Monday, January 5, 2009

More Pictures.




Pictures.





Back to the blog.

I'm sorry that I have not blogged! Internet is not cheap here, plus there has been very little time. In summary, India is just wild. I cannot even begin to describe the things I have done or what I have seen over here in India! I've ridden on elephants, did a little boating on the Ganges, saw "the Taj", saw Ghandi's memorial place, Mother Teresa's house, I've been to countless mosques/temples--pretty much just livin' the life! 

We started in Delhi which reminds me of like a crazy european city except it's Hindi and more polluted and has a lot more poverty. There are monkeys and cows all in the road. I will post some pictures of this craziness in a second. In Delhi we went to some wild market places, saw Ghandi's memorial, saw the India Gate, and went to some temple places.  Then we drove to Jaipur which was I think my favorite so far.  It was nice to get away from the smog of Delhi.  The marketplaces are super fun and you just see the craziest things. And kids are flying kites everywhere, it's so cute! One day in Jaipur we went to an orphange called S.O.S. villages and the children were so cute! It was amazing. Later we saw how Indian rugs are made and then had this really nice dinner in the open courtyard with dancers and music.  The next day we road elephants to this place called Amber Fort which was incredible.  Then we went to Agra and saw "the Taj". That's what I call it. Also, we went to Mother Teresa's house and hung out with the kids there which was awesome. Then we went on an overnight train ride to Varanasi, except it ended up taking up 24 hours to get there because our train was delayed 12 hours due to the fog in the night! It ended up being a fun bonding time for the group, though I hope to never experience that ever again.  I have some stories about that train ride, but no time for that now.  Anyway, we arrived late at night in Varanasi and I got really sick and was throwing up all night. But I'm totally fine now, it just sucked at the time because the next day I stayed back at the hotel and missed some cool pottery making in Varanasi. But later in the afternoon I was feeling better so I met up with the group and we road on rick-shaw's down to the Ganges River!  Riding on the rick-shaw was probably the most dangerous thing I have ever done. But it was pretty epic and a must do when you are in India.  We went out on a boat on the Ganges and saw some ceremonies going on which I do not have pictures because that would have been kind of invasive.  It was amazing to experience that I will never forget it.  And we all lit candles and watched them float down the river.  Then the next morning we went back down to the Ganges to see the morning ceremonies and spend some more time down by the river.  

Now I am back in Delhi, then tomorrow morning we leave for Haridwar for a few days.  Then I will be home on Friday! I have WAY more to say about my trip this is just a brief overview.  This trip has been life-changing indeed.  I'll post some of my favorite pictures for you to see.