Our trip to Jaipur (Rajastan)

December 20, 2007: Hey guys and females! This is Josh with the blog for our final stop of our north India Tour! Our last stop was at the city of Jaipur, also known as the pink city (more on that later). It all started with our car ride from Agra. The distance between the two cities is around 250 km, and it took us five hours. In case you aren’t getting this, it’s like going form Raleigh to Greensboro in five hours. Five HOURS! The roads, needless to say are in deplorable shape. Jaipur is in the province of Rajasthan, one of India’s largest and poorest states. The land is flat and almost barren with a few scattered trees and hills. We drove by taking in the sights of Rajasthan which were quite interesting. We saw many “Rajasthani helicopters” as the locals called them. Camels. Lots of camels. Since cars and trucks are too expensive most people rely on camels to transport all their goods. We passed lots of camels and not much else. After a grueling ride we got to the city limits. When you first enter the city the first thing you see are mountains. Were all the rest of Rajasthan is flat, Jaipur is nestled between two mountains. From the van we could see temples and mosques high on mountain tops. We got out of the van to do a little shopping to stretch our legs. We went inside a little textile shop that our driver recommended. The girls had a field day. They went crazy with their shopping. We left kinda late, so we didn’t do much sight seeing. Our driver took us through Jaipur’s most famous attraction: the pink city. Every building and street was made of pink sandstone. The city was pink! We happened to be in rush hour traffic so we were stuck in the city for a good while. At the hotel we got to see a Rajasthani puppet show with traditional Rajasthani music. Alyssa and Mom got to try their hand at puppetry; that was a hoot. We grabbed some chow, hit the hay, and woke early to see some sights. The first thing we saw was the Water Palace. It was a medium sized palace right in the middle of a man made lake. We couldn’t go inside so we stood on the shore and admired it. Our last stop was Amber palace. This palace was on a high mountain ridge and was a beautiful amber gold color. We were barred from entering once again, so we took some photos and headed back to Delhi. And that was the city of Jaipur! Talk to ya’ll later! 

Our visit to Agra (home of the Taj Mahal!)

December 18, 2007    My journey to Agra was amazing. First I saw Akbar’s tomb on the way to the hotel. It cost 200 Rupies [5 dollars] to get in. Akbar the Great [1556 a.d. to1605 a.d.] was the greatest Moghul King of India. Akbar was declared the heir to the throne when he was only 14. When we went inside the tomb there was a huge pillar, and the walls were made of thick marble, there was also a loud echo inside. After we went inside the tomb, we headed back to the bus.

After we went to the hotel, we headed for the Taj Mahal. The story of the Taj Mahal is about Shahjahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. After giving birth to 14 children, she became seriously ill and eventually died at the age of 39. Shahjahan was sad when she died, so he built the Taj Mahal. After seventeen years, the Taj Mahal was finished. After Shahjahan died, he was buried at the Taj Mahal with his wife. When I saw the Taj Mahal, I was amazed, it was much bigger than Akbar’s tomb. Although Shahjahan’s grave was bigger than Mumtaz Mahal’s, hers was in the center. After the Taj Mahal, we headed back to the hotel. – Ben

Jacob’s Turn

Sorry for the long delay in posts but we could not connect on our travels to North India and Appacha had internet problems when we returned. We will try to bring you up to current events in the next few days – Thomas

December-17, 2007:    Greetings from space, the final frontier. Uh- oh, this is starting to sound like one of those lame Star-Trek re- runsJ. What I mean is that I( Jacob) am in India( hurray!!!!!!!!). Alright I’m going to get to the point; I’m going to tell you about the traveling from Kerala, to Delhi. We were going to Delhi because we were going to take a tour of North India. Okay, here goes nothing!

                                                           

We started early, leaving my  house at 3:00. Why 3:00 you ask? Because we wanted to get to the airport 2 hours early so we could get checked in on time. The house is 3 hours away from the airport; therefore, we left at 3 to get there by 6. Capiche? Okiday, back to the point. When we finally made way, we met no one on the road, as in like cars. When we had been driving for 45 minutes, we met a truck going very slow, it carried precariously placed load of logs on it. I promise you, it look like it would fall on us at any moment. Gasppppppp!!!!  The truck was so large that it took up most of the road. Our driver kept trying to get the trucker to move so we could get by. Sadly, he did not read the signals very well. He would not move. When finally did move, we thanked God that we were alive. Another hour passed by with no interruptions when we heard a whooshing sound. We had a flat tire. It took about half an hour to fix the new tire. Even with all these delays, we were not late. After we had checked in, we waited for about an hour to leave the airport. We had left Trivandrum national airport on time and arrived at Delhi around 12:00 – Jacob

The word according to Josh

Hey peoples! This is Josh with the blog of the 16^th of December!!!!! I know you are all thrilled to hear from me so try to contain your enthusiasm. The 16^th began very early, for we had to go to church quite early. After a bite of muffin we took showers. We had a brief spell of darkness when our power cut out. India seems to be short on lights. The power kicked back and we all got ready to leave. We couldn’t fit in the family car, so we rented a motorbike-rickshaw thing. Mom, Alyssa, and Amachi rode in it on the way to church, but seemed uneasy about it. Maybe it was because it had an open side that you could fall right out of. They said their prayers and clambered in hoping not to die. The men rode in the car. Real gentlemen are we not? The women made it to the church in one piece and we all went inside. The church was a long and tall space that was open to the air. The first thing you see when you walk in is the gender separation. Men sit on the left and women sit on the right. The men were mostly old, balding, and fat. And they smell. You know the kind of nasty no deodorant, nasty pits smell. It was bad. Is hygiene that hard people? The service was quite different. It was mostly stand up, say this, chant that, sing this, sit down, and do it all over again. Mercifully the service was in English, but the priest has a thick accent. It wasn’t really bad, just confusing. Even with a chant book, I was lost at times. We did the sermon and communion and wrapped it up. It was kinda nice to do something different but I do miss our church. After that we went to the cemetery to see our family tombs. That was weird because we had to walk on other tombs just laying in front. Just walk on the dudes grave. The graves aren’t underground, they’re above. After the graveyard tour, we went to lunch. This time I got to ride in the auto rickshaw (a 3-wheeler taxi). It wasn’t bad when there was no traffic, but when he took turns I felt myself slide near the edge of the seat and over the side. It didn’t help that Ben kept leaning on me as we took the turns. At the restaurant we ordered masala dosa which were two feet long! They are like giant crepes with potato and onions wrapped up. So good. After I had eaten three, we walked around the city. Big lunch and walking: bad combo. We saw shops, stalls, people, dangerously close traffic and lots of people. We walked down to a bigger church and took some pictures poked around and left for home. Now we are here writing while in a food induced coma. Tomorrow we have to get up at three to catch a plane to Delhi for our tour of North India! Since our brains are still messed up and we think that it’s late afternoon at 10 in the morning, we should be okay. More blogging to come, so stay tuned! Peace out.

On cold showers and bad hair days!

Things here are very different….SLOW…….posting on this blog and going on the internet have proved very difficult. There is no fast food, prepackaged foods. the things that we at home really take for granted. The electricity regularly goes off, this morning as we were getting ready for church it did. We brought our hairdryer and put it into a converter (the voltage here is 240) and almost blew the whole system here! So, Alyssa and I are getting used to an old hairdryer that is more like a saudering iron. And although there is a hot water heater…I would not necesarily classify it as a functional one. It is good that it is so hot here, a good cold shower is invigorating and refreshing. You must adapt, we are learning daily.

I have been waking up every day at 3-4 am, bright and wide eyed. I decided that it is a perfect time to met with God. It is absolutely still here, pitch black, it is so dark and it has been jusr He and I. I have come to the conclusion that He had to get me here to speak to me. I have been so busy, doing good things but I have forgotten the true thing and have not spent time with God.This am when doing my study I was thinking about what I would be doing if I was home,baking lots of cookies, shopping, preparing for Christmas. God spoke very clearly t me today, he said why preare like that does’nt it come anyway? It is My gift to you, just accept it. This Christmas is different, no presents, not the usual but stil God’s greatest gift is very real. I thank God for early mornings, still small voices and the greatest gift, Jesus, my Jesus, your Jesus. Love you all!

Theresa

Engagments and Shopping!

Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing well! We are getting ready to go to Delhi from the 17 to the 21! More packing and more flyingL But it will be ok once we get there!

Yesterday Amachi, Apacha, Dad, Mom and I went out for the day. Josh, Jacob and Ben all stayed at the house. They were not too happy about that, but they wouldn’t have liked what we were doing anyways. We went to an engagement party and after, shopping!

The engagement party was ok. It was all in Malayalam so I didn’t get much out of it;) But the food was really good! We had white chicken curry, beef and coconut, fish curry, appum, rice and a lot of other things. I took a little of everything so I wouldn’t get sick. There was so much food and the servers tried to keep putting rice on your plate! I just didn’t make eye contact and it was all good! I met many relatives from my grandmother’s side, all of whom are like my third cousins….distant relatives….One of them thought I was my Auntie Molama and asked why I couldn’t understand since I was from this place! My grandmother got a kick out of that! I look nothing like my aunt. She used to live here so I wonder why they thought I was her….it was pretty funny!

Priests chanted, sang and prayed. It was pretty boring but interesting at the same time. Apparently the couple isn’t officially engaged until the party. So that was the day they were engaged. We met them after and they were both very sweet. The groom invited us to the wedding next march. He was serious. My dad said we would be gone by then but the guy said we should come back! That was funny too. All in all it was a good experience. It gave me another taste of my cultureJ

When we left we went to some relative’s house. They were very hospitable and kind. The man was a photographer and he was helping with my pictures. I was walking around taking pictures of everything! I want you guys to see all this stuff. It’s so cool. Oh, I miss you all so very much! I can’t to tell you everything!!!

I saw all my amachi’s brothers’ houses. They are all grouped together on one piece of land. I got pictures of the houses and the area. Two of them I met in Colorado. So their houses are being taken care of by other people. Usually, if you move somewhere else, you don’t sell your property. It’s an inheritance and they treasure that. It seems here in America, that doesn’t happen as often. People sell everything for money. Stuff like that makes me sad. That’s what my moms side does…I am glad it is different here. Those traditions should be kept. But with the way things are going with building, out with the old in with the new, it won’t be that way much longer. The price for “moving forward”.

On a lighter note, we went shopping!!!! The place was called Joyalukas. It had 5 floors! Saris on one floor, salwars on one, jewelry, wedding attire, and men’s! It was great! You walk in and someone asks what you are looking for and then they take you a counter with chairs. Behind is a wall that goes around ¾ of the store. It’s covered in salwars/saris! I was in heaven!!! The girly girl who loves shopping came out in me! You sit there, tell them what you want or what you think you are looking for and they bring it to you! We had piles of clothes just sit there and look. It was great.  There were many different kinds. Traditional and fashionable, cheap and expensive, and everything in between! We will be doing more of that in Delhi! I’m so excited!!!

As always, the driving was an experience…death lurking at all corners;) My grandfather is not a risky driver and he can’t see that well. Mix that with big buses and trucks, it’s not a good combination! God protected us. I took some good pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like. That’s one thing I won’t miss when gone! You have a mini heart attack every time….

It was a great day! It ended with me going to bed at 8:30! I know it’s really early. Not like at home, going to bed every night at 11:30 or later. I am always up by 6:30/7. I am almost adjusted. Jacob, Ben, Josh and Mom keep waking up around 3 every morning. They sleep too much during the day! It’s not good. They will learn though. We are leaving tomorrow at 3am so we can be at the airport by 6. We will see how that goes!

We love you all! Hope you are having a great break and enjoying your family! Don’t get stressed out about the season. Enjoy its simplicity, Christ’s birth. Not gifts or any other hustle and bustle. That’s all fluff and a terrible distraction. Sooooo…..HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

Alyssa

So… What time is it?

Hello to everyone from India! It has been a hot, humid, and crazy few days. Today is Thursday the 13^th of December; our journey here took 48 hours. We are very slowly getting used to the time difference. I am awake today as are all the others, although Ben has asked me at least 10 times if he can take a nap. We have been very tired during the day and have had a difficult time staying awake. We are 10.5 hours ahead here, now it is 11:15am. For you it is 12:45 am.

Our journey started early Sunday: and when we arrived on time at the airport, something had to be wrong. Alyssa’s purse, carry on, and jacket had been forgotten. Thankfully we were early and Frank was able to rush home and get it for us! Thanks Frank! We flew to Washington where we had our first 6 hour layover. Everyone was excited as we waited to get on the first plane. We arrived in London after a very uncomfortable flight: at midnight Raleigh time and 6am London time. I warned everyone to sleep, but they did not, they played video games and watched movies so they were all very tired and grouchy. Jacob was especially miserable; so we fund a place where we could stretch out, put our luggage in the middle of us and we let them sleep. So much for exploring the airport;, which was more like a mall. The 6 hours passed a little more quickly, since we slept a little. Around 1-2 pm we were able to board the plane. 

This ride was much better, more leg room, and better seats. Except that Alyssa, Ben and I were in the front of the plane and Thomas, Josh and Jacob were in the back. Ben was happy with all the movies and video games, he hardly slept during the 10 hour flight.

There were cricket players from England on board and they were quite rowdy. Drinks were free (Alyssa and Josh were offered beer and wine, I guess the rules in other parts of the world are different) and the stewardess kept giving them as much as they wanted so they kept getting louder and louder (not Josh and Alyssa). It kept Ben and I awake, not Alyssa, she was out and about the time they got quiet the stewardesses turned on the light and served us our second meal. But all in all it was a good flight and the food and service were good.

We arrived in Sri Lanka around 5:30 am, not sure what time it was in Raleigh and it was a sea of brown people. I really felt different and felt many eyes on me. I have to be more aware of what it feels like to be the different one.

The short plane ride to India was interesting: it was perhaps 95% men. Thomas says they were returning for holiday from work in the Middle East. It is very difficult to provide a decent living for a family in India, so many men (and women) work overseas.

These men were in a great rush to get on and off the plane; as if they thought you would take their seat or something. Best to just stand back and wait or you would get plowed over. When we arrived in the town if Trivandrum and the plane had barely slowed down (the seatbelt light was still on and we had not parked the plane) these men jumped up and began to furiously remove their carry on bags. The stewardess kept saying “sit down please” but to no avail. We could see that we were not even close to the gate; finally the pilot came on and told them to sit and they did…sort of. We, on the other hand, sat and waited until they were off of the plane.

Next was immigration, we were moved to a quick line and moved ahead of most of those men..ha ha. Some porters were waiting, asking if we were the Abrahams, they wanted to help with our luggage. It was obvious we were tourists, since we had 11 big bags and they wanted to get a big tip from us. Thankfully outside, in another very large group of people was Apacha. He tipped them 150 rupies (around 5 dollars) and they were very unhappy…they wanted 50 dollars each from us., just for colleting our luggage.

If Apacha was not there we would have had a hard time getting our luggage.

Of course, as soon as we left the airplane, Ben had to go to the bathroom. Now, if we did not tell you about the bathroom situation in India, let me just say that it is definitely not like in America! So, I told Ben he absolutely had to wait, it would be better to stop on the side of the road or something. But he could see a building “Pay Toilet…pay and use”, we could smell a horrible stench , I am not sure if I have ever smelled such a smell. We decided to visit a relative in the town so Ben could relieve himself.

We drove into a new world, I could never imagine anything like it. We went past a beach where many men were dragging in huge nets of fish, beggars lined the shanty filled streets, and there were people everywhere. After a quick visit to a cousin’s house, we were on our way to Maramon, the village where Amachi and Apacha live, a 2-3 hour drive.(but only about 70-80 miles)

 Driving on these roads is an experience one can never describe with words, my sister-in-law tried to warn me…..I am sure I would rather not do it again, but we must if we are to go anywhere. The roads are very narrow, maybe two- thirds the size of a small 2 lane road in America….and that is being generous. There are busses, auto rickshaws, and cars on the road…also people who have no regard for the vehicles driving on the road. There is no pedestrian right of way, traffic lights, stop signs, speed limits, no rules…none. The busses have signs on the back that say “sound horn”, you hear beep, beep, beep. There was a sigh that said “Avoid rash driving”. You pass whenever you feel brave enough(which is way too often), people walk in front of you as if to dare you to hit them, and the narrow two lane road somehow manages to hold a bus, a car, an auto rickshaw, and a few pedestrians….all at once! Many times I was sure we were going to die. Chaos…utter chaos, but somehow it seemed to work. Thank God I was exhausted, I put our lives in the hand of the Lord…forgot there were no seatbelts, and went to sleep. I slept most of the way despite the holes..no ditches that randomly and frequently sent us flying to the opposite end of the car, all the work of my chiropractor was wasted…or perhaps all I needed was the ride to adjust me.

We stopped after about two hours so our driver could rest and eat. We were all asleep and we just got out of the car, I forgot where I was for a moment. Suddenly at my left side was a very young woman carrying a little baby on her hip, moaning with her hand out begging for money. It was so disturbing, I had read about the beggars, but never thought it would hit home so hard.  Apacha and the driver quickly steered us out of the way and we went into the restaurant into a very dark area in the back for tourists that was freezing from the lone window air conditioner.  After all of that it was decided that the driver would eat a snack at another shop and we would wait for home.  He put Thomas, Alyssa, Ben and myself back into the car, locked the doors and left us there so he could get food.

The young beggar decided to come back and stand at each of our windows to beg for food, it was so sad. Apacha told us to never give to women with babies, because it is often not even their child and they use to baby to get your pity. Begging is big business in India, it is like the mafia in America. I was thankful to be on our way, even if it involved driving on roads straight out of Hades.

Finally after about 48 hours of traveling, we arrived at the house. We were dirty, exhausted and hungry. We were met with a cool wash, a loving Amachi, and a wonderful meal of chicken curry, rice curried yogurt, plantains…yum.  After a cold shower…yes it is very hot here, we enjoyed sleep…………..! This place is a sanctuary. Set away from the village. I’ll stop here, there is so much to say, I know that God has lots to teach us here, what a blessing to be here after many years of praying for the opportunity to come.

God is good, He shines past the poverty, terrible roads, and all else…He blesses and keeps those He calls His own.

Being in India!

Namaste friends! We are now enjoying the hot, humid weather of Kerala, India! This is about the third time we have tried to post something. So lets hope this works! 

Mom wrote a post on the journey here but we are having trouble getting it on here. This will be short, but it will let you know how we are:)

The journey took about 48 hrs and we are 10.5 hours ahead on the clock! So we are awake when we should be sleeping. It gets its hardest during the middle of the day. Thats when we should be sleeping. Everyday gets better though!

I, as well as the rest of the family, are thoroughly enjoying our Amachi’s food again…YUM! The many spices are very pleasing after weeks of fast food! Just thinking about it makes my mouth water:)

We are meeting many relatives and cherishing their company. The only thing is the language barrier. Thank God for my Grandparents and father. Without them we would be lost! Today on the way back from Baby Apacha’s house(my grandfathers eldest brother) Joshua said the funniest thing. He said “I wish India came with subtitles…”. It was hilarious! Mom and us kids were all in agreement:)

I am taking lots and lots of pictures! I am sooooo glad we have the new camera. There are so many new things to experience and see. I wish I could show you all everything. We will try to post some on here.

We believe we will be learing many things this month. Remembering we are in a third world country means we will be giving up many things. It will be good for us. Maybe the want will be gone by the time we get home!

Thats all for now! I want to see if this works! Pinne Caunaam! Talk to you soon!

Alyssa^_^

Test

This is a test of our blog site

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!