Gosh was it great getting to see Mom and Dad for two weeks over New Year's. We laughed a lot (as Candelores are apt to do when we get together), we talked about politics and economics (ie, Dad's colorful theories), and dealt with the stresses of living in India - together.We had fun to be sure - but I think it was those challenging moments that meant the most to me and Allen ... dodging traffic from every direction ("Look! The cow is crossing, let's go with it!"), avoiding open sewers both large and small ("Wow! That's big enough for a grown man to fall through"), bypassing construction that was endemic to Delhi ("There is just a crater in the ground with no signs or any way of diverting pedestrian traffic!"), taking in the sights ("Look at all this garbage!"), eating local fare ("Mirch nahin!" meaning no hot chillies)... Mom and Dad got a good taste of what our life is like, the good and the bad (though we tried so desperately to keep it mostly good) ... they got a view into our lives that I think gets watered down through the blog: but when you're here face-to-face with India the experience is nothing if not intense.
We started in Delhi, where the infamous "fog" had overrun the city*
... not to mention all the construction for the 2010 Commonwealth Games**
Thankfully, a friend of my father's was able to put us up and show us around some of the sights (visiting a new place is always so much more enjoyable when you have friends there, isn't it?)India Gate
The museums and monuments we saw the next day with a guide. We had my parents on a pretty tight schedule with the touring, but interspersed touring with a day in each city for just "hanging out" ... mostly in case they needed to hide in their hotel room for some time (thankfully, being the tough Candelores that they are, they were just fine). In Delhi we saw:
Chandi Chowk (so much more pleasant at 9am when none of the shops are open)
We tried to make it to the Akshardam Temple (which from what we could tell sounded a lot like a religious Disney world - seriously, click on the wikipedia link I've added) but by the time we got there it was swamped and we were pooped. Oh well, we'll save it for next time.A short plane ride to Udaipur had us in a wonderful old haveli
... overlooking the lake.
Touring on New Year's Eve took us to:
Then it was off to the Taj Lake Palace Hotel for the New Year's Eve Celebration.
Some of you may remember the AMAZING time we had when we stayed at the Taj over our honeymoon ... New Year's Eve was just as Magical! Excellent food from all over the world, service that made you feel like a princess, an atmosphere that made you feel like a queen .... (sigh, I want to live there) .... I must admit though that we giggled a lot about the non-Indian musical selection, which included such gems as this, which became a running joke for the rest of the trip.New Year's Day was set aside for shopping. Our motto (and a bit of advice for anyone planning to travel to India) is that shopping with the hired guide detracts from sight seeing (it eats hours of your day literally) ... so its almost always better to do it on your own particularly if you're just getting souvenirs for family and friends (as opposed to Kashmiri rugs).
The next day was suppose to be a short plane ride to Jaipur, but "fog" in Delhi delayed us by nearly four hours ... delays that originated in Delhi because of "fog" became a theme on our trip.
Fortunately the bulk of our touring was scheduled for the next day. We started with:Hawa Mahal (an iconic symbol of Jaipur)
Then we took an Elephant ride ... (sigh, I love elephants)
... the observatory. We didn't spend too much time outside because the weather wasn't cooperating with us. So, we saved our exploring adventure for the next day, when we wandered around the bazaars in the Old City of Jaipur.
Wasting no time, we got up bright and early the next day for a 6am train to Agra (which was delayed again because of "fog" - seeing a pattern,yet?)
We got to Agra much later than expected and were feeling pressured by our tour guide to go to see the Taj Mahal immediately. Allen and I reluctantly gave into their pressure (they were telling us stories about how the Taj might be closed the following day because officials from the Commonwealth games would be visiting) ... and went straight from lunch to the Taj. The sky wasn't perfectly clear - but it was clear enough. So we plopped ourselves there for the entire afternoon (literally).
Thank goodness we went to the Taj when we did because the next day the air was as thick as pea soup.
Our itinerary was tight: we were going to Fatehpur Sikri in the morning, Agra Fort after lunch, then taking a 8pm commuter train to Delhi. But looking at the sky gave us pause: there was no way our train was going to leave on time ... arriving in Delhi early the next morning was out of the question because Mom and Dad had a transatlantic flight the next day ... so in a dramatic change of plans we decided to drive the four hours to Delhi. Allen and I didn't relish this mode of travel (as I'll explain in a little bit), but we didn't think there was much of a choice.
But we had to get going. We had at least 4 hours of hard driving in low visibility ahead of us. (sigh) There was a (read: many) good reason why we didn't want to drive my parents through Rajasthan. All the guides and booking agents were pressuring us to just hire a driver to take us to the various cities; it is cheaper, more convenient, and because of the weather this time of year it is just more reliable. But that doesn't change the fact that it is pretty damn scary for someone not accostomed to traffic over here. Mom and Dad were good sports about it though - Mom prayed for us throughout the drive and Dad helped keep the conversation going so we could concentrate on anything other than the road. This was by far the most harrowing part of their journey, although it seemed unavoidable, I'm just thankful at least that it came on their last day in India, so at least it didn't come as too much of a surprise.Thankfully we made it to Delhi alive and in good time (our driver was driving like a bat out of hell because he was making the return trip to Agra that evening). We imposed upon the hospitality of our friends in Delhi for one last night and prepared for our flights the next morning: Mom and Dad back to the States and Allen and I back to Lucknow.
Saying goodbye was hard: but we are both so thankful that Mom and Dad were willing to make the trip in the first place... it meant so much to us to see familiar faces in this crazy place. It was grounding in a way, like "Yeah, this is real. We really live here and we're doing just fine."
Thank you again so much Mom and Dad for taking time out to visit us. Your company was such a pleasure and comfort to us. I hope that you enjoyed all the crazy adventures we took you on and that we didn't scare you too much. ;)
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*Gotta give credit where credit is due - Dad took exactly 2500 pictures on this trip between three camers (not including the camcorder) - that's 250 per day! So many of the pictures in this post are his. Great work Dad!
**Another aside, there is so much work left to be done it is amazing that they expect to finish by October of this year.
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