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Published: November 29th 2006
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Valarie in the Bangle Shop
This is the place to go for bangles, there is every color and even large sizes for those with big american wrists The blog is back by popular demand, I got so many emails from people missing the Blog while I took a vacation. I got lots of pictures to share.
Valarie arrived Saturday night, November 18 at 10:30 pm from Zurich. Roshan and Dhyana drove me to Mumbai, which turned out to be about a 3 1/2 hour trip. We also took Shrikant's sister to the airport, she is a Japanese Translator and was leaving for Toyko. The trip was short because we were all laughing about Shrkiant's antics as a kid. We did see monkeys on the side of the expressway waiting for travelers to throw them food. Sorry no pics of monkey's you cannot stop on the expressway.
Once we picked up Valarie we took another 3 1/2 hour trip home. Roshan may not like driving as much now after a 7 hour trip , even with his new car. The next morning I took Valarie to Laxmi Road where she bought gifts and we found a wonderful bangle shop. Monday morning (11/20) we hired a driver to take us to Arangabad to see the Ellora and Ajanta caves. Some of these caves date back to 5 BC.
Valarie shopping
Buying Christmas gifts in India On the way we got to see rural india and try and Indian water closet. (For those of you that have not had that interesting experience it is a ceramic toliet level with the ground. It may or may not flush. You may or may not have to pour water in the bowl to make it flush. We were prepared for the lack of toliet paper - we brought our own) This is harvest time for cotton and sugar cane in India. The workers come in by camel or horse caravan or by bus to help with the crops. They camp out in the fields either with their own tents or they make tents out of mud and sticks. Women work in the field with bright color saris and seem never to get dirty.
We had a harrowing traffic jam on the way with Ox carts, cars, trucks, pigs, goats, sheep, donkeys, horses and camels all trying to share the road. I think that should be a new ride a Six Flags.
It was hot but the caves were pleasant. The Ellora caves did not have electricity and they used mirrors reflecting the sunlight for us to walk
Ellora Caves
This is the outside of a Buddhist temple at Ellora in the caves. They were wonderful but they were no match to what we were to see the next day.
The Ajanta caves were in much better condition, the paintings were still visible in much of the caves, you could see paintings of the Ramajana, gods and goddesses. Caves were dedicated to Buddha, the Jain Faith, and Hinduism. All followers worshipped peacefully in their own caves.
The hotel we stayed at in Arangabad was the Ambassador Ajanta, beautiful grounds, even a jogging/walking trail. The evenings were peaceful walking in the gardens with all sorts of flowers. It is hard to believe it is almost winter. In the resturant, the chef convinced Valarie she should try to make roti, an Indian bread. I think the young men liked having her around since all the other tourists were middle-aged. She had a great time.
Back to Pune, we went to MG road and searched for Tantra T-shirts. These a fun T-shirts that are very special to India. Thanksgiving we thought we would try out Le Meridan (the same hotel that Brad and Angelina stayed in) for Thankgiving dinner. I have to admit they did try to make the Thanksgiving
authentic. The turkey was a little tough and the stuffing was shapped in a long tube. I thought it was sausage at first. However, I don't think the idea of sweet potatoes was researched. Essentially their sweet potatoes were white mashed potatoes with sugar. However, the effort was much appreciated by me because the food was not spicy and the desserts were good.
Friday (11/24) we went back to Mumbai to put Valarie back on the plane and arrived back at the hotel at 3 am. Roshan and Dhanya get extra points for staying up the whole way. I could not.
Sunday (11/26) was a big day. I wore my first Sari. Sanjagita's wedding was that morning and the hotel sent up a young lady who wrapped my Sari. It to thirty minutes to get it right and we had to pin everything in place.
Sangagita's wedding was lovely. Unfortunatately I was late because the Pune AIDs marathon had closed the streets. But I saw her in her wedding garb and we took a picture with her before she began her honeymoon.
Later that night, Techbooks had their company annual. There was so much laughter and
Ellora Caves
These carvings are wonderful. The rock is a Basalite, similar to pumice but a lot less porous fun, some of our team did performances. Afterwards they had a dance. It is much different than America. In America you can hardly get men to dance and here you can't get them to stop. Lots of fun and happiness, everyone was so tired that the company gave the team Monday off.
That is all for now. Hope you enjoy the pics.
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