ok ok ok.
since arriving in delhi only 6 days ago, we have been to Agra and Jaipur so it has been a busy few days PACKED with good times, good eats, and borderline ridiculous moments. so I will try and include a few hi-lites thus far.
- the train from Varansi to Delhi was 3 hours late leaving and 5 hours late arriving in Delhi. We had hard sleepers and after the extra hours we just really wanted to get off and find our way to Karan, Nate, and McKay. So we mustered up the energy to navigate Delhi but moments after stepping off the train a man in a turquoise turban walked towards me with open arms and it was Karan! He had come to retrieve us. (note: Karan was at school with Nate in their freshman year but he is from Delhi and he is one of the coolest, most generous, most articulate guys around and he just happens to have a nephew getting married so he is visiting from London and we all coordinated to come too! This 'we' includes Nate and McKay who are the first family members I have seen in 2.5 years so it was a sweet moment at the train station. end note:)
- Karan took us to his family home where we ate some yummy Indian ( home cooked) food that had been waiting all morning as we were late on the train but boy oh boy was it welcome. It was so refreshing to feel like we were in the car of someone and also to be around friends and family again. After a quick shower Karan took us to the Bahai temple, a remarkable Lotus shaped temple where people of all faiths can go and mediate in the still space. It was a lovely place to be as the sun was setting in our first hours in Delhi. Later that night Karan treated us to a fine dinner at a Thai place near his abode. It was wonderful food and again, quite a fun and unique transition for Mike, Lucy and me from the previous 7 weeks of the trip and it felt wonderful. We each have our own room and bathroom with a sit toilet. Divinity.
- After a heavy, hard sleep due to the previous nights catch up chat, we went downstairs to a fantastic breakfast prepared my Mrs. Singh (K's mom) of these wonderful things that I will have to get Karan to write down but breads and chic peas and fresh juice, etc, etc. Now for this wedding we will be attedning there are 4 seperate events we need to be outfitted for and the men needed suits and this being the city of fine suit tailoring, Karan took us a'shoppin and both Nate and Mike picked from a divine collection of fabrics. Mike was giddy with what he beheld and his choice of fabric. Once they have the suits I will detail more about them but I am thinking smokin' hot! We also visited a few fab places to look for more traditional attire and the colours, textures, patterns, and did i say colours, are to die for so it's all very exciting. Mom, you would just die and I wish I had a thousand dollars to buy fabrics for you!
- The next morning we hired a car to go Agra and see the Taj Mahal. We left about 7:30AM and made the 4 hour drive without too much incident except that our driver seemed a little annoyed at us and we had a bit of an issue deciphering his messages but we did see lots of camels along the side of the road which was a first for me and an elephant oh and lots of mud houses with a very intricate wall texture.The Taj was magnificant and white, like oh I really wish I had sunglasses white. Marvelous building, sublime. After, we headed to the Red Fort (our first fort) and wondered at the architecture of ancient Indian buildings and begun to get a swing for the motifs and shapes and colours of this place, India. We had planned on one more part to the day but we were all shattered and thought getting back to Delhi and sitting down for a nice meal sounded quite right and off we went. One of the funnier moments came when the driver asked Lucy in the front seat or what she thought was him saying 'do you want to stop for tea or coffee' and she said 'no we are fine' and he said, 'NO I WANT TEA!' so we stopped and the rest of the trip back we debated about environmental issues plaguing the world and other subjects such as that and at some point our driver slipped in ear plugs. (Insert: funny story about going out to a restaurant where they wouldn't let us serve our own food but also wouldn't serve nate)
- the next day was our free Delhi day. As Karan hasn't been back to Delhi in 2 years he had some family obligations so we got dropped off in the middle of the city and made our way around by our favorite form of transport, the auto rickshaw which we gave N&M their first taste of and it was sweet. It visited the Jantar Mantar a huge working sundial and other assorted instruments and then made our way to some markets! We love markets and these once were packed because it was Dewali (the festival of light, like Christmas to get a frame of the importance and scale) and they give gifts so the markets had lots of late shopped going for it.
- then we went to Jaipur and met up with the coolest chica around, my Kasey. More on that later. I have to get a brownie before they are gone.
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