When we got to Chennai, we learned that none of our checked baggage had gotten there from Brussels. So some of us had to wait until the next night for our bags to come, and there were still a couple more bags that did not make it until the 2nd night after we had gotten there. In fact, we were leaving Chennai a few hours after the last luggage arrived. We were glad that it all got there before we had to leave that city. Our first night in Chennai, we did not get to our hotel until 3:00 AM because it took a couple hours to get all the paperwork filled out regarding the luggage that did not arrive with us.
In Chennai, we visited 3 different sites where Jesus' disciple Thomas preached, was martyred and buried supposedly. That was very interesting. There are shrines and churches built on these sites.
Chennai is on the southeast coast of India on the Bay of Bengal. It was very warm and humid. We had our own private bus for our group at each major city we visited. We went down the coast a ways to Mamallapuram beach temple carved out of rock near the beach. Also saw more carvings and ruins. All very fascinating.
Had breakfast at our hotel each morning. Lunch and dinner were often at restaurants or at institutions that we were visiting or maybe just a quick snack because we had too many things to see and do.
We visited the India Institute of Technology in Chennai. It is on a wooded campus with spotted deer and monkeys running around. Rylan had a good time climbing in the banyon trees and swinging on the banyon vines, etc. Before we left IIT, all the students were climbing and swinging in the banyon trees--even Charles and Kent did some swinging.
Also visited a very unique temple with a steep roof filled with very colorful carvings of people, animals, flowers, etc. It was quite lovely.
We took a 6 hour train trip from Chennai to Bangalore. On the train we met a caucasian couple, and she was an alumnus of Whitworth in 1996. Small world.
When we arrived in Bangalore, Prem James was there to meet us and had a small bus waiting for us to take us to WIPRO technology place.
In Bangalore, we stayed at Asha Kiran Special Needs School where Rita James (Prem's wife) is the principal. They have some boarding students and a lot of day students. About 110 students all together. Rita had some projects she wanted the students to help her with, so they worked on several things. Rebecca, the only female student on our trip, often roomed with Melissa. So Rebecca and Melissa and Charles and I shared a little house next door owned by the school while everyone else stayed in the school. We found it interesting that the bathroom sink drained onto the floor underneath the sink. Also the showers (in most of the places we stayed) were in bathrooms and just sprayed over everything in the bathroom. No curtains or dividers. Also our shower head was just a few inches from the only electrical outlet in the bathroom! Our doors had anywhere from 5 to 16 locks on them. We felt very secure!!
We were hoping to get to see friends Bob and Brenda Robinson who work in Hosur, India. But it just didn't work out with our schedules. Hosur is about 2 hours from Bangalore. Did get to talk with them on the phone and that was nice.
We all enjoyed our day at the Bannerghatta National Wildlife Park. While touring in the wild park, we were in park buses with wire cages over the windows to keep the animals out. We had a very cute bear that was so happy to climb up and grasp the wires and look in at us. He moved along the whole side of the bus. He snorted and sneezed at my window, so I and others got a bit wet from that. We saw a lot of different kinds of antelope, more spotted deer, a lion, several tigers--both orange and white ones. In the zoo part of the park there were a lot of usual animals you would see at any zoo. Most of our group enjoyed elephant rides at the park too.
We visited Microsoft and Mind Tree tech places also in Bangalore. Then we caught a night train to Pune which took about 19 hours. We had sleeping compartments and we were supplied with sheets, blanket and pillow for the night. Cheryl had a mouse run over her during the night. Not surprising. Our group had at least 4 mouse sightings in that train coach that we were on. We enjoyed watching the scenery, people, animals, carts, villages, and interesting things from the train.
When we got to Pune, the travel agents were there and had a bus waiting for us. We were taken to Spicer College, which is where Kent's parents taught while Kent was a kid. As we pulled up to the main building, Marge and Don Bankhead were on a walk. They are volunteering at the college now, but they were there when Kent was a kid too. They were lovely hospitable and very helpful while we spent a few days there. It was nice to get our laundry done at their home too.
Our guest rooms at Spicer were on the top floor of a nice new building for which we were very thankful. Last time Kent and Cheryl took a group of students there, they stayed in a very old moldy building and everyone got sick with respiratory problems.
The students went to Pune University and did some presentations. We also went by bus to Arungabad to visit the Daulatabad Fort which spreads all over and covers a lot of territory. It was a long climb up to the top of it. Some of the ruins are fairly well preserved. Had to go through some dark tunnels with bats sleeping on the ceilings. Great views from the top of the fort.
The next day we visited Ellora Caves, which was a highlight for all of us. There are 34 man made caves carved out of the side of a rocky hill/mountain. The caves dated back to 700-900 AD. It is absolutely amazing with all kinds of carvings, temples, etc. A must see if you go to India.
There were a lot of school children and other visitors at the caves. We got "mobbed" several times by the school kids wanting their photos taken with us. Melissa was especially popular all over India with her blond hair and blue eyes. So many people asked to have their photo taken with her.
Sinagbad Fort is much closer to Pune. So we went there one afternoon. Our bus was not allowed on the narrow rough winding road up to the fort, so we had to travel the last several miles in 2 jeeps for our group. Did a lot of hiking on up to the top to various lookouts, etc. A lot of people seem to live up there and have items for sale, etc. The story of this fort is that soldiers wanted to conquer the fort, so they sent monitor lizards with strings tied to them up the cliff. When the lizards got to the top, the soldiers tugged on the strings and the lizards dug into the ground. Then the soldiers sent children up the strings carrying ropes. When the children got to the top they secured the ropes and the soldiers climbed up the ropes at night and surprised the people in the fort.
Our bus took us from Pune to Mumbai, about 100 miles. We saw several bad accidents along the highway. As we got closer to Mumbai we went down off the plateau that we had been on. Mumbai is beautiful by the Arabian Sea. We kept seeing marathon signs as we came into Mumbai and discovered that a marathon had taken place that morning. We got there around noon. So we just missed that marathon. The students were interested in going to Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai. This is the same place that was brand new 4 years ago when Kent and Cheryl and the students on that trip finally found it. They were not open yet, but finally offered to fix a meal for them so their employees could practice before they opened in a few days. The fastest way for us to find the Hard Rock Cafe this time was to find a taxi driver who knew where it was and have our bus follow the taxi there. So we did. We got there early for lunch, so had to wait a while, but enjoyed looking at all the displays, etc. Then they had a special family time so lots of kids and parents arrived for the fun and games and buffet lunch, etc. Our group was put into an upstairs area with one waiter. The waiter was very slow in taking our orders and they were very slow in delivering our food to us. And then the waiter was extremely slow in figuring out each individual bill. Kent paid for a lot of our meals out of the general fund, but he wasn't planning to pay for everyone this time. So we probably spent close to 3 hours there. Eventually we were able to leave and go see the Gate of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel (which was bombed in Nov 2008).
After our sightseeing, we went to the train station to get our overnight train to Dehli. It is a very nice train. We are in 3rd class air-conditioned (6 people in a compartment) and all of our food is free. We had to pay extra for food on the train from Bangalore to Pune and we were in 2nd class air-conditioned (4 to a compartment). Due to a lot of fog, our train was about 3 hours late getting into Dehli. Eventually we got there and met up with our new driver Gherdeep Singh and our nice bus. Stopped at McDonalds for a quick efficient lunch. Then went to Q-tub Minar, the tallest minoret in the world along with ruins, tombs, etc. Saw a baby owl tucked between some stones on the wall of one building. Inside the same place were 3 bright green parrots. There is also an iron pipe that has never rusted.
Later we went to the Ba'hai lotus temple which is stunningly beautiful. The skies were very foggy and smoggy, so did not get the best photos. Inside the temple are white marble benches and it is very plain and simply beautiful.
Our bus took us to Jaipur the next day. The traffic was horrendous with several accidents and the traffic going the opposite direction filling up our side of the road also. Our bus ended up on the dirt or in the gutter a lot during that drive. We eventually got to Jaipur which turned out to be my favorite city. It has the Amber Fort and above that is the Jaighar Fort. Then there is the Water Palace out in the middle of a lovely lake. We weren't allowed to go out to that palace though. Downtown is the Hawa Mahal or Wind Palace where the royal ladies could sit in the latticed windows and look down on the street to watch what was going on, but the ladies could not be seen by the people below.
Some of us rode elephants up to the Amber Fort. The elephant that Charles and I were on was in a great hurry. The elephant swayed more and more the faster it went. It passed all of the other elephants going up to the Fort. So we had a very rolling ride! Cheryl and Melissa had gotten on an elephant just behind us, but that elephant was extremely slow and got passed by all the other elephants and eventually made it up to where we were at the Fort about 15 minutes later. The Fort was fascinating and a lot of it is still in very good condition.
We went to the Jaigarh Fort and hiked around in it. This fort has the world's largest cannon which had only one trial shot and was able to shoot a cannon ball 22 miles. This cannon is on a movable cart and this was the pit stop for the contestants on The Amazing Race TV program.
I loved seeing the elephants, camels, horses, cattle, goats, buffaloes, carts, bicycle rickshaws, motorized rickshaws, motorcycles, motor scooters, cars, trucks, buses, etc all in the mix of the traffic jams on the street of Jaipur. Most of the other cities we were in did not have the elephants, camels and horses on the streets. The cows are sacred and are everywhere. There are also a lot of stray dogs everywhere. As well as pigeons and monkeys.
From Jaipur we headed to Agra and the Taj Mahal--the most famous attraction in India. On the way, we stopped at Fatiphur Sikri, the Deserted City, which we went to 30 years ago. It was very foggy there and hard to see very far, but it has changed since we were there last with nice gardens, trees, bushes, flowers, etc. The city was deserted possibly because they could not get enough water to survive on there. It was built in the 1500's and was used for about 15 years. A lot of it is still well kept.
On to Agra. Our bus could not take us all the way to our hotel because the hotel was right next to the Taj Mahal entrance and no motorized vehicles were allowed that close to the Taj. So 10 bicycle rickshaws were hired to take 2 passengers each with the luggage. It was very foggy and the air was very damp and cold. Our hotel was very convenient, but our bedding, towels, etc were all damp. Charles and I doubled our 2 blankets over us and we stayed warm at night, but everyone else just had one blanket and was cold. We all loved seeing the Taj Mahal even though it was foggy, we took a lot of photos. Spent 2-3 hours there. They have a lot more security now than they did 30 years ago when we were there. There is a lot more security everywhere since the Mumbai bombings in 2008. It was still very foggy the next morning, so didn't get sunrise photos of the Taj Mahal. We went to Agra Fort where it was also very foggy. Could hardly see some of the buildings very close by! This is where the emperor who built the Taj Mahal for his wife (and intended to build a black Taj at the other end of the reflecting pool for himself) was imprisoned by his son for the rest of his life. He was also buried in the Taj Mahal next to his wife. There are now gardens at the Agra Fort which were not there 30 years ago. A lot of monkeys live at the Fort.
From Agra we went on the bus back to Dehli. Went to Janter Munter, a unique place of celestial measurements, etc. The students had a lot of fun climbing all over them.
We got tickets for the Republic Day parade on January 26. Again it was very foggy the morning of the parade. There was security all over Dehli due to the parade. When we entered the gate to our seating section, we were all searched and patted down very thoroughly. Could not take cameras, phones, pens, pencils, flashlights, calculators, etc. etc. You could not even take a bottle of water. You could take money and passport. The parade consisted of a lot of military equipment, a lot of floats showing culture of various areas of India, a lot of military groups marching swinging only the left arms--looked really funny, but quite precise. Also a number of marching bands. There were several children's groups which did song and dance.
It lasted a couple of hours. Some of the time we could see across the parade street, but much of the time it was too foggy to see anything on the other side. The parade went past the India Gate in Dehli. At the beginning was an entourage of vehicles with the president and also the special guest the Korean president. They stopped up the street from where we sat and had the TV cameras and the performers doing their songs and dance, etc in front of the presidents.
We did find a few opportunities to do some shopping at the craft village, and in some of the other shops around town. We used motorized rickshaws a lot in the cities. They were quick and efficient most of the time. The traffic is so chaotic and crowded and wild, we wonder why they don't have more accidents. But apparently they are watching carefully not to hit anyone else.
I always felt safer riding in any kind of vehicle rather than walking. In some places there may be sidewalks, but those may be broken, or have little fires going on them, or have people selling things on them, or have guys doing auto body work and mechanics on them; and it all makes it very difficult to walk on the obstacle course sidewalks. So you constantly have to go in between cars (parked or being driven) and other vehicles out to the streets in that chaos! It is amazing that anyone can survive by walking very much. We did use the Metro subway which is quite new and very fast and nice. It was also very crowded the time we used it. But most of the time it was not convenient for us to use it.
Everywhere around the cities are the street/slum children. They often perform doing tricks, gymnastics, etc. trying to get money. We did not usually give them money, but we took a lot of little plastic toys/animals and passed those out to the kids. Sometimes we gave them food. They are very persistent.
Rylan had a really nice time hanging out with the university students. He acted like he was one of them and they were all quite tolerant of him being with them.
India has 29 states. I think we traveled in about 7 of the states on the trains and buses, etc.
The polution in India is very bad. The air is thick with smog and then fog was added to that in some places.
Most everyone in our group either got "Dehli belly" and/or a cold. I felt fortunate to get only the cold. Charles had a mild case of "Dehli belly" and a cold. One student did not get either. And Melissa stayed well on the whole trip, but came down with a cold when she got home.
The night we were supposed to fly out of Dehli to Chicago nonstop was very foggy and our flight was delayed by about 10 hours or so. After we were in line to check in with American Airlines at the Dehli airport for hours, they stopped the check in process and eventually they said they would put everyone up in a nice country resort hotel. We would be taken there by bus. So we waited in line for a long time and finally got on a bus and it took us close to 30 minutes to get to the nice country resort. It was about 2:00 AM by then when we checked into the hotel. It was very nice. They had dinner ready for us when we got there. So at 2:00 AM we are eating in the hotel restaurant. Got to bed about 2:30 AM and got a wake up call at 5:00 AM. We did sleep well for 2 1/2 hours. Then the buses took us back to the airport. We had to go through numerous security searches before we could board our plane. The flight from Dehli finally left after 10:30 AM for Chicago which took 15 hours 45 minutes which is the longest nonstop flight I have ever been on. It seemed long too. Couldn't sleep much, so watched all the movies, TV programs and other programs available on my private plane TV screen.
In Chicago we had to pick up our checked luggage and recheck it after going through customs.
I was really tired by then and slept most of the 4 hour flight from Chicago to Seattle. Then on to Spokane. Because our flight from Dehli was delayed so much we were rebooked on other flights. Not all of our group got on the same flights from Chicago or from Seattle. Cheryl's family and we and a few students were on the same flights and got to Spokane about 9:00 PM all on January 27 which was a very long day with all the time changes! Cousin Warren was there to pick us up and take us home. It was nice to get home. I slept until after 9:00 AM the next morning and got myself pretty much back on Pacific time again.
We all agreed that we had a great trip and glad that we could go and see and learn so much about India.
By going to India, we missed grandson Caden's 1st birthday on January 9. We got to celebrate with him at Christmas time though. And we look forward to spending time with him and Kyler in March when we go to Calif. for a few weeks. Caden is making very good progress with his therapies. He has several appointments every week.
Charles and I will be doing the Los Angeles marathon again on March 21 which also happens to be my 70th birthday, so that is how I will be celebrating!
So far winter has never really materialized in our part of the world this season! We had plenty of snow the past couple of winters, but this year there has been only a few inches in comparison. The temperatures have been in the 40's most days well above average.
We did enjoy taking Shelly and Charli Jo with us to Sacramento for Christmas with Carey and Greg's family. Had a very nice time. The kids all enjoyed it too.
There are a number of photos from our trips in the "Older Posts", so keep going until you have seen them all.
