Monday, April 14, 2008

the taj finally

So my mom and Sara came to visit last week! My mom's friend Sue also made the trip. We had quite the adventures. India is def. not for my sister, but I think she walked away with some lasting impressions:) right sare? We headed up to Rishikesh, they met Eamon, rafted and survived the (seemingly) treacherous roads. We washed away all of our sins in the Ganges and even got some henna-mehndi tattoos! What a hoot.
After that trip we headed to the Taj in Agra and then to Jaipur in Rajhastan. I thought it was a fabulous trip...we met a few great people who helped make out trip fabulous, and we did some serious shopping...it was non stop fun with a little exhaustion in between
Below is a pic of Amber Fort in Jaipur, and you know the other one....it's the TAJ!

Friday, April 4, 2008

i do believe it.



bizarro.
so i left today to go get my teeth cleaned, really unimportant to the story, but nonetheless, i walked by my flower wallah, around the corner from my house. and there was no flower wallah. there was a dude sitting there, and a few flowers, but all the buckets of flowers were gone, or lying on the floor.
apparently the government of delhi goes through and "cleans up" whenever they feel like it. last year it was called 'the ceiling' and they closed down a bunch of allegedly great restaurants, much to my dissapointment. i tried to ask the older gentleman what happened, he said something about 'committee.' an older lady was kind enough to come and explain that the gov't had come through this morning, picked them up, and destroyed the stand. apparently they'll be back after they pay a fee, but who knows when.

so, it's been a while since i blogged. i have been sick, again, and procrastinating the blog for some reason. nonetheless i went on a little trip a few weeks ago to varanasi, the religious center for hindus, the place where every hindu must take a pilgrimage to at some point in their lives.
thinh and i stayed in old town, at the end of a seamingly endless maze of tiny streets packed with people, cows, goats, and motorscooters. smells that i cannot describe wafted through the air as we miraculously arrived at our 'luxury room' at the hotel.
varanasi is an experience in and of itself. add the holiday HOLI to it, and wow, it's a trip. holi celebrates the end of winter and coming of spring (even though it had to have been 100 degrees) by spraying color on everyone. by the end of the trip i was a varanasi picasso of color. i don't have pictures, for fear of ruining the camera, but if you happen to see me soon i am sure you can see the traces of color still in my scalp and finger nails. varanasi will have to remain a story told over a beer or coffee....for now, some pics

my homies

me

two + years in india have changed my life in so many ways. it has taught me much about what more there is to see of the world, and reminded me of how much wonderfulness i have in my life because of people like you, who read this. thanks for still logging on and sharing in my adventures.
om shanti.

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