Washington, D.C. Trip

Here's a slideshow of our Washington, D.C. trip. It rained every day, it was cold and we didn't take jackets, the people of D.C. were generally rude, and our bodies ached from walking 20+ miles (literally) in 3 days....BUT we still had an amazing time! We toured the White House, saw the famous monuments during the day and at night, went to several museums, and had some great (but overpriced) food. We look forward to going back one day with kids, later in Spring, with jackets, and extra cash for taking cabs everywhere (no more walking)!

Trip to Kerala: Elephant Park in Munnar

We stopped by a roadside elephant park in Munnar for a ride on an elephant. Although I didn't really want to go because it was raining, I'm glad we did because it was so much fun! Our elephant and guide took us up and down and around on the foresty, muddy hills. It was a little scary at times because the hills were pretty steep, but the elephant was huge so it was probably nothing for him! At the end, we got to feed him a treat basket with some fruit, which I also was a little hesitant to do because I had didn't want to get my fingers sucked up in his snotty, hot-breath snout!

Trip to Kerala: Houseboat cruise in Alleppey

We went on a houseboat day cruise in Alleppey. Unfortunately, due to my tiredness, I seem to have lost all of the photos from this part of our trip!

When we stepped onto the houseboat, we were greeted with jasmine leis and coconuts with a straw poked into it. The houseboat was very nice with a little open air living room for us to relax in and soak in the scenery. Our 5-hour cruise took us through the backwaters into tiny little backwater villages completely isolated from the mainland, connected only by the backwater canals- no roads and no cars. We got a close look at village life seeing baths, laundry, fishing, cooking, playing, and just hanging out.

We had three crew members on our ship. The captain was very sweet and told me his name was John. I didn't believe him until he showed me his boat license a while later and his name really was John Vanaynungenbakkam or something like that! The captain let Brian drive the boat for a while while we were int he middle of the lake. The captain's chair wasn't made for Brian's 6-3 body so he looked like a giant!

John spoke OK English, but we still had a little trouble communicating. I have realized that even when were speaking English with some people, we are still worlds apart! John was telling us about the sights we were seeing and the way of life in Kerala. He told us about the different industries in Alleppey- number one industry is rice, number two is fishing and number three is houseboats. Then when we got to the lake, he was proudly telling us all about Ben Bernard Lake. "Ben Bernard Lake?" we asked. Yes! Hmmm...I guess I'll have to look up who Ben Bernard is.

When I consulted my Lonely Planet India guide after the trip, I realized it was Vembenad Lake. If you say Ben Bernard really fast and with a British accent, it does sound surprisingly similar to Vembanad!

We stopped for a traditional Kerala lunch on the boat. We had rice, vegetables, chicken curry, and salad. The best part was the Kerala fish fry- they took a whole freshly caught fish and fried it up for us. This would have been good, but they skipped a few steps that we are used to from back home- gutting it, cutting the head off, taking it off the bone, etc. They served me the fish and it was screaming at me with its mouth open and his tail mid-wag! I quickly his my fish behind the rice bowl so I didn't have to look at it, but Brian tried his. He said the flavor was pretty good, but then on his next bit he got some entrails and just about threw up. Yummm!

Trip to Kerala: Kathakali

From Wikipedia:

Kathakali is a highly stylised classical Indian dance drama noted for its attractive make-up of characters, their elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion. It originated in the country's present day state of Kerala during the 16th century AD, approximately between 1555 and 1605, and has been updated over the years with improved looks, refined gestures and added themes besides more ornate singing and precise drumming.

In actuality, Kathakali was a little creepy and weirded us out! The man dressed as a woman kept making kissy faces at us, which was freaky. I'm glad we experienced this, but it's not something I would want to see every weekend!

Trip to Kerala: Paddleboat

The weather cleared up just barely enough for us to go paddleboating. For 100 rupees, we got to take the boat out for 30 minutes to enjoy the scenery. If we were in the U.S. there would have been a million rules for an activity like this, but we were just told to put on a life jacket and don't go to far. Ok!

Brian's giant feet were too big for the pedals, so he had to take his shoes off to pedal. He would slow down enough for me to help, so I let him do all of the work. We made a few friends out on the water and thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. It started to rain after about 20 minutes and started to get really cold, so we headed back to shore just in time before the heavy rain started up again.

Trip to Kerala: Kodanad Elephant Training Center

I read about an elephant training center on a great traveler Web site called IndiaMike.com. Other travelers had mentioned that you could go at 8 a.m. every morning and see the trainers bathe elephants in the river. I am so glad we did this because it was was of the highlights of our trip.

In the U.S., you would never get the chance to experience these animals so up close without fences, rules and for sure a paid ticket! This was not an organized tour or anything, it was just part of the elephants' care that we were able to witness just because we happened to be there. There was one other couple and a family there with us, but that was it so it made it really exciting to be a part of this activity.

The elephant trainers didn't speak any English, so they couldn't talk to us about what they were doing or why they were doing it, but it was awesome just to watch. One elephant got a thorough bath that lasted over an hour. The others just got a dip in the river. We got to see two adult elephants and three adorable babies.

One of the babies had extra chains on his feet and through the apparently universal sign of "crazy" (rotating your pointer finger in a circle on the side of your head) we figured out that he was the wild child. Poor kid!

Kerala

We made a trip to Kerala, which turned out to be the most amazing trip we have ever taken.

Kerala is a state located in southwestern India. One of Brian's co-workers back home is from Kerala and had told us about how beautiful it was and that it is a tropical location with lots of coconuts. Well, he was right!

It is monsoon season so it rained the majority of the time on our trip. We had planned on that, so it didn't put a damper on our plans. We made the best of it, and I think the rains actually added to the beauty of the land.

We spent a night in Kochi, a day on a houseboat in Alleppey, two nights in Munnar and a day in Fort Chochin. We packed in so much during our short trip that when we looked at all of our photos at the airport while waiting for the flight home, we had forgotten some of the things we had done!

The scenery and natural wonder of Kerala kept us awe-struck for the entire trip. It was more beautiful for words and unfortunately since it was raining we don't have many pictures of the scenery. But, we have it in our memories and will surely go back one day to visit again.

Day 18: The Zoo!

I visited the zoo with Randy T. and a new arrival from Brian's company, David. I hadn't heard much about the zoo, except that they had a white tiger that was pretty interesting. So, without anything else to do, we went to the zoo to see the white tiger.

Upon arriving at the zoo, we were greeted with a big King Kong statue and then a Tigger wannabe statue pointing down the walking path. For a few minutes, I was scared all of the animals at the zoo would be carved and painted and not actual animals. You never know in India!

After walking down the shaded path, we did find some animals- a pygmy hippo, a giraffe, a zebra, a hippo, an aquarium, and a few monkeys. There was nothing too exciting, and actually the animals looked quite lonely because there was only one of each.

We finally made it to the white tiger exhibit and were amazed to be up close and personal with a white tiger mom and her two cubs. The two cubs were born this June and the three tigers were so awesome to watch. They play-hunted and stalked each other and roamed around in the surprisingly natural and well-kept habitat. We were mesmerized and watched them for a good 30 minutes. I was so in awe I only snapped a few pictures and didn't get any good ones.

Besides the tigers, the other really cool unofficial exhibits were the termite castles. The zoo was in a forest area and I suppose the termites really like all of the trees because there were so many termite mounds. They ranges in size from little like an ant hill to 5 feet tall castles!

There was one more attraction at the zoo that I didn't expect- us Americans! I'm pretty used to people staring a little, waving, snapping photos and wanting to say hi when we go out. At the zoo, we were the main attraction for lots of the kids who parents would push up to us to say "hi, how are you" to practice their English. At the tiger exhibit, I actually had to move away from a group of ladies who kept touching me because one lady wanted to be really close to me the whole time and I was feeling a little weirded out.

On our way out of the zoo, there was a group of guys in their teens or 20s and I could see a few cell phone cameras aimed in our direction taking photos. One guy got up the nerve to come and ask if we would pose for a photo. We said sure and stood there for the photo and then all of a sudden we were swarmed! There were are least 20 people with cameras surround us taking pictures. Then they all wanted to get in the picture with us. So we stood there for a few more photos and then politely said thank you and started to walk away. It was an odd experience, but I'm glad we made someone happy by taking photos with them!

Day 15: Trip to Pondicherry

I had heard about a French colonial town in South India called Pondicherry and was planning to take a weekend trip there for great hotels, great restaurants and fun. My bubble was burst when I was telling some of Brian's coworkers about my plans. After hearing it from a few people, I decided it would be better for me to take a day trip there instead of Brian and I doing a weekend trip. Thank goodness! Kevin and Randy Y. made the trip with me so at least I didn't suffer along!

It was about a 2.5 hour drive to Pondicherry, but it could have been a town right next door to Chennai, because it seemed just the same. Sure, the street names were a little more French and there was a park in the center of town that you could tell had some European influence, but other than that it was a typical South Indian town. I soon realized that the only reason people go to Pondicherry is for meditation and booze.

Just outside Pondicherry is a hippie colony called Auroville, where 2000 residents become one with nature and the truth. They have a visitor's center where we had to watch a video to become idoctrinated before we could get a ticket to see the matrimindir, the center of Auroville. After the video, we were funneled into some shops with handmade crafts and items by the residents of Auroville. I bought a few little trinkets, but mostly things were overpriced and similar to items found in every other Indian store.

The walk to the matrimindir was about a mile and although we were shaded by trees, it was hot! I am so glad I had my sweat rag on this trip! Along the path to the matrimindir, we stopped at the 100+ year old banyan tree, which is the geographical center of Auroville. It was a beautiful tree and probably the most interesting part of the trip.

Once we got to the matrimindir, I was underwhelmed. It's basically a gold Epcot ball sitting in a field. And we looked at. And took a picture with it. And that was it. Fun.

You have to make an appointment to actually go in the ball, but from the movie we had to watch, it is basically a temple inside for meditation that has a hole in the top for sunlight to penetrate. So after looking at the ball for a few minutes, we walked the mile back to the car. I was drenched by the time we got there and was hoping that this wasn't the highlight of the trip.


Once in Pondicherry, we saw the beach, which was nothing to write home about. Then we took an autorickshaw to the bazaar, which was fun because it was my first time on one. It cost us 25 rupees (about 50 cents). After getting in one, I am amazed at how many people they cram in there. Randy and Kevin are big guys and there was no way three us us could fit on the bench so Kevin ended up sharing a seat with the driver and hanging half of his body out.

At the bazaar, we saw a million shops that look exactly like any other Indian shops selling saris, bangles, spices, etc. I did ended up buying a few packets of bindis to wear on my forehead.


The coolest thing we did was go into the markets. They had several specialized markets- fish, bananas, fruit & vegetables, textiles, chickens and flowers. I took a photo of the fish market, but the smell kept me out. The fruit and veggie market was pretty cool because they have such different foods here. In the textile market, we saw lots of old men sewing on what we would consider antique sewing machines. My favorite was the flower market. It smelled wonderful and there were so many colors and beautiful flowers. Most of the stalls didn't sell loose flowers, they sell flower garlands, so we got to watch them crafting huge garlands of jasmine, roses, ranaculous, celiosa, mums, marigolds, and more. Garlands like this would cost hundreds of dollar is the US and they sell them for under a dollar!

I also saw a maternity hospital and got a glimpse of some newborn Indian babies. Seeing a pregnant woman or baby are rare here. I don't think people start bringing their babies out until they are about 2 or 3 years old. From what I have seen, people in the villages don't use diapers, strollers and walk everywhere so it makes sense why babies would stay home for a few years. There was a line at the hospital with women and their new babies wrapped in towels or sheets, I could just barely see a few tiny little heads poking out.

On the way home from Pondicherry, we stopped at a great beach resort called GRT Temple Bay for a late lunch. We had some jalapeno poppers and fish and it was delicious! They have a really neat pool lagoon their and beach front cabanas. I need to take Brian there for sure!

Day 14: Saravana Store (aka shopper's paradise!)

Although I have been shopping in several of the malls in India now, I have been wondering where the locals buy their clothes because I know they don't pay the touristy prices I have been paying. Today I found my answer at Saravana Store! A cross between a WalMart Supercenter and Ross, Saravana Store was an exciting place to be! I went with Randy T. and Kevin who are always good sports; if I had to go shopping with two guys, these were the ones to do it with!

The store has seven stories of shopping paradise- you start with ladies casual saris, then on the dress saris and salwars, children's clothes, menswear, food, electronics and household goods and then shoes and accessories. It took us several hours to make it through the store and we skipped three of the floors!

I ended up buying two beautiful saris I can wear at weddings, two salwar sets, two pairs of shoes and a men's kurta- all for less than $100 US!

Almost everyone in the store is local, so they treat foreigners extra special. We were given a personal shopping guide upon entering who helped us navigate through the floors and different sections. He also carried all of our merchandise from floor to floor, which is a luxury because locals have to wait in line and pay on each floor before going to the next. An interesting things is that the store always takes a photo of the shopping guide with the foreigners on the way out of the store. It was cute, so I got a picture on my camera too.

I am sure I'll be going back to Saravana Store soon!

Sightseeing in Delhi

On our second day in Delhi, we visited a Hindu temple with our tour guide, visited the Gandhi museum and went to an incredible mall.

Sightseeing in Agra

After the Taj Mahal, we did more sightseeing in Agra.

The secondary attraction in Agra is the Agra Fort, which was where the king who built the Taj Mahal for his wife spent the last years of his life imprisoned by his own son. The tower where the king lived has an awesome view of the Taj Mahal and it is said that he spent most of his time staring at the Taj thinking of his wife. The fort was pretty neat, but not nearly as cool as the Taj!

The next biggest attraction in Agra was McDonald's! Ok so not really, but for Brian and me it was! We saw it on the way into town and made plans to go there for lunch on the way back to Delhi. Brian thought they would serve hamburgers, but of course they didn't since 99% of the population worships the cow as a sacred creature! Although they didn't have Big Macs, we did thoroughly enjoy our chicken nuggets, chicken sandwich, veg pizza McPuff and fries. Yummmm!!! Everything was surprisingly similar to the American version and really hit the spot for a taste of home. After we gorged ourselves on three value meals, Brian and I both said that it was the first time we didn't feel guilty one bit about eating such bad food!

After we ate, it was time to use the bathroom before our 4.5 hour drive back to Delhi. I took a photo because it was a Western-style toilet, but obviously there were no Westerners using it because the tape was still on the toilet paper!

Taj Mahal

Seeing the Taj Mahal was #1 on my list of things to do in India. I told Brian I was going to see it with or without him- luckily he took off a day of work to go see it with me!

I am not a history buff and know nothing about geography, so all I knew before making this trip was that the Taj Mahal was somewhere in India and someone put it on a list of the seven wonders of the world. After seeing the Taj in person, it is very clear why. Its beauty cannot be captured in pictures or conveyed in words. You really have to see it to believe it.

We had an awesome tour guide who accompanied us to the Taj. I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" so I was ready to have my shoes stolen and see bunches of little boys trying to work scams at the Taj. The movie was actually pretty accurate. They changed the entrance to the Taj just a few days before we visited so that the ticket counter is about 500 meters from the entrance. They also do not make you remove your shoes anymore; instead, they give you little hospital booties to cover your shoes. There were lots of kids trying to sell us stuff at the entrance- postcards, fans, books, marble carvings, etc. Our guide told us not to buy anything because everything they sold was fake. The little marble carvings they were selling were actually made of soap!

Security is tight at the Taj and we were told to take nothing but our camera, money, water and prescription medications. We entered through the East Gate and waited in separate ladies and gents lines to be scanned by the metal detectors and frisked. Once inside, we were surrounded by the red sandstone walls of the entry court and saw the main gate to the Taj. The main gate was huge and so impressive that anywhere else it would have been an attraction on its own!

Once we crossed the the gate, we got our first view of the Taj. We visited the Taj at sunrise to beat the heat and crowds, so it was nice because there weren't tons of other people there, so we could get some pretty good photos. Our guide gave us some time to take photos and then went to a little shady spot with a great view of the Taj so he could tell us the story of how this wonder came to be.

After telling us about the Taj Mahal being a love story between Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal, our guide took us inside the Taj to see their tombs and see the beautiful building close up. The Taj took over 20 years and over 20,000 laborers to build, and after seeing it up close I can tell why! I was so amazed by the detail on the building- the semiprecious stone inlays, the carved floral design marble slabs, the marble and onyx floor, everything!

From close up and far away, we were mesmerized by the Taj. Even when we were leaving, we had to keep looking back for just one more glimpse. I'm not sure if we'll ever make it back there, but we will surely remember this visit forever!

Drive to Agra

The drive to Agra is long. From the clock I could tell that, but I fell asleep before we even made it out of Delhi! Once I woke up, we had an interesting drive. Here are some of the highlights:

• Our guide pointed out "buffalo." I know I'm a city girl, but I know what a buffalo looks like and this creature was surely not buffalo. I came to the conclusion that it was water buffalo- some animal Brian said he had seen on the Discovery Channel that the lions eat. It was ugly!


• When he saw we were a little confusred about the buffalo, our driver Vijay asked us if we drink buffalo milk. Uh...no.


• Vijay also asked us if our marriage was arranged. Brian's repsonse: "No, I chose her." Thanks! :)


• The country autorickshaws have an extra bench which translates into at least 10 more seats! We saw some autorickshaws with at least 20, probably 25 people on them. Most of the time, you can't even tell who is driving!


• Our driver had to pay for a permit to cross the state line and left us in the car and said don't open the window. We had heard about the monkey at the state line, and he was there and did some tricks for us. Brian opened the window to give him a tip, which the monkey attendant did not think was adequete and made Brian give him the rest of his coins!

Trip to Delhi

We started our trip to Delhi by waking up at 4a.m. to make it to the airport for our 6:25 a.m. flight. Once we arrived at the airport, we realized we were going to be very lost! Every airport does things a little different and that is the case in Chennai too. Before entering the airport, guards with big guns check to make sure you have a ticket. Good think I printed off our e-tickets!

Some things we were completely lost about:

• We had to scan our luggage and have it zip tied shut before we checked in at the ticket counter
• You have to have a tag for each piece of "hand carry" luggage. If you don't have a tag, they'll scowl at you.
• They did not want to see our passports ever.
• Our boarding passes did not list the gate number. You had to watch a screen and then listen closely because it changed throughout our waiting period.
• You line up by your gate number to get on a bus that drops you off in the middle of the tarmac
• You have to know whether you should board the plane at the front or the back. Of course we picked the wrong one.

Once we got on the plane, we realized that we were truly on an Indian domestic carrier because the seats were made for short and skinny Indians, not big, tall Americans! Brian sat in the middle and couldn't sit straight at all because his legs wouldn't fit. By the end of the flight, he was numb.

Once we made it to Delhi and got our bags stepped out of the airport doors to a sea of Indian faces holding signs with names. We started looking and quickly found "Meghann Dibrell" and a smiling face. Vijay was our driver for the weekend and he was great! His English was just barely enough to communicate, but he was always in the right place at just the right time when we needed him.

Vijay took us into Delhi to see some of the major sights. We were supposed to have a tour guide, but due to some miscommunication, we toured the sights on our own. It was fun, but we really had no idea what we were looking at since only minimal signs were in English. We went to Qutb Minnar, the Bahai Lotus Temple and Humayan's Tomb.

We had fun, but it was extremely hot. My shirt was soaked completely through! Since we had just flown in, we also forgot about sunscreen, which was not good for my white husband!

Little Italy ends with a sizzling chocolate brownie tower!

The table next to us ordered one and we couldn't resist! I am supposed to be on a chocolate fast with Linda, but I did take one bite of the brownie. Brian liked it, but it tasted like Indian chocolate to me, which is not quite right!

In the lobby

Our hotel always has beautiful tropical arrangements. I just love this one!

Meeting Madhan

I was blessed with the opportunity to meet Madhan and his mother on Tuesday. It was an amazing day, and I am so grateful for Marshall with the India headquarters and all of the project staff from the Andrews Kirk Child Development Center for planning our visit. It was also great that one of Brian's coworkers could join me for the day since Brian had to work.

This is the first of two slideshows I have from the day. This slideshow is from our visit to the project in one of the slums of central Chennai. The project is inside of a slum area and actually sits on top of and in the middle of a graveyard. The project director and several of the counselors were there to show us around and help us get acquainted with Madhan. They also brought in the head cook early so we could have coffee and cookies, which was very sweet.

After visiting the project, Madhan's mother invited us to her home. It was such a unique opportunity to see where he lived and it was an honor to be invited.

I have tons more to share about my visit with Madhan, so stay tuned!

TV

We don't spend a lot of time watching TV, but we like to have it on as background noise and to catch up on the world news. Watching the TV has been as interesting an experience as walking down the street. It gives us insight into Indian culture and the rest of the world.

We have about 5 channels on our TV that I'll watch: BBC News, CNN, National Geographic, Discovery and HBO. We have about 10 sports channels, all of which seem to show cricket matches 24 hours a day. There are several Indian news channels that may be speaking English, but I can't tell. And the rest of the channels seem to be entertainment channels that basically have Indian women singing and dancing and doing moves that Brian says were "in" 10 years ago like the macarena. Very odd. For the American movies on HBO, they provide English subtitles. Hmmm... are we as hard to understand as we think they are?!

The commercials range from insanely weird to hilarious to downright dumb. There are some products that I can't even believe they advertise. Loreal advertises a skin lightener "to make dark ugly skin look white and beautiful." There are other commercials that we can't even get beyond the song and dance to figure out what they are advertising!

The thing about the TV that I am most annoyed with that prompted me to write this is Dolly Parton. CNN International seems to think that Dolly Parton is the greatest thing since sliced bread and has aired a special about her 6 times a day! I understand they have to reuse programming, but come on! It's been 6 days since I got here and they are still showing Dolly Parton!

Day 6: Expect the Unexpected

One of Brian's coworkers was invited to a wedding by one of the contractors he works with. He knew about my love for weddings and invited me to go along with him. Ever since I found out we had the chance to come to India, seeing a wedding was #2 on my list of things to do (#1 is the Taj Mahal).

In the U.S., Indian weddings are a huge deal and include lots of guests, food, decor, everything. From talking to a few Indians who we know, weddings in India are on an even larger scale. So, there was no chance I was going to pass up this opportunity to see the Indian culture up close in one of their most sacred rituals.

Well, let's just say I was underwhelmed. I have realized that in India, you really do have to expect the unexpected. Nothing is as you would imagine. I know it was still a wonderful day for the bride and groom and their families and don't want to take away from that, but it was really not what I expected.

I was prepared to see all of the guests dressed in their best saris and sherwanis. To see beautiful gold jewelry. To see more of the amazing flower garlands I have seen the Indian ladies stringing for special occasions. To see the bride in the most beautiful outfit that her family has been preparing for her since she was a child. To see the ancient rituals of an Indian marriage ceremony.

I was not prepared for pink tulle, silver tinsel, Styrofoam white-skinned angels, guests in blue jeans, cell phones ringing during the ceremony, the bride's mother offering a loaf of white bread still in the bag from the grocery store to the altar or the beautiful Indian bride wearing a Western-style white veil with her gorgeous sari!

It was not so much the departure away from the traditional elements that disturbs me, but the incursion of Western culture that irks me more. Angels are fine- but why can't they have brown angels?!

*Just a note for those wondering why the photos are in a church- this was a Catholic wedding ceremony. Even with Indian Christians, the weddings are still arranged and traditional elements of Indian wedding ceremonies are incorporated.