The Last of the India photos and on to Sri Lanka!!

Update for the blog. 

The group took an over night train ride down to Bangalore after Rajahmundry Convention and Tomo stayed at one of the friends house for 2 nights with Peter. Then another 5 hour train ride to Coimbatore, India. First night was in hotel but from the second day, Tomo moved out to grounds. 

Right after the Sunday afternoon meeting, 6 visitor workers, Helen Windsor, a Australian worker that's going back to Australia after Colombo convention and her sister and brother-in-law, that are escorting her home and Prabhakar, the overseer of North India and I were transported to Coimbatore Airport. Which was 7 minutes away by car.  We all flew to Chennai and stayed in a hotel for the night. We flew out of Chennai Monday morning and arrived at Colombo on time and 2 workers Gary(AUS) and Benny(S.African) picked us up and took us to the grounds. Sri Lanka is a lot cleaner than India, speaking from what I saw in the 1 hour drive to the grounds from the airport. Grounds look like a miniature American convention grounds. 

Here are some photos from along the way.

Pictures of Bangalore silk shopping. (for my MOM!!)

Vinay took Peter & I to town for shopping.
These guys were kind to go with me into the land of fabric. 
I was not real comfortable there, auto store....different story! ; )

Hotel in Coimbatore, India

Came to the grounds for dinner. Another wedding hall and this time it's full of

mosquitos.... No air conditioning what so ever and it's right around 30 ℃ or so.

All the creatures that joined me for a bath at Coinbatore. 

"Kame mushi" (Stink Bug)

Gecko

Frog

Last convention in India... Highlight of this convention would be giving Vivek a haircut. Made quite a show out of it for some people Hope it won't look weird in the morning.

Giving my buddy Vivek a haircut at Coimbatore. 

Hoping the battery charge holds out to the end of the cut!!

My bed at Coimbatore in the mens quarters.
This plus a mosquito net hanging.
The dark blue with orange stripes. 

Colombo Convention meeting tent. 

Arrive into Colombo this morning from Chennai. The conv grounds are lot like

the US conv grounds. Very nice weather at the moment. I'm liking it already!!

More photos of Tomo in India

Thanks to Oana.  Tomo in his element!

Tomo and Oana

Tomo & Zach are enjoying the meal with God's given utensils.  Zach is from Colorado and has been in India on a special program for five months and will be there for another five months. The Sri Lankan young men took Tomo's spoon away at Mysore, his first convention. So he had to learn how to eat Indian style quickly. 

Julia and Tomo

In explanation of something..... 

George and Barbara with Tomo

Julia, Sean, Oana, Tomo and Joshvin

Tomo, Julia, Oana, Luke, Sean

Boys!

Break time on the town. 

The Australian men are patiently waiting for 
the ladies as they shop for their saris. 
(Steve is standing in the back, Robert is in the gray shirt,
Steve's son Brendon in the black shirt.) 

A few more photos via New Friends

Just got a message from Tomo.  He is with Peter Doecke in Bangalore, India for two night with some of the friends there.  They just returned from Rajahmundry Convention and had a lovely time.  Will be on to Coimbatore for the final Indian Convention, and then last stop is Colombo, Sri Lanka for the final convention.  


The following photos are in courtesy of Oana.  She is living in Germany but originally from Romania. 


Since Tomo has been in India, we have received a few emails from some of the people he has met along the way and they have sent some photos along. Will share some of these with you here.  These were taken at Mysore, India and Bangalore, India.  Bangalore is an all English convention and this is usually where the foreign visitors attend most commonly.  

Mariko and Tomo had dinner with friends,
Anita and Michael and children in Mysore, India.

Two young men, Sean and Luke from Sri Lanka and
Tomo and the friends in Mysore, India

Some of the young people gathering together at Bangalore, India.
Germany, Romania, Sri Lanka, India and Japan/America are represented here. 

Oana, Tomo and Julia
(not sure what is in their hands, looks like Indian bread?)

Meeting some guys from Sri Lanka, Sean and Luke

Not sure what they were doing here? Ignoring the camera?? 

Visiting in the meeting tent at Bangalore, India

More photos from INDIA

Here are a few more photos of Rajahmundry, India.  On Tuesday the 3rd of January, the visiting friends and workers were gathered together for a tour of some villages in the area.  These villages are the home of some of the workers in India.  

This is from the inside of the Hotel taxi that drove them to the village so they could meet parents and grandparents of the newest young brother worker.   

Along the way they found a truck on it side.  Exactly what happened is not sure but Tomo's heart went out to the driver.  This truck was carrying coal and coal dust.  The silver car in the back is some of our visitors following our taxi.  

This is Tomo holding a fan that is used in this area.   Behind the fan is the brother worker that was leading our tour of the villages.  

This is outside of the home of some of our friends in this Village.  

This is the street of the younger brother worker's parents. 

The family works together with a few other families to operate a plant nursery... In the foreground is one of the West Australian friends that are visiting.  

Here are some of the cows (water buffalo) that were resting in the shelter.  

This is a typical country road in this area of India.

This little yellow house is the home of some of the friends in another village.  

The man walking to the gate is Walter one of the visiting workers from Ireland. 

This is the road outside of our friend's home.

Together our Indian Brother guiding us to the home of new brother's parents. 

They spend the morning preparing lunch for convention preps and the food will be delivered to the convention place by this little yellow motorized tricycle.

Tomo had gone to dinner with the friends and workers.  He was hungry for a green salad.  On the menu they had 'tomato soup' and 'GREEN SALAD'.  So he ordered it.  Below is what he got!

The 'GREEN SALAD' consisted of slices of peeled cucumber, slices of carrot, tomato wedges, and slices of red onion with two GREEN peppers.  Not sure why they call this a 'green salad'..... but anyway it was fresh vegetables.  

This is the hotel logo that Tomo stayed in.  

From Bangalore to Vijayawada to Rajahmundry

Got in to Rajahmundry this morning, staying in a hotel till convention starts. Pretty nice hotel, really nice room. In a room for two but have it to my self. Haven't taken any pics with my phone. Tomorrow all visitors and visiting friends are going to visit some of the friends in the villages in the morning and then to preps in the afternoon.

I'll take some pics tomorrow and send it tomorrow night.

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Tomo is enjoying his time in India.  The Bangalore Convention had many visitors from various countries.  There he met up with various young people from Sri Lanka, Germany, Romania, New Zealand and Australia.  The next stop was a 15 hour night train trip to Vijiyawada, India.  This convention had the largest group of people gathering so far, around 400.  His cousin, Mariko said that it was the first time for her to speak in a convention meeting of this size.  They had very nice days there.
The visitors and the visiting workers arrived in Rajahmundry on Monday morning and are in a hotel for a few days before the conventions start.  Tomo has sent some photos of the hotel and this one has internet connection so we can make contact with him.

Tomo's hotel in Rajahmundry

His room for two but he is the only one there. 

My hotel room to start with ... Pretty nice hotel, really nice room. In a room for two but have it to my self. All visitors and visiting friends are going to visit some of the friends in the villages in the morning and then to preps in the afternoon. Getting ready to leave for the villages now.  Here is the outside view of hotel. 


More photos later.  

A Whole New ADVENTURE!! BRITAIN-INDIA-SRI LANKA......

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On December 12th, Tomo left Seattle International Airport at 6:15 pm flying to Mumbai, India via London.  Tomo arrived in Heathrow-London on time at 11:25 am on the 13th. 

He had about a nine hour layover in London, so he took advantage of the chance and bought a Day Tube pass and headed into the city.   He found his way around central London and from the window of the McDonald's, he was able to get this photo of IS NOT Big Ben (MOM'S MISTAKE) it is St. Pancras Railway Station Clock Tower in the distance and King's Cross Station.  

Tomo popped into the King's Cross Station to see the Platform 9 3/4 that goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the Harry Potter Series.  Then he headed back to the airport to continue his journey to Mumbai.  Tomo said "I gotta come back to London again when I'm rich!! It's awesome!!!"

The only struggle is that he is use to having wifi service almost everywhere he goes in the States and Canada, but it is a bit different in other parts of the world.  His trip has started out good and he is having a great time. 

On December 13th, Tomo left London at 9:25 pm and flew to Mumbai (Bombay), India.  He arrived at the International Airport in Mumbai at 11:45 am on the 14th. There he was to change planes to fly to Bengaluru (Bangalore).  However, he needed to move from the International airport over to the Domestic Airport.  

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Point A is the Mumbai International Terminal.  Point B is the Mumbai Domestic 

Terminal.  

The distance is about 7 miles and should cost about $3.  However, Tomo was caught off guard as we didn't know that he would have to change terminals, and so when he to the autorikshaw, the driver charged him $10.  Pretty nice tip for the guy!!  Tomo knew after he got out and paid the guy, he had been ripped off, but in reality in the States $10 for a taxi would be a deal.  Live and learn!!

He found a public computer in Mumbai Domestic Airport and was able to use his waiting time filling us in.  He said that so far things are good. No jet lag or anything either.  His comment from Mumbai Airport was 

" haha, things are a lot different, smells different, nice and warm, a little humid.  Waaaaaaaay better than the forsaken frozen North Dakota and Montana."

Someone was to pick him up at Bengaluru (Bangalore) Airport.  He said that he sure hoped they would be there!!  

AS it turned out, on December 14th, Tomo was picked up upon his arrival in Bengaluru (Bangalore) Airport at 5:45 pm.  The next day, Tomo rode on a chartered van with the visiting workers and friends to Mysore, India convention.  In this van, Tomo met up with his cousin and visiting sister worker, Mariko Fujii.  They were seated next to each other in the van.  During this trip Mariko received a message telling of her mother's death.  It was a true blessing that Tomo was with her at this time and a true support to her.  Mariko's mother has been bedridden for 19+ years and has been slipping little by little this past few months.  It was not a huge surprise to them, and yet the passing still pulls at our hearts.  She is now in a better place and that is a sweet release and blessing.  

On Sunday after Mysore Convention, the visiting workers and friends traveled back to Bengaluru (Bangalore).  On Monday, Tomo helped with preps and setting up the meeting tent.  

Bangalore conv. meeting tent

Bangalore conv grounds. At a Catholic college. "Vidya Deep College"

On Tuesday the 20th, during the Worker's meetings, Tomo went into town with the two Sri Lankan young men.  These young men have been traveling together since Tomo arrive in Bangalore.  They were joined by two girls that came to Bangalore on Monday, the girls are living in  Germany but one is there for study and she's actually from Romania. 

Two Sri Lankan boys, Luke and Sean, two girls, Julia from Germany, Oana from Romania are here until the end of Bangalore Convention. We did some shopping. The girls were looking for sarees, and the boys were after some random stuff including a shopping list from their Moms.  This was due to the prices being cheaper in India than in Sri Lanka. We all walked around for about  7 hours or so, and rode rikisha twice. 


Tomo is doing well and enjoying his time in India.  He sends his greeting to all. 

Using Your Free time Wisely!!

For the last two weeks, Tomo has been in the Seattle area.  He has been preparing for his trip to India and Sri Lanka. (He leaves on December 12th for Mumbai.)  While getting prepared by shopping and doctoring to receive the precautionary injections, Tomo help a man with a few oversized load deliveries and found himself traveling in pre Thanksgiving traffic.  Not easy in a normal size vehicle, but a challenge and a half with an oversized load!! 

Thanksgiving Eve Traffic Jam  

With that delivery out of the way, Tomo found a warm welcome and a wonderful time for Thanksgiving with some lovely friends K & L.  At their lovely home, he  enjoyed some wonderful fellowship together with L & K and some other like-minded friends.   

Friendly Hockey with the friends in Renton.

Just south of Seattle, in the town of Renton, some of our friends gather together to play friendly hockey and those who are not interested either just skate on another rink or watch the fun on the ice from the gallery.  In the year of driving truck, this was the one thing that Tomo really missed!  Tomo has joined a few times, but this time Blake S. tried his luck at hockey using Tomo's gear.  While working in Granite Falls, he had played amateur hockey and really enjoyed it.  So it was nice to be back in the ice rink again. 

Blake S. in Tomo's hockey gear at Friendly Hockey 

In the last week, Tomo has been able to take on the project of finding the 'leak' around his sunroof.  Here are some photos of the project in progress!  Not sure if he has found the leak but he does know how to get things all taken apart!!  Now we only hope he took photos at each step to help him put it back together!

The interior head lining!

The sun roof extracted!

The interior side linings detached

Looking up into the sun roof opening!

K & L and their new puppy, ?? Miss Sparky??  
(Name is still in the trial stage)