Shopping in Indian Malls, going on a safari, Indian Chinese food, and going to the chemist- again

As it is now 5:30 am Sunday Blore time and I have woken up, I thought I would add some thoughts to the last two comments Keith posted.

Yesterday, we visited the Banergherra National Park. It's like a zoo, but all natural. As you drive in, there are several vendors all along this dirt road, where you can buy fruits, chips, drinks, ice cream, even coconut. By the time our day was finished there, we had eaten two different bags of kettle type chips (one spicy, one not) bought three large bottles of water, two ice creams and four coconuts. All of this costs us about $2.50.

The zoo part of the National Park was typical, except for the cheetahs. That was neat. Also, you will see by the pics that they had two elephants just walking by that you could pet and pose with. They also had a playground right in the middle that Ambika loved to use. She is quite the adventurer and doesn't seem worried at all about heights. She loves the swings, jungle gyms, etc.

At 11 am, we boarded a bus to go on the safari. This is where we saw lions, bears, and tigers in their natural habitat. We were given front row seats, which was great and we saw some awesome things. The tigers would walk right up to the bus. They didn't look nervous or seem ready to jump you. It was like they were used to it. The lions stood back a little, but they were still about five feet away-very close. Ambika (she has decided she likes the name Maddie, so I will refer to her as both as we continue) loved it. She would get so excited every time she saw a new animal and she would constantly say, "Mommy, take photo".

The best part was the elephant ride. At first, Maddie didn't want to ride at all. I think she thought the animal was too large. But, once she saw that I was going and she was going to be left out, she joined in. Then, she loved it so much, they let us ride her around a second time. It was great. Now, I can say that I have ridden an elephant! By the end of our time at the park, we were very dirty, but we had big smiles on our faces.

One more thing about the park. For those of you who have never traveled outside the US, you may not realize that in many countries you have to pay for public toilets. That was the case at the park. There was an attendent and for two rupees each, you could use the toilets. However, ladies need to understand that sometimes there are western style toilets out in public and sometimes, there aren't. At the park, the toilets were India style. If you don't know what I am talking about, look it up on Google Images. Every time I visit one of these, I think of my sister and CH and just laugh. Don't worry, I had my Charmin to Go and lots of hand sanitizer so all is well.

We ended our day out by going back to Bangalore Central Mall. This is just like our malls back home except a lot more people work there and all the prices are in rupees so you have to convert in your head. The first time we went to the mall, we went with Saju, Nissi, Shalom, and Jotham. We went to a department store and bought a small suitcase for Maddie, a skirt for Mommy, and a matching skirt and top for Mallory and Maddie. However, when I got home, I noticed that I had picked up the wrong size, so yesterday we had to exchange it. There was only one exchange counter in the whole place so KW had to wait in line for 30 min. We also bought Maddie some shoes. There were so many choices and so many people helping that it was a bit stressful. Daddy finally found her some that we liked and she liked and didn't cost too much. The ones we brought for her were too big, so we had to back up and punt.

After the national park, we relaxed at the hotel until bed. We were able to rent some movies. I could rent three for about 2$ each and buy one (Tom and Jerry) for $3.00 so that's what we did. Maddie watched two Barbie movies last night (She loves Barbie) and we spent the rest of the time eating Chinese food and trying to get these pictures to upload. The Chinese food was basically the same and tasted very good. Also, I have noticed that Maddie eats with her right hand and writes with her left.

I have to say that the staff here at the hotel has gone above and beyond. They helped KW with the pictures and offered to go the pharmacy for us. They even called from the rental store when the movies we requested weren't in. Honestly, Indians are such nice people. They think nothing about helping others. One might think it's because they want tips, but I have experienced this with those who would stand to gain nothing as well.

After dinner, we decided to walk it off by venturing to the chemist (pharmacy) ourselves. Let me just say that every time we venture out on our own, which we have done several times now, I always think of CH and get a big chuckle. If it goes sucessfully, I can say assure her everything is fine. If it doesn't, I am imagining this big "I told you so" look coming from her. So, here's the pharmacy story.....

Our hotel gave us directions. It wasn't but a five to ten minute walk from our hotel, but just like in places in Atlanta, once can go from very nice places to very bad places quickly. Keep in mind this was also about 8:30 PM, so it was already dark. We had to cross a major intersection, but that was fine. We just moved when everyone else did. Finally, we came to the pharmacy, but we had to walk through some dimly lit areas to get there. This pharmacy was actually bigger than the one we went to in Chennai but it's still an open air type of place. There's no front door that you walk into. They just roll up the steel door at the start of the day and there's a counter. We told them what we needed and it was no problem. They also asked us a lot about Maddie, how much we had to pay the orphanage, if American adoption would have been cheaper, how she is doing now after the surgery. They were very nice and even gave her a Cadbury chocolate bar (one of the best in India).

We walked back to the hotel, looked at all our pictures from the day, gave Maddie a bath and went to sleep. That's probably why I am up as early as I am. This morning, we are going with Sam to an Assembly of God church that has 2K members. We are riding another rickshaw there (Lisa would be so proud of me) and then we are going shopping again at the Garuda Mall, which is another one right near our hotel. We are also going to Star City with Saju, Nissi, Shalom and Jotham in the evening. Think of it as an Indian Chuckie Cheese-oooohhhh boy!