Crazy Adventure

(Sung Too the tune of 12 Days of Christmas)

On The Crazy Adventure My Family Did With Me…

1 Jeep Safari

2 Motorbikes 

3 Nepalis Buses 

4 Train Rides

5 Plane Flights

And The Memories Will Live With Me 

On The Crazy Adventure My Family Did With Me…

1 Kidney Infection  

2 Hospital Visits

3 Food poisonings 

4 Chest Infections 

5 Inghams Living 

And The Memories Will Live With Me 

On The Crazy Adventure My Family Did With Me…

1 Camel Safari

2 Elephant Rides

3 Crocodiles

4 Spider Bites

5 Wild Rhino's

And The Memories Will Live With Me 

5 Inghams

5 Inghams

4 Countries

3 Months

2 Marriage Proposals 

1 Crazy Adventure

Why India ?

Why India? I have been asked several times during this trip and from people at home, why we were in India and Nepal.

We have several answers – our primary answer is that God opened the way for us to go. Another answer is that Adrian, Makaia and myself have been to India in the past and while we all loved it, we hadn't been to India together and so to go together with 3 of our 4 children was awesome opportunity that we couldn't pass up.

As a family we are in a stage of transition. We have been in YWAM for 17 years and believed that it is right time for us to step aside from the various roles that we have been engaged in during these years and see what other opportunities, ideas and doors open for us.

So for us, this adventure has been about exploring various parts of India and Nepal and enjoying some of the tourist sights but mostly its been about connecting with others who are working tirelessly in making a difference in the lives of many in India. We have made many new friends that we will be in contact with over the coming months and years – thank you for opening up your lives to us and letting us in.

We are going back home for a time of reflection and a time to catch up with other friends and family and share some of our ideas and thoughts.

Once some ideas become reality, we will keep you all posted so that you also can be part of the process.

In India I read a bill board that I thought was very profound. It said “How brave is your love”. Sometimes we need to be really brave to allow dreams and ideas to become reality.

Many thanks to you all for praying for us, reading our posts and encouraging us on our journey and adventure.

Blessings
Adrian, Juanita, Makaia, Jvarn and Azariah Ingham

13th May

Goodbye Nepal, Hello Malaysia!
Our amazing time has come to an end. When we first arrived we never would have imagined the incredible adventure we would go on – from kidney and chest infections to white water rafting, riding and swimming with elephants, amazing encounters with wild animals – deers, elephants, owls, birds, crocodiles, snakes, leeches and being chased by a wild rhino really just topped off our time here.
We now have a two day stop over in Malaysia before heading back to New Zealand where we will have a chance to reflect on all that has happened during this short while at times very long 13 weeks.

12th May

Kathmandu, Nepal – a city of contrast. We stayed in the older part called Thamel. The buildings look like they were built 100's of years ago and with the huge cracks that they all have, it is a wonder they are still standing. It seems that the smallest of earth quakes would completely ruin this city. Just 2 kms away is the newer Kathmandu with its designer shops, crystal shops and KFC. A complete contrast to Thamel. 
The traffic in India was crazy beyond words but at least they do drive slow there and look out for pedestrians, in Nepal they take it to a whole new level by driving very fast and they have no regard for pedestrians.

12th May

We left Pokhara and headed back towards Kathmandu but not before stopping for a 3 hour white water rafting experience. It was much better than expected with some wild rapids and white knuckle moments.

After the rafting we caught a local bus for the rest of the trip back to Kathmandu. The local bus was a little like a colorful coffin – pink ceiling with a green strip approx 1 foot wide running down the center of the ceiling and orange sides with pink highlights and 3 ceiling lights - one blue, one yellow and one red. We stopped several times letting on and off locals including 2 ladies who had their goats (as one does) and a variety of other random parcels. The spaces between the seats were incredibly small that even Azariah had trouble fitting in her legs.

This part of the trip was meant to be 3 hours but due to who knows what, there was a major traffic jam and so the trip took a very, very long 6.5 hours. At least with the bus crawling along, there was little chance of going off the edge of the road, which was reassuring since this road is one of the most dangerous roads in the world and while rafting we saw a crane pulling a truck out of the river that had crashed a few days earlier, killing 2 people and a week earlier another vehicle had gone off the edge killing all 15 people on board.

Praise God for safe travels.

9th May

Leeches...... Really !!!
For NZD $10 one can hire a boat for the day and row on the lake. We decided to spend the afternoon on the lake and rowed over to the other side. A walk up the bush covered mountains seemed like a brilliant idea until we looked down and Adrian had 6 leeches on his feet all sucking away nicely. Upon inspection the rest of us also had one or two leeches so the walk got abandoned however the sky also decided to open up and while we attempted to stay dry and out of the rain and lightening we also had to avoid more leeches.
Jvarn and Azariah decided to go for a swim in the lake but since we had watched snakes swimming in the same lake the day before, the rest of us decided against this idea.

Pokhara

The trip to Pokhara was filled with awesome sights. Pokhara is 5 hours north west of Kathmandu by local bus. All along the road, little towns are dotted everywhere with people just going about their everyday lives. Each town has several water taps along the road and these are busy with people collecting water for their homes (no running water in the houses) and people washing – hair, body and clothes washing, all soaped up. Beautiful rice fields are dotted everywhere and cattle and chickens wander at their leisure.
Pokhara is a sleepy town that is set around a large very beautiful lake. It is going into the wet summer season so many of the tourists have left. They mostly come in winter and trek into the snow covered mountains that surround us on all sides.
We will spend 5 nights here before heading back to Kathmandu. Every day starts out with the mountains covered in clouds and then the clouds lift as the day goes on but before long it is 3.30 pm and the sky opens up and we have about 1 hour of intense rain, lightening and thunder before the sun comes out again and there is pleasant weather for the evening.

Elephant Safari

2 hours of body jerking amazing elephant riding through a different part of the jungle and river, filled in our afternoon. Seeing 2 different wild rhinos swimming and a mother and calf rhino leisurely eating less than 3 meters away was more than money could buy, not to mention more wild deer, monkeys and owls and the baby python snake that we saw yesterday, along with a old wild elephant bathing in the cool of the evening.
Tonight we have dinner then a cultural evening including dancing and then we will drop wearily into our beds for a much earnt sleep.
Tomorrow we catch a bus and go 6 hours to Pokhara.

Chitwan Adventures

God is awesome!! We've been chased by a wild rhino, watched a crocodile bathe, Makaia fell into a sloth bears hole, wild tiger crossed our path, wild deers ran past, flying red cotton bugs, stinging nettle, water sprayed by the elephant via its trunk, thrown off an elephant into the river, temperature 37 degrees and a 3 hour jungle trek, but all not before a 1 hour trip down river in a dug out canoe to get to the jungle, and its only lunch time. Awesome !!!

                                                                                                  

4th May

We made it !!
The road from Kathmandu to Chitwan is one of the windiest, bumpiest and narrow roads through the mountains that we have been on and while our driver was very good, at times when he overtook slower vehicles the road below us disappeared and all one could see was the river below. It felt like we were hanging on by our toe nails - our finger nails had been bitten off several corners earlier !
On the bright side, we have just had a wonderful lunch while watching elephants.

3rd May

Our plan is to leave Kathmandu tomorrow (this was booked for last week but due to illness we postponed it) and travel 5.5 hours by bus to Chitwan. We will spend 2 nights in Chitwan where we have booked a Jungle Safari which consists of a Elephant ride, bird watching, village culture tour, jungle walking, elephant bathing and elephant breading center visit.
After Chitwan we will travel a further 5-6 hrs by bus to Pokhara where we are planning on spending a further 3 days.
We are all looking forward to this next part of our adventure.

24th April - 2nd May

24th April
We arrived safely in Nepal and after just 5 hours we are all in love with this place ! Photos will follow soon.....the power goes down for 14 hrs per day/night and the internet is slow but we are working on it.

27th April
I would like to ask for some prayer for both Adrian and myself. Adrian is battling a chest infection and I have come down with a kidney infection. I have got some medicine to take from the hospital here in Kathmandu. The hospital is really nice and staffed by great Doctors who want to see me again tomorrow to confirm that I am on the mend. On the bright side Makaia, Jvarn and Azariah are all great and enjoying being here but I would appreciate prayer covering for them as well.
I am looking forward to writing the next update which will be a positive report.

2nd May

Hi All - well the good news is that Adrian is almost over his chest infection and I am finally over my kidney infection but not before another trip back to the hospital to get some pills to counter act the dreadful nausea that my antibiotics gave me. As a result we have all been laying pretty low for the last few days, however with 32+ degrees heat it has been hard to do anything else during the days but avoid the sun. I was also bitten by a insect last night that left its two fang marks in four places over my arm. I don't know what Kathmandu has against me be, but really.....enough is enough, you will not beat me....Juanita