Lord willing, i will get on a bus in a few hours and ride around 28 hours from T’bilisi to Istanbul, stay there one nite, buy a air ticket, and make my way to Mumbai and then finally Pune before Sabbath comes around again. Everyone’s prayers are requested.
spreading 3 angels' messages
Hello from a hotel/dormitory in Istanbul. The trip here was uneventful, except that i got delayed around 45 minutes by immigration on the Georgian side. Seems they thot i had a fake passport or something. I got here around noon T’bilisi time, so it was close to a 24hour trip.
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The dormitory is the same one i stayed at 3 years ago Cordial House in Cemberlitas, near Sultanahmet – 9euro.
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The supermarket guy didn’t believe me when i called him on ringing up a higher price on the stuffed olives than what i saw. He probably thot i was a “know-nothing” tourist (typical reaction to me in many parts of eastern Europe and Asia). But he and his boss looked a the price signs — and, while not saying anything to me, saw i had said the right price. 1.20usd for almost a pound of stuffed olives is a good deal. I finished off half of them with some bread and the last cucumber brought from Georgia a few minutes ago looking up at some obelisk that Emperor Theosidus brought over from Egypt in 400AD or so. The sense of time is overwhelming. And yet, for all their grandeur and pomp and glory, where are they now? And the people that come by snap a picture or two, think a bit, and some throw trash around it, and walk on. Someone seemed amused when sitting on the same bench with me, and seeing me hurry off when he lit up his cigarette. My head is light from all the puffing going on around me.
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I so much look for the monuments that never pass away inside those pearly gates. And for the size of the permanent smoke-free zone too!
I bot a ticket to Mumbai this afternoon too on the cc, so everything is ready for the last leg of my journey. The cost was 415TYL or around 270usd. The agency charged 40usd for going thru them, but that was the only way to buy the ticket, and still much cheaper than any other airline, so i’m happy 🙂
I arrived in Mumbai, India as scheduled, on July 23 around 9:10pm. The airport is much nicer than when last used 3 years ago. I did not know it, but someone was waiting for me. That was so, so comforting. He took me to his house and another church worker and that pastor and i all slept on the floor. It took me over 15 hours of being in this country before i saw crows fighting over a dead rat in the street….
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Thank you Lord for bringing me here safely 🙂