Christmas Vacation
Click Here for Christmas Vacation Photos
Hey we are back!
Wow, what a vacation we had. Here is a run down of our travels over the past two months:
We left Mussoorie around January 12 and did our first taxi ride since we have been here to Delhi (usually by train). It is sugar cane season and so it was a really smelly ride because the sugar cane factories were all boiling the cane to extract the sugar, we never knew how stinky it was. Our ride was a little over seven hours because it was night time, the fog was thick and we could only see so far ahead of us. This wouldn�t be so bad except most vehicles in India don�t have break lights or are some sort of horse drawn cart. So our Delhi ride was more of a swerving at high speeds for eight hours in the dark.
After arriving alive in Delhi we decided to stay for about four days to enjoy a little bit of civilization and good safe food. After that we headed by train to Goa. Unfortunately we had booked our tickets a little bit too late out of Delhi and we could not get the Second Class A/C tickets that any foreigner in their right mind would get. So instead we were in an open compartment the entire trip being harassed and stared at by locals who either wanted to rob us or laugh at us for two and a half days. Rachel and I kept having to tell ourselves that it could be worse, and that we asked for it when we decided to live in India.
Soon we arrived in Goa and the most relaxing time we have ever had began. Our Hotel was a five minute walk from the beach and costs 95 rupees a night = about $2.00. But we never had to walk because we rented a scooter for about $3.00 a day. This besides a small amount for food was all the expenses we incurred the whole time. It was cheap and it was great. We got to eat lots of food we can�t get in Mussoorie like beef and seafood. The seafood was fresh everyday and the steak was excellent as well. We had to adjust to how smoothly things run in the south. It is very Christian thanks to the Portuguese, and you don�t have to fight your way through traffic and shopping everyday.
The ocean and beaches in Goa were a lot of fun, there were lots of things to do and places to explore. The coastline of Goa is entirely lined with beaches, some populated and some others still left to be explored. See Deserted Beach Photo
We drove all around with our little rented scooter and saw just about everything we could see. Rachel and I both thought we would get bored on the beach for a month and a half, but that never happened.
After Goa we decided to head to Rajasthan (The Pink City) the land of Camels, Tigers and Desert. When you think of India, you most likely think of Rajasthan. We had an awesome time once again; we stayed for about five days in Jaipur the capital and got to see lots of Indian culture that has been preserved by this awesome city. See Photo of Camel in Rajasthan
The entire city has been painted pink, hence �The Pink City�, and it still has a remaining wall around it with entry gates from the old days. Jaipur is famous for cloth and gold, but we didn�t really buy anything we just walked around and looked mostly.
From Jaipur we went back to Delhi for a few days and then back to Mussoorie just in time to arrive for our staff retreat, and then the students came back within a week. Now we are back to work and trying to get back to the rhythm of Woodstock.
My apologies for taking so long to update the blog. When on vacation in India it is difficult to update the webpage because of limited internet access.
That�s about all for now. Our plan is to update our blog more with news and info soon. We thought that since we don�t have much to say personally sometimes than we should juts blog about India in general so our �viewers� could learn more about another culture. So until then �
Click Here for Christmas Vacation Photos