So I've been to see forts, palaces, the beach, monkeys and bats... I know I'm forgetting something...

I'm overdue to a trip to the Taj Mahal.

































It was foggy (it usually is in winter in this area of India) so it makes the Taj Mahal almost like a photo studio backdrop in these pictures.



































I thought this one was funny, the dramatic pose was just me blocking the sun when I didn't know they were taking a photo.

Weekend in Jaipur- Day 2

The second day in Jaipur we visited another fort before leaving town. Hassan and I walked along one of the outer walls of the fort, when we found our path blocked by a monkey. They're cute enough, but when they look at you and grin it's very unnerving- I think because of their human-like teeth. I think perhaps I had expected to see the fangs of a howler monkey, which while more menacing, would have been at least anticipated. One of the monkeys at Amber Fort on my first day in Jaipur had given me a huge smile and then chased me- so I've learned to keep my distance. Still they have a way of sneaking up on you; another associate here, Emily, got mugged by a monkey in Nepal for her bag of peanuts.

So now at this new fort we found a monkey blocking our path. Since we didn't have any peanuts to pay his toll, we decided to try a different way around. But there was a group of monkeys on that path as well. We soon found ourselves surrounded, but they mainly ignored us, so I took advantage of the opportunity to get some good monkey pictures!





































































































This cannon was built in the 17th century I believe, and supposedly can shoot a cannon ball 20 miles. Unfortunatley it only got to be test-fired once, and not fulfill its true purpose in life of blowing lots of stuff up real good.

Weekend in Jaipur- Day 1

After a month and a half in Delhi, we were all overdue for some historic sightseeing. We went to Jaipur, and old city about 5 hours from Delhi. It was nice seeing farmland and mountains again after being in the concrete maze of Delhi for so long.

Five of us rented a car and driver for the weekend- me, Bryan, Soraya, Hassan, and Eric. We got up early Saturday morning (well I was last up, but it was still way too early) and got on the road to Jaipur. Fortunately there wasn't much traffic at that time of day.

Jaipur- known as the pink city for the color many of its buildings downtown were painted centuries ago to impress some visiting VIP- is a popular destination because of the old forts and palaces it contains, and also for the shopping in the large downtown bazaar.

One of the first places we stopped by was this museum. We admired the architecture but didn't go in for long, as we wanted to experience one of the forts.


This is a view of Jaipur with one of the many forts in the background. The gate in the middle of the picture is the "pink" that much of the city is painted. I'm not sure what I'd call the color.


We saw this camel on the way to the forts. The old driver yelled at us to give him money for taking a photograph of his camel. I said, "We're in a car and you're on a camel, come get us then if you want us to pay you." You get used to demands for money here, especially when you travel. It's often demanded as if it's owed to them, and you are the one at fault for not giving what sum is asked of you. I usually ignore such things, but the more it happens the ruder I've found myself responding. Being seen as a walking dollar sign gets old fast, and one of the biggest hassles of travelling is that no matter where you are or when, someone is trying to get money from you.




This palace sits in the middle of a lake. At first I thought it to be built on an island, but actually it was built when the land was dry, and subsequently it flooded. Would have been really interesting to have been able to take a boat to the palace and explore, but no such option is available.
























Me and Soraya at one of the forts.



















Me and Bryan on top of Amber Fort.



















Me and Hassan at Amber Fort. Behind us is a large wall of inlaid mirrors and tiles.



















Soraya and me at the rooftop club at our hotel. It doesn't look very interesting from the picture, but it was a cool place. The ceiling was open to the stars overhead, and burning fires kept us warm. That, and the flaming Sambuca shots.

Indian Wedding

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the wedding of Saurabh, someone that I work with here in India. It was held on a Sunday night, on what was supposed to be the most auspicious day of the year to get married. According to news reports, there were 30,000 weddings scheduled for that night. Many major weddings are held at what they call a "farm house" which is really a place set up for parties and events, primarily weddings. This wedding was held at night, lasting into the early morning hours. Just as an American wedding follows a mostly set pattern, Indian weddings have one as well. The groom rides up to the wedding on a decorated white horse, followed by his family who dances along the way up to the entrance to the wedding. There's also a band that highly resembles a marching band. The groom is like king for a day at the wedding.

We went out to greet the wedding party as they arrived, and were made to get in the circle to dance. A couple of times I tried to sneak out but was pulled back in. There was a lot of yelling which I didn't understand, and the loud banging of drums all around, but it was all in the spirit of celebration. Still- a little confusing to me!

Soraya getting down with the crowd as the groom's wedding party arrived.












Here I'm trying Paan, it was something made of a tobacco leaf with lots of weird things wrapped inside it. I had a circle of people around me eagerly watching as I tried it, so I did my best to disguise how strange it tasted to me. To compound the situtaion, you are supposed to stuff the whole thing in your mouth at once, so I had so much I couldn't even swallow it to get the taste out of my mouth. So I finally excused myself with a good-bye wave, found a garbage can and spit out out. But other than the Paan, everything else I enjoyed. I was brought plate after plate of food and desserts- there was an enormous amount of good food at the wedding. I've found the hospitality of the Indian families here to be one of the best things about being here.



Here we're standing with the wedding party up on the stage they were on. There were about 10 going off while we were up there so I don't think there's a single photo where we're all looking in the same direction! I am wearing a traditional Indian kurtya, Soraya has on her sari and Charlotte a salwar. Bryan... well he looks like he always does.

I have to say, Indian weddings are much more fun than American weddings. It occurred to me why Indian weddings may be much more lavish than American weddings- most Indians just get married once in their lifetime, vs. the two or three weddings many Americans have in theirs!

Gotta Go to Goa!

After a couple of weeks in Delhi, we were ready to take advantage of the 4-day weekend (thanks to a Tuesday holiday) and go to the beach. Goa is the ultimate place in India to do that. Goa isn't a single beach or town, but rather the name of a state along the southwest coast of India, bordering the Arabian Sea. It's theoretically about a two hour flight from Delhi to Goa, but took longer due to the invariable paperwork delays at the airport; the bus ride from the terminal to the airplane; the miles of taxiing around in the plane (just like O'Hare!) back to the terminal where we started, before we took off. The weather in Goa when we landed was perfect, and for the first time in a while I stopped coughing and could breathe again!


Our view from the window of our bungalow at Taj Fort Aguada. These are situated on the side of a hill, overlooking the sea. This used to be a Puertoguese fort, but now it's a 5-star hotel. I have to admit my concerns regarding hotels turning historic landmarks into playgrounds for moneyed tourists lessened, once I checked in and saw the amazing view from my room.

The pool at the Taj Holiday Village- my favorite resort so far in India. It's 70 acres of bungalows situated amongst the palm trees and exquisite landscaping. I spent about 2 days in the swimming pool here (mostly within a 5 foot radius of the bar). I'm not one to go to a beach and then spend all day at the hotel pool, but this was worth making an exception to the rule. I have to go back here before I leave India. As for the price of staying here... I'll just say it's a good thing one of the associates on the trip had Taj points from their hotel in Delhi to apply towards the trip. So all my tropical drinks in the pool included, I got away really cheap for one of the best vacations of my life.


Natalie poolside at the Taj Holiday Village. In the background you can see some of the bungalows scattered throughout the property.

View of the Arabian Gulf from the Marriot, where some of the associates here stayed. For all its beauty Goa isn't one of those places with crystalline water that beckons you to jump in; it's best enjoyed from the resorts on the shores.



Having lobster dinner at our favorite restaurant in Goa. Lobster- $18 US. Bacon-wrapped prawns- $4 US. In the background is Riley, who was visiting Natalie for a month from Chicago.


Two reasons I'm thinking of giving up red meat.


Almost sunset at the Marriott


Going...


Gone.

Delhi Day Trip

* I don't have very many pictures for this one- I was using my video camera all day and didn't take too many still photos. So since I can't share video very easily, I learned my lesson and now take a better mix of photos and video

Bryan took a cab to my hotel (since we were placed in different ones) and we decided to do some sightseeing before taking the cab to a party we were invited to. The driver, Mr. Sharma, had been used by another associate we know who travelled here previously, so he took us to some of the places she had recommended. Some advice on India I learned from other associates here- never take a random hotel cab sightseeing, unless you wish to go on a tour of shops that pay your driver a commission. Having a driver we already knew of, we had the privilage of only going to the places we wanted to.

One of the places we went was this "Deep Step Well" built in the 14th century, where women descended down the stairs and out of public sight to bathe. The well is now mostly empty, save for some murky water at the bottom. We walked along a high ledge (on the left in the picture, about 1/3 of the way down the stairs), which was so narrow that we had to walk single-file, with about half a foot between us and the drop-off. The pigeons that flew straight up at us from the deep pit below added to the feeling of unsteadyness. Luckily I have no fear of heights, or it would have been difficult. I find that it's easier in such places for me to feel balanced if I walk quickly, rather than stand still and contemplate the fall below. The way I looked at it, if the ledge has stood since the 1300's, it would probably be able to withstand my weight for one more afternoon. Being able to walk through something constructed so long ago felt incredible... coming from a place where something built 150 years ago is considered ancient, this put history in perspective. At the time is was probably the oldest structrue I had ever entered. Along the walls were recesses for holding candles to light the way of the women descending down to the water. I couldn't help but wonder- were they silent as they walked down, or did the walls echo with talk and laughter? Standing at the bottom of the steps and looking up into the hazy afternoon sky, I wished I could see it as it looked 600 years ago, with 100 candles lit on each side and an unpolluted night sky revealing the same constellations which are now obscured by the city lights. At the bottom of the well was a chamber with a low round roof, around which circled a whirlwind of bats. Their screeching was sufficiently loud that we had to raise our voices to speak, and their distance from us was no more than 10 feet. If you don't like bats, then strike this place off your list of things to see in India; they are harmless though, and if you avoid touching them (a good general rule to stick to with animals here) they shouldn't bother you.

We went by India Gate on the way to somewhere else, so we stopped to take a couple of pictures. We'll be returning later to visit the site when some friends of ours come visit. One interesting thing happened here, at the Presidential Palace nearby a group of teens came up, held out their camera and said "Picture please!" just as Bryan and I had taken turns photographing it with our camera. So I was like sure, give me your camera and I'll take a group picture, but they looked confused. I finally realized they wanted a picture with me. So one by one the guy with a camera snapped photos as his friends took turns standing next to me, some with their arms around my shoulder as if we had been acquainted for years. They pulled Bryan in, and got around a dozen shots with them and us in various combinations. I need to work on my Rock Star pose for the pictures, so that people who take their picture with me can make up some kind of interesting story about who they met. I've come to expect that at tourist spots, people will want to take your picture, so I just go with it, though it can feel a bit overwhelming after awhile if there are large crowds and it continues for a long time. One of the girls from the US here said families would come up for portraits with her and try to hand their babies to her for the photographs. I don't know about all that now.


One more stop on our trip- Mr. Sharma said we should see "The Flying Fox", and it was something our friend Nancy back in the US has also recommended. I asked if that was the name of an English pub he was taking us to, but he said no, it was an animal. I had never heard of a flying fox, so I was picturing something like a flying squirrel. We went to the neighborhood where they live, looked up into a tree, and saw the gigantic bats pictured here, wings wrapped around their bodies in perfect homage to the bats featured in Dracula movies. I took some video of them, but there was not much movement from them other than the occasional wiggling and rustling.

Going shopping in Delhi (and finding out about the LeT)

After finding some of my fellow associates in the hotel the afternoon after I arrived, we decided to go out that night. We assembled in the exective lounge for the complimentary food and drinks, and watched the international edition of CNN. Ironically, it was my upstairs neighbor from Atlanta, a CNN anchor, who announced that scores had died in three seperate Delhi marketplace bombings, which were timed to cooincide with shopping for the upcoming Diwali celebration. Despite all the moral censorship on TV here, the stark footage of the bombings hid nothing; charred bodies, faces frozen in grimaces of horror, were shown being covered and carted away.

We debated whether or not to go out; some people from the local office who manage the affairs of the expats called to say that we should stay in our hotel through the end of Diwali, but that was still 2 or 3 days away.

The bombing was blamed on the LeT, what I learned is a terrorist organization related to the conflict in Kashmir. J&K as it's referred to here- Jammu and Kashmir. In the US it's only Kashmir that you really hear about. The target of the bombing was the Indians shopping for Diwali; there are conflicts after all that don't directly involve the U.S., though the number of those seems to diminish thanks to our foreign policy.

The next morning a couple of associates from the hotel decided to go to a market to pick up some things they had on order, before one of them left. I decided to go along, not wanting to spend another day in my wood and marble prison. We took a cab there after much haggling (the hotel cabs rip foreigners off, about which the hotel does nothing). When we arrived to one of the markets, I felt uneasy... the bombs from the markets the night before were said to have exploded from a parked car or motorcycle- and we passed row after row jammed into the market's parking lot, right up against the store fronts. Loud bangs resounded from all around, as people lit firecrackers to celebrate Diwali. I found that I didn't really want to be in this market as much as I had thought I would, and felt more unsafe than I remember feeling in a long time. The guards sliding a mirror on a stick under the front bumper of cars as they entered the market was just putting on a performance; a bomb could fit in a trunk or gas tank as easily as it could under the front bumper. A couple of weeks later I still have to sit through that performance as I ride into my hotel. The associates with me commented that the market was almost empty; it was the equivalent of a major mall being devoid of shoppers on Christmas Eve. It felt far from empty to me, and several times in each store I found myself glancing at the parking lot through the window at the cars parked right outside, wondering if any moment it would explode and a storm of window glass would come flying in.

It was a relief returning to my hotel that day.

Three weeks later, I went to a market to buy a kurtya to wear to a wedding. A month of experience in India already behind me, I went by myself from store to store nonchalantly, concerned only with finding shoes to fit my size 13 feet- not an easy task here. I passed a store that looked familiar, and realized that I was at the same shopping center as I was the day after the bombings- but this time the apprehension was gone. I think I'm finally adjusting.

Enough talk, here are some pictures from my hotel. It is hard to find time to update this, and a picture's worth 1000 words, right?

Here is a picture of my suite, taken prior to my bags being unpacked! There are sliding glass doors which seperate the living and bedroom- though I really don't have a reason to close them, as I'm the only person in the room.

At the back is the window looking out. My first morning I flung open the curtains to reveal the view I would have of India for the next 5 months. Temples? Palaces? Gardens? Not exactly... there is a construction site for a mall where work on the foundation is underway... but I only ever see a handful of people working, so who knows when it will be built. The convenience of having it next door would be nice, but not the noise of the traffic it will bring, so I'm mostly glad it isn't completed.

My first day in the hotel I learned about the game of hide-and-seek that I and my fellow expats have to play with the staff at the hotel. There is a privacy light for when you wish to be left alone in your room, and not have them come clean it or bring in your laundry. However, they really do want to do their job, even if that means waiting for you to exit your room and catching you in the hallway. Some days I just want to be left alone in my room with my clothes I've tried on and decided not to wear that day flung everywhere, and empty drink containers and snack packages on the tables- it reminds me of home! So then when I need to go downstairs or to the club lounge, I have to try to sneak past the open doors of the rooms in my hallway trying to escape their notice, with limited success. I'll think I've made it by successfully and am about to round a corner, when behind me I hear "Sir, may I clean your room." On those days I've said "No, it's fine, it's ok, no need to clean it" and they seem baffled as to why I wouldn't want them to. I'll finally get a call from their manager, and tell him I just wanted to stay in my room by myself for a day, that it's ok with me to go one day a week without having my room done. They've gotten crafty... one girl here wanted to have her room left alone for a day, so they called her from the room of a friend... when the name showed up on the caller ID she answered, and heard "Ma'am- your privacy light is on- don't you want us to clean your room today?"

The rooftop garden outside my window. Sometimes when the stress gets too much for me I'll open the curtains, sit on my bed and look out into it. Watching the breeze blow through the blossoms- which just opened a few days after my arrival- is calming, and the antics of the pigeons usually improves my mood. Man, I miss US television.

One of my neighbors outside my window.