And the rest of the story.....

We arrived home yesterday morning and it felt really good to be home. It was a great trip and we really enjoyed it all. Let me recap the last day in Delhi and our journey home.

We enjoyed lounging around the hotel in the morning. They have a good breakfast and we knew we had a long day ahead of us.  We went over to the mall that was connected to the hotel and looked around but it was like a mall here would be and not the sort of shops where we could get souvenirs which really was what we needed. We had bought very little up to this point and wanted to go somewhere that we could look and decide on things without too much bargaining.  The mall was not the place. At noon we checked out of the hotel and our driver picked us up.  He took us to a place that had all kinds of India items and was exactly what we had wanted. We had fun looking at what was available and deciding on a few things to bring back.  They had everything from pashmina to inlaid items to tshirts.  When we finished there, our driver suggested he take us to a Hindi temple. It is famous, I know and it was an interesting place to go.  We had taken old socks to wear to temples and scarves and all but being the last day, those were packed away tightly.  Well, it wouldn't really have mattered as the socks had to come off as well as the shoes at this place.  And they gave us scarves to put on our heads. We were quite lovely...All I could think was that my feet were going to be dirty for a long time with no way to shower before we left for the long plane rides.  But the temple was very interesting and they have a food kitchen that feeds people 24 hours a day-no questions asked. they feed hundreds of people every day.  There were probably over a hundred there eating while we there.  He took us into the kitchen which was the only really bad part-the floors were wet and slippery and we didn't want to think about what was on them as we walked with our bare feet.  the temple itself was beautiful and there were huge fish outside in the temple compound and it was just a very interesting place to see.  We went back down to where we left our shoes and it took about 3-4 wet wipes on each foot for us to even begin to feel clean but at least we had those.  It was a lesson to me in how hard it is for me to really get dirty for a long period of time.  We drove to another temple but I just was not into taking my shoes off again and so we just looked at it from outside. 

At this point, we decided to just call it a day and head on out to the airport despite it being SO many hours ahead of time.  The Delhi airport is huge and we decided we could shop or eat or whatever there and at least get the luggage taken care of as soon as we could.  When we got there, we discovered that we did not have the eticket printed out, which would normally not be a big deal but you cannot even go INTO the airport without that ticket.  They have a desk where they can print it out for you, but for whatever reason, our confirmation numbers and such didn't seem to help in their system. They said we needed something that had both our names showing we had an eticket.  We could not even get to a restroom without that! Cell phone to the rescue as Delta had sent me an email saying it was time to check in (which we had tried to do at the hotel that AM but because it was a code share flight and actually an Air France flight, it said we had to check in at the airport....).  the email listed both our names so they had me come behind the desk and bring up my email so we could print off that email. It made me nervous that was all we had as proof, but it ended up to be fine.  But we could not go into the main airport until 4-5 hours before our flight. Until then we had to wait in the visitors lounge which you can't get to without that proof you have the eticket.  sigh. Every time we wanted to go to the bathroom, we had to show the guard that piece of paper and hope he would accept it-he always looked at it long and hard but always accepted it. You had to go down an elevator to get to the restrooms or anything else. 
When the time came, we went into the regular airport and searched for the Air France counter. there was not one. So I went to an information desk and asked where to find it. The lady said it would be on aisle E but they did not open til 11 PM.  So we found a place and sat for a few minutes. I got up and went to look at aisle E to see if I could figure out where it would be and discovered people were already in line for our flight even though the desks were not open-they were going to open at 9:30 instead of 11 though so that was good to go ahead and get in line. We got our boarding passes and when they saw that Jim had made gold medallion because of the flights over, he gave us a pass to use the medallion lounge for the day.  That was wonderful. They had full meals there and free wifi and the chairs were much much more comfortable than the gate chairs and by that time of night, we were pretty tired.  We went to the gate about an hour before the flight.  The flight from Delhi to Paris was an easy one and we both were so tired that we slept a good bit. 
We had a 4 hour layover in Paris and we had no problem getting to our gate and all but it still seems to be a really poorly laid out airport to get around. 
We had paid for the economy plus seats on that leg of the flight and let me say, it was totally worth it! We had bulkhead seats where we had so much room that we could not even reach the wall with the pocket on it. While not business class (sigh), it was quite comfortable and was a nice easy flight. We flew from Paris to Cincinati where we went through customs easily , stretched our legs and got on the final flight down to Atlanta.  When we reached Atlanta, we figured we had been up over 40 hours, though of course, we had slept some on the slights. But it is safe to say that our bodies were tired and ready to be on a real bed!  We spent the night at the Holiday Inn Express where we had left our car and we finally got to get a shower and clean those nasty feet! 
We drove home early Friday morning and started the mounds of laundry and emptying the suitcases.  The trip was all we had hoped it would be an a learning experience on so many levels.  Enchanting India did a super job of planning it for us and we could not be happier with what they did. 

kitchen of the temple

Singinawa

 Our stay at Singinawa Lodge at Kanha was unique.  Until the last night, we were the only guests there, so we had the services of a huge staff including a chef and several cooks and waiters, at our service.  Each day, the chief naturalist Vijay and one or two of the naturalist-trainees went with us into the park.  One of them, Tom, was a young English guy doing his gap year and was interesting to talk to.  We left each morning for the park at 5 am (in an open jeep in lower 40s temps), came beck for a lunch break (about noon until 2:15) then back to the park (temps in the 80s at this point) and came back after dark (around 7 with temps back to 40s again).  There were lots of neat things to do at the lodge but we had little time.  We did take a walk around the grounds with naturalist and watched a National Geo. movie on tigers filmed at Kanha.  The last night, the owner of the lodge was there and gave us a slide show and talk about tigers. Nanda Rana is a member of the royal Rana family in Nepal who has studied tigers for 20 years at Kahna and  was National Geographic and BBC consultant on tigers.  His wife Latika is also a tiger expert and there is a documentary on her called "The Tiger Princess".  Anyway, the last night, Nanda R. took just the two of us out on a night drive to look for wildlifew (saw only some spotted deer) and then stopped the jeep and said "you'll be eating out here".  We thougth it was a joke but were taken to a large campfire where, after a very nice conversation with him, he left and four waiters set up a table (linen and fine china) and served us a wonderful dinner by candle-light and firelight.  Surprisringly, Madge was fairly adventurous with her eating on this trip.  Since we were about the only one at both camps, the cooks fixed everything with "no garlic, no onions".  While Indian cuisine is not our favorite, we both found a number of things we liked and certainly didn't starve (or even lose weight).

Update and Back to Delhi

There is a lot to catch up on as the Singanawa did not have wireless and to use the computer, I had to disconnect theirs to hook to mine.  So I just decided to wait til we got here to Delhi where there was free wifi and catch up.  The only problem with that is, I crashed last night. By the time we got to the hotel, it was 11 and I could not hold my eyes open. So hope I can remember all I wanted to write about now. 

Going back two days, we had the most amazing tiger sighting as we watched the alarm calls, saw the spotted deer running and heard the tiger growl and emerge from the forest and slowly walk toward us. She was marking her territory and she ambled slowly toward the cars and in silence, we watched her come closer and closer and cross the road and slowly go into the forest on the other side.  She is the only tiger in the park with a collar on. She has been studied for the last 3 years and the time is up and the collar is supposed to drop off and it hasn't.  So they are wanting the park rangers to get rid of it for her.  After that sighting, we signed up for the tiger show where the elephants track the tiger and we get to ride on the elephant back to see where they found it.  It was a big male asleep under the bushes. The trek was fun though and that made eight tigers we saw between the two parks. Amazing. No one has failed to let us know that we are extremely lucky! And we believe it. 
That night, the owners of Singawa were home from going to a wedding and came and spent some time with us. They are both tiger experts and the wife is the only person in the world to have a Phd in tiger preservation. He is a member of the royal family of Napal and bought this which once was an old hunting lodge. He did a slide show on tigers which was fantastic.  Then he took Jim and me and our guide Vijay on a driving night drive around the grounds. The only thing we spotted was spotted deer but it was great fun. Then we ended up to our surprise at a wonderful camp sight with big bonfire and were told that was where we were eating that night for dinner! He sat with us for about 15 minutes and visited and then left us to enjoy our meal which was very special! The food was good, the fire was warm and wonderful and it was neat to be jut the two of us on the last evening of our safari adventure! Really nice service!
Singawa could not be a better place to stay. THey took care of our every need and made sure we were happy all the time. The naturalist took us on a walk around the property one afternoon and of course, he did a grand job with the safaris.
The monkeys came to the camp that last day and were out in front of our cottage swinging from the trees. When we ate lunch that day, we sat on the upper patio and watched them as we ate. It was all just a beautiful place and a very relaxing special place.
We were scheduled for a morning safari yesterday morning but the person who made the booking said it was for the premium zone which is Kanha section and it takes 1 1/2 hours to drive there in the park. We had been there the previous two days and what we needed to do was drive through just mukki section so we could leave early and get back and on the road so we could catch our flight from Raipur.  But once reservations are made you cannot change them so all we could do was drive in and out on the main road which we did not see much of course.  But it was a pleasant drive and a nice way to leave the park.
We came back to the lodge and ate a nice hot breakfast and Neetu picked us up. Everyone at the lodge said the drive to Raipur should be no more than 5 hours. But Neetu took 1-2 hours later for each drive than they had estimated. I think he took alternate routes which meant dirt roads and one lane roads. I know he did yesterday. It took us 6 1/2 hours to get to the airport. And it was exhausting! He was so kind and nice and we surely could not have done it ourselves but after we got lost the second time, I was about to think we would never get to the plane on time.  The plane was almost an hour late leaving so that put us getting in pretty late. The plane was very nice but the airport is old and you go out one gate. and walk out to the tarmac to go up.  In the waiting room was one family with a cute little boy about 18 months old and a little girl who was about 5 who was LOUD and into everyone's face for attention. Naturally guess who sat in front of Jim! I was across the aisle so it was a little better til she ran up and down the aisles screaming and jumping up and down as she went. It was a long flight! We were met as promised at the airport and taken to our hotel where I crashed.
 I woke early This morning to see if I had an email from Allen which I did! So we celebrated that we will have a new granddaughter in the spring! Can't wait to get home and hear all about the visit.
We are staying in the hotel til checkout because our plane doesn't leave til after midnight tonight and we will have a long time at the airport. So we want to do some shopping and all but mainly try to take it easy before we have to go and sit for so long. It has been a great trip, if you have not realized that from my descriptions. But we are now ready to come home and see everyone and celebrate the holidays with our family

our cottage at Singanawa

Two tigers!

The battery on the computer is going to die so this will be quick. It was a long drive to Kanha from our treehouse but we made it here in time for the afternoon drive. It was the naturalist, Jim and me and a lady park ranger. We saw not one but two tigers. We saw a tiger on the road-no one around! soon after he went to the jungle nearby, a car came that had just seen a female cross the road coming in our direction. 
We looked and she crossed the road in front of us and behind where the male tiger was.  The cars piled in and we were all craning to see if we could see it. Our two naturalists were great and the new lady guide spotted it well. We moved to a different location and we saw the male tiger swim across a small pond and get out near us and he crossed the road near a bunch of cars and we could see it but could not get close enough for photos and we just enjoyed it.  We have enough photos now to just be able to enjoy the experience. The lady naturalist was so tickled. She was telling every car we met that she had seen two.  Shs is brand new so know this was special to her.

Guess what our cottage name is....we are the only tiger cottage. How fitting.

pair of collared scope owls.

countryside on the way to Kanha. Rice waiting to be sifted.

tiger in the bush
This resort is the opposite of the last one. Belongs to a member of the royalty from Nepal and the dining room is a huge table with probably 30 or more seats. Very formal like. Used to be a hunting lodge back when. It is very elegant and our cottage is so nice and comfortable.  Both places were unique and fun but it was nice to get a good shower in a normal bathroom last night!
We have to get up and leave by 5:15 each morning to start the safari.  It is cold and we layer to the max since the car is open. We have to drive about 25 min to the gate of the park and that is on a good road. Then we enter the park and the morning drives are about 5 hours. The afternoon ones are about 3.  Not much time to do anything else! We are tired but enjoying it and have seen so much.

Another day Another Tiger!

We did not see a tiger on this morning's safari but we heard one growl in the bushes near the road. We waited and listened as he wandered around but never came out in the open. Then this afternoon we followed another one and heard it growl a lot as he marked his territory.  Just as the safari was drawing to a close, we saw one tucked back way away from the road in some grass and it was hard to photograph but we could watch her and see her scratch and lick her paws and enjoy in the wonder of her.  So it was an excellent day.  We have been truly blessed to see this much. The other families here at the Treetops have not seen nor heard a tiger after two safaris here. Our naturalist and park ranger are just excellent.
One more night in the treetops and we will head to Kanha National Park. We stay there 3 nights.  They say it is very different from here so it should be fun to see it and compare the animals and terrain.  This has just been an excellent trip from start to now and hopefully the rest of the way as well! 

Jackpot again!

We are back from our evening drive and once again we hit the jackpot! There was a huge male tiger resting by the side of the road and we were able to watch him several minutes before he got up and ambled off into the jungle. What a magnificent creature! This was not the same male we spotted sleeping by the riverbed this morning.  I don't think my photos of this one are as good as the first one we saw as it was beginning to get darker. But we did get some and it was just an amazing experience.  Jean, our safari mate who comes every year, says she is lucky if she sees one like we saw this morning during her whole visit so she is just as elated as we are.  This national park is huge. It is not like you see them at every corner!  We have 3 1/2-4 hour drives and cover miles and miles and they can be anywhere. The naturalists are good here.  We might could have spotted another one this AM but we were going to be late getting out of the park and the driver gets fined if that happens and he is not allowed in the park for a week.  But we heard the alarm call and it was close to the road like yesterday and more than likely, there was a tiger or leopard or some kind of predator nearby.  They don't seem to hunt for the leopards so guess there are not many of those to be found.

The roads are dusty, dusty, dusty.  We come back covered and filthy. When Jim and I walked into our room when we got back,  I looked out the window and saw about 6 wild pigs go by. Then since I have been down here at the lodge (the only place with wifi) the staff spotted a porcupine. But I wasn't able to see it. We did see a mongoose today and a sanbar who had a new baby about 1-2 days old who was nursing. That was really sweet. 

I forgot the card reader to download the photos so will have to add those tomorrow.  Am too tired and it is dark and I don't like to walk back to the treehouse after dark unless someone is with me.  They are not as protective here as they are in Africa and it makes me a little nervous. 

OH they fixed our toilet today. yea! It has been leaking since Dad's fall the other night and that is not good...

Another day, another tiger

We saw another tiger this morning on our early morning drive. It was a huge male tiger that was stretched out on a river bank asleep. He must have eaten well last night as he was sleeping soundly.  We stayed and watched him for about an hour, hoping that he would get up and move but all he did was turn over. This was more what I expected to see if we  spotted one. Yesterday was truly a National Geographic Moment.  I can't imagine ever seeing one any better than this. This park is huge and the tigers have territories with a male roaming over several territories. The naturalist said the female we saw yesterday has jumped the park boundry and decided our camp is her territory as well and about every two weeks they see her come to check things out. She was here last week so we are safe as they expect her to come back through next week. Whew.  Almost time for our next drive so better go get ready.

more photos

water system for our treehouse

our treehouse

Houston, we have a tiger sighting!

From temples to the great outdoors




Today we rode from Khajuraho to the national park where we will be staying for the next four nights. It was not as grueling drive as the previous one but the roads would vary from ok to horrible so that sometimes we could go no more than 5 MPH. It took us 6 hours to get here and I have to say, that the Treetops where we are staying is VERY remote. I thought I had seen remote before but this rivals any place we have stayed for being out in the middle of nowhere. It is an unbelievable experience. Some is good, some not so good but it is all very interesting! Right now, there are only 3 guests here at the Treetops, us and a wonderful lady from England named Jean who shares our safaris with us. She has been here 4 times and says it is her favorite place.

We barely had time when we arrived to put our things in our room before we had to leave on our safari. We are in treehouse #1 known as Mahua tree, for the type of tree it is built in. The treehouse is spacious and all “green” , has a lovely deck and is all handmade and just different from anywhere we have ever stayed. It is showing a bit of wear but despite the rustic feel, it is a wonderful experience.

I am writing this on Wednesday morning now and have to share a funny event. In the middle of the night, Jim got up to use the loo and fell, he grabbed the toilet and slid it off it’s base and water went everywhere. We tried to decide whether this was an “emergency’ worthy of calling the one number you can dial on the phone in the room…..then decided it was not. It was quite a mess and at like 2 AM it had us both laughing so hard. Luckily, no damage was done to Jim or the bathroom in the long run as they had it all cleaned and fixed back when we returned from our morning safari.

It was cold last night and this morning but when the sun comes up, it quickly warms up. By the time the safari is over at 10:30 , it is back to short sleeved weather. But for the morning safari we layered with everything we had and it felt good when the wind was zipping at us in the open vehicle.

We had no nightly visitors but our English friend Jean has lovely rats of some sort in her room and they got in her suitcase and ate some vitamins she had in there. Glad we don’t have her treehouse! I heard nothing last night except for the warning call of the deer about 2 AM when we were having our adventure. I have to say, we wanted an adventure and this trip is surely turning out to be one!



There was also a funny on me last night. The shower is out in the open in the bathroom, just on boards and I could not figure how to get the shower to stay on. I could push the obvious button and it would come on but as soon as I let the button go, it stopped. So I had a great time twisting and turning to get the soap off while I was holding that button down! Jim told me later that you had to turn the button after you pushed it. Who knew?



The safaris are great fun. They are very different from African safaris. We have our naturalist Karan and a naturalist from the Park in our vehicle. In Africa, it is easy to spot the animals. Even in Botswana and all which had a lot of vegetation, it was relatively easy to spot animals because of their size. And elephant, a giraffe, a zebra-those are pretty easy to spot. Here the guides really have to know their stuff and use their ears as well as their eyes to really hone in on where the animals might be. Last night we saw very few animals-a few spotted deer, sambar, wild chickens (this is where chickens originated…) peacocks, wild hogs, blue bucks, and some nice birds. No signs of cats anywhere of any kind. Jean acted like we had seen a lot as it was more than what she saw yesterday morning. Hmmm. This is not boding well for us. They are not doing the elephant ride to see the tigers upclose like we had read about. That would not be the same as finding one yourself up close, but at least we’d see one and that was a pretty good guarantee we could get to see one anyway. I have really been shocked at how little wildlife there is and how hard it is to find it. I photographed a big spider. I was desperate!

First day at Bandhavargh

From temples to the great outdoors




Today we rode from Khajuraho to the national park where we will be staying for the next four nights. It was not as grueling drive as the previous one but the roads would vary from ok to horrible so that sometimes we could go no more than 5 MPH. It took us 6 hours to get here and I have to say, that the Treetops where we are staying is VERY remote. I thought I had seen remote before but this rivals any place we have stayed for being out in the middle of nowhere. It is an unbelievable experience. Some is good, some not so good but it is all very interesting! Right now, there are only 3 guests here at the Treetops, us and a wonderful lady from England named Jean who shares our safaris with us. She has been here 4 times and says it is her favorite place.

We barely had time when we arrived to put our things in our room before we had to leave on our safari. We are in treehouse #1 known as Mahua tree, for the type of tree it is built in. The treehouse is spacious and all “green” , has a lovely deck and is all handmade and just different from anywhere we have ever stayed. It is showing a bit of wear but despite the rustic feel, it is a wonderful experience.

I am writing this on Wednesday morning now and have to share a funny event. In the middle of the night, Jim got up to use the loo and fell, he grabbed the toilet and slid it off it’s base and water went everywhere. We tried to decide whether this was an “emergency’ worthy of calling the one number you can dial on the phone in the room…..then decided it was not. It was quite a mess and at like 2 AM it had us both laughing so hard. Luckily, no damage was done to Jim or the bathroom in the long run as they had it all cleaned and fixed back when we returned from our morning safari.

It was cold last night and this morning but when the sun comes up, it quickly warms up. By the time the safari is over at 10:30 , it is back to short sleeved weather. But for the morning safari we layered with everything we had and it felt good when the wind was zipping at us in the open vehicle.

We had no nightly visitors but our English friend Jean has lovely rats of some sort in her room and they got in her suitcase and ate some vitamins she had in there. Glad we don’t have her treehouse! I heard nothing last night except for the warning call of the deer about 2 AM when we were having our adventure. I have to say, we wanted an adventure and this trip is surely turning out to be one!



There was also a funny on me last night. The shower is out in the open in the bathroom, just on boards and I could not figure how to get the shower to stay on. I could push the obvious button and it would come on but as soon as I let the button go, it stopped. So I had a great time twisting and turning to get the soap off while I was holding that button down! Jim told me later that you had to turn the button after you pushed it. Who knew?



The safaris are great fun. They are very different from African safaris. We have our naturalist Karan and a naturalist from the Park in our vehicle. In Africa, it is easy to spot the animals. Even in Botswana and all which had a lot of vegetation, it was relatively easy to spot animals because of their size. And elephant, a giraffe, a zebra-those are pretty easy to spot. Here the guides really have to know their stuff and use their ears as well as their eyes to really hone in on where the animals might be. Last night we saw very few animals-a few spotted deer, sambar, wild chickens (this is where chickens originated…) peacocks, wild hogs, blue bucks, and some nice birds. No signs of cats anywhere of any kind. Jean acted like we had seen a lot as it was more than what she saw yesterday morning. Hmmm. This is not boding well for us. They are not doing the elephant ride to see the tigers upclose like we had read about. That would not be the same as finding one yourself up close, but at least we’d see one and that was a pretty good guarantee we could get to see one anyway. I have really been shocked at how little wildlife there is and how hard it is to find it. I photographed a big spider. I was desperate!

Safari in Panna National Park

We are back from Panna and our computer time is running out, so before it does, I wanted to blog about it.  First of all, to our surprise, we were picked up at the hotel in a jeep safari vehicle instead of riding to Panna with our driver.  Our jungle safari driver opened the back of the jeep and we sat on bench seats facing each other in the back of the vehicle.  He had the cover on it for the 35 minute ride over there and back but took the cover off when we were in the park.  It was a wild ride as the roads are so bad!  I worried about Jim's back but he managed just fine.  At the park, we picked up a safari guide as well and together the two of them spotted the wildlife.  To be honest, we didn't see an enormous amount of wildlife, though we did see a lot of birds. We saw spotted deer and blue bull antelopes, wild hogs, peacocks, crocidiles, the monkeys that are so cute, and sambur (deer).  All these are common from what we can tell and will be like impalas were in Africa the first time. But it was still fun to see them for the first time.  And I saw a lot of european roller birds which are gorgeous, and also, the plum headed parakeets that I had wanted to see. It was a wild ride and lots of fun and the park was beautiful with a lot of teak trees and wonderful smells.  It was a great start to our wildlife adventure! We got out just at full darkness and rode back on the bumpy road at night and it was a pretty scary adventure with the potholes and the people walking and the crazy roads. Let's just say I felt better in a car with a seat belt than in the back of a jeep riding sideways and trying to hold on! 
Tomorrow we had to the big national park where there are the most tigers.  Surely hope we will see one. At any rate, we will be looking and having fun for sure.

Khajuraho temples

This morning we toured the temples here in Khajuraho.  They truly are more beautiful than any photo can capture.  There are 28 temples still standing and the artistry is wonderful.  There is nothing else here in Khajuraho but they are well worth seeing.  Our guide knew we were not really interested in details so he told us the basics and then pointed out birds to me and showed us a jackal family that lives behind one of the temples.  Then he showed me another spotted owlet and as I was taking photos, his mate stuck her head out as well! I didn't realize it until I was looking at the photos when we got back to the car!  He did take us to one of the local artisans places and we bought my Christmas gift-a star ruby pendent. They are mined here and so it makes a nice souvenir.
We are back at the hotel for a rest and lunch and then will head to Panna National Park for our first safari here.  They have very few tigers left there, only a few that have been reintroduced. But we hopefully will see some animals and some birds and have a good time.  It will be nice to be out in nature again. 

The grounds are beautiful as well and you can walk from one to another.

Our driver's name is Neetu. Figured I better put that in before I forget. He will be with us until we fly back to Delhi at the end.

It was when we were up on the platform of this temple that we saw the family of jackals who live out back. I surely did not expect to see something like that at the temples!

and then he showed me another spotted owlet and when I was taking a picture, the owlet's mate stuck her head out as well!
We won't have internet for several days so I will post updates when we get back to wifi. 

Trains, cars, bicycles, motorcycles, cows and goats

All that is what our day was about.  We started out with a great train ride of about 2 1/2 hours through the countryside from Agra to Khujaharo.  Our Agra Enchanting India person got us from the hotel and onto the train with no problem.  The big suitcases went on the luggage racks above our heads but the seats were good and the leg room was fabulous.  We really enjoyed the train ride and really wish it could have taken us all the way to our next stop! 

Backing up, at breakfast we had one of those small world stories. We got to the restaurant at the same time as another guest who was by herself and we were waiting for the man to come check us off the list. We struck up a conversation and she was on a tour with Rhodes Scholars and was from Columbus, GA! We came half way around the world to meet someone who lived that close to us! We talked and enjoyed hearing about each other's plans. We swapped emails so we can exchange trip stories when we get back home.

Now back to the travel story. The next leg was getting off the train and finding our new driver which we did with no problem.  He is very gregarious and speaks English well except he is missing his front tooth so it makes him speak with a lisp and that, plus his accent are giving us a challenge! But he is so nice and boy, is he a good driver! Let me tell you, this trip is truly an adventure. It is just impossible to describe the things you see when being driven like this.  At best lanes are suggestions here when driving. Most of the time, there are bicyclists and motorcycles coming and going on either side of you and you are meeting big trucks headon vying for the one lane road that is paved. Or should I say it is paved some places-the potholes would almost swallow a car in places. Sometimes it was pushing it to go more than about 10 miles an hour if that much.  Other times we zipped along and twisted in and out and passed on the right and left and dodged cows standing, sitting and lying in the road. The same is true of goats. There are goats everywhere and a few hairy pigs too.  Even people sit in the road sometimes!  I am not kidding! But everyone honks their horn and waves and somehow, most of the time there is no accident. HOWEVER, that is not always the case.  The funniest thing we saw we are still laughing about.  We came to a small town that had a fruit and vegetable market and the usual chaos going on every which way and we came upon an accident where a motorcyclist had bumped a lady's car. They were out of the vehicles having a "discussion" and let's just say she was not a happy camper. She had an umbrella and all at once she started hitting the man with her umbrella as she continued to yell-goodness knows what she was saying but we could guess!  I have to say it was really funny looking and we got a great laugh out of it, especially our driver!

We spotted all sorts of things from the car windows-another female antelope and lots of ladies in their saris out in the fields and rice paddies working. We saw lots of water buffalo, some in the fields and soime in the road and some in the water wherever there was some. 

We reached our hotel and were glad to have a few hours to unwind and grab a nice pizza for dinner/lunch.  We took a nice walk around the hotel gardens where I spotted a small spotted owlet in the hole of a tree. That was neat as I have never been able to spot one before without having it pointed out to me.  Saw lots of parakeets and another interesting bird that we will have to see if we can check out tomorrow as we had to hurry back to eat and get ready for the sound and light show at the temples here. 
I am glad we saw the show before touring the temples or I am afraid I would have been really bored but not having toured them yet, it was at least a chance to see the temples and hear some of the story of how they came to be. 

This is us with Rishi, our first driver. He was excellent and we hated to say goodbye to him. 

that was our car behind us with Rishi too. This is jsut a shot of traffic at one point but there is truly no way to photograph it. And it is best not to look at it out the front!

my owlet

A garden visit

I just had the nicest time in the hotel garden and fish pond.  I was out looking for birds and the grounds manager showed me their organic garden and the fish pond where I saw a kingfisher flying by-too fast for photo but he surely caught my eye! They had geese that I enjoyed helping feed and also huge fish in the ponds. They bring the bread from the restaurant that is left over-they feed it to the fish and some are so big that they would have made my mother proud and eager to get her fishing pole out! When I got back, Jim and I walked back so he could see it too and it was just a beautiful oasis and I appreciated the staff so much who were eager to talk and tell me about it. 

photos

I was afraid I might lose that long post so decided to go ahead and post that one and add the rest of the photos separately.

parakeet atop one of the Taj towers.

The Taj as the sun was beginning to shine on it.

exquisite!

Fatehpur Sikri

Agra Fort

Notice our cute shoe coverings at the Taj. Enchanting India gave them to us and so far, we have not had to use either our old socks we brought or a scarf. And if the parks are not colder than this, a sweater will surfice at night or early AM.  Meanwhile, our suitcases are still bulging....

Tomorrow we catch a train early in the AM and ride for 2 1/2 hours and get a new car and driver. Rishi has been great and a really interesting person so hope the next one will be as good.  We then ride another 4 hours to get to our next city.

The adventures continue

Today is Saturday here. It is hard to keep up when we are so far away and the time is so different.  I think we are going to be so glad we planned the trip the way we did, with all the touring on the front end with the national parks the last week.  I think the quiet and wildlife will be a peaceful respite after the hustle and bustle of the cities and places that are India.  There are so many people everywhere and it is hard to put into words what we are seeing.  Driving down streets with huge water buffalo or cows lying down in the medians of major thoroughfares, people cutting hair on the sidewalks, so many motorcycles with whole families riding on them, ladies and men both working in the rice paddies-the women in saris, goats everywhere, tuktuks packed full of people all over the place, traffic that is impossible to describe, abject poverty and yet happy people, people who greet each other as friends whether they know each other or not.  It is all just so interesting and something we will see in our minds' eyes but no photograph can do justice. 

We started out the morning by going to the Taj Mahal early.  It was a misty day so it was hazy and not easy to see too much at a distance early on. But as the sun peeped through and shown on the Taj, the majesty of it appeared. It is a very mystical experience to see it and the fog added to it.  There are the parakeets everywhere and they are loud and beautiful.  I never tire of seeing them.  Our guide Limon pointed out an Egyptian Vulture who was roosting up near one of the domes. Oh my, what a bird! There was a line to get checked into security-as in all places here, there are two lines-one for women and one for men and you get a pat down before entering.  Then there was a line for entering the main chambers and you can't take photos inside.  The inlaid marble work is just exquisite though.  Limon knew the best places to get photos, down to the squares to stand on in the tile.  He took us to every angle and was terrific.  The grounds are just gorgeous and it certainly is a special place to visit. 

From there we went to Fatehpur Sikri which is massive and beautiful as well-it is a deserted old town. 
It was 23 miles from Agra so was a nice drive in the countryside. On the way Limon spotted a Blue Bull or Nilgai which is the largest antelope. It was a pair near one of the fields by the side of the road so we stopped and chanced it to run across and get a picture. I am sure we will see more but every first is special.  We saw peacocks as well. 

Then we went to the Agra Fort.  Again it was a long drive back from the other place and on the way traffic came to a standstill because they had closed the road due to the governors visit and he was heading back to the airport. It reminded me of when the president visited Atlanta.  Ok this is where we had one of our adventures. Rishi and Limon are not the most patient in terms of just sitting in traffic so apparently they got out and told the vehicles around us that the lady in the car had not used the bathroom at the Site we had just left and needed to go so they cleared enough for our car to turn around and go the wrong lane back so we could go an alternate route. I am just glad I did not know what they were saying!  They were laughing about it once we were on our way. 

We also visited an inlaid marble shop and saw how it is done and it was actually quite nice.  And we know from past experiences that those places always have free Cokes and free NICE restrooms....

In both the Taj and the Sikri, cars have to park in a carpark a good way away. So we took a tuktuk /and another time a bus to and from. The bus going to the Sikri was packed like sardines but thankfully, we were the first on and so had seats and were as comfortable as we could be in a hot crowded bus.  Coming down it was virtually empty!

The breakfast this AM was good and thankfully, here at the Trident, they let us serve our own plates and carry our plates to the table and all, and still had great service. lol

From Delhi to Agra, the adventure continues

I'm too tired tonight to think of anything catchy for a title, but it was a wonderful day.  The breakfast at the Hilton Gardens was excellent and we are still trying to get used to the service here. You can't even carry your own plate back from the breakfast bar to your table!  There is someone to do that and open every door or give you water or anything they can think of to be helpful.  It is actually uncomfortable when you are used to doing things for yourself.  We actually have not stopped for lunch either of the last two days.  We ate big breakfasts and were simply not hungry.  Tonight we fixed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the room and it was delicious. 
We left Delhi about 9 this morning and just enjoyed the scenery and life along the way.  Once out of Delhi the scenery changed and so did the lives of the people.  60% of the people in India are in agriculture, of one sort or another.  So we saw the women and me both working in rice paddies and other fields. We saw people packed into tuktuks going all sorts of ways.  The scariest thing we saw was a tuktuk which had an accident and flipped over and caught fire.  It was crammed full of people too and it is amazing that no one seemed seriously  hurt. Our driver immediately pulled over and ran to help-we were right behind it when it happened.  It is amazing it does not happen more.  The traffic is insane. I thought China was bad but I think this may be even crazier. 
We went to a couple of places with our guide once we got to Agra and then checked into our hotel.  We got us a sim card for the phone so we can call should we have any emergency. So far we have had absolutely no need. But it is good insurance.  But it was an ordeal to get.  After doing all this, the guide and driver picked us up and we went to the little Taj and onto the gardens across the river from the Taj to watch it at sunset.  It truly is beautiful. It is closed on Fridays so we did the sunset today from the best viewing point and we opted to go in the morning and tour.  It sounds like it will be a full day and I will try to list all we see. Right now I am bushed. It is quite an experience to have cows asleep beside the roads and people everywhere. We saw two types of monkeys and peacocks and some antelope in addition to the livestock and dogs that roam everywhere. 
Our hotel is lovely with nice gardens.  But it is having a power problem tonight and the power went out 3 times while I was in the shower and several times since-a learning and discovery event for sure.

Temples, forts, and bird oh my!

Today was a great first day in Delhi.  We made the most of our one day stay on the front end of the trip.  We will have another day the last day before we fly home. Our guide was excellent and he planned where we would go and I think he chose perfectly.  We went to attempt to get us a cell phone to use here but we had understood that the copies of our passports would work and instead, we have to have the real passport (which were safely locked in the safe) so we will get them tomorrow when we reach Agra.  We sent to several UNESCO world heritage sites today and they were just outstanding.  For me, the best part was when I looked up and saw parrots in the trees all around.  These were rose ringed parakeets and were just so much fun to watch.  We also saw a lot of eagles. Will have to do some research to know what kind. We saw kites all over too.  Who knew that a huge city could have a huge variety of birds-they did also have the usual pigeons which we did expect. 

This was Qutar Minar...very pretty and interesting.

This was at Humayans Tomb. 

We saw lots of goats today-being brought for a big Eid celebration on Nov 6th. They had them decorated and were just walking with them like you would walk a dog. 

Delhi is an amazingly green city-lots of beautiful trees and flowers blooming.  It is also crowded and a mix of old and new, delapidated and surprisingly modern and clean. 

We had been warned about the smells, but today, there were no unpleasant surprises. It has been quite warm and certainly no need for jackets or long sleeves. In the shade, it is much more tolerable. I would not want to come in the summer! 

After we wore out, we came back to the hotel which is so nice and peaceful. And it is attached to a mall so we walked over there and ate dinner and found a grocery-it shows how tired I was that I didn't even feel inclined to look around the mall at all. We got us some snacks and Cokes to take on the road tomorrow and we are ready to turn in.  Jet lag is still plaguing us!

The Long Long Long plane flights

We have arrived in Delhi and all is well but I have to say, those were two LONG plane flights!  The first one was from Atlanta to Paris and since Air France was on a strike, they had changed us to a bigger plane as the other flight had been cancelled. We had paid for the economy comfort seats (WELL worth it) and were supposed to have two together on the side, but instead, they put a young man and Jim on the side and me on the aisle seat next to them. It could have been worse, but not as nice as it would have been and it felt crowded even though it had more leg room. There was not an empty seat on the entire plane.  Otherwise the flight went well and we arrived in Paris in the early morning and had no problem finding our new gate.  Things are MUCH better marked then they were a few years ago.  We had four hours between our flights so that was time to stretch our legs and get a muffin and get ready. The next flight was delayed because of the Air France strike-but only by an hour and we were on our way for another marathon flight.  I sat next to a young girl who was working in Nepal helping a clinic work with HIV/AIDS victims. The man in front of me put his seat back all the way and these were not economy plus seats as there were non on this flight. As often happens, my restless legs syndrome kicked in.  Jim swapped seats with me as he had an empty seat next to him (one of only 4-5 on the entire plane.  It did help to have a little more room to move but that meant he got the man leaning back all the way and it was quite claustrophobic -I owe him big time.  I slept off and on and watched the map to see where the plane was. Over Afganistan, the man in front of Jim stood up and went up toward the front of the plane, turned around and lurched over the man in front of him, then slowly just slid to the aisle by my feet with glazed eyes.  I tried to catch his head as I could see it all in slow motion. Fortunately, there were two doctors on board who came quickly and ministered to him and after a few minutes, he slowly came to.  All I could see for a few minutes was an emergency landing in Kabul or some other place in Afganistan and while I was very concerned about the gentleman, I was not excited about the prospect! But thankfully he came to and after awhile they got him up and sat hinm in the steward chair up front and he seemed to be ok.  I am sure they had him checked out when he arrived in Delhi a couple of hours later.  But all this was right at our feet and quite alarming, to say the least. 

When we arrived in Delhi we managed to get our luggage and head out through customs and we were met by the Enchanted India contact person and our driver Rishi and we rode in "our" car back to the hotel. The car is nice and has bucket seats in front and back and is very confortable.
Time for our meeting with our consultant so better close.
Madge