Christmas in India

India. Well, this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as pictures we took, but here we go. We arrived in Delhi where Josh met us at the not-yet world-class airport.

J's roommates and friends gave us a warm welcome.

On our first morning, Josh had some work to be done, so he put us in this rickshaw and sent us out on our own.

First stop, India Gate, a monument to India's freedom from Britain. We quickly made friends with these guys, not realizing at the time that this would not be our first request for our photo. I guess they don't see a lot of westerners - we think we're just that good looking.

We crossed this street. The auto rickshaws, taxis, cars, buses, bikes, carts, cows just drive around you. It's either amazing or crazy. Or both.

This seems a little ridiculous as people obviously don't need an invitation to use their horns. They never stop using them. And no one is keeping distance from anyone.

This woman carried large metal poles while her children played.

Delhi is NOT pollution-free. It appears some people are trying to clean it up but it almost seems like a joke because there is so much smog and trash and dirt everywhere.

Despite the dirtiness, there are so many wonderful things about Delhi. Including this vegetable man that comes through the neighborhoods.

And women everywhere in gorgeous saris.


Our first meal. Indian parathas. While we were a little nervous about the sanitary state of this restaurant, we didn't want to admit our intestinal fears to our fearless guide and we watched in awe as this cross-legged man rolled our lunch up at his feet, added a variety of vegetables, passed to his friend who fried it and passed it to the server who gave it to us. Once we started eating, we forgot all of that and enjoyed every bite.

This market was absolute chaos. Wandering around, wide-eyed, we were able to perfect our bargaining skills (perfect is strong), buy a few things and see this guy getting a rickshaw ride with his goat.

A mosque in Old Delhi.

Humayun's Tomb is another breath away from all the craziness of Delhi. It was gorgeous at sunset.

Day two in Delhi led us to Quintab Minar where Joby got a chance to show off his skills with this photo.

Our second Indian meal was south Indian. It included dosas, idly, and vada. Southern Indian food is a bit spicier than food from the north, we found. Tasty...

We hopped on a bike rickshaw and this guy took us a couple of miles (all three of us on one!). He did great until he came to a hill. Then a guy came out of nowhere, pushed us up from behind and our guy gave him a few rupees. We think he sits at the bottom of the hill waiting for bike rickshaws with multiple large Americans to push up the hill to earn a few rupees.

"We're on a bike rickshaw!"

We walked around this lake at sunset and found some cute kids to take pictures of.

After two days in Delhi, we got on a night bus and headed for Pushkar. Night buses in India are quite the experience. We understand that we had a pretty luxurious bus and we're lucky to have a bed (unlike our friend below who slept the entire night in this position). On more than one occasion there was air space between me and the bed due to bumpy roads and/or bad driving. K's 5 a.m. face.

At about 5 a.m., the bus stopped and thinking it was a bathroom break, K got off to squat behind another bus. After taking care of business, she realized, we were actually stopped for a flat tire and that the guys were changing it with a pen flashlight! Or I should say, one guy was changing, the others were watching and hitting him on the head every so often. So K grabbed Josh's wind-up flashlight and saved the day!

Pushkar is a holy city. Here's what they said at our hotel. Many signs also said we were required to keep a strict vegetarian diet.


One of the best parts about India is the beautiful colors. It's amazing how dirty and dusty everything can be and the women still emerge looking absolutely gorgeous!

The only Brahmin Temple in the World. Brahma is the father of Hinduism.

Look out for the Pushkar Biker Gang.

We climbed to the top of this mountain to see the sunset.

A market in Pushkar.

Beautiful India.

In the morning, we hiked to the top of another mountain in the dark to watch the sunrise.

Followed by rooftop yoga.

In the evening we were picked up by motorcycle to be taken to our camel safari. No helmets.

And we're off.

We rode for about three hours through the desert before making it to our destination: the desert.

Pants twins!

Our guides made us an amazing dinner on an open fire (including baked bread) and we ate by the light of J's camera flash. The meal was very traditional, with dal, rice, baked rolls stuffed with potato, and a curried dish. Mmmmmm....

Here's where we slept - K is still sleeping.

It was Christmas Eve, we couldn't resist a couple three wise people photos.

Shoe shopping is an exciting experience in India. First, I said I needed big shoes. They said "yes" before they asked what size, brought me inside and then started throwing every large shoe in the shop at my feet until I started bartering for one of them. We argued for several minutes until Josh said he was going to buy a pair too and he got us a good two-for-one price.

Christmas breakfast in Agra. We bought samosas and dipped them on relatively spicy sauce. Yum! Nothing like fried goodness after an overnight bus to Agra.

The Taj Mahal on Christmas. You just can't have enough pictures.

We posed for a few shots with the locals - just to keep the fans happy.

K wanted a traditional Indian shirt so we stopped by this teeny tiny shop and asked the shop owner if she could try one on. It didn't fit. He said "no problem," ripped the seams out, resewed them right there on his pedal Singer and waa-la - a beautiful India shirt. K only had the nerve to barter a few hundred rupees after he'd worked so hard and so quickly.

It's easy to forget what a luxury "Western" toilets are until you've got to go and you're staring at one of these. Yep, those grooves are where your feet are supposed to go. We call them "Squatters".

Talking to the Walkers on Christmas in the back of an auto rickshaw.

A typical Indian bike shop. The guys at Old Town will love this one! Not a single bike for sale, just a few wheels and spare tubes.

Watching the sunrise on Josh's Birthday (and Sarah's!) with a monkey.

The smog covered most of the sunrise but we still had fun with the color-accent mode on the cameras.

At this point, we revised our trip plan for some shorter traveling times to see the local cities. First stop, Fatepur Sikre, the city with no water. Akbar built this gorgeous palace but didn't realize that a city far from a water source would have constant problems.

K decided she'd had enough of being asked for her photo and decided to ask these lovely Indian girls for a photo. Amid much giggling, they agreed.

Fruit for sale outside Akbar's Palace where our shoes are being safely piled.

We got pretty used to seeing livestock absolutely everywhere in India, and especially where you'd least expect it. But when we saw this warthog happily munching on some trash, a photo had to be taken.

Next, we opted for a public bus to Badapur with a connection to Mathura. Finding the proper bus is quite an adventure. No buses are labeled. You have to ask. Many times. It seemed the Indians loved to say 'yes' before they heard the question. So, it was necessary to ask at least five people before you were sure of the answer. At one point, on the bus , ready to go, having asked everyone around us to make sure we were on the correct bus, someone came on the bus and said something in Hindi so we all got off. Turns out there was no driver for that bus. So we filed on another bus, that already had several people on it, squeezed in with our giant tourist backpacks and we were on our way. In the photo below, we've made a stop on the side of the road and all these people got on selling vegetables or tobacco. We attracted a little bit of attention.

Now, riding on a public bus is REALLY exciting. My advice: don't ever look out the front window because 90% of the time, the bus is heading into traffic. We always swerved at the last minute to avoid the tractor, bus, car, rickshaw or cow that was coming towards us but more than once, the riders let out a collective gasp as it was happening. We made it.

In Badapur, we drew quite a crowd. Badapur was small enough that there was not a single English sign to be seen.

Mathura, our last stop, is the birthplace of Krishna. When we got into town the friendly people on our bus told us that our hotel was probably 2 kilometers from the bus stop. They were just being friendly, and really the distance was probably more like 8 kilometers. Not knowing that, we bartered hard for what we thought a reasonable price for a 2 kilometer rickshaw ride should cost. It took a while to find two bike-rickshaws who would take us, but eventually we found them. One for A and the backpack, and one for T and J. A's rickshaw driver was India's Lance Armstrong. We were going so fast that I was actually quite nervous that we would tip over as we flew around corners. We only hit two pedestrians and one car on the way to the hotel. Here's India's Lance, relaxing after the ride.

We walked around Mathura and saw the massive Krishna temple. It was wild--a bit like Disneyland, a bit like the World's Fair, and a bit like Epcot Center. So many lights, colors, pictures, statues, and constant wonderful singing and dancing! After the temple, we walked around for a bit and when we were about 3 blocks from our hotel an auto rickshaw driver asked us if we wanted a ride. We tried to tell him "no" repeatedly, but he just lowered his price a few rupees at a time. We literally had 3 blocks to walk, but when the auto rickshaw wallah insisted that we ride for 5 rupees, I agreed--on the condition that I get to drive the rickshaw! It drives like a vespa, with a floor brake pedal and a clutch operated by pulling the left brake lever and twisting the grip to shift gears. Wheee! That's me driving!

The Indian trains - check out all the fans for the summer months, I can only imagine. Definitely NOT the Darjeeling Limited.

Back in Delhi, we celebrated Christmas on J's terrace in the sun.

Heading out on the town in a rickshaw for our last night in Delhi.

Our last Indian meal. Dosas, parathas, naan, chipati, every curry imaginable, and the sweetest dessert you've ever eaten.


J & A get head massages. These guys, who looked about 12 but were probably more like 16 or 17, went to town on our scalps. And for $0.50!


Our host sends us off with a song.

India is a hard county to leave. The craziness of life grows on you and pretty soon . . . you realize that it is wonderful there. Despite some of the dirtiness . . . it is a very special place with kind, friendly, and welcoming people and amazing traditions. Thanks to our host for an amazing trip!!

Check back in a few days for videos from India. . . .