We made it to Salem on the overnight train which was pretty uneventful save for being hassled by beggars; it was very hard to say no to the children.

Arrived on?Tues afternoon to the place called Anbu Illam (translated House of Love) it is a lovely sanctury in the middle of the rubbish and open sewers of the suburbs of Salem. During the day?it is a rehabilitation place for physically and mentally disabled kids, and a Creche for little children whos families need to work. It is also a home to children whose parents for whatever reason are in prison.

But for the first week we didn't see any of the good work the nuns of the place are doing.?On Tues?the nuns basically gave us a lot of tea and told us to take rest - one of their favourite sayings.

The next morning got woken up at around 6 by Sister Leo (boss nun) who wanted Laura to see this nun who was sick because she thought Laura was a doctor! She had told them she was going to study medicine but they just hear the word medicine and think doctor "very good".

Turned out the nun was having a heart attack, which Laura 'diagnosed' and we watched in awe as she managed to climb into a jeep to take her to hospital. She had a 95% fatality rate and had 4 previous heart attacks but managed to pull through and is doing ok now!

That day there was no school because of the nun being ill so we "took rest". That night Kate was continuously sick and had diarrhea, threw up 10-15 times, Laura was also sick a few times.

Next morning Laura went down to breakfast to tell Sister Leo how we were, she force fed her pancakes with jam despite Laura declining the offer of breakfast, and so?promptly threw up the pancakes in the sink. Only then did the sisters realise we actually couldn't eat breakfast! However, Kate is now known as the bad girl as?she didn't go down to breakfast.

Pretty soon after that Kate lost the feeling in her hands and then limbs and face and couldn't move her hands as they were clenching up. We got Sister Leo and she took us to hospital. Kate got put on a drip for 3 days, her blood sugar was just low from all the throwing up and Laura also got some drugs and cream for her unpleasant fungal infection. We'll leave where to your imagination.

Anyway, the hospital was pretty nice, we were in some deluxe suite but we were bored out of our minds! by the second night kate was fine but they wanted to check she could keep food down. The doctors and the whole village practically came to visit us (to stare at the sick white people) and it was at this point when Laura threw up the food the headmaster of a local school had given us. Laura then had to try to convince him and his lovely family that no it wasn't the food that had made her sick - "it's the heat". If somebody offers you food, even if you feel like vomiting and can't bear to eat, you cannot refuse!

Straight after this we got to hold some random person's new born baby which was brilliant! kate named him John.

The highlight of the hospital experience for Laura (as Kate couldn't leave the hospital) was that after going back to Anbu Illam to collect some clothes she was driven back to the hospital by motorbike and anyone who's experienced Indian driving how scary and exhilirating it is.

Got let our of hospital Saturday morning and "took rest" at the weekend.