On our first day in Jaipur we decided to sleep in and take advantage of the pool. We spent the day lounging. In the afternoon I started feeling bad. Unfortunately at dinner I got sick and had a fever.

We had been very careful about what we have been eating – nothing we didn’t peel ourselves, nothing uncooked, no fresh juices etc. and we only ate in 5 star hotels. I tapped into my medicine (Cipro) and stayed behind to rest the following day while the others explored Jaipur.

The staff at the Jaipur Hilton were exceptional. The hotel manager personally checked on me to make sure I didn’t need a doctor, another member brought tea to my room. I’m so glad we paid the extra money to say in a nice hotel!!!

Two days later, I felt better and we explored the Monkey palace. There were monkeys everywhere and if you were brave enough (we were not), you could feed the monkeys bananas. It was fun to watch them run and play up close. We also saw our first snake charmers however, to get a picture you had to bribe them.

At the palace they had 3 pools: One for monkeys, one for men and one for women – and they drained into one another in that order! I don’t think I would have swam there!!

We also went to a jewelry factory (really a small house) where there were 16 men working on polishing stones, making the gold jewelry and setting the stones. It was really interesting to see. OSHA would have had a field day there!!!

View our Jaipur photos.

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After checking out of our Agra hotel we We drove 3 hours south to a town called Gwalior. In the past, Gwalior was a hunting area for the King. Today, the forests are gone and Gwailor is a very hot and dry place. Gwalior is the hottest we’ve experienced so far. It was over 110 degrees.

After our quick trip to Gwalior, our driver took us back to Agra where we caught a train to Jaipur (the riots in Rajastan finally stopped). We were very excited to say goodbye to our driver – his driving on the way to Agra was less than ideal!

View Gwalior photos

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Because of the riots in Rajastan, we had to change our itinerary.  We decided to go to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, following Chennai.

We flew through Delhi and had arranged for a driver to pick us up at the Delhi airport. We had brought our cell phones with us and purchased minutes for a very low price. These phones came in very handy as it allowed us to communicate with our drivers (and call home!)

Unfortunately, the driver in Delhi was one of the worst we had experienced!!  The trip to Agra was about 4 ½ hours and our driver was so bad we thought we might die. Our previous two drivers were awesome.  They could navigate the cows, dogs, people, rickshaws, cars etc. and make it seem easy.  This guy scared us and the bald tires on our vehicle made us even more concerned!  To top it off, our driver was constantly pulling over and trying to get another “tour guide/ translator” guy into the car because he couldn’t understand us. While he said it was free we knew it was a scam and were very frustrated.

We found an Italian restaurant at a western hotel and enjoyed pizza… I love Indian food but after 3 meals a day of curry, I was excited to have something familiar!

It was very very hot in Agra. It kind of feels like you crawled into the oven! We visited the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal.  We left our hotel at 6:30 AM to beat the heat but it was still over 90 degrees.

We hired a guide who was able to give us a lot of background on the history. The Taj Mahal is beautiful and it was amazing to see such beautiful work which had all been done by hand. After visiting the sites we returned to our hotel and relaxed by the pool and playing ping pong. The Hilton hotels in were great – very clean and reasonably priced.

View Agra Photos

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Ajay and Anusha’s wedding was the catalyst for our India trip. Zvonimir and I became friends with Ajay at Wharton. When Ajay invited us to his wedding in Chennai, India I was very excited. I had always wanted to visit India and was even more excited to attend a traditional Indian wedding!

Anusha and Ajay arranged a guest house in Chennai and driver for us. Our experience was fabulous! We stayed in a 3 bedroom apartment with a chef, two waiters and a director. Each day the director would ask each of us what we wanted to eat for each meal. The staff would then shop for and prepare each dish we had requested. The food and service were exceptional at the guest house!

We visited the Georgetown market in Chennai, a fascinating market where you can purchase a different type of good on each street – for paper, you went to Anderson street, on another street you could buy any type of nut or bolt you wanted, another street you could purchase fruits and vegetables. We were the ONLY westerners in the market and we felt like WE were the tourist attraction! We had many people approach us to ask where we were from or ask to have their picture taken. People were just as fascinated with us as we were with them.

Zvonimir fell ill after one of the wedding ceremonies so we stayed in the guest house while Andrada and Lyndi headed to Pondicherry (I read the Life of Pi on the trip so we were sad to miss Pondicherry). Instead, the housemaster took us shopping to a local jewelry store…. I bought my sister a few rings but upon returning to the states I learned they were fakes…. Guess I wouldn’t recommend buying gems in India unless you know your gems! I bought them from a well established store with no other tourists and still got ripped off – oh well at least I didn’t spend a ton!

We also hit a bit of a snag in our travel plans while in Chennai. The area known as Rajastan was having riots regarding equal wages and equal opportunitiy among castes. Our travel plans had us spending the following week in Delhi, Jaipur and Agra, which was the area having riots so Lyndia, Andrada and I spent a late night re-working our itinerary.

Make my Trip was an Indian travel site Zvonimir and I had used to book one of our flights. We spent many hours on hold listening to the *Make my Trip, Plan my trip* jingle. In the end, we were able to re-work our trip to and keep our original desinations – and we have a song stuck in our head anytime someone mentions Make my Trip!

View our Chennai photos.

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Zvonimir and I became friends with Ajay at Wharton. When Ajay invited us to his wedding in Chennai, India I was very excited. I had always wanted to visit India and was even more excited to attend a traditional Indian wedding!

Anusha and Ajay arranged a guest house in Chennai and driver for us. Our experience was fabulous! We stayed in a 3 bedroom apartment with a chef, two waiters and a director. Each day the director would ask each of us what we wanted to eat for each meal. The staff would then shop for and prepare each dish we had requested. The food and service were exceptional at the guest house!

We attended the henna ceremony at Anusha’s family house. This is traditionally for the women of the family, however, the invitation was extended to the men as well since there were so many out of town guests. Anusha sat for hours while her legs and feet, arms and hands were temporarily tattooed with the henna pain. Andrada, Lyndi and I also got the henna done on our hands.

Three women worked in unison applying the henna designs without templates. The paint is applied using a tool resembling a cake icing tool. Once the black henna dries, it flakes off and a orange colored stain is left on your hands for around 3 weeks. It was incredible to see how the three women worked in unison to create a beautiful and unique design for each person.

The engagement ceremony was held in a large, open air wedding hall. Trumpets and horns played loudly from behind us. Anusha and Ajay sat on a stage and were presented with traditional Indian clothing gifts for the ceremony. After the ceremony we had a large feast in the wedding hall. The meal was served on a banana leaf.

A well orchestrated staff quickly filled your banana leaf with dollops of a variety of traditional southern Indian vegetarian cuising – idlis with sambar (a pancake like bread with a soup-like lentil mixture), beans with coconut, mangos, lentils and more. The following day, the wedding ceremony began at 6am.

Anusha and Ajay gave us traditional saris for us to wear to the ceremony and we hired two ladies to help us get ready – thank goodness – there’s no way I could’ve figured it out on my own! The sari is 6 yards of fabric wrapped and tucked. Since we were new at this we were given safety pins to keep everything in place!

The ceremony begins with the tradition of the groom walking towards the Himalayas until the brides father begs him to stay and offers his daughters hand in marriage. After the groom accepts the offer the bride emerges in a beautiful sari. She is adorned with henna on her hand and feet, exquisite bangles on her wrists, and a jasmine necklace. Anusha was absolutely beautiful!

The multiple day ceremony was long and steeped with tradition! At the end of each day the family and friends met in the dining hall for a meal on banana leaves.

View Ajay and Anusha’s wedding photos.

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