Finally!!!! My India Post! The delay was a combination of laziness and waiting to get the photos from my travel gals so I could pick and choose the best of the best to share with you all! Hopefully it's worth the wait!
The majority of these incredible photos are credited to the AMAZING Laura Stretz who blindly followed travel happy Meg and I on this incredible journey. India was an onslaught to the senses. It was busy, uncomfortable, and unlike and other place I have traveled to (Just when I thought I had a hold on Asia!) And, it was, without question, amazing and unregrettable. I only wish we could have had more time! Once we started figuring it out and feeling comfortable, it was time to leave....
DELHI
Happy Birthday to me!!!! We departed to Delhi on my 29th birthday! What a better way to celebrate than an adventure.
16 hours is a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG time on a plane (In case you were wondering)
The Delhi airport is beautiful though (Not so much on the way home when people were throwing up at 2 a.m. because of the heat and the wait time in security...but we won't talk about that)
Getting to Delhi was overwhelming. Even simple things like figuring out how to use this bucket within a bucket method to shower were confusing (thank god for Google)
I also learned jet lag + hand stands = catastrophe
We also got in a very minor fender bender on day 1 in Delhi that resulted in the gentleman our driver accidentally hit removing the car keys from our cab and taking off down the road leaving us stranded in gridlock traffic!
Lotus Temple
Outside the Red Fort of Delhi
The beginning of our love affair with Indian food (And Imodium)
Nothing like some dried up poo patties to help start a fire!
No such thing as clean feet on this trip!
Jama Masjid (Great Mosque)
Humayuns Tomb
AKA. When you're important and have a lot of $$$....your burial ground is pimped out.
Raj Ghat
A memorial site to Ghandi with an eternal flame burning.
AGRA: Home of the Taj Mahal
The highlight of my trip :) Seeing the incomparable, beautiful Taj Mahal!!!! (Check off World Wonder #3 out of 7)
Sari's are deceptively hard to wrap (Thank you again to Google)
Taj!
King's Gate of Jami Masjid
Receiving a blessing (in exchange for some $ of course)
Making a wish!
The Mini Taj
(cause imitation is the best form of flattery. I want my mosque to look like your mosque!)
Agra's Red Fort
When the view from your room doesn't suck.....
"THIS IS AGRA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" #theheatgetstoyou
JAIPUR: The pink city! The Paris of India
"In 1876, the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria visited India on a tour. Since pink denotes the color of hospitality, Maharaja Ram Singh of Jaipur painted the whole city pink in color to welcome the guests."
Traveller's tip# 387: If you are afraid to cross the street because traffic is awful, find a herd of goats to follow. They are braver than you are and unlikely to get hit. They will lead you to safety.
Holi Festival: The festival of colors.
Red Fort
Yup.....just assume every city has one of these..... Meg saw Jackie Chan here though!
PUSHKAR
The hippie mecca of India!
Kama Sutra Temple (teehee)
UDAIPUR
Cooking Class
JODHPUR
This cake, while looking delicious,,,was in fact, NOT. As Meg's face explains.
Ranakpur Temple
The audio guide told me it was good luck to crawl under the elephant. Who am I to not believe the audio guide!
Local rural living
We drove out of the city of Jodhpur to see what life is like for the people living off the land.
This woman was showing us how they grind grain to make their chapati bread. Spinning this stone is no joke. I would not try to arm wrestle these women. They will win.
I don't think there is wifi here. Just an FYI.
One of the perks of living out in the boonies in India is you can kinda do what you want. Like grow opium for instance and make tea with it like this lovely gentleman is showing us how to do.
And of course we got to sample the opium tea after, Didn't taste like much and the amount of opium is negligible (don't worry mama!)
We also got the opportunity to see how other local people make a living by creating different (BEAUTIFUL!) art. Tapestries and clay goods!
I bought an Indian bird house (for the equivalent of $1 USD!!!!) and can happily say that it is currently inhabited at my house :)
It's a little tricky to get water when you don't have a faucet near by. Timmy better not fall down this well.
BIKANER
Camel Cart Dinner and Show
We got the opportunity to ride some camel pulled carts to go watch traditional dancing and feast like kings!
We tried dancing too....but we weren't very good.
Camel research facility
If we didn't get enough camels before...we visited a breeding and research facility! The baby camels were the best.
We sampled camel milk! It came in sweetened and unsweetened. Sweet camel milk = interesting, but not bad. Plain camel milk = OH SWEET JESUS WHAT IS THAT HORRIBLE TASTE!?!?! THIS IS THE DEVILS DRINK!!!! (Guess which one I had vs which one Laura had)
Rat Temple
Nothing like walking barefoot through rat turds! It's sacred, so it's ok! Also, they tell me that since a rat ran over the top of my foot, it's lucky! I'm not convinced.....
NAWALGARH
Horse Farm
Haveli tours
A tradition townhouse or mansion home in India
That about sums it up! I hope it's a decent representation of our trip (I think between the 3 of us we had roughly 7,000ish photos, so it's definitely condensed!!!) Even if it doesn't inspire you to go to India (which it should!) I hope it inspires you to go SOMEWHERE! It's a great big world out there and it's far too dull of a life to never go out to explore it
