Back in the USA

So, after a 15+ hr trip from Delhi to JFK, I am back in the USA waiting for my flight home to Portland.

Yesterday I had a nice day in Delhi, it was less sightseeing and more daily life activities which was great -- especially after 2 weeks on the go. First thing we did was enjoy one of my favorite things in India, fresh Coconut water. Once Abhi took me for one a few days back, I had to have it almost every day after that. It is so refreshing, and cheap at about 50 cents a coconut compared to the US where the drink runs for almost $4 in stores. Besides my great friends, this is something I will miss the most, I think.

We visted the Lotus Temple in Delhi -- it was very different than all other temples I saw during my trip and had more of a church feel to it.

Abhishek and Shreya took me to a really great lunch at Bukhara -- the food, which was completely vegeterian, was excellent -- one of the best meals of the trip.

After lunch Abhishek and I met with Babson friends Shweta and Chinmoy -- they are getting married this weekend in Delhi. Unfortunately, I planned my trip before I knew the dates of their wedding, so I couldn't attend -- it was nice to catch up with them though and wish them well. Here we are with Shweta.

So, here I am, back in the US. This trip was everything I had expected it to be, and more. I know it is just the beginning of many more trips to India. I am so thankful to Veer and Abhishek and their families for hosting me and showing me all the sights of their incredible country -- both of them are life long friends and it meant so much to me to be able to experience all the great things about their culture, cities, and homes.

here I am with Abhishek's family before departing for the airport.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has read/commented on this blog. It has been fun for me to update the posts, and will be a great way to remember this trip. Although I am no poet -- I hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories I was able to share. THANK YOU!

Until my next trip ----!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just had a nice dinner with Abhishek's entire family. It reminded me a lot of my family dinners and I was thankful to have this today. For dinner we had Vegetarian Indian Chinese (not so traditional, right?) -- it was delicious! Indian Chinese, which is India's take on chinese food is everywhere here -- it a more spiced up version of American chinese -- It is so popular I have actually had it several times over the course of this trip (including for both lunch and dinner today, by chance).

This morning Abhishek's wife Shreya took me around Delhi to run some errands and visit the monument Qutab Minar. Abhishek was at the office so it was really nice of her to take me around to tie up loose ends.

For lunch I met Aseem, another Babson friend who lives in Delhi -- Aseem had traveled with me on the Ghana trip, so it was nice to see him on this trip, this time in his own city. Speaking of Babson friends, last night we went out to a lounge and unexpectedly ran into two classmates from Babson, one from Delhi and another from Germany who was visiting him. There is a wedding of Babson friends on Friday, which I may catch a couple hours of, so there will be a good group of classmates visiting from all over -- very funny though running into these guys by chance.

With Babson Classmates Andrew and DG

Shreya- Abhi's wife and his best friend Karan - Smokehouse Grill - Delhi

New Delhi

It has been a fun, but busy few days in Delhi!

On Tuesday Abhishek took us to Sarojini Nagar which is a place for street shopping. The area was packed with vendors and people. Here is Veer, Abhishek, and I in the middle of it all:

After shopping for a bit, we visted a cultural themed center called Kingdom of Dreams. It is sort of a cross between the Epcot center and a Las Vegas hotel, with different area's representing different regions of india. Here we tasted food, visited themed shops, and watched "street" performances from areas all over the country. Here I am driving the guys on a rickshaw in the Delhi themed area -- they are terrible tippers!

Here we are on a catwalk -- this is actually inside.

Last night we visited Akshardham temple here in Delhi -- this was one of the highlights of my entire trip. Unfortunately, camera's were not allowed on premise, so I have to show you a picture I found online. The temple is only 7 years old and I think gives the Taj Mahal a run for it's money. On site there was a fountain light show which was better than anything similar I have ever seen before. I wish I had photo's of the diamond, gold, and marble interior -- it really is something.

After the temple we headed over to Delhi Haat which is a craft market. Abhishek's wife Shreya did a great job helping me barter for some goods to bring back home!

Today I was excited to join Abhishek at his work for the morning. His family business manufactures plastic parts for automobiles, things like interior duct work, gas tanks for scooters, and even door panels inside cars. I toured the site and got to see Abhishek in action as he managed this impressive company.

A very nice welcome!

Abhishek outside the factory

After work we headed to a large and famous bizzare, Chandni Chowk. This maze of a place had everything you could ever imagine -- and then some. To get there we decided to take Delhi's 3 month old metro -- this was an experience!

Here is the metro station as we were waiting to get on -- very nice and not crowded at all, right?

This is the station after we got off! We actually got off early because the train was completely packed. When I say completely packed I mean PACKED -- you can see people literally pushing their way onto the train. For the most part people were light hearted about it, which made it better, but we still decided to cut the metro ride short when we saw all these people trying to get on the already jam packed train. India is a place where you have to leave any issues you may have with personal space on the airplane!



And finally, here are some pictures of us in the market after we eventually made it. Note the electrical work.

An actual rickshaw -- I do not envy the job that these guys have to do day in and day out -- biking 2 people around the streets is backbreaking work, all for about 50 cents.

TAJ Mahl PIcs

I got the pictures of the Taj Mahal from Veer -- Great pictures, but it isn't hard considering how beautiful this place is!

There was NO was I was NOT taking this picture:

I

TAJ and Golden Temple

I don't have a lot of time to write today. I arrived in Delhi last night at Abhishek's house where I will be staying for the duration of my trip. Last night after dinner with Abhishek's family we toured the city and visted another "Gate to India" as well as the presidents house.

The Taj Mahal was as beautiful as you would expect. The architecture is amazing. Unfortunately I brought the wrong lens with me that day and was not able to capture the entire building in one shot. Thankfully, Veer also had his camera and will be sharing his photo's with me.

Here are some pictures:

The Taj Mahal! More pictures to come.

The golden temple -- made with real gold and one of the holiest temples.

at the train station ready to get on the train to visit to golden temple.

Our train quarters -- we had a sleeper. It was an experience!

The streets of Amritsar -- the city where the golden temple was

Eating Paan in Delhi last night-- Paan is a digestive snack, it's been fun tasting it in every city.

In Delhi outside of the Presidents house and Delhi's Gate to India with Veer and Abhishek.

Transit to Agra

Today we took the 5 hr car ride to Agra -- originally we planned to visit the Taj Mahal this evening since it is a full moon, but we didn't make it in time. On the way to Agra we stopped at Fathepur Sikhiri a palace built by Indian Emperor Akbar. The palace was built in 1500's and is gigantic. The emperor had 3 wives, one Hindi, one Muslim, and one Christian. Each wife had their own palace within the palace, all architecturally constructed to match their faith. Here are some pictures.

the religious area of the palace

After arriving at the hotel this evening we were invited to join a hotel event which was the Christmas Cake preparation. The hotel had laid out all sorts of bottles of alcohols, flours, and spices and the guests joined in the mixing of all of them. The mixture will sit for a month until Christmas when they will use it for deserts. It was tempting, but NO I did not take a swig from any of the bottles :)

Here are a few more pictures of the trip.

breakfast this morning -- sort of traditional aside from the cheese and ham. I'm loving the fresh squeezed juices here!

another monkey -- this time at a rest stop

Auto Rickshaws -- a popular for of transportation here. I had a ride in one yesterday-- good experience, but not a preferred way of transit for me considering the crazy traffic here. It is common for people to cram into these -- tonight I saw a family of (i think) 10 squeezed into one.

A Wedding Procession for the groom. You can not see the groom, but he is being transported down the street by a horse drawn carriage followed by his dancing friends and a marching band. We probably saw 6 or 7 of these processions on our way back to the hotel yesterday. Wedding season has begun!

Tomorrow morning we head to Taj Mahal for the sunrise -- I hear it is a beautiful time to visit!

Jaipur

Yesterday we spent the day touring Jaipur. Jaipur is smaller than Hyderabad and Mumbai, but still quite populated. Every city so far has had a completely different feel. Jaipur is known for great colonial "Palace" architecture. Here is the floating palace -- it is in the middle of a lake and has 3 stories under water.

the food has been great, so much more flavorful than the Indian food in the US-- I have been very careful not to eat street food or other food that could make me sick -- so far so good! Below is yesterday's lunch.

Today for lunch we had mutton brain curry! I am a pretty adventurous eater, but this was pushing it. Aside from the mental image of it being a goat's brain, it was pretty tasty (but it didn't taste like chicken).

Here I am charming a snake! I know , typical tourist, but I survived bite free!

Here is one of the palaces we visited, built by royalty back in colonial times. It was too large to get the whole thing in one picture.
One of the sites we visited was a park of sun dials. Below is the worlds largest sun dial which has an accuracy within 2 seconds!

Monkey's are all around -- these one's however are not on leashes!In the evening we visited a Rajastan Cultural Theme park. It had all kinds of music, dancing, and even camel rides -- for 25 cents I got to ride a camel!

Tomorrow we move on to Agra and visit the Taj Mahal!! Very excited to see this Wonder of the World!