Finally in Delhi!

*sorry about the spelling, there was no time to proofread!

Sunday November 20, 2011

Greetings from New Delhi! This is Maya, Kaitlyn and Jessica giving you all an update.
We are finally settled in India after 24 hours of travel. Our first flight from Seattle to Seoul went well with no problems or turbulence! Our second flight from Seoul to Delhi was very long but most of us did a good job of sleeping for at least a little bit. On our flight, we had a Korean Folk Dancing group of girls that were going to India for a performance. They looked like characters from the book Madeline in matching uniforms and discipline. When we landed Bob Tindel was waiting for us. Our group of the fabulous 15 was finally complete. Customs went quickly and we got to our hotel around 2:30 AM. This is when jet lag plays in our favor. We settled into our rooms quickly and went to bed because today started at 9.

Breakfast was at 9 and we were ready to go at 9:45. We met our tour guide Singh in the lobby and he lead us down the alley and out into the main roads. One of the first things we noticed was the lack of women walking around and the guys holding hands. While we were waiting for our bus to pick us up, we had a fan club of at least 60 men standing around and taking pictures. This was our introduction to the stares and gawking that would follow for the rest of the day. We boarded the bus and headed off to the India gate.

Singh did a great job of giving a history of India along with answering all our questions. We drove down the 4km long road that all of the embassies line and saw the government buildings. At the India gate, we had our first experience with ‘Hawkers’ or peddlers and beggars. There were two little gypsy girls outside of the bus; one was playing a drum while the other did flips and danced. The India gate was beautiful. It was built by the government to commemorate lost soldiers of India. The center piece is an eternal flame, which we noticed as a trend as the day progressed.

After the India gate it was off to the largest mosque in India, Jama Masjid .20,000 people can pray here at once. Before entering the beautiful mosque, all of us girls had to put on brightly colored, full body robes. The boys that were wearing shorts wore them as skirts. Sing showed us around the mosque that was constructed of red and white limestone. The amount of inlay work in the most was breath taking. We got to see the Red Fort in the distance. The smog(ADD ABUT SMOG) We didn’t spend too much time in the mosque because we had many more sites to visit.

The Raj Ghat or Muhatma Ghandi’s tomb was our next stop. The park surrounding the actualy tomb was beautiful but the tomb stone itself was slightly anticlimactic. The black 10 foot by 8 foot slab of black marble seemed like an understatement for all the work that Ghandi did India. It was quite the experience beacuase we became a bigger attraction than the tomb! This family from a remote village asked to take pictures with us. They were had never seen forgieners and were proud to show off their family. We took several pictures with them and then were on our way.

After the Raj Ghat we went to Hanuman’s Tomb. Hanuman was the great grandfather of the man who built the Taj Mahal. Hanuman came into power when he was 21. He quickly became an opium addict and a womanizer. The people did not think very highly of him so he only served for fours years. When his successor died, Hanuman had a chance to return to power. He did but not for very long. He died from heads fracutres in result of falling down the stairs of his library. For a man whose name means fortunate, he wasn’t very lucky. We walked around the tomb for a while and saw many adorable puppies and beautiful arcitechture. On our way out, Joey was almost pick pocketed. Thankfully he didn’t have anything in his pocket. When we asked him what happened he said, “The older woman walked by and her hand was in my pocket.” It was slightly amusing because the woman was uncessful but now we are more aware for the risk of being pick pocketed. Before loading the bus we all experienced a snake charmer. This man walked over to us and opened a basket with two cobras inside. He played his instrument and the snakes did their thang.

We had a late lunch around 2:30 at this great restaurant. Getting to the restaurant was very difficult. We’ve learned one thing about the roads in India: There are no rules. It is a conquest for survival every time you cross the street. Our first obstacle was a large group of portesters. Earlier in the day we saw acouple thousand protesters in favor the People’s political party. They were protesting because they are tired of the corruption in India. Our next obstacle was the cars and motorcyclesists. It’s like playing a real life version of Frogger. After our obstacle course we had a wonderful lunch. The food was interesting and flavorful. By this time most of us were burned out but we continued on because we had another stop to make.

The Swaminarayan Akshardan Temple was our last and longest stop the day. This temple is the largest Hindi temple in the world. It took five years to build and was completed in 2005. No machinery was used in any of the decorations and it took 11,000 laborers to build. It felt like we were at Disneyland because of vast size of the temple along with the amount of detail. The center piece was a large temple that was completely stone. The Hindu’s believe that gold is in everything so much of the temple was gold. The main chamber in the temple held Swaminarayan statue. It was at least 15 feet tall and all gold. There were precious stones in most of the walls. It was weird being the only white tourists at the temple. There were people from all over India there but we were the only white tourists. We got just as much attention as we did at the other sites. After a brief exploration of the main temple, we went into a court yard to watch a musical fountain show. It was phenominal. The music was a tribute to the three Hindu gods of birth, life, and distruction. We then went on a short boat ride that was similar to the Disneyland ride, It’s a small world. There we learned about the history of India and all its acconmplishments including the creation of the number Pi and hospitals.  We then watched a movie on Swaminarayan’s life. Swaminarayan is the proffet of the Akshardan Hindu sect. We watched this movie on the largest screen in India. The screen was 65 feet by 85 feet. The movie was interesting but most people fell asleep because it had been a long day. We then went to dinner where we had live music. Dinner went quickly because we were all tired and ready for bed.

We are no back at our hotel and it is bed time. We have a full day ahead of us tomorrow including a five hour bus ride to Agra and seeing the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. We have been taking lots of pictures and are having a wonderful time. We hope life in Portland isn’t too boring without us!

Much love,

Maya, Kaitlyn, Jessica and the Bridges to India Group

Landed in Seoul

Ahoy me maties,
yar vessel hath landed upon the shores of Seoul, South Korea!!!
We had smooth sailing, no delays, no whiners, cranky children, or crying babies. We have got 5,500 miles under our belt with 2,800 to go! Stopped for a quick visit to a McDonalds for some refreshing ice cream and are waiting at gate 39 for our 8:10 departure. Anxiously awaiting the 8 more hours of travel before finally reaching Dehli! Love and miss you all and will keep you updated on our daily adventures!

xoxoxoxo
The Bridges To India Team

Finally leaving (sort of).

Here it is. We are all sitting in our fancy conference room up at the airport. Bags are checked, pictures have been taken, and so the first round of 'hurry up and wait' is well in session. In about forty five minutes we will be boarding our flight to Seattle and we will really be gone. Exciting, ain't it? :)