This last week has been crazy. :)
Amy and I have filled our time to the brim, I've said good-bye to Mussoorie and lots of our friends here, and we did the majority of our final/Ireland packing last night. And today we're head out for 4 1/2 weeks of travel: Leh Ladakh, 8-day trek in the high Himalayas, Amritsar/Golden Temple, Dharamsala, Agra, Ireland. I'm feeling excited and overwhelmed by all our upcoming experiences!
And with that, I'm signing off for at least 3 weeks! Family, we'll e-mail as much as we can so you know we're safe. Much love!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Tourist Week: Saturday
On to Saturday! We did the official "tourist day" on Saturday. It was especially nice because Chris could come (he's still having to work, poor man!), and we got to do some things that he hadn't even done yet! First stop, Garhwal!
As part of the tourist trap that is Mussoorie, there are rows of photo booths with traditional Garhwali outfits (Garhwal is the region of India that we live in). It's the Indian version of the black and white saloon pictures that everyone takes in America. :) None of these are the "official pictures", but you get the idea.
I LOVE this one of Chris! Chris' mom has created a tradition where she brings back some sort of weapon for the boys everywhere she goes - swords, daggers, pocket knives, etc. Therefore, I found it very fitting when the photographer handed the current King of Garhwal his sword.
Silly sisters.
Isn't he so handsome?!
We rode rickshaws to Happy Valley. It was CRAZY (it's high tourist season in Mussoorie right now, and although it was fun to see how intense it gets, it was NOT fun to be in the traffic!)
In front of the Tibetan Buddhist Temple
Looking out on the valley from Flag Hill #2
Flag Hill is COVERED in Tibetan Prayer Flags...it's really neat. :)
And then, on to the man-powered ferris wheel! I had posted pictures about this before too, but they were in a small slide show and I wasn't sure it was CLEARLY COMMUNICATED how AWESOME this is. :) The men evenly distribute the weight of passengers, and then move around on the ferris wheel to make it go - and it goes FAST!
Amy and I at the top...
Sometimes they'll grab on and ride it all the way around, upside down. and sometimes, they'll grab onto the back of your cart and ride yours down to the ground...it's seriously so neat!
Funniest part of the day: having 3 white people in the bazaar during tourist season (2 of which are young blonde girls) did attract attention. Amy and I were videotaped the entire time we were on the ferris wheel and Chris actually had a father come up to him to ask if his son could shake his hand! My favorite though was this guy below. He asked Chris if he could take a picture with him because he looked so much like Tom Cruise (yeah, that's my husband!)
It made me feel happy though, that even being a white person in India who know almost NO Hindi, we still weren't as "bad" of tourists as the native Indians. :)
As part of the tourist trap that is Mussoorie, there are rows of photo booths with traditional Garhwali outfits (Garhwal is the region of India that we live in). It's the Indian version of the black and white saloon pictures that everyone takes in America. :) None of these are the "official pictures", but you get the idea.
I LOVE this one of Chris! Chris' mom has created a tradition where she brings back some sort of weapon for the boys everywhere she goes - swords, daggers, pocket knives, etc. Therefore, I found it very fitting when the photographer handed the current King of Garhwal his sword.
Silly sisters.
Isn't he so handsome?!
We rode rickshaws to Happy Valley. It was CRAZY (it's high tourist season in Mussoorie right now, and although it was fun to see how intense it gets, it was NOT fun to be in the traffic!)
In front of the Tibetan Buddhist Temple
Amy turning the prayer wheel
Looking out on the valley from Flag Hill #2
Flag Hill is COVERED in Tibetan Prayer Flags...it's really neat. :)
And then, on to the man-powered ferris wheel! I had posted pictures about this before too, but they were in a small slide show and I wasn't sure it was CLEARLY COMMUNICATED how AWESOME this is. :) The men evenly distribute the weight of passengers, and then move around on the ferris wheel to make it go - and it goes FAST!
Amy and I at the top...
The guys walk on the spokes to keep it moving
Sometimes they'll grab on and ride it all the way around, upside down. and sometimes, they'll grab onto the back of your cart and ride yours down to the ground...it's seriously so neat!
Funniest part of the day: having 3 white people in the bazaar during tourist season (2 of which are young blonde girls) did attract attention. Amy and I were videotaped the entire time we were on the ferris wheel and Chris actually had a father come up to him to ask if his son could shake his hand! My favorite though was this guy below. He asked Chris if he could take a picture with him because he looked so much like Tom Cruise (yeah, that's my husband!)
It made me feel happy though, that even being a white person in India who know almost NO Hindi, we still weren't as "bad" of tourists as the native Indians. :)Tourist Week: Friday
Friday was our big GIRLS SHOPPING DAY! We had many of these when Rachel and Yvonne were here, but since Amy's here for a shorter time, we decided to have a marathon shopping day, and just did it all at once. This day can be broken into four parts: 1) Stepping, 2) Styling, 3) Sporting, and 4) Sparkling. :)
SPORTING
We ordered a suit for Matthew, two suits for Chris, and a coat for both me and Amy. You show them the picture, pick out the fabric, they take the measurements....and then the magic begins. It's seriously so much fun!
STEPPING
A girl can never have too many shoes...
Especially when they're made just for you!
A girl can never have too many shoes...
Especially when they're made just for you!
STYLING
Amy's a sewer herself, so we went into the tailor and she kind of went "gaga". :) It was really fun...she drempt it, explained it, and he's making it. So much fun!
Amy's a sewer herself, so we went into the tailor and she kind of went "gaga". :) It was really fun...she drempt it, explained it, and he's making it. So much fun!
SPORTING
We ordered a suit for Matthew, two suits for Chris, and a coat for both me and Amy. You show them the picture, pick out the fabric, they take the measurements....and then the magic begins. It's seriously so much fun!
SPARKLING
Jewelry, jewelry, jewelry. Nothing more to say about that.
Jewelry, jewelry, jewelry. Nothing more to say about that.
And to end the perfect Girl's Day Out, we took a trip to Baskin Robbin's. Mmm...
Tourist Week: Thursday
Amy and I have been having a great time in Mussoorie...and (mostly for my own memory's sake) I thought I'd recap each day. So, here's Thursday!
Thursday: a GREAT day! We started the day by hiking up to the top of our little mountain and meeting some friends at Char Dukkan (means "four shops" in Hindi). It's one of the favorite eating spots for Woodstock Staffers, and a group of us met up there to say good-bye to Laura.
Laura has been one of my best friends here, came the same time as us and is also having to leave at the same time as us. SO, while the people here will miss her lots and lots, we'll LOVE having her in Minnesota, so close and able to be visited. :) YAY Laura!
A great day!
Thursday: a GREAT day! We started the day by hiking up to the top of our little mountain and meeting some friends at Char Dukkan (means "four shops" in Hindi). It's one of the favorite eating spots for Woodstock Staffers, and a group of us met up there to say good-bye to Laura.
Laura has been one of my best friends here, came the same time as us and is also having to leave at the same time as us. SO, while the people here will miss her lots and lots, we'll LOVE having her in Minnesota, so close and able to be visited. :) YAY Laura!
One of Laura's famous faces!
(Laura is one of our trekking companions...so we didn't ACTUALLY have
to say good-bye yet. YAY!)
(Laura is one of our trekking companions...so we didn't ACTUALLY have
to say good-bye yet. YAY!)
Nan, looking wonderful as usual :)
(also one of our trekking companions...wahoo!)
Sisters!
Such a fun group!!!
_____________________________________________
In the afternoon we met the 5th grade day-scholars (meaning their parents work at the school, so they're here all summer) down at the swimming pool. Brought us back to our Hidden Acres days, throwing kids around in the water. So much fun!
Everyone brought food for a potluck supper...pretty impressive for a bunch of 5th graders! We played "Honey I love you", and laughed a lot.
A great day!Delhi to Mussoorie...
It's time to start chronicling the summer events! The summer started a bit strangely - because of when Amy's flight came in, I ended up missing the final banquet and final staff meetings, which made the end of the year feel kind of anticlimactic. And so, I said good-bye to the kids and HELLO to summer without much in between!
And to start off the summer - I went to pick up my sister! Amy and I get to spend 5 whole weeks together, traveling around India and then meeting the Farley Family in Ireland...and I'm SO HAPPY. Since we're doing everything together, a lot of our pictures will be the same. If you're someone that reads both our blogs, I apologize. We'll try to write things from different perspectives. :)
2. Got to Delhi without any trouble...but when the train pulled into Delhi, I couldn't find my way out of the train station! I tried to walk confidently so as not to attract unwelcome solicitors, but it's hard to walk confidently when you don't know where you're going. :) Eventually I asked a nice man for directions, and made it out safely.
3. THEN, I couldn't find my taxi outside of the train station! The station is under constructin right now, so everything was physically in chaos. Plus, India just IS chaos. And when my taxi wasn't waiting outside with my name on it like I expected, things got a little crazy. I ended up calling the hotel and found out where he was, but not before picking my way through multiple construction sites and firmly telling at least 20 taxi drivers that I already have a taxi, thanks. I could just see them thinking, "Crazy blonde girl!"
4. On the way to the hotel a guy drove up on his motorcycle and started hitting on me through the window. It was a bit unpleasant, but I pulled out my teacher voice and told him that "he needed to go". And away he went!
5. Picked up Amy pretty late, then proceeded to dwindle our 3 hours of sleep into 1 with giggling and talking.
6. We got a bit "hustled" by baggage carriers when catching our train from Delhi to Dehradun. They wanted to charge us 400 - I talked them down to 100, and physically walked away (DETERMINED not to get the "skin tax") three times. YEAH! There was a moment that I thought he had brought us to the wrong platform because we wouldn't pay him so much money, but he didn't.
7. We got to the train station so early that we almost got on the wrong train. (the 5:50 train was still there...our train left at 6:50. Oops!)
8. We slept on the train, and woke up so confused that we almost got off the train at the Hardwar stop.
Reading on the long train ride.
Sleeping on the long train ride...
Not in the country for 24 hours, and already shopping. :P
Amy bought a saree at Umang's, and it's so cute!
It is SO much fun to have Amy here! In order to keep our parents from hyperventilating with worry, we'll be posting as much as possible. :) It's bad enough having one daughter halfway across the world. Having two is too much, huh daddy?!
And to start off the summer - I went to pick up my sister! Amy and I get to spend 5 whole weeks together, traveling around India and then meeting the Farley Family in Ireland...and I'm SO HAPPY. Since we're doing everything together, a lot of our pictures will be the same. If you're someone that reads both our blogs, I apologize. We'll try to write things from different perspectives. :)
Amy made it! It was so much fun to see her walk out...
This was my first "independent travel" experience in India since Chris had to stay and work/do the final school events. In all, I was pretty proud of myself! Here are a few trip highlights. :)
1. I couldn't fall asleep because I was so excited...so I went to bed at 1:30, and was up at 3:00 AM for the taxi pick-up. 
This was my first "independent travel" experience in India since Chris had to stay and work/do the final school events. In all, I was pretty proud of myself! Here are a few trip highlights. :)2. Got to Delhi without any trouble...but when the train pulled into Delhi, I couldn't find my way out of the train station! I tried to walk confidently so as not to attract unwelcome solicitors, but it's hard to walk confidently when you don't know where you're going. :) Eventually I asked a nice man for directions, and made it out safely.
3. THEN, I couldn't find my taxi outside of the train station! The station is under constructin right now, so everything was physically in chaos. Plus, India just IS chaos. And when my taxi wasn't waiting outside with my name on it like I expected, things got a little crazy. I ended up calling the hotel and found out where he was, but not before picking my way through multiple construction sites and firmly telling at least 20 taxi drivers that I already have a taxi, thanks. I could just see them thinking, "Crazy blonde girl!"
4. On the way to the hotel a guy drove up on his motorcycle and started hitting on me through the window. It was a bit unpleasant, but I pulled out my teacher voice and told him that "he needed to go". And away he went!
5. Picked up Amy pretty late, then proceeded to dwindle our 3 hours of sleep into 1 with giggling and talking.
6. We got a bit "hustled" by baggage carriers when catching our train from Delhi to Dehradun. They wanted to charge us 400 - I talked them down to 100, and physically walked away (DETERMINED not to get the "skin tax") three times. YEAH! There was a moment that I thought he had brought us to the wrong platform because we wouldn't pay him so much money, but he didn't.
7. We got to the train station so early that we almost got on the wrong train. (the 5:50 train was still there...our train left at 6:50. Oops!)
8. We slept on the train, and woke up so confused that we almost got off the train at the Hardwar stop.
Don't worry mom and dad...we did good!
Some picture highlights...Amy and I staying up WAY too late. Goofy sisters!
Can you see how tired we really are?! Our eyes are barely staying open!
Reading on the long train ride.
Sleeping on the long train ride...
Not in the country for 24 hours, and already shopping. :P Amy bought a saree at Umang's, and it's so cute!
It is SO much fun to have Amy here! In order to keep our parents from hyperventilating with worry, we'll be posting as much as possible. :) It's bad enough having one daughter halfway across the world. Having two is too much, huh daddy?!
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