INDIA

It is about time I blogged this, I have been home 3 1/2 weeks. I guess better late then never!
My brother Alan and his family moved to India for two years for business. They have currently lived there for one year and my sister Tracy and I thought it would be a great chance to go see another part of the world. We left May 25 and came home June 17th. It was a long time to leave our families, but when you travel to other side of the world you better stay a while. We had a great time and many adventures. This was a chance of a life time and I am so glad I went. Here are some pictures and stories of our trip.Tracy and I getting off one of many planes. It took about 22 hours of flying time to get there not to mention the time for layovers. We were glad to arrive and get out of those planes. On our way there we flew from Salt Lake to San Francisco to Frankfort Germany then to Bangalore India. On our way home we went to Germany to Denver to Salt Lake.

This is the night that we arrived. Vajay (Alan's driver) welcomed us with color.

This is all over India "color". I think they use this for many different occasions.

Ellie and Ethan with the welcome poster they made for there front door.

The first day that we were there Kerri (Alan's wife) took us to a spa for a fish pedicure. The fish such off your dead skin. Tracy was so excited to try this. She put her feet in first and let out a scream, after hearing her I knew I wasn't going to enjoy this. It took 10 minutes and 2 employees to convince me to stick my feet in that water. It was the weirdest feeling and I don't plan on ever doing this again. Everyone should try this once though!

The streets are crazy over there. This is an ox and wagon going down the road. You don't see this everyday in the US.

Tracy and I got saris (this is what most of the women wear) and went and got our pictures in them. We were trying to get the whole experience of India! Baby the lady in the middle is Alan and Kerri's maid, she was helping us get ready.

We also went and got henna tattoos!

Our tattoos when they were finished.

Theses are women walking down the road. They carry everything on there heads including water. We saw several women caring something on there head and holding a baby as well. I cant even imagine.

This is a house by Alan's church. How sad, most of the people over there are so poor and have very little. A lot of the homes don't have running water or bathrooms in them. They wash their cloths outside with a big stone and carry their water from a water stop. I cant even imagine living like this. We are so blessed to live they way we do and have all the everyday luxuries. The people were so kind and generous, they seemed HAPPY and very grateful for what they do have. It taught me a big lesson on being grateful.

Everywhere we went beggars would come up and ask for money. It was so sad because most of them had small children.

This is there church. It is a small 3 story building and they even had a security guard. It wasn't much but it does the job.

We went to the Bangalore zoo! This was the entrance.

Tracy, Ellie, Alan, Annie and Vajay

Everyone waiting in line for the Safari tour at the zoo. The guy making the funny face is Vajay the driver.

These are some bears on the road of the safari. The crazy thing was there was a guy standing right next to them.

We saw lions!

Tigers!

and monkeys! The monkeys are everywhere in the city not just at the zoo. It was very common to see monkey in the trees.

This Genisha a Hindu God. It is an elephant head on a human body. INTERESTING!!

This is Shiva another God, he is the father to Genisha.

We went on a tour of a town called Hempi for a weekend. There were a lot of old temples that the Muslims destroyed in the 1800's. It was so hot there like high 90's and the humidity made it even warmer. Hempi is a very interesting place with a lot of history it was like going back in time. We had a great time! This is us in a boat getting ready to float down a river.

Me, Tracy and Alan standing in front of a temple.

All of us in front of another God statue. I forgot was his name was but he was half lion.

This is the top of a building they had such detailed carvings that were hundreds of year old.

This elephant name was Lakshmi, she was in a temple giving blessing when you gave her money. You put a rupee in her trunk and she would hand the money to the worker and put her trunk on your head.

Me giving my rupee to the elephant.

Another carving out of a rock. These people were so talented to be able to do this.

More carvings out of rock.

Alan, Keri and their kids enjoying the hot weather and long walks. They were troopers!

Tracy and I with and Indian and a cow. There are cows everywhere on the streets. This one licked my purse. YUCK! Cows are also gods to the Hindu people, you don't find beef in to many restaurants.

Alan's family posing with the Indian.

Me, and Tracy with Vajay's family(wife and 2 daughters). They were so kind to let us come in there home and they have and such a cute family. The Indian women are beautiful.

Me with Shrinity. She is 14 months old, but is the size of a 6 month in the US. Most of the kids are so small I always thought they were a lot younger then they were.

This is Shravia, isn't she CUTE!

Me and Tracy with Babies family.

So for you who have watched our camel ride on my sisters blog this is the camel. We were on our way to Mysore and saw some guys and 3 camels walking on the side of the rode. Alan told Vajay to turn around and ask them if we could ride them. The paln was for Tracy and I to ride on one and Alan and Kerit to ride on the other one. The camel got down and Tracy and I got on,
as the camel was standing up the sadal slid forward and we fell off the front of the camel. What an experience, when we looked after the sadel wasnt a sadel for riding just for packing. We didn't get to hurt and we have a funny story to tell. If you want to watch the video of it you can go to Chad and Tracy's blog on my buddy list.

This is the saddle after we fell off. Notice it is up around the camels neck!

This is my sisters battle wound. She pulled a rock out of her knee.

This is my knee a little road rash but not bad. We had a few bruises but nothing to serious.

Me with and elephant in the Mysore palace.

Me sitting on the elephants head, as you can see I wasnt to relaxed. I wasnt so sure about riding the elephants after we had just fallen off the camel.

Tracy and I riding another camel at Mysore Palace. We didnt fall off of this one!

Tracy and I in front of Mysore Palace. This is were the King lived before the 1950's. They now have a government.

We went to two orphanges while we were there. This was both heartbreaking and fun. The kids have so little and several kids had serious disabilities that were not properly treated. They were so excited to see us. We made, with the help of our mutal and school groups back home (thanks guys), yarn dolls that we took over to give to the kids. We also made bags with candy coloring books and crayons for each kid. They were so excited to get them, it was fun to watch them play with the stuff. I have always wanted to go to an orphanage so I was glad to have the oppertunity.

Me coloring with some of the kids.

A boy enjoying a sucker.

A girl coloring!

Us handing out our gifts to the kids.

Alan being attacked by a hotels bird in the loby.

We went to Cabinee one weekend for a safari in one of the jungles. The first night we went on a jeep safari and saw elephants,

Indian Bufflo, and many other types of birds, wild hogs, monkeys, and deer.

The next morning we went on a boat safri and saw this crockadile, birds, deer and wild dogs. It was fun to see they wild anamils in there natural enviornment.

We had a wonderful time in India. A big THANKS to Alan, Keri and their family for letting us stay with them and showing us a good time. It was fun sharing this experience with my sister and am sure we will have lots to laugh at for several years. This is just a few of our many experiences that we had. I am so greatful to live in America and feel so blessed. I will remember this trip forever!