MONKEYS

January 15, 2010
The (Reddish) Pink City

Now we are in Jaipur! Just for a day though. And Jaipur is called the pink city because the old buildings in the town are light red—apparently the color of hospitality.
Before getting there we had to wake up early in Agra and get on that damned bumpy bus with that horn-happy (but not “horny”) driver.

After an hour we stopped at Fatepur Sikrh. This was at one point the capital of the Mughal empire. Why, you ask? See, the third Mughal emperor, Akbar, desperately wanted a child and couldn’t have one no matter how hard he tried. Even though he was Muslim, he went to a Sufi (super liberal Muslim-Hindu combo religion… if explained in 6 words, look it up for a better answer) prophet who told him he would have a son. Sure enough, he did have a son and was so excited that he decided to build a new capital city where he met that saint. It is large and in charge, made of red sandstone. Except, the city was abandoned after only 15 years because they ran out of water! Whoops.
Needless to say, we looked around.

[not yet there, merely approaching.]

[outskirts of Fatepur Sikrh]

[aww! Harley, Shannon, Janice, Morgan, Rachel, Laura, Bryan, Kristen, Megan, Sarah, Kayla, Andrew, Aly, myself]

[the pillar really wanted in on this pic]

[life-sized Parcheesi board. the king (Akbar) would play against his wife with the concubines as pieces. this game pic is for you, mom.]

[Akbar's bed. truly king-sized.]

[sleeping on the bed of the third Moghul emperor]

[and JUMPING on the bed!]

[cool stairs. what more can I say?]

Then it was back to the bus for four (4) dreadful hours. We did see animals out the window (monkeys, horses, camels, goats, sheep, dogs/puppies) and the Indian countryside (many many poor farmers, over 60% of the population farms).
We got to the hotel I’m in tonight and after lunch the band set off!
For where? The pink part of the “The Pink City” and the Palace Museum!
See the pinkiness? Oh, and the Palace Museum was a bunch of stuff used by the royal family of Jaipur before 1947 (India’s independence, when it became a democracy). There were old paintings (different style from European ones during the same time), uniforms, and furnishings.

[pinkish]

[think pink]

[tickle me pink]

[old, royal kites! for Brian. they fly kites all over during the harvest festival! plus a bunch of people on the trip read Kite Runner. kites rule!]

[Laura and Rachel discover the peacock door at the Palace Museum]

We were also bombarded by salespeople outside of the two sites. No big deal though, I suppose.
AND we saw monkeys!!!!! Monkeys are to Jaipur and the surrounding area what a boom in the squirrel population would be to MN! So exciting to see them in all of the trees and on top of the buildings!

[YAY]

[so I got a little over-excited and took blurry monkey pictures. sue me.]

Went back to the hotel, dinner, unpacking, free cake from Harley, shower and bed. Hooray! Hip, Hip!
Gooooodnight :)

Taj-tastic.

For this post, go to the class blog!
The link is on the right, but here it is again, in case you weren't sure.
It's called January 14th.

People of Delhi

January 13^th (Wednesday)

People of Delhi

It was hard for me to think of a title for today’s blog because it can’t really be categorized as a whole. We did some random, diverse stuff. I have to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures. Pretty pathetic, really.

I felt a bit sick first thing after breakfast, but after a dry heave and some Pepto it cleared right up.

We started out leaving late to go to the U.S. Embassy. Sarah had to do devotions on the bumpy bus to save time.

At the Embassy we waited outside in the cold for EVER to get through the intense security. Once we got there, a coffee shop was discovered in the first room. Yes!

The presentation by the Embassy workers was really informative. We learned about Indian farming vs. American farming, problems the government here is trying to fix, what the Embassy actually does in India (it gives aid and help in many cases, but it also studies the culture and politics to report back to Washington),how globalization is affecting India (duh!), and women’s changing (but still restricted) roles.

No pictures of the ol’ Emb.

Next was lunch. We were joined at a fancy restaurant by two female Indian employees from the Embassy. They talked about raising their children and ways the times have changed things. It was very interesting. The thing I ordered was way too spicy though.

Then we headed to Cottage Grove, the government run store that supports local Indian craftspeople. The Embassy workers had recommended it. Realizing it was far too expensive for our budgets, we swiftly got out of there.

Our guide took us to a super fun bazaar with bargaining and tiny shops instead. Very fun. Though at the end, a bunch of children bombarded us, trying to sell some really cheap necklaces. That was depressing. I did get the girl pestering me to laugh a lot, at least.

After shopping, we went back to the hotel for a bit, unpacked what we learned, and were off to dinner. It was accompanied by a super-touristy, low quality dance. There was a really young boy dancing with the adults which made all of us even more depressed about child labor. The food was kind of lame too. THIS part was too lame to take pictures of, so there! Yet our talks in the bus to and from the place (which took a long long time due to ridiculous traffic) were great. I even had an extensive theological discussion with two of my classmates (Andrew and Kayla) when we got back.

So the day was not a waste, just interesting. See what I meant?

Yup. See you! Don’t know for sure if we’ll get internet in Agra tomorrow, but we’ll be checking out the Taj for realz!!!

p.s. The Three Pictures of January 13th:

[street scene. yes it was smoggy every day.]

[two Lauras, one photo]

[man at Cottage Grove trying to sell us expensive rugs.]

Hi Delhi, Nice to Meet You

written on January 12th, 2010
Getting Acquainted with Delhi

Today we did a bunch of stuff. Lucky for you there are a bunch of pictures to go with!
Basically, we toured some note-worthy areas of the city.
The first stop was the tomb of Humayun (and 99 others who were close to him). He was the second Mughal emperor, his great-grandson is Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal. Tombs were rather extravagant when it came to Mughal emperors—or were they “sultans?”—so it made for some lovely photos.


[that "looking through the arch" photo that everyone takes when they are walking through an arch with something pretty on the other side]



[them windows was carved out of stone!]


[it was dark and quiet in the tombs. eerie.]


[say cheese Humanyun's tomb!]


[there were pretty birds just hangin' out too :D ]

Next we drove around, passing the India gate which is surrounded by a huge round-a-bout. We traveled to the largest mosque in India, the Jama Masjid mosque. There was a camera fee, but somehow I got volunteered to represent the group’s experience in photos so I only had to pay half of it. OOOHHH yeah!
It made me feel obligated to take one million photos, including my first panoramas of the trip! How I have neglected those!


[thar she be]



[me and andrew. mosque models.]


[pigeons, pigeons, everywhere]


[check the dopey covers we had to wear so we'd be modest enough. love.]


[birds only pose for true photographers]


[best of the panz]


[Kayla, Shannon, and Rachel run through the pigeons. be proud, they only had socks on and there was poop galore. only Kayla went all the way.]

After the Jama Masjid, we were inexplicitly led to a crowded bazaar/market place. There were fun creepy alleyways, people of every type, thousands of little stores, colors and noise, motorcyclists and bikers trying to pass you constantly, stray animals, fried foods, garbage and dirt, jewelry, and more. No one could ever describe that place fully because there is way too much going on. I only took a few pictures before my camera died. Sad, but it was the first time this whole trip that it’s needed charging, so I can’t complain.



[random alley]


[look at the electrical wires!]

Once the group found each other, we were ready to lunch it up! The place we went to was pretty good, and our guide was also an entrepreneur so the three business majors got to chat him up.

Our final activity was shopping. The guide brought us to some expensive tourist store, and then we went to a Western-style mall for the people who didn’t bring enough warm clothes. Wandered around, blah blah blah, went back to the hotel for dinner. It’s fun just hanging out in the hotel and getting to know people from the group, which is what I did before going to beddddd!

Delhi Delights

Sorry for the delay! I have all the days typed up but for time reasons I might not be able to post them all and load pictures before my half hour of free wifi runs out. We'll see.

written on January 11^th (Monday)

Today was our journey to Delhi… India’s capital city. Exciting in theory, but a rather uneventful day.

I woke up early to skype Brian, which was pretty darn fun if you ask me. J

After that, there was packing, and loading bags onto the bus.

And Bryan inexplicitly stepped into a hole in the concrete filled with dirty rainwater.

Then we drove to the airport. Then we went through security. We waited at the airport (hungry, but unfazed, as lunch was sure to be served on the plane). The plane boarded.

No lunch was served on the flight.

It wasn’t too long though. And I took a few pictures of Chennai after take-off and of Delhi before landing. Yay, right?!

[goodbye, Chennai! see you in a week or so!]

[pwetty clouds]

[and helllllooo, Delhi!]

After all of the flying and waiting and driving we made it to the hotel. This one is super fancy!

We had dinner (finally!), a smaller buffet than the last place, but still pretty good. Though the other hotel had taken to treating us with one non-spicy American dish per night and this one definitely did not. 

Then we got to go to a Bollywood movie! It was neat to see, but sadly there were no English subtitles. This made the length a little hard to handle (there was actually an intermission).

The movie was called 3 Idiots. Based on speculation and a short synopsis by the popcorn salesboy, it was about three friends (cough, cough, the idiots!) going to a tough college who broke all the rules and gave their strict professor a hard time. There was lots of fun dancing, the main song being “All is Well!” The boys even danced all soapy in the dorm showers. (Pretty hot! Jk J) Anyway, then the main guy falls in love with the strict professor/principle’s daughter. And she is a doctor, the popcorn salesboy told us, in case you were wondering. Then we find out that the main guy is going to college under a false name so the other man can get a degree with no work (and pay him, I assume).

How was it wrapped up? I cannot give you the details, as I fell asleep.

I can tell you that all three of the idiots were able to follow their true dreams (one liked photography, for example) and the forbidden love worked out and there was dancing.

Everyone in the theater was laughing really hard, so it must have been a good one, eh?

Though it was also extremely dark for all the cheesiness and dancing. There was one suicide, one attempted suicide which ended up in a coma for a while, a woman giving birth on a ping pong table, and TONS (I mean tons) of crying.

Good stuff.

Now I am off to bed so goooooood afternoon for all you in Minnesota and nearby!

p.s. A few street shots for ya.

[sorry for the low qual.]

-written 1:30 am on January 11th

Fun in the Sun

Hello hello and hello!
Today we woke up early for church.
I thought it was a Catholic church but really it was Anglican or something. It was called St. George's Cathedral, the one Dr. Julius (Harley's friend here) and his family go to. It was very pretty.

[the huge doors were open and some birds flew in during the service, no big deal.]

[looking out at the fancy nancy garden]

We talked to the pastor who told us that the Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and one other church have all united in India since new Christians there don't care about denomination! How encouraging to see denominations united. Lovely.

Oh, and we had to sing songs in front of the church. Program: Father I Adore You (3 part round); Lord I Lift Your Name On High). Embarrassing! Hhahaha.

We also met the youth group for  a minute and got some free coffee and tea, but we had to skidattle so we could hang out with the WCC students again!!! (They are my favorite.)

[myself, Vishnavay (spelling may be butchered), Leela, Kristen]

They brought us around town! First stop was the beach. We decided to take the bus.

[bus adventures and tall tales]

Yet, oops! wrong bus. We got off at the next stop. Then the bus we thought was the real one to take told us to take the one we had just gotten off. Confusing, right?

After waiting and asking around, we were lost.

So guess what the alternative to the bus is?

Just guess, come on.

[O + M + G !]

Yeppers, an auto-rickshaw. Called an auto for short. I saw a drawing of an old rickshaw and it was a cart with a person pulling. A bit sad because I think it was part of colonial India. But these ROCK!

[rockin' the rickshaw (auto)!]

[can you smell the excitement as we weave through traffic?]

We finally made it to the beach--but were hungry! So Vish and Leela brought us to a cool south Indian restaurant.

[rice patties and a crunchy fried onion thing (left) with many dipping sauces/chutneys (white was coconut chutney) on a banana peel! traditional and delicious.]

Next was the beach! It wasn't very crowded because it was Sunday and everyone was sleeping in at home or something. Either way, the water was lovely as it was piping hot all day. We went straight there to put our feet in. However, you can't swim in it, I'm not sure why really.

[Leela, Kristen, Vish]

We walked around the small shops and beach for a long time!

[definitely rode the merry-go-round that is powered by a hand crank]

[the horse turned out to be pretty crazy, as the guy cranking got help and we went FAST]

[beach scene]

Then we sat in the shade, tired. After chatting a while, we went to a coffee shop to chat even more! Oh, and before that we had some delicious mango juice. Yesss.

After coffee we had to go. On our attempts to get to the meeting place we took an auto (rickshaw). The man got a flat tire and made us get out on a random street. All the drivers on that street wanted way more money than the other guy had. We finally gave in. The guy got a flat tire too! (This is not common, it never happened to them before.)

Luckily this guy was hankering for some cash so he took us to our destination anyway.

Destination: the Chennai Open 2010, tennis semifinals. It was mildly fun... I liked it in the beginning, but got bored partway through. It's a problem I have with sports. 

Still fun to say we did it though.

[aww, tennis fun with Bryan and Harlz]

Oh, and guess what I looked like after my beach day.... 

[forgot the damn sunscreen!]