onthegolibrarian

And so after 32 long hours of travel, we were back in the U.S. It was a wonderful trip and I am so glad that my mom and I got the chance to travel together again. A perfect part II to our previous trip and a great precursor for future trips to come. I guess the best way to end this blog is to finish with some of my favorite pictures from our trip. ... read more

About an hour and a half from Bangalore is what is called the Stone Cutters Village. Here is where the villagers, craftsmen really, chisel granite rock into likenesses of gods and large pillars. Most of the pieces created are commissioned by temples or by wealthy Indians. This village has not yet been truly discovered by tourists and because of this, we were greeted by the villagers with stares instead of waves and several of them stopped to actually take pictures of us! (this was utterly humbling as I have a tendency to go a little crazy taking pictures of the villagers. it feels weird to be on the flip side of things) but for the most part, the craftsman went on working on their projects and let us look on if we liked. The statues that ... read more

Tigers, Monkeys, and Stars, Oh My! Rathambore is very beautiful, the people are sweet, and the wildlife is fantastic. If there was one place I could pick to go back to right away, it would be Ranthambore. We went on 3 4-hour safaris-- one at 6:30 am and two at 2:30pm on different days. Going on Safari The open air jeep holds six people including a driver and a guide. The jeep is small and has no seat belts. As we traversed through the Ranthambore park, I had to hold on to any part of the jeep that I could to keep from falling out (and at times, it felt like it was not enough!). At the gate of the park, the guide stops and registers the jeep. One person from the jeep (usually me ... read more

Kathmandu smells of incense and sounds of a mixture of constant conversations, bicycle wheels spinning, and Nepalese music. In the places that we traveled, we were forced to come face to face with the many problems of the city--traffic, gas and electricity shortages, poverty, and political unrest. Despite those difficulties, I found the people to be very sincere, welcoming, and ready with a smile. Some of the highlights of our time in Kath. include walking through the old and new palace squares (the buildings and temples are made of brick with intricate carved wood panels below the windows), flying around the Himalyas at sunrise, visiting the largest Stupa in the world (see the next entry), and going to Thamel (a series of crazy windy street with lots of shops and "Western-like" resturants) with a former HS/HSL ... read more

The plan: My mom would fly from Cleveland to Newark Friday afternoon. I would fly from BWI to Newark at the same time. After a two hour layover, we would board the flight CO82 to Delhi at 8:40pm and arrive 14 hours later-- Saturday night Delhi time. The reality: I don't think I have ever been so happy to see a airplane come in as I was last night at 10:10 pm when my mom's flight came in to the Newark airport from Cleveland. After finding out that my flight from BWI to Newark had been canceled and rushing to make a train up to NJ with only minutes to spare-- I came to find out my mom's flight was still on the ground in Cleveland! Several frustrating calls to Continental and many laps in the ... read more