Things I did in India

I know, I've been promising photos from India for ages. Well now I'm finally sharing some of them. These photos are just a brief snippet of what I did and saw. I was in India for 15 days and traveled to 5 cities via 4 trains and 5 planes. It was exhausting, but fascinating as well.

I visited Old Delhi. The traffic, sights, sounds and smells were overwhelming.

I rode in a bike rickshaw. It was SO. MUCH. FUN. I wish I could travel to work via bike rickshaw everyday.

I went to the Taj Mahal. That's the money shot.

Then I played on a see-saw and rode down a slide with the Taj Mahal in the background. How many people can say they've done that?

I also took some cheesy, touristy photos.

Oh and I saw a cow inside a store. Yeah, no big deal.

Then I went to Varanasi, home of the Ganga River where many people travel to cremate the dead and then scatter their ashes in the Ganga River. This is the view of the ghats (aka steps) that lead down to the water. There are nighttime ceremonies conducted by Brahmin priests which is what this is a photo of. This is also where my tour guide insulted me.

We took an early morning ride of the Ganga to see a very different side of river life.

People bathing in the Ganga. I was freezing sitting on my boat so I can't imagine how cold these individuals must have been.

People also wash clothing in the river. This is a photo of sari's drying along the waters edge. It was one of my favorite sights of my trip.

Goats, heading home from the market. They're awfully calm considering they're likely on their way to be slaughtered.

I visited a Hindu Temple. It was the first time I'd seen a swastika used as it was originally intended for. It was pretty cool.

The decoration at the City Palace was unbelievable

With a guard at the City Palace in Jaipur. The big vessel in the background is the largest silver vessel in the world and was built to carry water from the Ganga to England for a king to bathe in while he was on holiday.

This was in Jaipur and it's where the maharajah's ladies would sit and look out on city life through the windows. On my desk at work I have a things to see before you die page-a-day calendar and this was one of the sights listed while I was away. Kinda amazing right?

I went to a gorgeous fort. And wore tevas. Please, you can't judge me any more than I judge myself.

I went to a monkey temple which was fascinating and scary all at once. Wild monkeys are scary.

I met some cute school children who asked me to take their photo.

This is an Iraqi synagogue in Mumbai that has been there for over a 100 years. It was beautiful, I'd never seen a shul like it before in my life.

I splurged my last few days in Mumbai and booked myself at a nice hotel. I spent a lot of time at the pool. It was lush.

The next set of India photos will be things I didn't do in India. To be continued....