad, a big monkey in a tree, two monkeys fighting on the roof, a monkey trying to ride a motorcycle, and a big monkey sitting right over our heads!

I have never seen real wild monkeys before! I hope I see a lot more!!

first days in India

I'm in India, and it feels as if the sun is one hundred feet away from the earth it's so hot! I don't think there's a single day where it's cold outside.

There are lots of stray dogs walking around. There are also tons of cows in India. Did you know that cows are holy in India? That is how the phrase "holy cow" got invented.

If you decide to go to India sometime, here is what you will NEED to bring:

- loads of sunscreen (who knows how hot it will be?)

- bottled water (the water might not be so clean)

- soap and shampoo (you might need to take a cold shower EVERY DAY!)

Namaste,

- Janet

favorite places I visited in London

These are my three favorite places I went to in London:

1. Les Miserables

Les Miserables is a famous musical about the French Revolution. My favorite part of the musical was when the students started a war against the government.

2. Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey is the biggest church in London. In it kings, queens, and famous people long ago are buried. We found the graves of Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Mary, King Henry III, and Charles Darwin.

3. The London Eye

The London Eye is a giant ferris wheel in London. It goes so slow that it takes 30 minutes to go around one time! You can see all of London!

So Long!

-Janet