Changed Priorities Ahead

We saw the above sign in London, and it has cracked me up ever since. Today it makes me think of our re-entry into American living.

So, we made it home safe and sound. It has been very weird to have such a shift in behavior - and surroundings. We are very happy not to have to move from place to place daily, and we are very pleased not to have to carry backpacks for a while. I'm sure that Erin would say that we are both missing it a bit, but it is so nice to be at home.

We have been getting used to the time shift, and daily pleasures like showering and making food at home. We'll be posting some more photos as soon as we are caught up on sleep and tv watching.

Headed Home!!

We've been holding off on announcing our return to Seattle, but since we are currently on our way to the airport it is hard to keep the secret any longer. We are going to arrive this afternoon, and we couldn't be more excited.

Unfortunately, we've been so busy in London over the past few days that we've been a little behind in posting photos, etc. Once we get settled in and caught up on sleep, we'll put up some final notes from the trip.

We are looking forward to being home, and especially seeing all of our friends and family. Our cell phones will be turned back on in the next day or so. Please feel free to give us a shout, so we can make plans.

England - Jolly and Old

We've arrived in England and are very impressed with how modern (and western) it feels. The amazing thing is, and this is just like Turkey, there are very old buildings and statues right next to very new and modern buildings. It is amazing.

We are staying just outside of the Notting Hill neighborhood near Hyde Park, which includes Kennsington Palace. My favorite part of the park is a pirate ship play structure for kids. Unfortunately, they only let kids on it, so I couldn't jump on the deck and yell "avast ye maties!!" Oh well, maybe next time.

So far, we've done more tourist things than we would typically do, but we didn't think we could get away with coming to London without seeing Buckingham Palace, the Tower Bridge, Big Ben or Westminster Abbey. I wish we could have seen a cricket match or some soccer, but we don't have that much time or cash at this point.

Turkey - an abbreviated post

We were in Turkey for one week and we only saw Istanbul, which was a bummer because everything that we heard and read about the country was inspiring. We'll have to go back sometime when I'm not sick.

We did enjoy Istanbul tremendously, though. The city is beautiful and so old it is unbelievable. For example, the Hagia Sophia was built in the 5th century replacing two previous church buildings which had burned down - the first had been built 200 years prior. Think about that for a minute - the current building has been there for over 1500 years. We also walked past a cistern (for collecting water) which was built around 1000 years ago. Everywhere you go there is ancient and modern sitting side by side.

We've included a few of our favorite photos below. More will be added to our Yahoo photo albums.

Taj Details

The thing that made the biggest impression on me about the Taj Mahal was not the enormity of it (although, that clearly is shocking). It is the details. As you walk around the buildings, you can see every nook has been carved or etched or marble has been embedded. It is hard to describe how much of it has been engineered for beauty.

Here are a few photos of some of the items which caught our eye. Keep in mind that these are just the best ones, and they include some which are from other buildings - not just the Taj.

Agra - Taj Mahal

Erin and I have talked a lot while we have traveled about how we travel. We aren't really the type to go and see every site along our way. We are much more into getting the feel for the area, as opposed to what we call "marathon site seeing". I'll try to write more about it later - the point is, you can't go half way across the world and not see the Taj Mahal.

We got there just after dawn and the sun was shining off of the domed roof top. There weren't too many people, so it was nice to just wander the grounds and see the beauty.

If you are not aware, the Taj is a tomb (mausoleum actually), which was built in memory of Shah Jahan's favorite wife. It has been called many things, but my personal favorite is "a teardrop on the cheek of eternity". The pictures don't do it justice.

Agra - the Taj Mahal preview

Our tour of the Taj Mahal actually began the day before we got there. Across the river from the Taj is a beautiful garden called the Mehtab Bagh, and the views from it are spectacular. The garden itself is also stunning. As we have commented before, it was hot in India (averaging around 111 degrees every day) so most of the landscape was brown. We were there just about a month before the rainy season started, and we could really tell that it was getting late in the summer season.In any case, the garden was spectacular and we probably spent more time there than our driver expected, because we didn't simply walk down to the river to snap a photo and then return. We wandered the gardens for a while and even sat to talk and enjoy the scenery.

One of my favorite pictures from the whole trip is below. I set our camera up to take a timed photo, and then ran as fast as I could to get to where Erin was standing so that we could be in the shot together. As you can see, I didn't quite make it. The good one is at the top of this post.

At the end of the day, we had dinner on the roof of a local restaurant which had a view of the Taj. It was stunning - not the dinner, the view. In the evening, lots of folks head to their rooftops, because the breeze passes through and cools things off nicely. In the photo, you can see some kids playing and trying to fly kites from their perch.

Agra - the sites

Agra is where the Taj Mahal is, but there are other note-worthy sites as well. I'm not as astute as Erin at taking notes and informing about historical references, so please forgive me if I gloss over some of the more detailed information regarding the following. We will post more photos to Yahoo soon, but for now some of the better ones are below.

Agra Fort

Near the Taj Mahal is a 16th century fort, which is built of red sandstone and not much dissimilar to the fort in Aurangabad. Since is it mostly made of red sandstone, it is aptly named "the Red Fort" (go figure). It is quite stunning and has fairy tale-like palaces, where Shah Jahan lived. There are audience halls, both private and public, and a mosque. There's even a harem area, which unfortunately was quite empty of the women.

Baby Taj Mahal

The tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah was built prior to the Taj Mahal, and was actually the beginning of the architectural style which influence the Taj. It looks quite similar to the proper Taj, but it is much smaller. It was a bit quieter too, so it was nice to walk around it and we even sat for a while to chat in the garden area.

Blue Tomb

There is one more tomb which we visited, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. I'll let Erin come back and edit this part, but you can see the photos now.

Agra - another hole

As noted in the Aurangabad post, where there are tourists there are touts. We found that most Indian touts and hawkers know more about what you are spending in India than you probably do. They likely have cousins or siblings or some other family members who have worked in your home country, so they know what the salary is there. They also know how much it costs to get to India from where ever it is that you live. They also are well aware of how much money each hotel and guest room costs, so if they see you coming out of a place they have a pretty good idea of how much you are spending to be in their town.

Don't get me wrong, not all Indians are out for your cash. We met the sweetest fellow and his family on the train ride to Agra, who shared his home made dinner with us. He said "if I could, I'd invite you to my home and share dinner. But I cannot, so this will have to do." We politely refused, but he stuffed us silly with some of the best food we had when we were in India. It was vegetarian and it was spicy and delicious. This man made an impression on us.

Unfortunately, in tourist traps like Agra there are tons of other folks who do want your dough. Our moto-rickshaw driver scammed us - twice! We found this great internet place just across the street from our hotel, and we visited a few times. The funny thing is that there were a couple of other internet shops on the way, and the owners would see us coming and start shouting out bargains for us - "you should not go to his shop. you should come to mine. much cheaper." And so it went.

Unfortunately, we don't have any good photos to illustrate the frustration and dogged perspicacity (one of my favorite words) of the touts and hawkers. Instead, I just put up a picture of a camel we saw in Agra.

Streets in India

When we left the caves and Arangabad, we returned to Mumbai and then took a flight to Delhi. It was a much different city, but obviously there were similarities. I'd like to share a few details about streets in India (based on just a few cities that we visited).

Cows - you may have heard that cows are sacred in India. This is clearly evident when you are on the street, as they roam pretty much everywhere. In the pics below, they are picking through the garbage which was left on the road, as well as browsing the shops.

Busses - busses are wildly over packed and rarely actually stop. We saw a few instances of people just running up and grabbing onto the bus and just holding on to the outside. We even saw some folks just climb on top of the bus and ride there. In 110 degree heat, the roof may have been cooler than being inside the confinement of the bus, but it's not like the breeze provides any refreshment.
Rickshaws - rickshaws come in a variety of styles (pedal, motorized, with fancy decorations and blaring music), but they all pretty unsafe looking and overpriced for foreigners. They definitely have one intention - to get YOU into their cab. We were followed once for two days straight by this guy who wanted us to ride with him. Even when we were simply walking across the street, he would show up and start haggling. He'd say "10 rupees for a ride" and I'd respond "no thanks, I'm just walking across the street". He'd reply "ok, 5 rupees" to which I'd answer "walking is free. leave me alone!"Public toilets - I have to admit that we only saw a few of these, but they are available if you have a pressing need to go to the loo. Someone asked us to keep an eye out for the worst toilets in the world - I think this one wins hands down.

Ellora: Kailasa Temple

In the words of the Lonely Planet India guide, Kailas temple is "one of the most audacious feats of architecture ever conceived" (732). The temple was begun in 760 AD by King Krishna I of the Rashtrakutra dynasty. 200,000 tons of rock were removed by 7000 laborers over 150 years to create this rock-cut extravagance, built as a representation of Shiva's home in the Himalayas, Mount Kailasa. The carvings are spectacular, many still vibrant after 1200 years.