Mumbai

To give you a little overview, here is our trip up north:

1. Drop off Joanna in Mumbai and explore a bit

2.  28 hour train ride to Delhi for 4 days

3. Agra, 1st attempt to see the Taj

4. Varanasi..wow, talk about life and death being displayed

5.  Darjeeling and the beautiful Himalayas!

6. Calcutta, the home of the best flower market in the world

7. Bodhgaya, the origin of Buddhism

8. Agra, round 2

9. Delhi for a day and a half

10.  the farm!

 

So that’s a lot.  We’ll break it down and start with Mumbai.  Our time with Joanna was to end, very unfortunately.  Her visit was a breath of love, joy, family, and sheer excitement.  I can’t describe the feeling I had picking her up the first time we went to Mumbai, just thinking about it makes me tear up and my heart bounces.  I just really, really love my sister.  I think she is the best thing since whole wheat bread.  That said, we had a great time hanging out and seeing small glimpses of India (more about that later) but then we had to drop her off at the airport, which was a bizarre experience in itself.  I tried to remind myself I would see her shortly in less than two months.  It helped control tears until at least she walked away to check in.  Anyway, we explored Mumbai together and then without her the next day.  Here is an overview:

We took a boat ride out to Elephante Island, leaving from the Gateway of India.  First picture is of the three of us on the boat, second is gateway to India, and third is an attempt at an artsy photo of the boat’s arrival. 

 

Elephante Island has these big caves, but it was a little late to see them and make the 250 Rs worth it, so we decided to take a path less used and hike around the other side.  It was much quieter, away from the CRAZY, hungry monkeys and almost as bad tourists.  There was a sweet tree that was growing out of a vertical brick wall.  Next to that was a sweet view of Mumbai and huge canons…not entirely sure why.  On that way down from the mountain, we all bought corn.  There were cows and dogs everywhere.  The cows were slightly smaller than the ones in Pune which was a benefit because as soon as they saw we had food they eyed us up and starting trotting with steam in our direction.  Joanna quickly tossed her mostly eaten corn in a wild direction.  I tried to hop, skip, run away from them.  Mike played it cool and walked by.  Then the cow trotted up behind him and headed him in the butt.  Joanna and I laughed and ran a little faster, as the startled Mike started picking up his pace.  It was classic.  The dogs tried a different method and followed us the whole way to the boat with huge puppy eyes. 

 

 

On the way back the entire boat seemed to think it was a good idea to feed the sea gulls.  No, it’s not a good idea.  Nor is it a good idea to throw all the trash out of the boat into the water, no wonder it was disgusting.  Sea Gulls swarmed the boat in masses and made Joanna have a near freak out.  You’d never know it, but she hates birds.  The sunset was worth every penny of the boat ride. 

When we picked up Joanna we went on a little walking tour of Mumbai:

                                                                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The CST (main train station in Mumbai) that we arrived at from Pune.  When we arrived to India in September, this is where we narrowly caught our train to Pune.  It is also the location of some of the scenes in Slumdog Millionaire.  It’s pretty sweet. 

The High Court and Mumbai University.  Both beautiful buildings:

The Taj Hotel by India Gate, one of the fanciest hotels we’ve seen in India.  India Gate and Starfruit which we tried when we looking at Gateway of India.  They are fun looking but taste awful, even with chili powder on them. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally a cool modge podge of tiles that were surrounded by hedge and Sassoon Library where I finally convinced the librarian to let us look at it, even as nonmembers. 

 

 

The day after Joanna left we walked around a different part of Mumbai.  It was a holiday that day, one of the best festivals possible:  the Kite festival.  It’s supposed to represent something in the Hindu religion but all the locals could get across to us is that everyone flies kites.  I’m down.  We went to a market and then to Chowpatty Beach where there were more kites than I could have ever imagined!  

This was an alley market we stumbled upon that was magnificent.  Greatly displayed veggies and lots of kites for sale. 

 

   

Above is Chowpatty Beach where multiple people wanted to show us how to properly fly a kite.  They let us use their kites and were so incredibly helpful and excited to teach us.  We were afraid at first they were going to ask for money, but they just wanted to celebrate the holiday and help us too.  It was great and made us feel welcome.  How can anyone not feel joyful when they are flying a kite and surrounded by kites?  The skyline was always peppered with kites throughout the day.  Kids were flying them from everywhere and anywhere, roofs, alleys, middle of streets, you name it.  

E-I-E-I-O

A chicken here-a chicken there-here a chicken-there a chicken…

E-I-E-I-O! 

That may not be right, but you get the idea.  There are chickens here on the farm.  Lots of them.  There is also potatoes, LOTS of onions (that we helped plant!), radishes, lettuce, cilantro, and some other random plants that I can’t remember.  It has a beautiful setting, set in the foothills of the Himalayas.  The kitchen is a tent set with the gorgeous background.  Below is the view from the farm (there is a bit of the terrace farming in the middle and left of the bottom) and the kitchen tent. 

The wwoofers (people who wwoof…people who do this type of volunteer farming thing) share a bedroom on the upstairs of this large house.  It only has two rooms and a big main room with high ceilings.  It has windows EVERYWHERE so natural sunlight is not hard to come by during the day.  It is by far the biggest, nicest house in the area.  The owner of the land is a business man that decided to have this place built as a type of sanctuary away from the business of home.  His family (wife, 2 sons, 1 daughter, and the kids’ spouses) live in his hometown, but he likes it out here so he stays here and visits home every two weeks or so. 

It is “winter” (I feel bad even using the word to describe the warmth and sunshine we get every day) so the crop we can plant is limited.  We have planted lots of onions and worked on random projects.  There is not a lot of obvious work to do, but search and there is usually something to do, if not there is always a book or a walk to take.  Today Mike and I worked on building a shelf hamper thing to put the food on to get it off the ground.  Pierre, one of the guys here, taught us a fun knot and we went to town.  It worked out well and now our food can stay off the ground! (We made the shelf that is on bottom, but looks like it’s on top in this picture.)  The other picture is of the kitchen in the tent:

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently (to be changed drastically this week as many depart) there is a couple from France (Sago and Pierre), a couple from New Zealand (Ray and Ana), and Adam from Seattle.  It is a fun mix with lots of talent and energy.  Here are some pictures to end with: 

 

Mike wearing some color and the terraced fields.  We’ve eaten some homegrown potatoes, radishes and lots of cilantro!

 

We’re liking it so far and trying to absorb all the beauty and sun we can!  It is only cold in the mornings and evenings.  Otherwise: sun and t-shirt warmth.  Perfect running weather—WOOHOOO!

Delhi

Delhi is a crazy, big city with lots of different aspects and experiences to explore.  With that said, we were ready to leave after 4ish days.  The sheer number of people is a lot to handle and the chaos can be maddening.  There is  Old Delhi (obviously the older part of Delhi, but more chaotic, busy, and markety side of town), Central/New Delhi (more political buildings here, newer museums and monuments),  Paharganj (the tourist/backbacker hub), and Connaught Place (ritsy shops with a nice park). 

Central Delhi in pictures:

If you ever end up in Delhi, I’d highly suggest the Gandhi Smriti Museum.  It is where Gandhi took his last steps and lived for the end of his life.   The upstairs had a very impressive, interactive section that was just spectacular.  It was sweet to see a great monument to India’s peacemaker and who is a hero everywhere we go. 

 

One of my favorite experiences in Delhi was riding a camel.  We were walking to see the political buildings and I smiled and waved at a group of military officers and their camels.  One of them waved me through a fence and wanted a picture with me and for me to try out his camel.  I called back the rest of the group and I tried my hand at camel riding!   They have such weird shaped bodies and it was quite the jolt getting from ground level up to (what I thought at the time) very high.  The next day we saw a whole herd of camels in a Republic Day trial run parade.  A whole batch of officers and their camels paraded through the streets.  Quite the scene. 

 

In the same area as the camels we saw all of the government buildings: 1. Secretarial (1st and 2nd pictures) 2. Rashtrapati Bhavan 3.  the well manicured lawn in front of Rashtrapati Bhavan

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped by a random mosque that caught our eye, but we were allowed no closer. 

 

Annie and I decided Delhi would be a great place to check out henna.  The women were convincing so before we knew it we were stopped in the middle of a market getting henna.  Before Mike knew it the woman took his hand and made a design on his (much bigger than he expected or wanted) hand.  It turns out it takes a while for the stuff to dry before you can scrap it off.  We were all useless without any of our hands and Andrew/Anne had to do everything for us.  It only last a couple days for me but Annie’s stayed dark for at least a week. 

 

Pictures of Old Delhi:

There are spice markets, sweet markets, veggie markets, anything and you can get it.  It’s often entertaining and crazy to walk through them, and we walked through many in Old Delhi. 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Red Fort (aka Lal Qila) is a major attraction of Old Delhi and is 2 km with a height of 18-33 m high.  It has been built since 1648.  It was pretty impressive and had mosques, royal baths, and extravagant buildings in its interior.  Emperor Shah Jahan lived in style whenever he stayed here. 

The Lotus Temple (Bahai House of Worship) is a sight to be seen.  It was modeled after a lotus flower and has pools all around it so it will reflect and look like it is emerging from water.  We were able to meet my friend Heather (she’s working at a school in Delhi) here and a couple of other times in Delhi. 

Chadni Chowk is one of the craziest streets I’ve been on.  Anything you can think of is on the road (animals, people, auto ricksaws, cycles, cycle ricksaws, motorcycles, carts…the list goes on).  I’m just not sure how cars ever get where they want to go.  The traffic is beyond chaotic.  Imagine driving through this:

 

The Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in India and took 14 years to build.  It was phenomenal.  We were given these ridiculous outfits, and Heather and I decided it was merely because we were foreigners (no one else had them, even if they weren’t covered up as much as we were).  

  There were a bunch of random buildings or mosques in Old Delhi that were so interesting or cool.  There are randomly these doors of bright colors or arches with fantastic design.  It sticks out from the otherwise mundane colors of Old Delhi.  Here is such an example: 

We did a lot in Delhi but this post is already long.  Other things that you can later ask us about if interested: Craft Museum, Supreme Court Museum, Delhi’s metro, Nehru’s Museum and Planetarium (he was the first prime minister), delicious food on rooftops, interesting sweets on the road, throwing up a bad samosa in the metro station, and being so cold in the morning we could see our breath (that’s cold here).  One last picture.  India Gate and War Monument. 

It’s been awhile…

We have quite a few excuses: Joanna’s visit, our trip down south, getting ready to leave Pune, traveling north for Andrew, Annie, and Anne’s last hoorah, and now the farm.  It’s been a whirlwind.  Now we are in a little more of a lull and relaxation state, and that is treating us very well.  We are trying to strategize how best to update our blog for the last two months in a way that makes sense.  We’ll be up front.  It won’t make sense.  It won’t be chronological.  We’ll start with the farm (where we are now) and then our trip up north.  Finally our wonderful time with Joanna and down south.  Christmas will be sprinkled somewhere in there.  We’ll do our best, and I’m sure we’ll finish it off when we get back—March 12!  Our plan is to stay at this farm for a bit and then go to another one in a state a little west and south for two weeks.   

We are continuing our way on our last trip with Anne, Andrew, and Annie before they head back.
We are safely in Varanasi after quite the journey here. There are plenty stories and pictures, but we'll have those for you when we have more time. A brief cap:

-the fog is intense and the train has been late on the last two trains. we missed seeing the taj mahal because our train was 5 hours late getting into agra. we all had a pretty good attitude about it and mike and i just readjusted our plans for our journey to the farm to include stopping back to see it. The next train here to varanasi was 7 hours late, bringing us to the winding alleys of varanasi in the dark. we bizarrely and safely found a hotel and food after a long, unexpected day in the train.

-varanasi is pretty sweet and a great place to people watch. there is everything from monkeys, cremations, bathing, boats, religious ceremonies, people drinking the water where they bathe, and anything else you can think of.

-we go to darjeeling (it's below freezing there at times!) for the next couple of days. we leave tomorrrow at 3 and hopefully arrive the next day in darjeeling, but with the fog...it could be the next day.

-we're safe, well, and loving it. keep emailing us, we love updates!