A warm welcome

Photos at last

Here at last are some fab photos of the last few days!

Students and our guide at the Red Fort

Avoiding the puddles at the Red Fort

Ready for the off at New Delhi Station

Good morning!

We're here in Kolkata after an amazing journey. We were prepared for lots of stress when we pulled up outside New Delhi station which has a bit of a reputation for being a bit crazy. We sailed in, were directed straight to the right platform and apart from playing spot the rat on the train tracks (there were hundreds) we boarded the train without a problem. There then followed a bit of shuffling around to get us all in the same carriage but the guards were really helpful and is wasn't long before we were all  tucking in to some great food. The price of Sprite was the talk of the group –only 30 rupees which is about 20p. We had sheets and pillows so we all climbed into our bunks and eventually all of us managed to sleep. Phoebe, Anna and Emily all win the prize for most sleep –over 12 hours! We had a lovely welcome at the station,flower garlands and lots of photos. It's warm and sunny here in Kolkata and it's going to be a brilliant week.

Struggling to upload pictures - still a great day. Soaked at the Red Fort, walking through amazing streets, lunch at Macdonalds, the Ghandi museum and a huge temple. Back at the hotel now getting ready for the epic train journey. Next stop Kolka!

Namaste from Delhi! We've had a few problems trying to upload images which may be to do with our wireless signal so you'll have to make do with text today. Unsurprisingly the journey has been a long one the highlight of which was the immigration desk on arrival. How the officials managed to turn stamping a piece of paper into a 90 minute horror was beyond us. Luckily it was also beyond several Indian families who kicked up such a fuss that a supervisor came, told the man off and the whole Whitecross group then got through in about 2 minutes –welcome to India! The hotel is great, pizza hut eased us gently into our adventure and we are all looking forward to a whistle stop tour of Delhi before our marathon train journey to Kolkata.

Here we go! We're leaving school today at 3.30. Last minute checks of packing, passports, money, malaria tablets - the list goes on. Everyone is very excited.

We'll try to blog once we get to Delhi but that will not be until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.

In the meantime here is a picture from our Year 8 Slum Project last summer. Students had to pay for and build a slum dwelling and then work to clear their debts. They learnt about what it might be like to try and survive as one of the world's millions who live in poverty.

The next chapter begins

Whitecross is heading back to India! Wednesday 16th January will see us depart Hereford for Birmingham airport where we`ll fly to Delhi via Dubai. After a day looking around India's capital, we have an 18 hour train journey to Kolkata where we'll spend a week as guests of the Heritage School. It is going to be a fantastic adventure!