Pictures!

I wish I could post them all but due to the shady internet availability I am just choosing a select few and will post the rest when I return.

Ellora Caves

Ajanta Caves

Mumbai

Village People

Udaipur

Udaipur. Now this place is gorgeous. One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. From the time we got off the plane, I new this city was different. It would be perfect only if Brett was here to share it with me. If you ever go to India you need to come here.

Known for marble and zinc we passed many marble depots and a large zinc factory on the way to town.

Through town was awesome. This is the month of marriage so we went by two marriage processional on the way to the hotel. The groom is on a white horse and he and the steed are decked out in native dress. There are a group of people dancing in front of the horse, little kids flanking them holding large candelabra and a guy rolling a huge sound system that is blaring some pretty cool music. Behind all this is the generator pushed by a couple people.

The town is lovely and quaint. Tiny winding, hilly streets lined with vendor, of course a ton of people and pigs, cows, burros, horses. This is really the first time I have seen horses on the trip. Udaipur is known for their horses. The nice ones are extremely beautiful and look Arabian but definitely aren't but of course have a lot of Arab blood. Many are pintos. The most unique feature are their extreme curved ears. The breed is called the "Marwari".

Our hotel is the famous Lake Palace. It is situated in the middle of the lake and when the lake is full of water it looks like the palace is floating. This was the summer palace of the King. There is also the winter palace or City Palace which we toured today and the Monsoon Palace which sits atop a mountain in the distance. They have the Monsoon Palace uplit and it looks like some kind of evil genius's home or Batman's place.

The people here are called the Rajputs. The tour book says they were fierce warriors that believed in respect, valor, etc. Just think Klingon. :) They also were very opulent and are responsible for the many palaces and the ornate and intricate temple we saw today.

Well, there is way too much to write and it is 11:10 at night. Hopefully I can get on again soon.

Ciao!

So the night before we left to Mumbai we had a great experience. UR and I decided to walk into the town near our hotel and look for the residential areas. We went off the main road and came to the little village part. It seriously looked like a movie set and I expected it to all be a facade.

The buildings were all very little and people were standing out and about the small, dirt streets. Note: I have never seen so many people before in my life. They are literally everywhere. There is no place to put them. They are just out in the streets and in the stores and down the alleys. There is never just one guy - there are 5 guys together.

OK, back to the story. So we find one neat looking street and walk down in. There were some children and a women squatting around a tiny fire made from sticks infront of a house. Skip the details, UR whips out the Polaroid camera and starts taking and giving pictures. This created a frenzy and a lot of fun. But the best part was that we were invited into the very modest one bedroom home. We entered along with half the town and were served Chai tea, were given a wooden flute and tried to communicate.

We learned we were in the home of a man, his wife of 6 months and the mother. It was an amazing and memorable experience.

Mumbai: smelly, dirty and crowded. Unfortunately I was stuck facing the guide so I couldn't doze off like UR did. At one point I did succumb and apparently started mumbling so it didn't go over well with the guide who kept saying he was boring. He just talked too much. There were some interesting and pretty parts of Mumbai and if we had more time to explore I am sure it would have been better. We saw all the British buildings and Ghandi's house, etc.

Tomorrow morning, we are back to Mumbai for a day tour and then get on a plane for someplace else - not sure where that is yet.

Just wanted to touch on a few things before I left the accessibility of an internet connection.

Today, we visited the Ajanta Caves. Very beautiful. It was about 1.5 hours away from the town of Aurangabad. So there were very few foreign tourists. Many of the local people wanted their picture taken with me and even gave me their little kids to hold so they could snap a picture. That was neat.

Also there were a lot of school kids on a field trip so they wanted pictures. In general everyone stares at me which can make you self conscious but I just tell myself it is because I am fair skinned. :) A lot of the kids will yell out the questions "what country are you from" and want to know my name and shake my hand.

The Ajanta caves were built in the 5th century and were lost for 1000 years till a Brit found them while out on a tiger hunt. What an amazing find. He even carved his name in one of the temple columns with the date and his Calvary #.

Many of the paintings can still be seen and it is quite impressive. Full stories were told on the walls. I got some good pictures and hopefully I can upload soon.

Some of the funny things that have happened I have forgotten to mention here. For instance UR sat in gum somehow and ruined his pants - be reminded that he is missing a full suitcase so has only 2 pairs. And the car seat was also ruined so the driver put a newspaper there to cover it. Well, UR got out of the car and walked away with the newspaper stuck to his behind and someone had to pull it off him. We are making good impressions for all Americans.

Something else happened but I can't remember but I am seeing amazing similarities between my uncle and my mother. I hope it skipped a generation. :) Just kidding.

So if you want to learn more about the caves you can read here:

Ajanta Caves http://www.tourismofindia.com/hiwhh/ajantacaves.htm

Ellora Caves http://www.tourismofindia.com/hiwhh/elloracaves.htm

Phew. We made it to Mumbai but it was all very hectic. Our flight was late and then they lost one of UR suitcases which is a major bummer. We were in the airport forever it seems trying to see what they can do for us. Finally got to the Taj Hotel at around 2am to check in and then had to leave again by 5:30am to fly to Aurangabad.

Aurangabad gave me a good flavor of India. This isn't a metro city but there are still I think 3 million people living here. People line the streets along with cows, goats, dogs, burros and pigs.

Driving here is insane. We had a driver and a guide take us to the Ellora caves today. I seriously think there are no driving laws in this country. First off, there are these micro cars and auto rickshaws buzzing around. If someone is going too slow there is no question but to move into oncoming traffic and go around them. It is quite unsettling to be driving super fast straight at a huge bus barreling down on you.

At one point we couldn't get around the little rickshaw fast enough and hit another auto going the other way - just our mirror flew off. But it was enough to make UR not want to take the 2 hour trip to the Ajanta caves today. If we were over just a 1/2 foot more it good have been an almost head-on collision going 50 miles an hour. We will see what happens.

Every aspect is different here. The sounds, the smells, the feel of the air. However, touring the stone carved temples today from the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religions and learning all their stories shows the amazing parallels between every culture from the beginning of time.

Right now I believe I am hearing some Muslim chantings over a loud speaker. It is 6:13 in the morning.

We leave at 9 am to go to the Ajanta caves today to see more temples carved into the stone. Then we might tour the city a little bit and see the mini taj mahal that is erected here.

Oh and we got to see the heart of the city today which was very cool. Sadly I forgot to bring any kind of RJ45 or RJ11 connection like a major idiot. So that is why I have been blogging from the hotel biz center or internet spots I can find.

Anyway we went in search of cable and got to drive all around the city. We were the only Caucasians in site. That was the best part of the day I think. We really got to see the city and how it is to the natives.

Since I'm not on my craptop I won't be able to upload any pics till I get to a hotel that can lend me a RJ45. I got some good pics too.

Oh and I saw some monkeys today too. They are scary. They stare right at you. One screamed at me and slapped me on the leg.

Hi there. Am in the executive lounge of the Bangkok Airport/Thai Airlines waiting for flight to Mumbai.

Exhausted. Went on grueling day tour of the city. Both Uncle Rick and I were sweaty and sticky from the humidty. Bangkok reminds me of Mexico in ways with the street shops and tons of stray cats and dogs.

The city is fairly new and seems to be built as one large tourist trap. We were chauffered to one Buddahist temple after another and paid a fee to get in. They were all pretty much the same. Wanted to see the Grand Palace but apparently the King is entertaining the King of Singapore this week so it is closed to the public.

BK was very smoky and dirty. But still very interesting and unique. We took a boat in the channel which was a neat experience. Got some really neat pictures too. Will try to upload when get to Mumbai hotel.

However, may not get online for a few days due to the very hectic upcoming schedule.

Bye for now!

Finally here in our airport hotel for the overnight layover in Bangkok. The plane ride was very long and tiring. 12 hours from LAX to Osaka for an hour and then 6 to Bangkok.

I watched Troy, Taxi and I heart Huckabees. I Heart Huckabees is very good. Taxi was stupid, Troy OK (but worth watching to see Brad half naked).

I thought I was the type of person that would eat a lot of new things. Everyone warned that I would lose weight and I shrugged it off. Well after getting the first meal on the plane I have decided that I will probably lose weight.

Granted (and thank God) we are in Executive Class, but the salty, gelatinous cubes were really not to my liking.

Our hour in Osaka was fun for me since I've always wanted to go to Japan and this was my little taste. One thing about the airport that I noticed different to the US is the very orderly arrangement of all the airport related vehicles and all the workers in their white hardhats, all looking very efficient.

Bangkok was much more like US with scattered vehicles, a little dirty and workers lounging about.

Here are pictures from the exec waiting area at LAX, the Osaka airport and little store, Mt. Fuji and the corridor off the plane in Bangkok. Take a look!

I took some pics of Mt. Fuji from the plane. Also, I still feel the motion from the plane. Kinda like when you have been in the ocean all day and you can still fell the current pulling and pushing you.

It is 12:13 am and I think I can finally go to bed. Most tasks were taken care off. Pretty sure everything was packed. Got 2 new, fancy hard-side Samsonite suitcases for journey. Packed light to bring lots of goodies back.

Hopefully I will have easy web access so I can update and post pics. If not, I will post back when I return on 2/4.

Bye!