Photos of India! Finally!

(Here's a post from Katie! -- Marshall)

Look at that! Here is is, at 3 and 1/2 months into our fantastic adventures and i get to put a few words down on the blog!

Whoooo! TALK about cul-ture-SHOCK! i was so surprised to cross the border into India, and within minutes get into a yelling match and having THAT cost us an unreasonable amount of money - all that we had on us, in fact. So the introduction to India consisted of 10 hours on a government bus, with no food and no money... and NO ROOM! i have never had a sorer butt, or a worse headache! after that, we decided... never again will we take the bus - (that, and since we arrived, I think that the number of people that have died IN bus accidents has equaled the population of Bellingham.) That is, until we just about froze to death taking a train from Allahabad to Agra, where it was so cold that even my MP3 player, would not work. but never mind that, i couldn't see enough to work it anyway because my eyes were stinging so bad from the stench of urine! numm-y! so, back to the buses, we said! only now to feel that every ride, will in fact... be our LAST! but we have made it so far, unharmed. we have had friends who haven't been so lucky...

But after getting used to the extreme differences in culture that i will never understand, we are having one fabulous adventure after the next. I'll let you know that seeing Marshall step out of the dressing room in tight black leather pants for his breathtaking debut as bartender #2, in a Bollywood production, made all the woman swoon. Or how about, discovering that "no Katie, food on the bed WILL attract animals" after discovering rat poop all over the cement slab that the locals delightfully call a "bed." Or on new years, getting locked into our guesthouse grounds, because, as the owner said, "people will be d r i n k i n g ...we take no responsibility... if you leave .... you are on your own." BOY did he have ME convinced, it was a LOT of hair pulling to get me to say ok to even going outSIDE. yet we all did persuade him to let us out for "only 1/2 hour" come 11:30 pm. little did he know that we went, on the sly, to find some whisky a few days previous... but TRUST ME! i felt like i was buying heroin in the ghetto of New York City... was i going to be arrested? whatever i was doing felt SO wrong, just thinking about it makes me feel guilty!!

Our photos here are of some of India's coolest places... boy was the Taj one of the most amazing places! the "caves" at Ellora and Ajunta were 'rockin' awesome as well, these temples were carved out over the course of hundreds of years by thousands of lucky buddhists - but i think that it was worth it...

the food, as you can see Marshall munching on is colorful and flavorful, and has never gotten EITHER of us sick! we have found our favorite foods here tho, roasted soy nuts, Parle-Gs, and some good 'ol stikki chikki (peanut brittle). one thing that we never leave home without, a DO-RAG! that is so that we can wipe off those bhindis that keep getting dotted on our heads by the sadhus... sometimes a simple "NONONONONONO" just doesn't suffice. BUT, as you can see in the photo, sometimes it is fun to get one. like when we were invited into a holy man's home (the blue structure with the sun to the left... setting) and got our fortunes told while drinking chai (where i was thinking the WHOLE time, please don't be "special" chai, please don't be "special" chai!) So what did we learn from the non-english speaking sadhu? ahhhh, i am to have two children, and either Marshall and i are going to be together forever... or i am going to die soon and he is going to re-marry. whatever it is - the sadhu found it very funny and grunted a lot. but the chai was fantastic! Oh, and to let you know - we had a very wonderful christmas, complete with grease-stained tree, and newspaper cut out stars - we felt right at home ... in India.


Mumbai from the Arabian sea (Bombay to all us westerners):


Ellora and Ajunta caves -- fantastic caves carved in solid rock (ala Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade style):




Our christmas tree and typical lame-family-pose:


Making keg-cups New Years '06!


By the river in Omkareshwar:



A photo of the Sadhu's house and us with bindis on our heads:



At the ruins of Orchha and Mandu:







A puja ceremony in Varanasi (note the guy in white body paint... a devoutly religious sadhu):


Tomb in Allahabad:


Mmmmmmm... Thali -- all you can eat Indian food!


The infamous Taj Mahal... Without a doubt the most beautiful man-made structure I've ever seen:


View of the Taj from Agra:


Aaaaaaahhhh -- sweet relief:


On the tropical beaches of Goa!: