Planes, Trains & Automobiles

So we are alive over here in Delhi, India. Sorry that we haven't been able to write for so long, we have been literally RUNNING since our feet hit the ground on Indian soil. We flew from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India on February 28th. We arrived at the research station here in Delhi late that night, and had to catch the train at 6:15 the next morning to Kanpur. The train ride was 5 1/2 hours long, but it was quite comfortable. It was Jesse's first train ride, so it was interesting. The part of the train that we were on was quite nice, it had nice seats that reclined, and they served us meals and tea. It was nice to ride on the train, also, because it allowed us to see some of the countryside. They have a real nice looking wheat crop coming.

We arrived in Kanpur in the afternoon and went right to the research buildings and had a formal meeting with the directors. They have a really nice facility there in Kanpur. It's only about 3 years old. After checking out the facility, we were taken back to our guest house to unpack. It was really nice there. Although all of us got new rooms except for poor Blaine, his room was in the old part of the building. He didn't have a very nice room to stay in. But, on a brighter note, Jesse and I had a great room... the bathroom was actually clean! We spent the day in the field, but Sally wasn't feeling so great, and didn't want to be in the middle of a field, so Shauna went to "keep her company" while she went back to her room. It was nice that she didn't have to tag along in the field for the rest of the day. Sally & Shauna spent the next couple of hours playing skip-bo and laughing at the Bollywood music videos.

So we got up the next day, and were on the road again at 6am (yes, we were exhausted by this point)and headed out to a farmers field. It took us around 2 1/2 hours to get there, and the roads were not smooth in any way... so we bumped along out to a villiage where we spent a couple hours meeting with the farmers and looking at their crops. One little girl (who was 7 years old) was smitten with Shauna, and came up to her after the meeting with the farmers, and told her that her mother wanted to meet her. So this little girl took her by the hand, and led her into the courtyard of a home in a villiage where women and children, who could only say "hello" in English, surrounded her and were smiling pretty big. Sally joined her, and it was quite a neat experience. So we got back to the research station in Kanpur in time to eat a quick lunch and head to the train. We told the people that our train left at 4pm (it left at 4:45) so we would be there on time, and it's a good thing we did that, because we didn't arrive at the train station until 4:20! Our train would have been good and GONE had it left at 4!

We got back to IARI (India Agriculture Research Institute)here in Delhi around 12:30am, and had to be in the car again for 7:30am... so we were definately still racing pretty hard! We had a quick sleep and got up in time to jump in the van to drive off to another extremely interesting part of our journey - Agra. Home of - The TAJ MAHAL! It took us 4 hours to drive 200 kms but it was so amazing. We first stopped at Sikandra which the 3rd Mughal emperor - Akbar - built. It was amazing. He was an emperor who saw a future of joining all religions. So he married 4 wives (Budist, Muslim, Hindu & Christian). He built Sikandra with four entrances and four focuses on the 4 sides. Each side had the theme of the 4 religions. It was really amazing. The next place we stopped at was Agra Fort which was built by an early Mughal emperor, but the 5th Mughal emperor - Shah Jahan - lived and died there as his son emprisoned him there after he nearly put the country into bankrupcy by building the Taj Mahal. It was pretty amazing, and is right across the river from the Taj Mahal.

Now... The Taj Mahal (The Taj as they call it over here)... Wow! It is probably the most incredible piece of arcitecture that we have ever seen. It was funny, all we have ever wanted to see was castles in Europe, we didn't dream that the Taj Mahal would be so breathtaking. The construction started in 1631 and was completed in 1653. It took 20,000 people 22 years to build it! Amazing! They brought marble from all over to build it, the black marble all the way from Belgium! And the marble was inlaid with semiprescious stones. There are so many details that were thought out when it was built. The 4 pillars (representing his 4 wives) that surround the Taj are all designed to lean out 3 degrees so if there ever was an earthquake the pillars would crumble out instead of in on the building. We have some amazing pictures, and a couple souveniers from Agra as well, as it's known for it's marble work. Rachelle, your birthday present is from Agra. :) We got home after midnight again (by the time we drove back and changed a flat tire), but it was such an amazing day, it didn't matter.

Sunday, March 4th (today)... Another amazing experience... it was "Holi" today. Holi is, in a nut shell, the Hindu religion's way of celebrating spring and "new beginings". Another name for it - the festival of colour. SO COOL! We bought the supplies for it yesterday on our travels. Powdered colour. I bought magenta pink, grass green, bright yellow & red. We woke up this morning to beating drums in the distance. People were celebrating already! So we hit the street 5 strong (Blaine's stomach had picked up another bug, so he was laying down in his room) and the custom here is... Someone will walk up to you and take a bit of the powder with their finger and say "Happy Holi" as they put the colour on you... and you resiprocate with putting colour on them. It was so fun! By noon, we were literally COVERED with colour. Our hair, our entire face, everything was covered with colour! It was so cool! It took a little while to wash the colour out, but we only have a bit of hot pink on our hands where it stained a bit.

Well, I believe that I have written long enough, and I am tired of typing. So I will sign off for now and tell you guys that we love and miss you a ton! We are counting down the days until we are home, as it's been long. Hope all is well, and we will write more when we can! Love to all!