Kites

Sleep in Jaipur has been challenged.

The nights are very cold ( 5 degrees) and the Haveli has no heat.

One of the most beautiful things - at 5:30 in the evening you can hear the sound of children laughing and playing from the rooftop terraces - all of them flying beautiful coloured kites.  It is a scene out of the movie - The Kite Runner.  If you haven't seen the movie - I would suggest it - it is beautiful.

The little specks you see are the kites.  Very difficult to get a good picture.

Four times throughout the day in this city - 5:30am, 2 times through the day and again at 7:30pm you can hear the call to prayer for Muslims.  A chanting that is exactly that - a call to prayer that rises from the depths of the city to high above the mountains.  It is beautiful - even at 5:30 am lol.

Here is a pic of a lovely lady I met working in the washroom of a roadside restaurant on the way to Jaipur.   She was too pretty and authentic to not have a pic.

and another of one of the modes of transportation in this vast archaic country......

Be in touch soon.

Love

Tam :)



New City....New Adventure

Well bye to Delhi....last evening at dinner met a group from Colorado.  A lady and her young son and an Aunt travelling with them.  Here in India for 90 days while the young boy receives stem cell transplants.  Blew me away. In a country that seem so archaic to such a progressive treatment not yet available in Canada.

 

Now in Jaipur - in the province on Rajasthan.  A 6 hour drive from Delhi.  Staying with the Singh family at their Haveli.  Once their family palace now converted into a 14 room facility. Absolutely beautiful from the outside........

 

I have learned a lot about Indian culture and the cast system.  This is a method of categorizing the people.  From the colours that they can wear......

 

 

 

To what food they can eat (veg or non-veg) and who they can marry..................

And if you are wondering if I........

did get to attend an actual marriage ceremony...........................

You would be correct!  Ask and the universe shall provide (and yes all the pictures on the blog are indeed mine!)

Love

Tammy

(PS. Keep forgetting to tell you that the second night in Delhi I was awoken at 2am by an earthquake - epicentre in Pakistan 7.2 on the Richter scale)

Tear Drop on the Cheek of Time

The journey to Agra from Delhi by car is not one that I would want to experience again.  The filth and poverty was overwhelming. There are things I saw that I never hope to again. We left the haveli  in Delhi at 5am to make the 4 hour trip.  Visiting the Taj Mahal was not high on my list of priorities in coming to India but I also knew that the chances of seeing it again would be slim.  The staff at the little haveli packed a breakfast - hard boiled eggs -  bananas, some brown bread and a bottle of water.  When we came down the stairs in the haveli it was clear one of the members of the kitchen had camped out on the floor the night previous to be there to make us the breakfast and see us on our way.  In my experience this has been the way almost the entire trip.  The Indian people have really been spectacular.  Our driver - Raj was a sweet man of 22 years old and drove so very carefully that the drive was not a scary one.

Upon entering the Taj Mahal complex - once again amazed at the vastness.  Seeing her for the first time gave me the chills.  She is floating on the water - in the air. The weather was amazing this day. Sunny and 25 degrees and walking around in the peaceful gardens made you feel like you were in heaven on earth. The story is indeed a sad one - emporer Shah Jahan building this tomb for his beloved wife Mumtaz when she died at the age of 39 while giving birth to their 14th child.  I purchased the book in the expat market entitled "Tear Drop on the Cheek of Time"  to gain a better understanding of the story and have since learned that many of places we have visitied were also tombs of relatives of Shah Jahan.  I have become a little intrigued.

Visiting the Taj Mahal was the last of the touristy type activities.

So far loving India.

Tam :)

Old Delhi - if my Mom could see me now

It's been a while since my last post.  Using the Internet here has been difficult at best. My frustration level on that issue has been high.  Not entirely used to being disconnected. Note to self.......IPAD is high on priority after this trip has been paid for lol.  Uploading pictures - at least at this Internet cafe not an option.

We amended our itinerary out of some exhaustion.  There was just too much to squeeze in and so little time.  This country is very large and there is so much to see but in 3 weeks time you really must have a good plan and I believe that was the case but truthfully it was too much.  An extra night in Delhi helped clear up exhaustion issues thankfully and provided the opportunity for some interesting things.

A friend of mine told me that she came to India and took a rickshaw ride through the markets in Old Delhi.  A rickshaw is really a bike with a wood slab attached to the back where you sit and there are bars for you to hang onto.  My friend said that as she was riding the rickshaw she was thinking if my Mom could see me now.  Boy was she right.  This was an adventure that unless you experienced it for yourself understanding the true nature of the craziness is difficult. The pictures will not do it justice.

Our driver Alam was amazing and took us down some of the most narrow alley ways through the crowded spice markets and wedding markets and auto markets.  The smells unbelievable - the sights - the colours - the blues, reds and yellows of the Saree shops - all incredible.  People are finding us Westerner's fascinating and on more than a few occasions people have gotten uncomfortably close to see our faces or eye colour better. Everyone however is very friendly.

We found an expat market - Khan Market and were able to buy some water and snacks and that was quite helpful as most vendors selling water are doing it street side and the water is sitting in the sun all day in plastic bottles.  Not interested in that.  We are using bottled water to brush teeth etc.

We ventured from Delhi for a day to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal...............

Be back soon...
Tammy

Delhi - OH MY

Well it is Wednesday here in Delhi. Arriving here was quite an experience.  The airport very modern. Easy getting through customs etc. Coming out however a whole other story.  The air smells like burning embers - non stop. Like you've been sitting around the campfire.  It is difficult to take and luckily we brought hanker chiefs to breathe into.  The hotel is beautiful.  Alex - the owner - and his staff have been extremely helpful in the planning of things to come.  Spent the day visiting historical sights yesterday.  They are incredible in so many ways. Mostly because of the vastness of them - sitting on 30 acres or more.  One tomb we visited was resurrected by a lady in mourning of her husband.  Incredible.  So many photo opportunities.  The school children here have taken quite a liking to me. Wanting to shake hands often and say hello - they are so proud of their English speaking abilities. I am also getting many coy smiles from the ladies native to here.  All are interested it seems.

I cannot even begin to tell you about the traffic here. There are lanes but no one uses them - it's a free for all and you are really hanging on for dear life.  I will say that the drivers have been excellent and maneuver through everything with ease. All for now. 

Much more to share.  Will hopefully post more detail later. Thank you so much for the comments!

With love
Tammy

The Adventure Begins Now!!

Well off I go.  Months of planning and preparation are about to finally come into play.  I'm hoping to share as much about this adventure as possible here. Obviously there is no way to know how frequent a computer will be accessible but certainly every few days.

I have a heavy heart today. This is the longest that I will have been away from Matthew and Madeleine ever - not to mention being away from home.  The kids and I have had long discussions about fulfilling your dreams and how important it is for those around you to be supportive of that (not necessarily in agreeance....but supportive).  Dean watched the movie Bucket List with them so that they could have an even greater understanding of how important it is for you to live your best, most exciting life! We have awesome kids and on some level they get it and that is pretty cool in my book.

The interesting part of sharing with people about where I am going was in observing the reactions. I guess the most commonly asked question has been 'Why India?' and 'Why not Italy?' (lol) truthfully I can't tell you the full answer to that yet. But I am confident that the answer will come to me quite readily in the next few weeks. My goal is to look for the beauty in India and share it with as much honesty and humility that I can.

This morning I have savoured everything - the smiling faces around me, the phone calls from well wishers, the chocolate croissant and tea I had for breakfast and the very hot shower - oh my!

Thanks in advance for reading.

Namaste with love
Tammy