Abbey Bennett

November 30, 2012
After a full two days of traveling by automobile, train and bus, our entire team was eternally grateful for the simple hot shower and comfy bed at our hotel. This seemingly ordinary hotel is the epitome of luxury to us, particularly after having survived the night train.

I will say that only some of the horror stories surrounding the night train experience ended up being true.  A thorough and intense sanitizing session was required and while the train gently swayed you to sleep the sound of scurrying rats lulled you into unconsciousness. Overall though, we had a fairly smooth time of it. No one was left to run frantically after the train and no duffle bags were left among the mice. A success.

Being here in the city of Agra is so starkly different from our small town of Chamba, and while I am so intensely thrilled to be seeing the almighty Taj Mahal in the morning (what a sentence to be able to say!), it feels odd to still be here in India and not be with our kids. My group of orphan girls from the Temple Ashram are constantly on my mind and I miss them fervently even though it has only been a few days since I last saw them.

However, I have two beautiful and extraordinary distractions in store for me, the Taj Mahal and riding elephants at the Amber Fort, and I could not be more excited. Now it’s off to a dinner of McDonalds Indian style: zero beef. Woot woot.

 -Abigail Bennett