What a week! I realize I've been neglectful of my blog but we really have been going non-stop since I left CRHP over a week ago. I will try to do a quick summary of the week but of course its hard to get everything in!
We got to Mumbai on Tuesday night and we had dinner in Colaba, which is the main tourist area. Wednesday we just hung out and enjoyed being back in city life. I went to breakfast with my friend Chantal at the Taj Mahal (a couple of the group people were staying there) and had the best $20 breakfast ever. While it merely consisted of coffee, crepe, and fruit salad, the fact that I got a FULL cup of coffee in an actual mug was a very exciting thing. Ah, its the little things one can appreciate in life :)
On Wednesday night after getting Kelly, we headed to Lonalava (me, Kelly, Chantal from CRHP, and her friend James that had flown in from London). Lonalava is a hill town about an hour outside of Mumbai that is great to visit Monsoon. Its high up in the hills (more like small mountains) and the clouds and mist surrounding the area of so beautiful. We toured around and just enjoyed the scenery. On Friday we headed back into Mumbai for a few days. Mumbai is a great city! It is very metropolitan and much easier to manage than Delhi. We did some shopping, went to a Bollywood movie, did a walking tour of British Mumbai, and took a boat out to an island to see some caves. We also went to a "real" dinner out at a fancy restaurant, definitely the best meal I've had in India! It was fun to get dressed up and see how the other half of India lives (meaning the wealthy side). Chantal and I did a "tasting menu" of about 800 courses and it was to die for. It made for a really fun night!
Sunday we flew up to Udaipur, definitely one of my favorite places in India. It is so beautiful and really indescribeable. Its a mixture of being in a small Italian town and in India at the same time. I will post pictures as soon as I can. We were met by my tour leader (G) who is from Udaipur. It was so great to have him there to be our guide. Our hotel there was amazing, and we got there just in time to enjoy a drink on our roof top overlooking Lake Pichola. We then headed to a Rajasthani culture show which was very interesting. After that G took us to his family's art shop where they specialize in "melawari" style which is really intricate painting. They painted little figures on our fingernails that were so detailed--it was quite amazing. We got to meet some of G's family and everyone was very nice. After we headed to dinner and just had a great time. Monday we headed to some touristy spots in Udaipur and did a little shopping. We also visited Monsoon Palace (James Bond Octopussy was filmed in Udaipur) which is high up on a hill overlooking the mountains and Udaipur- SO beautiful. That night we went to a palm reader, lots of fun and everything is looking okay for me so that's good to know :)
Tuesday Kelly and I said goodbye to James and Chanti and headed to Jaipur. Again, had a very busy couple of days! Right away we find Abu, who works at our hotel and became our rickshaw driver for the next two days. He's a young guy of like 22 who actually has a stereo in his rickshaw...so funny and very sweet. Really we would not have had such a smooth visit without him. He took us around to all the sightseeing spots but also to some "hidden" stores/warehouses where we were able to do some shopping hassle free (of course he got something out of it to in commission but totally worth it to us). Attempting to shop here is an experience in itself and takes A LOT of patience. You walk down the street and every shop owner gets in front of you trying to sell you something then when you like it you have to spend time bargaining down to a reasonable price, can be very exhausting. Yesterday Abu took us to some out of the way sightseeing places we hadn't planned on visiting so it was great that we had him. We also got to ride an elephant!! Something I had wanted to do since arriving and was happy to finally get too (although the excitement didn't last all that long once I realized its really not all that comfortable riding an elephant...).
The only slight hitch in the Abu story is that last night on our way back after an exhausting afternoon he knew we were starving so he pulled off the road and bought us each this cold sweet thing. The main rule in India: do not eat street food. Well, we couldn't refuse so we ate up (it was delicious...) but we are both waiting for the shoe to drop on that one...luckily Kelly is in a nice hotel tonight but I will be on an airplane...hmmm. If we make it 24 hours then we should be in the clear. The past two days have been a challange for us in that department anyway so hopefully it won't get worse. Today we flew to Delhi and are now hanging out in Kelly's fabulous hotel. A real bed! Wow. I have a couple hours left and will have a chance to shower, etc before heading to the airport.
I cannot believe I leave India tonight! It is so strange that my time here is over. Of course I'm excited to come back to the states but also sad that its all ending! It has been such a great experience for me and I can't wait to share it with everyone when I get back! I have a ton of great pictures and will post them when I'm back at a REAL computer with fast internet. That's it for now, next (and final) post will be from the good ole' US of A!
We got to Mumbai on Tuesday night and we had dinner in Colaba, which is the main tourist area. Wednesday we just hung out and enjoyed being back in city life. I went to breakfast with my friend Chantal at the Taj Mahal (a couple of the group people were staying there) and had the best $20 breakfast ever. While it merely consisted of coffee, crepe, and fruit salad, the fact that I got a FULL cup of coffee in an actual mug was a very exciting thing. Ah, its the little things one can appreciate in life :)
On Wednesday night after getting Kelly, we headed to Lonalava (me, Kelly, Chantal from CRHP, and her friend James that had flown in from London). Lonalava is a hill town about an hour outside of Mumbai that is great to visit Monsoon. Its high up in the hills (more like small mountains) and the clouds and mist surrounding the area of so beautiful. We toured around and just enjoyed the scenery. On Friday we headed back into Mumbai for a few days. Mumbai is a great city! It is very metropolitan and much easier to manage than Delhi. We did some shopping, went to a Bollywood movie, did a walking tour of British Mumbai, and took a boat out to an island to see some caves. We also went to a "real" dinner out at a fancy restaurant, definitely the best meal I've had in India! It was fun to get dressed up and see how the other half of India lives (meaning the wealthy side). Chantal and I did a "tasting menu" of about 800 courses and it was to die for. It made for a really fun night!
Sunday we flew up to Udaipur, definitely one of my favorite places in India. It is so beautiful and really indescribeable. Its a mixture of being in a small Italian town and in India at the same time. I will post pictures as soon as I can. We were met by my tour leader (G) who is from Udaipur. It was so great to have him there to be our guide. Our hotel there was amazing, and we got there just in time to enjoy a drink on our roof top overlooking Lake Pichola. We then headed to a Rajasthani culture show which was very interesting. After that G took us to his family's art shop where they specialize in "melawari" style which is really intricate painting. They painted little figures on our fingernails that were so detailed--it was quite amazing. We got to meet some of G's family and everyone was very nice. After we headed to dinner and just had a great time. Monday we headed to some touristy spots in Udaipur and did a little shopping. We also visited Monsoon Palace (James Bond Octopussy was filmed in Udaipur) which is high up on a hill overlooking the mountains and Udaipur- SO beautiful. That night we went to a palm reader, lots of fun and everything is looking okay for me so that's good to know :)
Tuesday Kelly and I said goodbye to James and Chanti and headed to Jaipur. Again, had a very busy couple of days! Right away we find Abu, who works at our hotel and became our rickshaw driver for the next two days. He's a young guy of like 22 who actually has a stereo in his rickshaw...so funny and very sweet. Really we would not have had such a smooth visit without him. He took us around to all the sightseeing spots but also to some "hidden" stores/warehouses where we were able to do some shopping hassle free (of course he got something out of it to in commission but totally worth it to us). Attempting to shop here is an experience in itself and takes A LOT of patience. You walk down the street and every shop owner gets in front of you trying to sell you something then when you like it you have to spend time bargaining down to a reasonable price, can be very exhausting. Yesterday Abu took us to some out of the way sightseeing places we hadn't planned on visiting so it was great that we had him. We also got to ride an elephant!! Something I had wanted to do since arriving and was happy to finally get too (although the excitement didn't last all that long once I realized its really not all that comfortable riding an elephant...).
The only slight hitch in the Abu story is that last night on our way back after an exhausting afternoon he knew we were starving so he pulled off the road and bought us each this cold sweet thing. The main rule in India: do not eat street food. Well, we couldn't refuse so we ate up (it was delicious...) but we are both waiting for the shoe to drop on that one...luckily Kelly is in a nice hotel tonight but I will be on an airplane...hmmm. If we make it 24 hours then we should be in the clear. The past two days have been a challange for us in that department anyway so hopefully it won't get worse. Today we flew to Delhi and are now hanging out in Kelly's fabulous hotel. A real bed! Wow. I have a couple hours left and will have a chance to shower, etc before heading to the airport.
I cannot believe I leave India tonight! It is so strange that my time here is over. Of course I'm excited to come back to the states but also sad that its all ending! It has been such a great experience for me and I can't wait to share it with everyone when I get back! I have a ton of great pictures and will post them when I'm back at a REAL computer with fast internet. That's it for now, next (and final) post will be from the good ole' US of A!
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