Days 5 through 6 of My Trip through North India

So...days 5 through 6 of my trip through North India. Let me tell you, day 5 has been my favourite day. And I'm pretty sure once I explain why, you'll see why it's my favourite day! ;) And yes, I know, I'm way behind!

Day 5 - Jaipur

This was a great day! The first thing that we did was wake up super early to head to the Amber Fort! The reason for this was because we needed to get to the Amber Fort early so that we could RIDE ELEPHANTS UP TO THE FORT!!! Now that was pretty friken' awesome! We also had a pretty awesome rickshaw driver, well, two of them. The driver for the rickshaw that I was riding in, his

Amber Fort

name was Shampoo. *giggles* Shampoo! The reason for the name, he said, was because it was a nickname that he got when he was younger, for using to much shampoo when he washed his hair. He was a pretty cool guy, he was around my age, so about mid- to late-twenties, spoke excellent English, and knew a lot about a lot of things. I kind of wish I had a picture to show you, that's the one thing that I tend to forget to do, was take pictures of the people that I connected with.

Jamie and I on our elephant!

Anyway, we wake up early, catch our rickshaws and drive out to Amber Fort. Amber Fort is in Jaipur and is the one place where we could ride elephants! Now that was super cool! We actually got to ride elephants! Yes, the most super, cliché thing that someone could do in India, but it was still pretty awesome! And elephant rides only go in the morning for a few hours, which is why we needed to get there early in order to be able to get to the elephant rides. On our way up to Amber Fort, we actually started passing the elephants that would be used for the rides. We stopped and were able to touch and get close to them. They were big! And very gentle creatures too. We weren't all the way up to where we needed to be, so once we were done saying "hi" to the elephants, we climbed back into our rickshaws and finished driving our way up. We then got ready to ride the elephants up to the fort. That was pretty awesome!

Like I said, beautiful architecture...and Jeannie, of course.

Jamie and I on the elephant :)

When we got up to the fort, we all climbed out and started our time exploring the old fort. It was a beautiful fort, one that had a lot of awesome architecture. If there's one thing that I've grown to appreciate since my time in India, is that I love the way the buildings look and how they are shaped and just how it all looks. It's just beautiful! By the time we were done exploring the fort though, we were getting tired enough that we needed to sit, eat, cool down, and get something to drink. I swear I drank more water while I was in India than I had my whole life. Which is a very good thing, mind you. But still, a lot of water. Once we were done with recuperating from our trekking and exploring, we decided that we needed to head up to the next fort. There was a fort, above?, the Amber Fort. so we walked the "secret tunnel" to the fort that is above the Amber Fort called the Jaigrah Fort. The walk up to the fort was long and hot, but it was worth it for the amazing view! And the small breezes that came very so often also made it very enjoyable. The tunnel was cool to look at as well, but the view from the top of Jaigrah Fort was simply beautiful!

"Secret tunnel" :D

View from the Jaigrah Fort

If there's one thing that I will say about India, there is a lot of beauty in just some of the smallest of things, be it the amazing tunnels that were created to walk from fort to fort, or the view from the top to see the green, rolling hills as far as the eye can see. It's a wonderful place and it's a place that is beautiful to see. You can almost see what India would have been like when these forts would have been up and running. It's like stepping back in time.

Also, random thing, I GOT TO DRIVE A RICKSHAW! Shampoo, our rickshaw driver for the day, is a guy who is about our age, mid-20s, and he was a blast! And he let me drive his rickshaw! How many other people do you know can say that they drove a rickshaw from Amber Fort in Jaipur? Heck YEAH! ;D

After the forts, we headed down and went back to our hotel. We were able to relax and enjoy our last day in the hotel before we head for Agra the next day. We spent out last night in the hotel in Steve, Jeannie, and the boys' room watching BBC and just enjoying the time that we had in an air conditioned room.

Day 6 - Agra

This was the day that we headed to Agra and we all rolled out of the hotel and headed to catch our sleeper train to Agra. It was some time till we were able to actually get to our train, so we headed to check out this museum. It was an interesting place, as it was the palace, I think, of a man that just
wanted to collect the things he liked. It was a pretty cool place, but what interested me most about the museum was the Egyptology section. And I love looking at all the statues and mummies, and figures, and everything from Egypt. So this is the only part of the museum to have pictures, though I probably should have taken more, but you know, whatever. :)

When it came time for us to catch our train, we got on our train, a non-AC sleeper, and just sat in to ride on our way to Agra. One of the coolest things about this train ride was that I was able to get some cool pictures of the scenery out the window and the train door. And then I settled in to sleep for a few hours before we get to Agra. We were actually getting into Agra really late, so the nap on the train was good to have.

So, we get into Agra, and it's really late! Like, late enough that we all just want to eat and then collapse into our beds. We're set up into two rooms again, me and the girls in one room, with Steve, Jeannie, and the boys in the other room. We order Domino's Pizza, and literally just fall into bed and sleep. We had to get up early the next morning in order to get to the Taj Mahal! WHOO! But that is an adventure for another time.

Talk to you later,
Ashley

Temples and Fish Feasts

So my day yesterday turned out to be pretty good. I already told you about my first interview/source of Dr. Paul.

After that, the health students and I were actually able to go to a temple in that was about 30 kilometers up the coast from Vizag. It was the main temple of the guru of Dr. Prakabrah (?), the health students main source. It was actually a pretty cool temple, it was a new temple as well, built within the last 8 years I think was what it was called. And it was beautiful! So beautiful, and don't worry, I got pictures of the outside at least, as we're not allowed to take pictures of the inside, where the shrine it. Dr. Nuckolls hadn't seen the temple either, so he was very interested to see all of the carvings on the wall and such. Now, some of the carvings were....interesting, to say the least. They had carvings of people having sex. For Hindism, it's not a big deal, but for Mormon students from BYU it was a bit strange to see carvings like that on a temple wall.

I also had a banana at the temple yesterday. I actually liked it too...which is strange for me, you know that I'm not the biggest fan of bananas, but these bananas are delicious! A lot better tasting rather than ones that we have the United States. So I'll actually be able to eat the bananas here, but I still don't think I'll be able to eat the ones in the States...they still don't taste all that good, especially now that I've eaten ones here.

So after the temple, we went to eat in the Jalari (fisherman) village where Dr. Nuckolls has a house and where his family lives. It was excellent! And it was kind of cool, we got to eat on their roof, had rice (obviously), two different types of fish, and mangoes! I love the mangoes here, they're in season and so they taste amazing!!! And I actually liked the fish, which is unusual for me. But it was really good fish. But again, I don't think I'll be able to find fish like that in the States so I probably won't eat as much there as I would here, were we to eat there again. And a lot of people were in this tiny little house, a lot of them having traveled from a ways a way, just to see us. And they all wanted their pictures taken of themselves, and them with Dr. Nuckolls, and them with us, and just a lot of pictures. I'll send some to you so that you can see what I'm talking about. It was cool though, after the dinner, we all just sat around asking them questions through Dr. Nuckolls and having some of the younger ones teach us words in Telugu. It was pretty fun, as there are some sounds that are harder for us to pronounce, so we end up not saying what we should be saying. 

All in all though, yesterday was a fun time. We were able to have delicious food as well as visit an awesome looking temple. A typical day for us in India. And it was a great day! I hope that everyone back home is doing all right and that they are enjoying their dry summer where ever you are!

Talk to you soon,

Ashley

Easter Morning

Today was Easter Sunday, and while my husband and I didn't do eggs, or a big fancy dinner or anything like that, it was still a beautiful day. This morning as I walked to church, the sun was still behind the mountains, so it wasn't supper warm yet, there were clouds in the sky that looked like they had rain in them, the birds were chirping and saying hello, and it was just so calm and peaceful. It's mornings like this that I think are like the morning when Christ was resurrected. While the sunny, beautiful spring mornings are wonderful for Easter Sunday, it's the mornings that are little bit covered in clouds, the sun barely rising, that reminds me more of Easter than anything else really.

Easter Morning

The most wonderful thing to me about Easter is that it was the day that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, was resurrected after three days in the tomb. He had died to pay for our sins, and he did so through the Atonement. I think this is part of the reason I like mornings like this. While it's not all bright and sunshiney, it is still a calm morning, a peaceful morning. I know I've said this a lot, but this, to me, is a morning where it doesn't seem like a lot has happened, something has. The day is new, the sun is rising, and there hasn't been a lot to show the world that something spectacular has happened, that's the beauty of it; something spectacular has happened. The Lord is risen, and he has broken the bands of death. We will be able to live again, and be able to live with him and our Heavenly Father again. All of this because of what he did for us, dying for our sins, and then rising again the third day. I do believe this to be true!

So...yeah, that is my Easter Sunday. I hope that everyone had a great day and that your Easter Sunday was an enjoyable one where ever you live!

Talk to you soon,
Ashley