Wow, not really sure where to start.  Now we are up in northern India in a town called Rishikesh.  We love it here so far and we think we will stay for the last 10 days or so of our trip before we head our separate ways.  We are staying at Shri Sant Sewa Ashram and it is right on the Ganges river.  People are always bathing and cleansing themselves in the river and every evening there is chanting and mantras being sang over a loud speaker with drums and everything.  Its pretty amazing.  Its hard sometimes to appreciate what you have when you are in the moment of it, but when you step back and think about whats going on its pretty amazing.

Last time I wrote I think we were in Mumbai.  It was a great city and really fun to see.  Very busy and crowded though!  We were getting ready to leave and we had bought our train ticket to agra to see the taj mahal.  The night before we left we got hooked up with our “Indian family”, an Indian man, sid, who works in my dads office put us in touch with his family that live in Mumbai.  We ended up calling them and going over for dinner to their house in a really nice neighborhood.  It was so fun to see how their life is and get a real family experience.  They made us eat so much and thankfully they were great cooks and the food was amazing.  They also made us try all of their crazy Indian breath “fresheners” which could be anything from sweet, salty, bitter, and nasty. 

The house was full, I think 8 people living there, the elders grandma and grandpa and than their 2 sons and wives and their babys.  The ladys stay home all day and cook and play with the babies and the men work.  All the marriages were arranged and it was so interesting to hear about that.  They made it seem like we have a problem by having the choice to decide who we want to be with and dating and everything.  They were like ohhhh you are 24 its time to be married…..

After dinner we spent like 3 hours in the grandmas room looking at all of her bangles, she has a whole briefcase full!  She gave us a huge bag of them to take home even though we insisted we couldn’t take them.  She also has a whole book full of bindis, she gave us a bunch too and we have been wearing them (and coordinating the color with our outfits like she taught us ) They loved sharing their stories and that we were so excited about everything that they were showing us.  Her closet was full of a rainbow of saris, so beautiful!

Megan gave 2 of the ladies haircuts, they wanted a new style so she gave the grandma some layers and she felt so great and pretty after.  I think they just always get it cut straight across and don’t learn to do anything with it.  One of the ladys Aarty had really curly hair and megan taught her what to do to make it less frizzy and I think she really appreciated it.  So cute! 

We left their house late that night and our train was the next day around 7pm so they invited us to come back the next day for lunch and to hang out with them, we were so excited!!  We had another great meal and than the grandma took us all around Mumbai.  The 2 sister in laws stayed at the house with the babies because it was too hot to bring them out.  The mom was soooooo excited to be out of the house, we walked all around and went to a million temples and had so much tikka powder on our faces by the end!  She made us stay out like 3 more hours than we would have on our own, we were so tired from walking around and it was SO hot!  She kept saying want to do this, want to go here….. she was so happy to be out of the house she stalled and did as much as possible.  She made us try a ton of different street food snacks that she loved and me and megan had to choke down, they just kept coming.  We liked one of them actually. J

When we went back to their house they dressed us in the saris and it was so fun to feel what it feels like, they are so beautiful!!!

Than we headed to the train to Agra, about a 25 hour train ride!  Can you just imagine the Darjeeling express, that was us.  We were wearing our Indian outfits and had temple powder all over the place and our bindis and bangles on.  We were pretty much as true Indian as we could be J  Our train car was nice, it had ac and each little area had 4 beds for for people.  We each had one and we could sleep.  Of course a family of 4 was sharing the other 2 beds and the baby was screaming all night, so we didn’t sleep toooo well.  Its all part of the experience right.  I think we were probably the only white people on the train and people really were interested in us and stared and came to look at us as much as possible.

We made it to Agra in the afternoon and were really frustrated and decided to stay at a fancy hotel, it was amazing.  Good Choice.

The Taj was closed on Fridays, the day we wanted to go so we ended up spending 2 nights there.  Agra is a horrible place except for the Taj.  We found a taxi guy who ended up being a bad guy and tried to screw us big time.  I guess that isint really anything new because everyone is trying to cheat us all the time.  Its kindof cool what they do there, they have declared the taj mahal a historic monument and so they don’t have any factorys or industry in agra, only handicrafts so they can stop the pollution of the Taj.  Agra seemed to be one of the most polluted cities though….maybe because it was so hot too.  We spent a few hours at a rug store and saw how they were made and everything and megan ended up buying a few.  They are so awesome!  The guy was trying to hard to get me to buy one too.  He made us lay down on the ones we liked for a few minutes in shavasana and meditate and if we got a “divine feeling” after we woke up it means we should get it.  I was laying down on the one I liked and almost fell asleep and he came next to me and said goodmorning and had a cup of tea.  It was really nice actually.  Still not convinced to buy the rug though. J

We spent sunrise at the Taj Mahal and it was so beautiful.  Not too hot or crowded yet and it was amazing!

After that we headed up north to Haridwar, an amazing pilgrimage town on the Ganges River.  We didn’t know much about it but we went there at a really auspicious time as the biggest religious gathering in the world was going on there.  50 million people come to this place for a festival called Kumbh Mela to cleanse their karma and their souls in the Ganga.  There are many holy men who come at this time to bless the river also.  The one being held in Haridwar was the last one of their 12 year cycle in the hindu calendar and it was a very important one.  It was magical.  We met a friend named Kim who we spend the whole day and night with.  She has been living in India for a year teaching so she could share some knowledge with us.  

We took a holy dip in the ganga!!!!  Now we are cleansed of all our bad Karma and we are feeling great!  We weren’t going to dunk, we were just going to put our feet in but kim dunked so we were like well I guess we have to too.  So happy we did!  We created quite a scene, again being the only foreigners and we had a big circle audience and people wanting to take pictures with us in the ganga.  

The festival was so magical!  It starts in the evening time and everyone does a light ceremony with a candle floating down the river, we all did one together and sent it away, mother ganga takes your prayers and brings them to life.  It was so cool!!!!  The temples and everything are decorated with lights and it is the most amazing thing I think ive ever seen.

Enjoy the photos!  It is a nightmare to upload things in India so there are only a few