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05/01/07 - Happy 2007! Only six days left till my trip to Asia, it's very exciting! I've already set up the Soutern Asia Travel Blog, coloured in 'Indian Orange'. I've made a couple of New Year's Resolutions for 2007, one is to work harder (and not make the same disaster I did of the past eight months), and the other is to be a better Christian, and I feel that being in Asia gives me a much better opportunity to do that. I'll have to see if I can prove my second resolution next week...

Despite having a chill-in New Year's celebration at home, it was bad to hear that bombs had gone off in Bangkok before the big celebrations. I'm still suprised I never visited Bangkok the last time I was in Asia, but I know the city is on par in development with Kuala Lumpur, and it wasn't nice hearing what happened. Then there was that, and also a boat sinking in Indonesia too, I hope bad news doesn't come to Malaysia next...

I've noticed that it's apparently Easter already, looking round some of the shops, but I gave in to temptation and bought myself a Rolo Egg. But there'll be none of that in Asia, so I'll enjoy whilst I can now, and then do it again when I get back. It's so long from the UK for the next five weeks, the next update will be from India. See you soon...

12/01/07 - Good day, I have safely arrived in Madurai, India. It was a tiring 15 hour journey, but I've made it. Things weren't so smooth to start, with my first plane being delayed, but fortunately I managed to get all of my flights. I talked to a couple of interesting Hindu-Indians along the way, and I managed to get a window seat on all of my flights. And after a brief spell in a posh lounge at Chennai (Elisha booked me a good flight), I met Elisha at Madurai airport.

Madurai isn't quite KL, and not quite Phnom Penh (comparing where I've been in Asia), it has quite a unique style to it. The roads are crazy, with cars driving in and out of bicycles and tuk-tuks (SEAsia was quite controlled, actually). I had a brief Tamil conversation with Elisha's driver (good Tamil practice), then got a hotel room booked, which I'm hoping won't be my accomo for the whole of my stay, but I'll have to see what happens throughout the next week...

I met with Charlotte and Isaac earlier on this week, it was really great to see them both again. I'll be sending their love to Elisha and to everyone at CPKL. Isaac doesn't go back to Ghana till March, so I'll see them again after my trip (there's a couple of photos of our time together in Brighton).

Having a quick read through the papers before I went, a few interesting things I discovered were; The Eye of Malaysia, KL's equivilent to the London Eye; AirAsia's plan to extended its service outside of Asia (that'll be good for me in the future); and also the paper's have recommended buying Malaysian property. Hmm... I'd rather the British didn't colonise parts of Malaysia like they do with other parts of the world... That's all for the moment in regards to my last week in the UK and my first day in India. My journey here did feel quite fast, but hopefully the rest of my time here won't feel the same... Bye!

19/01/07 - India is certainly meant to be a place of new experiences for me, but there was one that I never would have expected to come to me. I've been curious as to what feelings people at Taman Wahyu go through when they become possessed, and that experience came to me at the Maranatha Church. It wasn't the nicest experience I've ever had, being pounded by evil spirits, and at times feeling that my limbs were being crushed; it's not something I'd want to experience every week, but after confession to Elisha I felt much better. It's been great visiting some of the churches round India, the people are very welcoming. The churches here don't seem to have Sunday School's, but the children have good endurance sitting through four or six hour services.

I'm certainly adapting to the Indian culture well (unlike the Celebrity Big Brother housemates, the whole Shilpa Shetty and Jade Goody thing is making the news here), and am doing much better in adapting to the food. I was told that I eat like a child when I was in Maranatha, being slow and investigating. I think not being starved in the jungle (like last time) has helped me adapt more, and being blessed by coming across some nice people. But the roads are the scariest thing about India, with vehicles continually taking over one another...

It was Pongal this past week, where Hindu's dress in black, walk bare foot and eat sugar cane (from what I've seen so far), which I had with some other nice food at the Aunty's house in Maranatha. It was quite funny getting slapped by a beggar child in Madurai for shooing her. But I really would like to get out of these tourist spots (like Kanyakumari) and meet some more local people, rather than putting up with beggars and arrogant Western tourists whenever I go outside...

The orphanage is a really cool place, though I haven't spent that much time there. The boys have seemed to have gotten to know me well, but the girls seem to be a little more reserved. It was nice getting to do the 'mugshots' of all the children and giving out their photos as a presents to them. But out of all the kids I've met so far, the one child who's taken to me the most is a boy called Churchill. He's the son of Rajkumar (Elisha's PA that I'm with), and I'm continually talking to Churchill and different members of Raj's family on the phone. Hopefully I'll get to meet them some day...

26/01/07 - At last, I have finally returned to Malaysia after an eight month abscence. I don't know how I'm going to survive away from Asian culture in only three weeks time. My time in India was great, and having one last cuddle with Karthika at the orphanage was a nice complimentary end to my trip. It's much nicer meeting kids in the local places, rather than city kids, as local kids will look to you for who you are, rather than what you're worth.

I definitely think I have a future in visiting Tamil Nadu again, Elisha has high regard in me (I'm the only Westerner, along with Wendy's family, to have been acquainted with him). Something I said to many people whilst in India was the opposites in Western and Asian culture. Asians have a lot of love, but little money, and Westerners have a lot of money, but little love. I'm blessed with so much money, yet I received so much more affection when I'm in Asia. I think I know where I'll be investing my future...

There's been a lot of change since I left Malaysia in May last year. There are no more Gappers, no Sanju, no Anne Jones (she's left for Australia, with her tail between her legs), no World Challenge, Taman Wahyu has no more Rebecca, no more Caleb (Rachel's family), and not even Sunday School anymore. I'm not sure if Nesamalar is still around, but Victoria has told me to try and revive the Sunday School. I'll do my best, but we could do with some more children and more people to come to the church...

It's been great seeing the kids of Taman Wahyu again. Everyone's pretty similar appearance wise, of whom I've met so far. The only major difference is Pavithiran, who's grown quite a bit, and Ranjita is looking better than the first time I met her. But Dharsini's attitude towards me has taken quite a change; she now values me a lot more as she knows I won't always be around. She's becoming quite affectionate, but she's getting too wound up by Sasindren teasing her. She's become very attached with me staying at her house, and keeps wanting cuddles and to share a bed with me. But I seem to boost her confidence a lot, she's been reluctant to start going to Kindergarten, as she was with Sunday School before I arrived. But now through some ironic twist, I've now moved to Rayvan and Raveena's house...