Thursday, January 14, 2010

Favorite Quotes from India

Here are some of our favorite quotes or conversations that we had on our trip to India:

1. Oh My Gosh...Check This!

2. You look like a mummy only scarier.

3. Comparing the treatment of cows in India compared to Egypt.... "We Praise them, they eat them....That's Different"

4. "Are there windows in the Pyramids?"

5. Are there still mummies in the pyramids?

6. Teach me all the states and capitols of Australia.

7. Emily: "I think I could do crunches in here."
Waiter: "Wait, what kind of crunches?"

8. When Norris refused to buy something.... Salesman: You look like the devil

9. Norris was talking to a man about running and his weight and how we have not run since we had been in India. Norris said that he needed to run..Response by salesman:
"I think your body is good"

10. Norris while we were lost walking around Rishikesh...we had just been ripped off by a Auto rickshaw driver, and we were starving and we had just barley survived a 16 hour drive earlier......
"This is the worst day ever!"

There are many more but I thought those were the best ones!!!!! Enjoy!

From Pushkar to Jodphur to Rishikesh

Well last place I left it we were heading from Pushkar to Jodphur.  We decided to rent a driver and a car to take us to Jodphur.  It was not that far away only about 3 hours so we did not think it would be bad.  It was a pretty nice drive.  It was a little scarry at times but our driver knew what he was doing so we were not to worried!  We had a nice time in Jodphur but it was not our favorite place.  The fort we saw was amazing but the rest of the city left much to be desired.  It was the first time that we felt like we were being followed and asked for money.  It was the most intense place we went for sales.  The people also we quite rude but that was ok.  We could just hide out in a coffee house and drink fun drinks and look at the city and fort.  It was nice!

When we got back to Pushkar we decided that we would have our same driver take us up to the mountains to Rishikesh.  It seemed to work from Jodphur so we thought we would do it again!  We were sick of being on trains and the last one we were on we did not have much fun!!!!!!  Well the drive to Rishikesh was 16 hours and we were three to the back of a tiny car.  It was not the smartest decision we have made.  It was actually the most terrifying thing I have done.  Emily slept most of the way so she did not really know how bad it was but Norris and I got quite nervous.  It was like a giant game of Chicken just with a small car and giant trucks.  Luckily we won!  Norris definitely yelled at the drivers a couple times and threatened not to pay but we got there just fine!  16 hours later!  It was a long day!  One we got to Rishikesh we were sooooooo excited!

Rishikesh was my favorite place.  It was sooooooo beautiful!  It was awesome to see the mountains!  We got to take a trip up into the Himalayas to watch the sun rise!  It was beautiful!!!!!!  It was awesome to see snow and the fresh air.  It was so polluted in India and it was nice to smell fresh air.  It was also the first time that we stayed in a nice hotel.  The other places we went to we either did not sleep there or we did not get the best place.  Here we decided that it was time to get a nice place....PLUS it was Christmas!  It was such a great place to have Christmas!  We went to this awesome Bedouin place for dinner and had GREAT food!  It was sooooo much fun!  There were a lot of monkeys in Rishikesh and it was crazy at times!  I did get scared some times when I had to walk by them!  They hissed at Emily when she tried to take a picture of them and that made me a little nervous!  I did not want them to bite us!!!!!!!!!  I did not want to get Rabies!
After that we just headed back to Delhi and got on our flight back to Cairo!  What a fun whirlwind of a vacation! 

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Taj Mahal and Pushkar

Well after our quick train ride of 13 hours we arrived in Agra!  It was really neat!  There is not much to see other than the Taj but that is definitely enough.  It was the most amazing thing......What a beautiful gift to his dead wife!  It was very sweet!  It was soooooo white and big and beautiful!  We were able to finally show that day though and that was great!  We went to a little hostel and took the coldest shower I think I have ever taken!  But at least we were clean!!!!  The people were not to bad, at least not as bad as we had been told.  We had heard some stories that made us a little anxious about what we were going to experience but it was not like that at all!  We were able to see Agra Fort which looked a lot like the red fort in Delhi....I mean it was big and red.  I liked it and we had a really fun time!  I think we sat and looked at the Taj for about an hour and it was nice to relax and get out of the chaos of the city for a while.
That night we went to Pushkar.  I think that was my favorite place.  Disaster struck the night before we got to Pushkar.  We were on another train and we had yet to stay in a room for the night and when we got to Pushkar station we walked out with our bags and stuff but we left ALL our cameras!!!!  IT WAS THE WORST!  That is why there will be no pictures to prove that we were there!  It really was the worst news in the morning!  Norris felt so bad but that stuff happens and it is all just stuff.  We did all we could to try to find the cameras but there was not much we could do....so we walked around the city of Pushkar for a while and did some shopping...Norris felt sooooo bad that he left the cameras that he tried to buy me everything I looked at!  It was very cute!  It was a rough morning but the rest of the day was AMAZING!!!!!!  It was much less chaotic in Pushkar than any other place we had been.  There was supposed to be a lake but it was the dry season so it was more like a little pool.  We also got to see one of the only Brahma temples in the world.  It was pretty neat.  My friend and I went in and we were just looking around when we got yelled at because we were walking the wrong direction.  We felt really bad but we just turned around and started the other way....then I do not think they were toooo happy when we did not go up front and buy flowers to lay in front of a statue.  We decided that it was time to leave after that!  But it was pretty cool to say that I have been in one of the Brahmas temple!

Delhi and Varanasi

Well Norris and I decided to take a "relaxing" trip to India this Christmas.  It was quite an experience.  After living in Egypt for the last year and a half has helped us deal with all the wheeling and dealing that comes with bargaining in a third world country but the people!  There were soooooooo many people!!!!!  We thought we lived in a place with a lot of people but that was nothing compared to India.  Delhi was a bit overwhelming but after we went to Varanasi we realized that it probably was just because it was our first day there!  Even while we were still in the airport in Delhi people were trying to rip us off....even at the pre-paid taxi booth with the prices written on the sign....it was pretty funny, Norris held his own very well!!!
We decided to take night trains so that we could have the opportunity to see more places.  We were glad we did it the first night!  We were able to get a great place on the train and we were able to sleep very well.  And when we got up we were in Varanasi!  It was great!  We got to see the Ghats where people go to wash themselves and it was CHAOS!!!!!!!!  We thought there were a lot of people in Delhi, this was x10!  Apparently they believe that if you die and your ashes are put on the river than it is the most holy place you can be put.  So as we were taking a great trip on a boat down the Ganges people were being cremated right in front of us!  It was a little more that I wanted to see but whatever!  We then went to a fun place for dinner that night and saw a giant herd of Monkey's.  They were soooooo cute as long as they were far away!  I did not know that there were so many monkeys in North India but we saw them EVERYWHERE!!!  It was crazy but they were cute!  We were just hanging out and we decided that we should start heading back to the train station just to make sure things were going ok.  We had seen everything we wanted so we headed back early.  Norris kept telling us the train left at 8 but we headed for the station and got there at about 6:07.  When we walked in we looked at the sign and realized that our train left at 6:15.  We looked at each other and started running.  What was great was that we needed to get our bags from the train station and then head to the train....BUT WE MADE IT!  We got on the train and about 1 minute later we were moving!  We were sooooooo glad that we made it!  It would not have been fun trying to find a place to stay in that place!  It was great!  We had another fun night train ride and when we woke up we were in Agra!  I love those trains!