The adventure continues...

After Judy and Jaap’s departure, we had a two day hiatus before the arrival of my mom and Phil. They arrived in the middle of the week (and in the middle of the night!) so they spent their first few days settling in and exploring Delhi, before we escaped to the fresh air and serenity of the Himalayan foothills in the town of Mussoorie. We took the train early on Saturday morning and were only slightly delayed (a miracle given the foggy January conditions) and arrived a few hours later in the town of Dehra Dun- the jumping off point to Mussoorie and the capital of the state of Uttarakhand. Our residence for the long weekend was a beautiful cottage (equipped with a wood-stove!) above the hill station town of Mussoorie, in a neighboring town called Landour. The house belongs to a work friend of mine, who graciously allowed us to stay for the weekend. Our chowkadore (the full time caretaker of the house) was a wonderful man named Mizan who lived and watched over the house with his wife, two young children and their dog- a sweet mountain pup.

On our first full day in Landour, we hiked up to Flag Hill a beautiful mountain top vista covered in Buddhist prayer flags overlooking the Himalayan ranges; and then down into Mussoorie where we met a really sweet boy and his little cousin who excitedly showed us around. Our second day we took a day trip out to the old abandoned survey house of John Everest (after which Mt. Everest is named), a really cool old building with a 360˚view of the mountains above and valleys below. On our last day, we travelled back down to Dehra Dun early to visit Kempty Falls- a (once) beautiful natural hot spring turned chincy tourist haven (i.e. water park, arcades, and gift shops galore) - and then to the Dehra Dun Forestry Research Institute. After returning, my mom and Phil finished seeing the Delhi sites and took a day trip out to the Taj Mahal and other Agra sites before departing on a flight back home late Wednesday night. With the awful January fog conditions they were delayed for twelve hours at the airport. Yikes. I guess no one comes to India without having their patience seriously tested at least once.

Late Friday night my dad and sister arrived for their two week visit. In a true test of patience and flexibility their first night we had no running water in our apartment. We had left one of the faucets on accidentally and our water tank ran out (oops!). In Delhi water flows only two times per day (from 6am-8am and from 4pm-6pm in our area). If you miss that time, or run out of water, you are as they say “shit out of luck”. But then we have running water, a luxury many do not have, so we are not complaining. Because they arrived on a Saturday, I was able to join in on the fun and explore Delhi. On Saturday we walked over to the Lotus Temple, a beautiful Bahai temple made out of marble and concrete in the shape of a blossoming lotus flower. Sunday we ventured into Old Delhi where we visited the Jama Masjid (India’s biggest mosque) and weaved our way through miles of market to the famous spice market Chandni Chowk. The market was closed for the day, but many vendors remained open and we had a great time exploring the narrow, tightly packed alley-ways. To complete our Old Delhi experience we stopped at Karim’s- one of India’s most famed restaurants (named one of the top restaurants in Asia by Time magazine) for some scrumptious kebabs and mutton curry. On Tuesday Paula and George kicked off their India tour, travelling first to Ranthambore National Park (where they spotted a tiger!) and Agra. We left early Saturday morning to join them for the Orrcha/Khajuraho leg of the trip in Madhya Pradesh. Our train was severely delayed (by 5 hours!) and so our visit in Orrcha was cut a little short. Note to all potential India travelers- do not believe the travel guides. January is NOT a good time to visit Northern India! In Orrcha we stayed in funky Swiss tents (luxurious camping) and toured the town’s old palaces, temples and gardens.

From Orrcha we continued on to Khajuraho- the land of exotic temples. We stayed in the luxurious Radisson Hotel (a 4 star hotel) complete with a marble staircase and reflection pool! Monday we explored both the Western and Eastern temples of Khajuraho famed for their erotic carvings- depicting every sexual position (and partner) you could possibly imagine and then some! While those were certainly something to see, the temple structures themselves were amazing. Our guide left something to be desired- we were privy to all of his bodily functions on multiple occasions- but I suppose you can’t win them all. Tuesday Kris and I took the train home- stopping in Orrcha again for a little more exploration. Paula and George travelled on to Varanasi to complete their mini-tour and then met us back in Delhi for some last minute sight seeing and shopping.

It was a busy and crazy month and Kris and I slept for a few straight days after all of our visitors left, but we had an amazing and unforgettable time. It’s really a wonderful treat to share your experiences with others. India is one of those places that is hard to describe and certainly impossible to forget. Only 3 more months to go…panic is setting in!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We had a great end to 2009 and rang in 2010 in style! During my folks’ recent week-long visit, we were able to see a good little slice of India; explored Delhi, went up to the mountains, down to Agra, and saw lots of cool sights. We celebrated a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s Eve with them and some friends here in Delhi.

The day they arrived, we whisked Judy and Jaap off to INA Market and Dilli Haat to shop for Christmas dinner ingredients (they thought that picking out a live chicken is a little different than going to Colonial for packaged meat!). We enjoyed a nice supper with Joel and his uncle Jonathan and it was awesome having our first set of visitors in town just in time for the holidays. The following day, we went to a cooking class around the corner from our place, where we learned a variety of classic Indian dishes (dosas and sambar, kulfi, chana masala and others) we’ll be looking for guinea pigs to try these new recipes out on!

The next day, we were off to the mountains. After a very stressful drive through ridiculously thick fog (where we unfortunately witnessed the aftermath of several fatal accidents) we arrived in Dharamsala in the state of Himachal Pradesh. We arrived at our hotel late in the evening and had no idea just how amazing the views awaiting our wake-up would be. The following day, we hiked down to a nearby waterfall in Naddi and enjoyed the views and watched the locals hard at work. That evening, we went into McLeod Ganj and explored the various shops, monasteries and museums in Upper Dharamsala (McCleod Ganj) - the Indian home to the Tibetan government in exile. We even spent a few hours that evening at the monestary next to the Dali Lama’s residence.

For our last day in the hills, we hiked back into town and then were off to the Norbalinka Institute; a training workshop for promoting and preserving Tibetan art and the refugee community here in India. Quite an amazing place that produces some beautiful crafts. After an overnight train ride, we were back in Delhi where we did some local sightseeing including the National Museum, Connaught Place, our old neighborhood Jungpura and a few markets.

On to Agra the next day where we visited the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and the ghost town of Fatipur Sikri. The smog was incredibly thick at the Taj, so the views were not as good as the last time we were there, but Agra Fort and Fatipurh Sikri were nice to see. After stopping off in a few tourist shops (to get our driver his commission) we took the train back to Delhi for New Years Eve. We rang in 2010 with a good group of people, as we celebrated with drinking, dancing and fireworks atop Rachel’s rooftop in Delhi. The following day we did some final sightseeing in Delhi then it was back to the US for Jaap and Judy – an exciting but busy trip!