Home Sweet home

I wanted to post a few photos from the last part of our trip. The wedding was an amazing experience and I'm so glad we were able to attend.

Hey All

Please everyone stop freaking out, I know you all are just scared and want to know if we are safe and we are. We are in Gurgaon outside of Delhi and will be here pretty much till we come home. Our plans are still the same, we will be arriving Tuesday night at about 10:30 pm and Savannah has been kind enough to agree to pick us up. We love all of you for worrying and if we weren't safe we would come home. xoxo See you all soon

We're safe

Well our trip to the Taj Mahal has been canceled due to the hostage situation and such in Bombay. We are quite a ways away from there but we thought it's better to be safe than sorry. No one worry, we are being taken care of by the host family who is putting together the wedding here. Will update soon

Gurgoan

Random pick of lady out the window of my passing rickshaw

Oops thought I rotated it, oh well too hard to change

Beatiful India sunset

Beautiful sunset from Pushkar camel ride

My camel, he looks fun but he wasn't and neither was the ride. I don't recommend it.

Self portrait on the camel :)

We are now in Gurgaon, our final destination (well for sleeping anyway). Tomorrow we are going to see the Taj Mahal and I am so so so so excited to take and post photos. India has been an amazing experience and now that it's coming to a close I"m a little disappointed and a little relieved. I have so many stories and pictures that I haven't posted and can't wait to tell.

We met all the ladies that are going to be at the wedding today, we went shopping for a bit and then to the spa (well kind of, it was a bit ghetto). I got a pedicure, manicure and half an hour massage for about 20 dollars. All the girls seem fun and we're joining them tomorrow to tour the Taj Mahal, then Friday a mendi party where we get painted with henna then Saturday we will get to watch a traditional wedding which should be a great closing to our already fabulous trip.

I'm posting some random photos not in any particular order from our trip.

Small fishing boat with a whole family aboard in Kerala backwaters (where we took the house boat)

Man out fishing in Kerala

Our house boat, so great

Things are wonderful here and I'm sad to leave but happy to come home. It's been great experiencing another culture full of amazing smells, tastes, colors and people but I'm ready to smell look at and taste with all of you again :)

"Pink City" Jaipur

Jaipur Streets

What I like to call Dung Hill, well hey you have to give them credit for using the stuff right?

Yep this is one of the better ones sadly

Goa (Anjuna) Wednesday Market

Sunset in Goa (Anjuna)

Snake Charmer at Monkey Temple

Aww love these guys

Yes they look amazing from the front, but the back not so much.

I think it's called the Water Palace? (Jaipur)

One of many palaces in Jaipur

Well we are loving loving Jaipur and to all you worry warts everything has been safe and no bombs :) We went to monkey temple and I pretty much used my whole camera memory card in one day, it was so amazing and by far the best part of our trip so far. After staying the first day in a not so fun, grimy, eerie (Rebecca ghost inhabited) place we pound Krishna. No not the elephant god, just someone who thinks he is. He has been our personal tour guide since then and has shown us many wonderful things, however we do have to put up with quite a bit of talking and his enduring crush on Rebecca (love that it's not me).

Tomorrow we are going on a camel safari about a half an hour outside of Jaipur and we are very excited even though we have no idea what to expect (however I'm expecting we will have some pretty sore tooshies after the ride). Today we went shopping and things no longer fit in our backpacks, we're going to have to pick up some duffel bags to get everything home but it will be well worth it. I love everything here and for those of you that know me well, I love color and there are so many colors here. We've met some amazing people since we've been in Jaipur, everyone has been helpful and nice. It's like we are movie stars here, all the kids wave and smile then giggle when we wave back.

I am getting a little home sick as far as the clean air, American men, mellow driving, family and friends go (but hey I'm still not hating Rebecca and that's a bonus :). We are loving every minute of our trip and have so many pictures to post that I'm only doing a few for now and not being very selective about what I put up (don't have the energy to rotate the good ones before posting them). We should be able to check in again by Tuesday at the latest but most likely before.

Goa/California

Well Goa is very pretty yes, but it's not really India. The water is amazingly warm, pretty much the perfect temperature if their was one. We are leaving tomorrow for Jaipur which we are super excited about because it will be a true return to the actual Indian culture we are hoping, oh and monkeys. We haven't really seen any wildlife accept lots of yucky dogs, cows and cats, monkeys will be fun. I haven't been able to upload any photos because the computers here are pretty ancient and last time I tried I lost some stuff so I'll wait for a better place. A few of you have been asking for pictures of Rebecca and I but every time we take one we look worse and worse so we haven't uploaded any. Maybe in the next few days we will quit caring and just put one up. I have so much to write and show you all but I'm going to wait. We are doing well though and yes Rebecca was right it was just a heat rash. We have both managed to stay safe, well and sane, well we are constantly dripping wet though so that's yucky.

Pictures to come next time, I promise :)

Do it with your eyes only

We are at the airport in Bangalore where we originally flew into (full circle) and getting ready to board a plane to Goa. I'm very excited, we have heard wonderful things about the beaches there and I have a ton of new pictures to post from our boat ride and just day to day stuff but not sure the airport is the place to do it so I"m going to wait until we get to Goa. We are still having a great time though and neither of us is sick which is excellent. I do however think I acquired some bed bugs which is disgusting but they are fading fast so hopefully no worries there.

Oh the title by the way if from a shirt I recently saw, thought it was a good modo to go by ;)

Still Alive :)

Just in case anyone is worried we are still alive, just having one adventure after another but we will update you all soon

Yoga on the rooftop

My new favorite photo

We watched a collision earlier today with a motorcycle and bicycle, the driving here in insane to say the least.

Aww, I thought this was such a cute photo. I tried to get a better picture of the older woman but they turned out blurry :(

I've never seen woman or men work more hard as in this country. Oh ya and I finally tried the bicycle rickshaw because I didn't have the heart to turn down the skinny old man that was trying to make a buck. He asked for 20 rupees (50 cents) to take us to the train station, the whole time I felt guilty I was putting him through the trouble and almost paid him to stop. He then wanted to wait for us and take us back home, I ended up paying him three times what he asked in hopes that he would go home and take a break after peddling us around.

Cute little local hang out we discovered and split a nutella crepe, yum

This morning we were wide awake at 4:30 am, yoga wasn't until 6:30 so we tried in vain to go back to sleep but finally gave up at 5:30. At six thirty we walked a few doors down from our hotel to our first yoga class in India. The cutest man ever (I'll try and get his picture tomorrow) greeted us as the gate and asked us to have a seat and wait. He then chatted us up about where we were from and how he expected great things from Obama, we agreed and couldn't help but beam back to his adorable smile. Two other women showed up and shortly after we were climbing a staircase to the roof, the view was spectacular. We could see the ocean and the tops of all the nearby homes doing their daily morning routines (loudly of course, including the crows).

The class was interesting, with did several stretches, a few breathing techniques, some sun salutations and then meditated. I didn't think I would be sore but my back is actually quite sore from sitting of straight for an hour and a half sadly enough. Our bodies have been so crunched up since we started traveling that the yoga was a well needed treat. After yoga we were famished and craving pancakes so we headed over to our local new hang out, Kasha ki aasha.

We ordered chocolate and whole wheat pancakes and shared them, the chocolate ones were incredible and I'm not usually a pancake person (I'm a waffle girl) but I may have changed my mind. We sat there for about an hour and I of course was fascinated by the life below and took too many photos.

We then did the bravest thing we have done yet, we ventured to the train station of chaos. We knew where we wanted to go and had even researched the junction we had to stop at to get there but it was pure hell. We waiting in a short line that grew as a man rudely cut in front of us and then proceeded to cough all over the two boys in front of him, full on open mouth cough and there was maybe an inch in between them (we were then thankful he was in front of us and not behind). When we got to the window we could not hear a word the man behind the counter was saying. There is the typical glass/plastic division but the station is so loud and the man so far back from the counter (and short me had to stand on my tippy toes just to get an ear semi close to the circular cut out in the window) that Rebecca and I both looked at each other with hopes that the other had developed bionic ears. The man informed us that the train we wanted wasn't available for some time and then tried to get us to leave by handing us something to read, Rebecca inquired more into the fact that we couldn't go where we needed to go and he then told us that no AC cars were left. We quickly informed him that we did not need AC and only wished to purchase a ticket to where we wanted to go. Well we only were able to purchase one of the two tickets as he fanned us away with his hand and told us to book a bus for the rest of the way.

Needless to say it was an eventful day and tomorrow we leave to the tip of India and should arrive Friday morning, wish us luck :)

Sunrise, wonderful food and mace, yep mace

One of the cute little bicycle rickshaws, I just don't have the heart to have someone pull me in it.

Fruit lady, super fun to watch as everyone stopped her to check out her goods ;)

Even though we went to the same rooftop terrace their were new people out doing what they do.

This place is great and we are enjoying ourselves so much. We went to bed really early last night so we awoke just in time to walk to the beach and watch the sunrise, it was beautiful and everyone was doing sun salutations and jogging. Wow, very inspirational! I wanted to take every ones picture but of course I couldn't so I just watched in glee, the weather is perfect at that our. We wandered over to a little cafe on the beach and attempted to get breakfast but we were told that "Indian breakfast" isn't until 8 so we ordered drinks instead and I attempted to take photos by having Rebecca act as though she was posing for me as I took pictures of people behind her (super sneaky). We sat there for at least and hour and then ordered breakfast, it was great!

After breakfast we wandered around a bit and decided to check out some different hotels that possibly overlooked the beach. No one was willing to barter when it came to their rates so we decided to stay in our cute little house a block from the beach. We then attempted to look for some yoga but the main Yogi was out on vacation for ten days. We wandered around to a few more places and finally found one we plan on attending in the morning. I'm very excited and can't wait to blog about it after, I think it's going to be just Rebecca and me. After going back to the hotel for a little AC time we went back to a quaint little nook we found where I had taken my rooftop pictures the day before. We weren't hungry but it was a quieter (nothing here is quite, you hear horns 24/7) place to read and write in our journals in big over sized chairs. Luckily the bitter California woman wasn't there again, don't think I could have handled her today.

We went back to the room and found that they cleaned it for us even though we had asked them not too, the man just couldn't not tidy it up. I was then trying to take my mace I brought with me out of the hard plastic case to put in the soft leather one so as the lighten my load. We were lying in our ritualistic fashion on the bed under the fan when all of the sudden the mace went off! I thought I was being so careful with the safety on and all but nope, a puff of toxic pepper spray/mace was blown by the fan we had been admiring minutes before right into my face. Immediately my face was on fire. Rebecca yelled at me and started coughing up a lung as I ran to the bathroom to douse my face with water which didn't come close to helping. We opened the door and windows and I tried water again then lotion but nothing seemed to help. It was only a small puff but it took a good twenty minutes or so for us to recover. Well hey, at least I know it works just in case. :)

I think we may have had the best meal so far (well at least neck and neck with our first breakfast in Bangalore) today, it was called Panner Jalfrezi. It was cheese with vegetables in an amazing red spicy sauce. wow my mouth is watering just thinking about it and I only ate it about an hour ago. We haven't been able to find our favorite Bombay favorite here, Saag Panner which I guess if for the best because it forces us to try all these new dishes. We plan on spending one more day here in Pondicherry and then leave Thursday afternoon somewhere further south, not quite sure where yet but I'll keep you posted. :)

Our first cow/bull we've seen. They are worshipped as though they are gods but for some reason they don't get feed, hmm go figure.

Not sure who the flowers are for but I thought it was fun to catch him in thought, right after I took the photo a wave came a little highter than usual and broke his meditation.

Rebecca enjoying the sunrise at the little cafe on the beach, great for people watching.

The morning sunrise over the beach of Pondicherry, Indian Ocean

Pondicherry

My national Geographic shot :)

We escaped Bangalore on a sleeper bus last night and it was the best thing we've done so far. Okay the bus ride wasn't so great but it felt so good pulling into Pondicherry where everything was on a much smaller scale. We had been awake since 5am and were anxious to get to our hotel to unload our backpacks. We took a rickshaw to the hotel for 50 rupees (about a dollar) and were greeted by the security guard. Our room was very cute and very cool (which is important here, we were dripping sweat by the time we made it to the room). We sprawled out under the fan until we were cool enough to even think about seeking out breakfast.

We decided to walk along the beach since it was a block from our hotel and I was impressed to see several local people running, stretching, etc. We used the trusty lonely planet to find a breakfast place that was open that early and after much searching came across a relaxing roof top lounge. I was more than excited because I had a place to take pictures from and be intrusive without anyone knowing. I took some great pictures that I can't wait to edit and print when I get home (I'm uploading a few for you to see). We stayed there for quite awhile just relaxing and chatting with a bitter but informative woman about her travels in India for the last three months.

After breakfast we headed back to the room to shower and change our clothes for the first time (I know it's gross but you just get dirty as soon as you shower so it's hard to find the energy). We wanted to kick ourselves after because we felt so refreshed. This is such a fun and quaint town that we plan on staying for another couple of days and hopefully doing some yoga. The people here are friendly for the most part and eating is super cheap so that's a plus. Hopefully I'll have more adventures to tell soon.