The city of Agra has turned out to be the most fun yet. Today began with a nice walk to the Agra fort. The fort provided some beautiful views of the very dry Yamuna river and the Taj Mahal in the distance. We then took a peaceful stroll through the Shajahan park which led to the Taj Ganj area in front of the Taj Mahal. We ate lunch on a rooftop restaurant with a wonderful view of the Taj and also were able to watch pigeon trainers at work on the adjacent rooftops. We spent the afternoon exploring the magnificence of [View Full Entry]

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After a couple of days of air and train travel we are now in Jaipur, the Pink City. We found a very nice hotel with hot showers, which we both badly needed. I walked out into the courtyard this morning to find monkeys swinging around and peacocks flying about. There seems to be a new suprise everytime I turn around. We took an autorickshaw around the city today with our new friend and driver, Ali. He is a karma believing muslim that is about our age. We explored some ancient buildings and tombs today, including the Hawa Mahal and Amber Fort. [View Full Entry]

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Today Bean and I took a minibus ride into the heart of the mountains to a small town called Naranag. This town has just recently gotten some limited forms of electricity. We were able to interact with the locals and stayed at one of the homes for lunch and tea. And for Bean, a little shisha from the hooka, eeeeh. We then went on a trek for a few hours into the mountains. We followed a river and took turns riding a small pony. We were led through the trails by our guide, Shirad. He sang songs with us and we [View Full Entry]

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Today we traveled to the many historical sites in Delhi. We began with a trip to the Bahai Temple (Lotus Temple) and the Muslim Tower, Qutab Minar. We then ate lunch at a rather expensive Indian restaurant that was very similar to the ones we have in the states. Bean's dreams came true and he sat with a snake charmer as he coaxed a cobra from his basket. We finished the day off with a trip to Old Delhi and the Jama Masjid mosque. This mosque is supposedly the largest in the world and seats over 20,000 people. From the steps [View Full Entry]

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After our two long flights, a very confusing paris air terminal, and no sleep for about 34 hours we are finally here. We got a hotel reservation from the airport tourist office, and slept until almost lunch time. We are now venturing around Connaught Place in Delhi. This is the main circle. Our next stop is to find some food and tonights place to stay. I guess our most fun experience so far in India was the taxi ride from the airport. There are virtually no traffic laws and horns are constantly honking. We also met a wonderful lady on the [View Full Entry]

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The ride to Danville was very wet. The rain was so heavy I could barely see the road markings. But I made it here safely. I ate a going away supper with my parents and grandmother. I also said goodbye to my aunts and uncle. I missed the red Love event of the night though. There was a little get together at Jerry Meadors place. Since I missed the event, I will try to get a picture of Jerry's creation, the North Theatre, on the way out of town tomorrow and post it on the site. It will definitely be a [View Full Entry]

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I just finished packing all my stuff into my pretty new backpack. Of course it was much more than I had expected, but everthing fits with some room to spare. The next stop is Danville, VA, home-sweet-home, where I will meet up with Bean, my India travel companion. A four hour drive in the 200,000+ Nissan stanza, eeeeeh. I must be off. Until next time, pants [View Full Entry]

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