Blogs from Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia - page 165

So much has transpired over the past week, where to begin? I have been reading a book called Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure written by Sarah MacDonald, an Australian journalist who came to Dehli to live with her boyfriend. The book has proven to be jam packed full of insight about India and what I see and experience. It is true, I have come to grow weary in the past week…longing for my bed and clean laundry, but as my friend Troy aptly remarked, this is a once in a life-time experience and I should seize every moment. The internet connections and electricity are intermittent here in India. The demand is too great for the supply. In my previous entry I stated that I love India, but it has become a love hate relationship (sounds like ... read more

Namaste (-- that means hello in hindi) Greetings from Agra! After much anticipation...we have just returned from the Taj Mahal! The experience was grand! Eveywhere we go we are treated like movie stars...children come to greet us...people want their photos taken with us...it is all a bit surreal. The Taj was splendid and although I we are only able to see the grand monument once (Kristi tragically we are only able to see the Taj in the late afternoon before we depart early tomorrow morning, but thanks for all your grand suggestions!) the event is one I am sure I shall never forget. I know both Owen and Marie will never forget their visit to the Taj, as Owen proposed to Marie and she accepted! Tonight we will all celebrate. A very happy and romantic occassion! ... read more

Hi everyone, Now that you have recovered from week one, here goes week two!!! We hopped onto the tour bus, this time towards Agra, noted for its Forts and Palaces, but most famous for the Taj Mahal. En-route we stopped at a Bird sanctuary 'Kheoladeo Ghana'. it was beautiful & peaceful, we had hoped to see an abundence of birds & wildlife, but as it was explained, there had been insufficent rainfall so most have the creatures had migrate or were still in hibernation. It took a keen eye to see what wildlife there was remaining and fortunatly, we had a very good guide. If we had been here after the rainy season, the view and experience would have been very different. Most of the land would have been submerged in water and we would have ... read more

june 22 saw floating bodies today. mortality so close at hand. just another day's work. were held hostage on a boat with two french boys. we like the french boys - they have our sense of humor and we all constantly just make fun of each other. nice to spend the morning with them. our boy dil, (who is 24, lo and behold), is also one of my favorite people in this city (besides my lovely travelling companion, of course). he always has a mischievous look about him. and he waits on us hand and foot. it's so strange to have our every whim catered to. dirty diana playing here. hmmm see a sign about cd burning from a camera memory card. might need to invest in that. time for banana chocolate fritters and other such ... read more

had a terribly hard day today. ha! got up around noon. showered. went downstairs at our new guest house, the ganpati, to have breakfast in the courtyard shaded by a terrace full of trumpet vines. i had a spanish omlette. arielle had fries and an israeli salad. we continued to read our books while waiting. i'm enthralled with tolstoy's "anna kerenina" and arielle with the first two harry potter books which she hasn't read in years. had our breakfasts. with sweet lassis. then went to read out on the balcony in the wind. for a few hours. until we were hungry again. and then we ordered fruit salads with curd and honey. and continued reading. around 4:00 i was sleepy so we went to take a nap in our blessedly air conditioned room. then we got ... read more