Pictures!

I have uploaded 130 images into the slide show that you see to the left. Any picture can be clicked on to see a larger view! There is MANY more! we took 2700 total! I hope you all enjoy.. I'm still sorting them all out!

Going Home...

I'm sad to say that today is the day that we are heading home. I have such mixed emotions about going home. I'm excited to be in my bed, be with my family and have some home food again but at the same time I'm going to miss every thing we have experienced here in India. Our flight leaves at 11:40 PM from Mumbai airport. From the outside it appears that we have the whole day here but we really don't. We have to leave Amit's house by 3:30 because the 2 1/2 hour drive it took to get here will take about 5 hours during the day due to increased traffic. We will arrive at the airport at 8 pm and amit says getting through security takes a lot longer here and that this will barley be enough time .


I can't believe Amit is married! We all really like Manju. We didn't get much time with her but amit seems really happy and that make me very happy. Over the next 3 days they will be traveling around India to many religious shrines as part of the marriage ceremony. Then they are off on there honeymoon to a remote islands called Lakshadweep in the Arabean sea. He won't be back in the US till 15th of March and hopes to have Manju with him. If so then we will be showing HER around the town :)

Well we must be going to go get ready. i will see everyone on Wednesday!

Got the internet...

I just got the internet for the first time this trip. I'm going to start back posting from the trip. To start things might had lots of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes but i will be working on them as i got. I just want to get the material up as quickly as i can for everyone. This have been so busy that i have barley had enough time to out line the basics of the trip never mind proof read them or edit. Also, keep in mind that there are 3 of us needing internet so that will also limit the amount of time we have it. The speed isn't to great either but I'm not going to complain about anything at this point! Everyone can leave comments on posts as well!

Day Two at Amit's

Last night we got back from shopping with Amit and there were people working on setting up a festive looking canope the small driveway. They also had to girl he doing Henna designs on everyone. They quickly ushered me downstairs obviously picking up on willingness. They were asking me what i would like to have and point out a few examples on the whole family in the living room. I had no idea what to get so i just asked her to go nuts with anything she wanted. I ended up with an entire hand and writ design. DJ eventually caved and got one as well. I thought it was a lot of fun. I kept the paste on over night and it came out nice and dark on my pale skin. The darker skinned Indians came out much darker than mine.

This morning we went to the Barber. This is a completely different experience that getting your hair cut at home. This shop was very excited to see three Americans coming in and ushered us right in to the second floor. Starting with a hair cut Amit explained to the guy what i wanted done and he quickly got to work.I went for my issual hair cut, short on hte sides and back and long enough on the top to gel it. They do not use clipper it's all done by had. Only using different size comes to help with the lentght. When he was done he used a straight blade to clean up the back of my neck. It was not time for a shave. This is just like the barber shops back in the 50's. straight blades and the shaving cream brushes. I have to say it's the nices shave i have ever had. He even trimmed my goatee very nicely.

Now he moved on to given me a head message.Starting with oils, he started rub it through out my hair.These guys are not shy use force at times and genral at others. Then after a couple minutes and used a vibrating head messager. This was followed by a back messager that he used on my back and arms. Dj got a shave and a message as well which he found a little weird. They even cleaned up Ryan. Now we are looking good the the engagment part tonight that starts at 7. In the mean time we are going to have lunch here and head out on hte town. Amit has arranged deepaks cousin to bringus out. He just asked us to be back for 5:30.

I think we are excited for this party tonight. We picked up a pair of shoes for Amit last night that matches is tradtional indian outfit. A hand made shoe that resembles a slipper. It's hand made and dececrativly designed. Thinking that they might be to slippery we stops at a small street peddler to ad a sole to the buttom of the shoe. It didn't turn out as amit expected but he still seemed happy enough. I have also picked up a trational looking sandles. Handmade leather sandles. I needed somthing that would go with my tradtional outfit, sneakers just wouldn't cut it! lol

Day 8 - Amit's house!

Today is our first morning at Amit's house. This place is nice. I could definitely live here. Amit's house is three levels, three bed room, three bath bungalow. Solid concrete construction. Bedrooms are large and have built in closets and beds. There are man family guest here already for Amits wedding. This morning Amit's family cooks us breakfast while we sat in there living room watching the flat screen. Amit taught us about the game of cricket. We were served a "Indian pancake". You dipped it in butter and the ground spices that they had on the plate.

The afternoon we plan on going shopping with Amit. Ryan needs to get some clothing for the wedding. I still want to take a look at a birthstone ring you commonly see India. I think I also purchase a belt. My belt broke the first day in Delhi.

Day 6 - Jaipur and traveling to Mumbai

It's morning and today is going to be a busy day. I don't think I will have time to post anything so I thought I would talk about our planed agenda. This morning Nag will be picking us up around 9:30 AM. We plan on seeing another city palace(Picture one) and Jantar Mantar (Picture 2, us standing in front of a very large and precision sun dial.. The rest of the day we are going to be shopping for Amit and Manju's wedding present along with various other items. Later we need to return pack and get to the airport to catch our flight to Mumbai. DJ is planning on buying a rug and other stuff so we need to strategically pack our stuff lol.

Day 5 - Jaipur tour

We just got back from today's trip. Today was probably the best day in the trip so far. We started the day by traveling a long distance to Samode palace(Inside garden pictured to the left). Samode is an out laying town of Jaipur. On the way we picked up Anju Rose. She holds a post as the head of programs in this area of India. She will be accompanying us through her parts of India. We turn off the main road is start through a small little village. The roads are narrow and commonly you see goats, pigs, Buffalo, or camels walking them. There kid population is very large in this area and as in other areas of india, they are very interesting in waving and say hi to Dj and I. They love it and they start gigling and chattering. This road quickly gains an incline as you begin your ascend toward the old palace. We didn't know much about because it wasn't in any book. On the way up we past through many gates on the windy road. Nearing the top we pulled over and parked. From here we walked and started taking picture as we were just outside the main gate. Was we walked in I realize we were going to like this palace. Gardens were very green and well maintained. The mountains surrounded the palace and provided a great background for photos. However i have to say I looked though the pictures that I have taken today and nothing compares to what i saw with my own eyes.

Once in the palace they served us tea. The government have established nice restaurant inside . Anju and Nag have arranged a guide to take us through the palace. It was a short tour but nice. He brought us to a section of the palace that was not on the tour which was really nice. I believe he only did that because Anju wanted to wee it Once back outside they brought us to the next location. when we walked in we realized that this was a much larger garden than the last. Similar fountains that you would see at the Taj Mahal. As we stepped inside we realized there was more here than what met the eye. This place 4 kilometers down a tiny road had been converted into the nicest resort. Tent lodgesd lines the sides. Nag told us it cost 6000rs a night here. it was beautiful. I would stay here for that. Kendra would love it! 6000rs is about 130 dollars. Along our tour of this place Nag had mentioned to someone about our short Camel ride last night before dinner, he found it hilarious and was mimicking the motion in which a camel stands up from his loading potitions which was on his knees. The resort asked us if we wants to go on a camel safari back to the palace 4 km away! So we road an hour on a camel to the palace. I loved it and couldn't stop laughing at my self. Along the way we got a few interesting looks from the local working their farm land but it was still fun. Two white guys on camels... It will prolly make the news.

Back at the palace again Nag suggest that we get lunch and we agreed. The restaurant in this palace was top notch by American standard and unheard of in Indian standards! Beautiful! The food was amazing. While we were there a group of tourist from spin joined us for lunch.

On our way back we stopped at Anju's office to have tea which we got the grand tour. At this point we are making good friends with Nag. He's teaching us hindi, and making jokes. On the way back to the hotel we share what American money looks like and passports. He wants us to show him around American now! :)