Back to Mumbai

We checked out of the hotel did some shopping to pick up some snacks for the train ride and headed to train station for a 17 hour ride back to Mumbai. Which this time came with free meal service, even though we had already bought food for the trip. Then some of Trish's family brought us more food. And so, any hope of losing weight on this trip is lost.

In the morning we got back to Mumbai and our trip came full circle. as we prepared to depart for Atlanta after a shower and couple of meals at Trish's uncle. I was also able to get my Laptop charger fixed. I stopped by a store that sold apple products, they were able to diagnose the problem, but they were out of replacement chargers. SO they gave us contact information for another store that had them. But they were farther away and we were low on time. But they sent out a tech guy to take the train to meet us. He traded out the chargers and had me compete the form so it will get covered under warrinty. Now that is service.

We left got our flight but our seats ended up being seperated.

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Delhi

After the usual breakfast we went out to roam around Delhi. We wondered around some temples and the capital. Some shopping then we saw a Bollywood movie. A four hour long movie, not in English. I blame Trish. But, it was actually well done.

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American food day

We checked out of our and hit the road, this time for New Delhi. We decided to do an american food day. We stopped at McDonald's. There was about 3 items on the menu that were the same on the menu. As there is basically no beef in India the main items on the menu were vegie burgers and chicken sandwiches. Price for a meal is about $2 - $2.50.

We got into Delhi about dark and checked into the hotel. We decided to order pizza from Dominos. the prices were about the same for a given amount of pizza. But the portions were different. A large here was the size of our medium and there is no X Large. The toppings had different choices.

These have also made me realize how extremely pro-vegetarian this country is. The majority of the food is vegetarian. All of the menus are sorted into veg and non-veg. The food is keep separate, and is labeled with a green dot for veg and a red dot for non-veg.

I had felt fine up till then, but that night my stomach felt a little un-settled.

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Agra

We got up and went to an palace complex that was about an hour outside of Agra. This is where one of the older kings lived. To help bring the his nation together he took three wives. one Christian,one Muslim, and one Hindi. So the each had their own area of the palace.

We returned to Agra and after lunch we went to the Taj Mahal. It is a surreal experience. Even looking back now I feel like I am just photoshopped in there. My 2nd Wonder of the World: Check

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Jaipur

We got up and and checked out of the hotel and then did some shopping.

Then our driver invited us for lunch at his house to show his thanks. The night before we gave him his tip earlier, he had his wallet stolen in Udaipur with almost Rs 6000 (~$120) in it which was loaned to him to pay our expenses on the tour. We pooled our money to return it to him. With it he was able to pay his children's school fees.

At lunch we were the guest of honor, The youngest daughter gave us necklaces made of flowers and we were served a meal made by his family while neighborhood children gathered on the roof above and shouted "Hi" at us and would giggle when we would wave back.

After lunch we went up to the roof and took pictures with the kids. Then we made the 3 hour drive to Agra.

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Jaipur

After breakfast we went up to a palace overlooking the city. Then we went to some shops including one that was throwing an opening celebration where we got a free lunch. The food here is still an adventure, and I love it.

After that we went and saw an observatory, which had all sorts of ancient instruments to track the sun and the stars, very fascinating to see the level of interest and sophistication that people 500 years ago followed the movements and patterns in the sky.

That evening we went to a Rajastan festival that had all sorts of food, stores, and shows from the region.

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Travel to Jaipur

After we woke up we had breakfast (omelet, toast, chai) and check out of our room. We got into the car for another day of travel. This time to Jaipur. The sites along the road entertain me plenty on the trip. Every truck is painted and decorated and the buildings and the scenery are quite a change from around the south east US.

We stopped at a nice restaurant at a gas station and got lunch. We finally got into Jaipur after dark. We stopped into a music shop so Bryan could look into getting some music instruments, then we checked into our hotel, which was probably the nicest yet.

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