My Travels Among Other Things...

(Ramblings and Pictures from Fall Quarter Abroad)

9.10.2006

So I am just over two weeks into the trip and I am finally going to see if I can get pictures to load over this silly wireless network we have going at the hotel.



This hotel room in Pune. The bed is actually now pushed apart so that my roommate and I have our own single beds. The room is also filled with stuff and sometimes messy now.



This is the view out of my window on the first day in Pune. It was raining.... the weather has actually been pretty awesome. Not too humid but sunny and I think it has only rained two or three times.



I took this picture from inside an autorickshaw. I plan on taking a series of pictures from inside my various modes of transportation. I might even take a series just from inside the autorickshaws.



We got up really early one sunday and went to this place called Lions Gate (I think thats what it was called). It is a fort in the mountains about an hour and a half away from Pune. Hiking around in the mist was awesome and then a little later the sun burned up the mist and the views were amazing!



On Gandhi's birthday and the last day of Navratri / Dussehra Festival this sand art was done outside of the building where I take classes everyday. I thought it was really pretty but didn't think to take a picture until someone else mentioned that they wished they had their camera... now i can't remember who that was and I specifically took the picture for them.



This is inside the Elephata Caves.... I mean how cool is that... all I have to say is it was well worth the hike up the insane steps to see it.


Yes that is a monkey... I named her Eloise. Doesn't she look like an Eloise? HAHAHA.... there is a rooster outside of our classroom that I have named Jose and a nice little lizard named Steve stopped by for a visit in our classroom as well. Ps the monkey is on the Elephanta island... not in Pune.

Well I think that collection will do for now. I will post more pics after I get back from our week break on the 22nd.


Sunday November 4th:

First of all I would like to express my disbelief that it is NOVEMBER! Somehow the fact that it isn't cold at all means that my brain cannot accept that it is really autumn.

Anyway enough of that here are some more pictures!



This picture is from the Jantar Mantar in Delhi. I don't have a clue what this specific structure was suppsoed to do. I know that there were some for telling time and knowing where the planets were. Pretty cool if you ask me. Plus they were in this nice garden area which was really relaxing.




Here is the main structure in the Lodi gardens. I just thought it looked really cool lit up this way. I can't actually remember whether this was the last dregs of sunlight or the various lights that came on when it got dark. Either way its pretty awesome haha.




Here are May (my roomie on the right) and Al the girl we met up with in Delhi. They are in the elevator in the swank hotel that Al stayed in w/ her mom. How trippy are those clouds?



This is a picture of the outside of the Red Fort in Old Delhi. Not much to say other than this is where May and I took to telling people we were from Canada. We eventually stopped when we realized there are a lot of Indians in Canada so people might actually know something about the place... and we don't so that could be awkward.



Here is the Jami Masjid. I tried to get a picture where everything was symetrical but apparently that wasn't going to work. Tear. But I like this one too because the pigeons are all flying. The stone was really hot but it actually felt really nice against my feet.



Here is the India Gate. There were soo many people around. It seemed as though there was a little fair or something going on too because there were all these carts with kids toys and food and candy. It wasn't in the same way that there is normally all sorts of random things around either. But who knows maybe it is always there for tourists.



View down the Rajpath. We walked all the way along and also spent some time chilling on the grass untill some dogs came over because apparently we were way more interesting than all the other people sitting on the grass.



Breakfast on the train. The bread was ours (we also brough peanut butter) but the rest of it was given to us for free. It was sooo cool.


Part of the Agra fort. The architecture was way cool.... and you see where those two guys were walking... its a window. If you look out the window you can see the Taj Mahal. It was hazy and really far away but you could see it. This is where Akbar (the guy who had the Taj built) was locked up by his son. I can't remember why he was locked up... but it meant he couldn't have a black Taj built. How cool would that have been. I wonder what it would have looked like.


Lame I know... I just thought the archways were cool. This is also at the Agra Fort.




These guys are making a carpet. The coolest thing is they chant / sing tha pattern. The guy on the left starts it and the guy on the left says it back to him. They do the borders first and then fill in the "block" areas. They were sooo fast it was crazy. But these things take ages to make. I mean they are tying little knots. How crazy is that?



This guy is working on a marble table top. It will be white but it has red dust/dye of some sort on it so that they can scratch the pattern on and see it. But the red washes off. The inset patterns are placed on and traced and then removed and spaces are carved out for them.




Kind of self evident... yep thats me at the Taj Mahal. The gardens were pretty nice... they cut the grass using this contraption pulled by cows... so strange.




This is me and may trying to get us plus the taj in one picture with me taking the picture. It turned out pretty well I think. Basically I was being really protective of my new digital camera and didn't want anyone other than May or myself using it.

Okay I think thats enough for now. There are still a good 5 days left of break pictures to pick from and that might take me a while.