The views from Shimla...

Shimla is funny... it is like France and India put together. It also feels like Boulder with its fancy walking mall. It was a nice refreshing change from the heat below.

This is Anil he is our Indian Travel Agent. We met him through a long process of connections. Here it goes: I know Sunder from Boulder, She is marrying Hargobind, Hargobind has known Harman since he was young, Harman said I will have to get you in touch with my friends that I went to University with in Shimla, Narender is one of his friends and Anil is the other... Amazing to me the generosity that this one little connection created! The majority of our trip was planned our discussed with Anil... So if you are going to North India... I have a man for you! And the connection continues!
This is me making the trek up to the Monkey Temple. It was a good little hike!

Beautiful scenes as we hiked up higher and higher.
This adorable punk monkey would not stop staring us down... he was hilarious!
This monkey liked us. He let us take about 25 pictures while he made funny faces and funny noises and ate peanuts... sticking his tongue out at us was included!
I like em!
Wise monkey...
They asked me if they could have me take a picture with them?

He is contemplating his navel.
Just the normal way of moving crates of bottles... no problem!

We found our first real espresso coffee since we were in India. All over India the coffee is "Nescafe" or something along those lines... more sweet than coffee flavor :[ Notice the background... Yes that is a monkey!
Steve asking a policeman something.

Just another roadside attraction... with good lighting.

We are know the proud owner of an Indian cell phone!

If you enjoyed these pictures and want to see more click on one of the pictures to the right of the blog underneath flickr... There are loads more... this was a teaser!

On the Road Again...

After a week in Amritsar we head to Shimla. Shimla being a mountain top Hill Station is hard to imagine starting the trip in an "air conditioned" coach with sweat forming at the backs of my knees. Five hours for the mountains to prove that they really do exist. Leaving Amritsar was perfect. Param Jit would not let us go without tea and a pastry flaked dunker (not the official name). We drank the tea standing feeling half obliged and half grateful to have some home town love running through our system. This was a big departure from a week of relaxing with friends, having everything figured out for us and over all feeling as cushiony as we could imagine in India. Amar Jit and I discussed that their living room clock was a half an hour off and that the bus was leaving in ten minutes time as we shuffled into the early morning light. We were already five minutes late from the suggested time to calmly find our seat at the back of the bus. Instead we waited five more minutes while Amar Jit and Param Jit argued if it would take 10 or 3 minutes to drive to the bus. Param Jit seemed to win as we departed the house with three minutes to go. We arrived to the bus stop, handed over our nicely packed bags to the young man who threw them under the bus and we hurriedly walked past all the other patiently waiting passengers. Steve assured me not to worry as one more sorry chap won the prize of last man on the bus. A moment before we boarded, Param Jit gave me a huge hug and whispered God Bless. And moments before that he said, "see only three minutes!" A perfect good bye.

Comforts of a Home

Sept. 29th, 2008 By the Grace and workings of the Universe my dear friend Sunder Kaur and her husband Hargobind just happen to arrive to India to visit with his parents for a week or so in Amritsar. They found out two weeks before we left that they were landing in India the day after we would! We joined them after our jaunt to the Taj Mahal. Hargobind's parents, Amar Jit and Param Jit (both have the same middle name) are retired doctors who we soon found out were well known all over Amritsar. They are both amazing, loving and talented people who we felt instantly at home with. Our week was wonderful. We enjoyed the early morning walk in the park with the Jits. I discovered the fox bat... I swear it was as big as a cat with wings. And get this there were at least 200 of them all in one tree hanging upside down with their bony wings wrapped around themselves screeching and settling down for a sleep. The people who walk there everyday said "that they had never noticed them before and that they probably just showed up... migrating fox bats?" We enjoyed new spectacle buying... three pairs of glasses for $40... not bad... Steve really likes his pairs. My pair look a little like something Elton John would wear but I like that they are rose colored and the only sunglasses I own with my prescription. We enjoyed the Golden Temple in all its glory. It was so awesome to see the bustling city outside and then rinse our feet and hands, walk in and be embraced with the calm of the temple. There are tons of people bathing in the pool of water that surrounds the temple and others just sitting enjoying the spectacle of a building covered in 24 karate gold. I am sad to say we did not go to the Lungar which is served throughout the day to anyone and everyone who wants or needs. We are talking hours of service from the community to keep thousands of visitors and local people fed every single day. Next time we will enjoy the food which I am sure is tasty because of the powerful vibration of the place. We had a chance to listen to the Kirtan playing inside the temple. Steve and Hargobind sat on the men's side and Sunder and I sat on the women's side. It was like a breath of fresh air listening and meditating in the cool center of this place of worship. Most of all I think we enjoyed the relaxing in a home. There was little struggle to do much of anything throughout the week, where as the couple days of India we had before this part of the trip was a constant job of adjusting and figuring everything out on our part. ..............................................................................................................................................................

The Little Things

So I have to admit we have been blog shy. We are posting pictures and writing from about two weeks ago. I am trying my hardest not to be a blog perfectionist because really I know that the few things I can say here and there are welcomed and not judged... so here we go.

Here is my journal entry from Sept. 22, 2008

Today we arrived to the welcoming arms of Sunder Kaur and Hargobind in the crowded train station which was ironically filled with white people. Sunder said her "ideal finding mechanism for us was foiled by all these white people!" It is a wonderful thing finding friends who are familiar in a place where everything else is still very foreign.

Stephen's father has asked about the little tings. I think of this as a difficult task because the little things are my world right now. Every moment I am figuring something else out... to name all the ahas is probably impossible...

And yet, as always just starting the impossible will get me closer to the possible!

1. Colors are Everywhere

a. Steve says, "Indian people (from what we have seen thus far) are the opposite of peacocks and hens (the National bird of India) . The women where very bright colors and the men are usually in neutral earth tones. In the remote roadside villages it is common to see women covered from head to toe in neon colored saris.

b. As for the landscapes no decrepit building are safe from bright cellphone to underwear ads. There are painted on the concrete and brick walls of people's homes and businesses. I assume the family is paid for their visual place along the busy one lane road "highway".

2. Smells

a. Clorhine Bleach of our fancy hotel

b. Urine everywhere-By the way, I have seen more men peeing on the side of the road than I every expected in a lifetime. Men's public bathrooms are concrete tile structures that face the road so that the man's back side is visible to everyone usually no exposed body parts but everone knows what they are doing. I also have the keen ability to spot all the men along the road who couldn't wait for the public bathroom.

c. Burning Smell- not always sure of what

d. Dusty lung filling pollution smell :) yum

3. Customs

a. The head bob which Stephen aspires to learn. It means many things but mostly "yes"

Sometimes it can mean "okay if you say so but not what I was hoping to hear"

b. Namaste... thus far this greeting and goodbye has been very rare... maybe because we are whities but mostly we get the handshake.

c. "As you wish" means tip is included

Just a few of the little things... and so much more to come!

Day Six

I am writing on the sixth day of our trip in India. If you were to tell me that I would know this much after six days I might say that I am afraid to see what I know after six months. Things move very fast here and I must say that I had the stereo type that only in America did things move so fast. One day in a car on a New Delhi street changed that perception.

I have to come to figure out that there are layers of culture shock. I think this will be an on going process of thinking I know something about this place and then realizing that I have no clue.

Steve and I have decided to offer many different ways of posting on this blog. As of now it has been difficult to get good Internet connection at Hargobind’s house... this is probably the only difficult thing that we have experienced here... I feel as though we have been wrapped up in the love and welcome of this family. It has been great.
Here is a little overview of the monuments we have seen, and mentionable activities:

8/18 Day One- New Delhi adventuring- Red Fort and Baha’i House of Worship
8/19 Day Two- Beginning “The Golden Triangle” tour- Driving to Jaipur-
Amber Fort......... “Water Palace” ...

8/20 Day Three-Animal watching- Keoladeo Ghana National Park- We had a blast here!


The bikes were, let's say, less than smooth
Watch out serious nature photographers coming through! Soooo Cool!
and the Grand Fatehpur Sikri Mosque


8/21 Day Four- Seeing the indescribable Taj Mahal driving back to New Delhi


Security doing their job The detail is unbelievable A buzzard chillin'
We can't take her anywhere!

8/22 Day Five- Train to Amritsar and Hargobind’s Family

Morning tea from the tea man... is lovely



8/23 Day Six- Golden Temple, being special guests at a friend of the families

I was encouraging him to smile with his teeth... apparently he didn't like the way they looked :) prassad is a sweet blessing
8/24 Day Seven- Going for an early walk in the park, suit shopping and seeing Sunder Kaur’s wedding ring being finished by the jeweler
8/25-29th
hanging at the Punjab Academy and principal Harman house
Party at the "club" A beautifully done play Ah aren't they cute! Stephen watching OBAMA Jasleen publizing her new must read: "Vegetable, Animal, Miracle" By Barbra Kingsolver People enjoying us taking pictures of them
"Guru" Jasleen Teaching Paramjit Yoga excercices for his hurting back
If you would like to see more pictures from Amritsar click on the flickr pictures to the right of this blog.