To Answer Your Question. . .

. . . of course I made that soccer-if-ic birthday cake!!

. . . no, we are not getting any more bunnies. One sad bunny story is enough for this Momma.

. . . Mo, doesn't kiss the boys, so you don't have to worry about her getting her braces stuck, Grandpa!!

. . . no, we didn't buy a Kashmire carpet. Even as cheap as you can buy them here it is still a large chunk of change!

. . . I know the extra half hour in the time difference doesn't seem right, but it is.

. . . the inside of my house is pretty much square, nothing fancy or elaborate but comfortable.

. . . no, we don't have a dishwasher, but we do have a washer & dryer.

. . . yes, banana's do grow upside down. or is it right side up, whose to say!

. . . to buy the paper mache items, tell me approx. what you want and send me the $. If you bank at AFCU transfer it to my account and Vwallah!

. . . your not a chicken!

. . . no, earthquakes are not a regular occurrence in India.

. . . we are betting that R gets tapeworm first!

. . . no, I really haven't had diarrhea since Easter, that was a quote from Nacho Libre, one of the most quotable movies ever made! Look for more of them throughout my blogs, if something doesn't sound right--its probably Nacho!

"Get that corn outta my face!"

Pushkar Day 2 & 3

I know you've all been anxiously sitting by your computers waiting for the sequel postings on Pushkar; and I'm happy to say, its finally here! :)

I apologize for grouping day 2 & 3 together but when I sat down to blog the last two days I had a hard time distinguishing what happened on which day. . . as my good friend always says; "I think my brain is dripping out my ears!"

Day 2 began with an early morning wake up call once again for a sunrise camel ride.

I thought we were going to ride up a mountain to watch the sunrise. But it was more like riding around the desert for an hour until we ended up on a hill to watched the sun rise over the mountain. It could have been disappointing, but for so many reasons it wasn't. Riding the camel with Mishy was a lot of fun, and watching everyone huddled together atop their camels warding off the early morning chill, was well worth while.

After breakfast we scrambled back into our camel carts and headed for the village (Nacho, we see you from dee billage), where we hiked around the crowded streets, all 100 + of us. To say we stuck out like a sore thumb is probably an understatement and I could see the merchants and vendors licking their lips in anticipation. As if they were a hungry school of fish, and us, the fat, juicy worm dangling from a hook.


(Just in case your wondering what she's carrying on her head...its poop.)

We first wound our way through the fair and to the
Pushkar Lake at the heart of the city where thousands pilgrimage every year to bath in the lake.

After the lake, we walked towards the temple but as we got closer the crowd became overwhelming. I was beginning to fear for our safety or at the very least, of getting swept away by the current of the crowd. So we ducked into a little alley way throwing elbows as we went, where we regrouped and headed back into the crowd. This time going the opposite direction, in hopes to get down to an area a little less jam-packed. We continued to shop for a while and then met up at our designated meeting spot and once again travelled back to the fort by camel cart.

After lunch Dave, Richard and the older kids went to find out if they could forge the path up a neighboring mountain that had a temple perched on the top. When they returned we headed for the village again to do more looking and shopping. We bought a giant bell and a walking stick.

(Richard buying his walking stick)

We had Mo with us on one of these excursions. Which proposed a bit of a challenge. We encircled her with R & I, Dave and Angela, which she was not happy about, but put up with fairly graciously. Our fear was not that she would be hurt or kidnapped, but because she is young, beautiful and blond, it was more than likely she would get groped by the men or boys in the pressing crowd; and then R would have to go all special-agent on everyone and we didn't want that!

We took a ton of pictures. Everything was an assault to one sense or another. It was great.

The evening wasn't much different than the first night. Same entertainers, same puppet show, and basically the same food.

Day 3 began very early for R, T, & M. They hiked up the temple mountain leaving well before sunrise. They reached the top and took some amazing pictures of the city lights and the sunrise. Not to mention the shots of monkeys, people, and landscape.




After a breakfast of much the same as the two days prior, we spent the morning bathing, packing and getting ready for the long trip home.

The trip home was much like the trip there; a long bus ride followed by and even longer train ride. I finished one book on the train ride there and got a good start on another on the way home. The funnest part of the train ride was standing on the platform that connects the two cars together and looking out the open door watching the landscape blur past. I think had there been a ladder, R would have climbed on top of the train to ride. But alas he wasn't able to. Not because they wouldn't let him, there just wasn't a ladder from any of the open door ways we were looking out--as my friend told me the other day; "OSHA doesn't live here".

We arrived around midnight, exhausted. What a Trip!


Day 2


Day 3

Earth Quake in New Delhi

Just in case any of you heard about our little earthquake last night and were worried; we are fine. It felt like someone had grabbed our bed and was shaking it violently to wake us up.
Here is a short article about the earthquake.

Pushkar post still to come. . .

पुष्कर Pushkar Day 1

Over the Thanksgivning weekend we took a trip to the Pushkar Camel Fair. The city of Pushkar itself is considered a 'holy city' and a popular tourist destination all year round, but once a year it is also host to the camel fair.

At 4:00am on Thanksgiving morning our alarm went off and R and I both moaned our "who's stupid idea was this" groan and stumbled out of bed to shower and wake our sleeping children, who quite frankly, resemble something very, very, evil that early in the morning.

We showered, dressed and finished packing and groped our way to the embassy gate where 4 huge coaches waited to take us to the train station.

Once at the train station all five senses were accosted by the sites, sounds and especially smells of the bustling station. There was garbage everywhere and the smell of urine seemed to permeate the air still thick with the haze of the nightly burning of garbage and cow dung. How's that for your morning coffee. We loaded the train and settled in for the 8 hour train ride to Rajasthan.

A little about the train; I'm not sure I can adequately express the claustrophobic feelings of being surrounded by extreme filth, sufficeth to say, I used more hand-sanitizing gel and wipes on that train than I've ever used in my entire life.

Despite trying not to drink, there was a point at which I could no longer refrain from using the toilet. I was a little shocked when I looked into the toilet and saw the ground below. All excrement are simply flushed to the train tracks below. Watch out belooow!

I was a little scared to eat the food served on the train *("don't you know I've had diarheas since Easters"), but was pleasantly surprised. The kids didn't eat much however, but we were prepared with a suitcase full of "snacks". Big T likes Indian food the most out of all the kids and can survive quite well on chapatis and dal, thank goodness.

Once we arrived in Rajasthan we rode about another hour by bus to our resort, Pushkar Fort. We stayed in tents that consisted of two rooms, a sleeping area and a bathroom, complete with toilet, wrought iron sink and a fiberglass shower bottom to stand in and rinse off. We even had running water, but only cold, so we had to order buckets of hot water for bathing. Bucket-bathing wasn't as hard or awful as I imagined it would, but still, I ain't givin up my shower anytime soon.

As we arrived there was a group of performers out front dancing and playing the drums. We followed them in a precession to the archway that lead into the hotel grounds. At the archway we were meet with two young ladies frantically trying to put marigold lays (a sacred flower in India) around each and every person as they entered the gateway. There were also two men on either side holding huge baskets of flower pedals which they were throwing by the handfuls into the air to rain down on us as we entered (or pelt you in the eye depending upon where you were standing).

Once we arrived and put away our luggage we ate lunch. The food wasn't the best Indian food I've ever eaten, but despite the occasional grit of sand between your teeth, it was tasty and plentiful.

We had to pay extra for soda and water which was always interesting because it seemed to vary in price depending upon the day and server you asked. At first it was "free", then it was 50 rupees, then 100 rupees and on the last day it was back to 50 rupees, mmmm. . .

After lunch we boarded camel carts and headed for a site-see-ride to the fair and back to the hotel.

While riding on the carts we passed a gypsy camp. When they saw us coming, the children ran out to greet us with hands waving saying, "hallow, hallow". If they had clothes on, they were completely filthy, and many of the littlest wore nothing more than a shirt. Their skin seemed much darker due to the film of dirt that covered their entire bodies and their hair was matted from months of no washing. Although a sad site, that can't help but bring a lump to your throat, I couldn't get over the fact that they seemed completely oblivious to the dire circumstances they obviously lived in each and every day. They appeared to be happy, playful children, in many ways no different than my own.

They liked to follow our carts saying hello, touching us and begging for money or shampoo (I was really disappointed I didn't have any). But as I watched them, sometimes I noticed the begging looked both theatrical and mechanical at times. The smiling, waving, touching and trying to make conversation seemed to be sincere and what they persued the hardest, the begging, at times appeared like more of an after thought.

There were also men who followed us with hundreds of necklaces in tow, possibly the Fathers of the gypsy children. They were very, very persistent and knew from experience how to wear down even the most stubborn.

I bought a few necklaces for the kids and a few necklaces that I didn't need or want because the man selling them followed our cart for what felt like an eternity.

He started his bidding price at 200 rupees per necklace, he had 10. I immediately, used my handy-Hindi and told him I was not interested in his necklaces, which had turned many other vendors away up to this point, but it fell on deaf ears. He then began haggling as if I had fained objection at his exorbitant price. But the funny thing is, he didn't haggle with me, he started haggling with himself, as if his life depended on it, and maybe it did. He kept running and bargaining, 3 for 200rs, 5 for 200rs, 8 for 200rs. All my no's bounced off him as if he was a superhero deflecting bullets. Finally in desperation he said; "OK, OK, 10 pieces for 200 rupees" ($5). I had no use for them, nor did I even like them, but at that point I could not resist. Even Richard, who I would consider to be in the "stubborn" category, instinctively went for his wallet.

Whether it was the little voice screaming inside my head saying, "That's a killer deal" or the sincere, persistence of this man, I don't know, but in either case, I felt good about buying them, regardless of whether I needed them or not. At that point I didn't feel like I was being taken or cheated, as so many times I do. I handed off the money and when I saw the look of relief and smile on his face I couldn't help but smile myself. In hind-site I should have handed him back the necklaces as well, watching him haggle with himself behind our cart for a half mile was worth the 5 bucks.

During the ride we saw more camels than I have ever seen in one place before in my life, and we lived in Egypt! The Pushkar camel fair is truely a fair in every sense of the word. You could nickname it the Rajasthani state fair, complete with faris-wheel, cotton candy, food booths, camel races and vendors selling useless gadgets and trinkets. It reminded me of any other state fair I've ever been to, but with a definite 3rd-world charm.

We returned that evening, ate dinner and watched some performers do traditional dance and fire breathing, oooh! There was also a puppeteer who very much reminded me of the kings assistant in Cinderella who wore the monocle and mustache that swagged his face, sideburn to lip to sideburn. The kids loved the puppet show and so did I, its not every day you have the pleasure of watching a true puppet show.

We went to bed and I slept especially restless. Others say it is the princess and the pea syndrome. But honestly, sleeping on those cots was like sleeping on a slab of marble. I still have the back ache to prove it.

Enjoy the slide show

*Quote from Nacho Libre

To be continued. . .

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish everyone a belated Happy Thanksgiving! I'm late because we just got back from spending 3 days in the Rajistani desert, riding camels, and sleeping in tents. It was great fun but I sure missed the turkey and pumpkin pie. . . especially the pumpkin pie. We left on Thanksgiving and got back late Saturday night (actually early Sunday morning).
I will be blogging our trip one day at a time over the next day or two so as to not overwhelm anyone (including myself). We have a TON of pics to download, plus you know how long-winded I can be, can't leave a single detail out, no matter how tedious or unimportant.

P.S. We got our VAN!!! Yahoo! It arrived on Wednesday, the day before we left for our trip to Pushkar. I was so excited when they brought it I jumped in it and drove around the compound (equivalent to riding around the block). Mutua seemed to understand our anticipation and when it arrived seemed just as excited as us, just wait til I take her for a ride, she may never step foot in a vehicle again...

Didn't get the Van

I was so excited thinking we would get the van last week but here we sit Monday morning and still no wheels... why am I not surprised!
I'm feeling a little depressed about the whole thing but, eventually I guess it has to come! We may not see it until we're packing out but it will get here eventually, I'm POSITIVE!

Not your Mommas Paper Mache

Monday I went to a mela (aka: a bunch of vendors selling their goods in the parking lot) and I saw a vendor with all of these beautifully hand-painted bowls, boxes, vases and Christmas ornaments. What I didn't know then, was that everything he sells is made out of paper mache. I couldn't believe it so I had the guy come to my house yesterday to check things out close up, plus I wanted to buy Christmas ornaments from him.
So he came and I invited the neighbors to come and see and I was amazed at the incredible detail work on every single item I looked at.
Most of the bowls are made from a brass mold (so the inside is gold). What they do next is layer the outside with the paper pulp, then varnish, paint, varnish, varnish, varnish and then varnish one more time. He said that with good care these items can last a life-time.
They varnish them 4 times, waiting 15 days between each coat. Some of the bigger items take several months just to paint, that doesn't include the varnishing time. They even make their own paint brushes because they can't buy brushes that are fine enough for the most detailed artwork.
The more I looked the more I wanted. Before I knew how incredible they were I just thought I wanted a few ornaments, now I want to buy one of everything and a whole Christmas tree full of ornaments.
I looked through his picture album and he can make just about anything you can imagine and it is all amazing!
The price isn't bad either. Some of the items I bought yesterday I paid about a dollar an item, (for an average size ornament) in the states that same item could range anywhere from $5-$10. But these are the smaller items I am talking about. The bigger items.. bowls and boxes and things range from around $12-$100 or higher.
No two items are ever alike. Each piece, even if its the same bowl, painted with the same pattern, is never identical because its all hand-made. Another bonus is that it is very lite and so if you want me to send you something the shipping shouldn't be too outrageous. :)
Anyway, you can tell I think its.. well, WAY COOL!

This bowl was one of my favs!


And this was one of my favorite boxes!


I really liked this one too..

The animals were really cool too. He had elephants, camels, and turtles whos shells were the lids for a round turtle box.

Tried to get a close-up of the detail work but I don't think the picture does it justice.

FYI: I've only recieved 2 comments all month--where are all my loyal fans? (Boo-hoo) :)