I'm Back!!

Hey, everyone!! Well, my trip was amazing. I had so much fun, it's too much to type!! I had a great time meeting family I had never met before and seeing family I had a great time with before. My dad's 2nd cousin(my grandmother's 1st cousin's kids) and their 2 kids are really cool. Jahnvi, 17, and Jeet, 9, Nikhil and I had the best time together at their house in Mumbai (Bombay). We would play games, watch Hindi movies, and go shopping together. The shopping in Mumbai is amazing!!!! They have streets lined with shops with just about anything you can think of. You name it, it's there!! Shoes(yes), jewlery(yes), pictures, wall hangings, clothes, books, furniture(yes, yes, YES!)
I think I've made my point.
Anyways, call me crazy, but I really want to go to school tomorrow! I can't wait! I want to be able to tell my friends about my trip. I can't wait to see you all again.
That's all for today. Keep in touch, the comments bar is always open!

Jaipur

In Jaipur, we saw the Amer ,or Amber, Fort.
On the way to the main section of the fort, we went on an elephant ride, which was quite an adventure. To get onto the saddle, you step onto a platform and literally walk onto the seat. There is a lot of historical background there.
We saw a science related observatory, called Jantar Mantar. In the 14-15th century they didn't have watches or clocks like we do today, they used sundials. We can still read the time on the dials today!!!
Jaipur is called the Pink City. We saw pink houses, sandstone, and a lot of the buildings are made from the same stone.

Taj Mahal

We visited the Taj Mahal on November 6th. It's hard to describe, it was so beautiful. I found that the Taj Mahal is not sitting by itself, but there are 3 gates around it and a mosque on the left and a temple on the right, to keep everything symmetrical. The whole thing is totally symmetrical. On the main and most elegant gate, there are 22 domes, similar to the ones on the Taj itself. The 22 domes represent the 22 years it took to complete the Taj Mahal.
Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. She became very sick and was going to die after giving birth. Her last wish to him was to build a monument so the world would know their story. Shah Jahan looked at many designs for the monument and finally chose this Persian design. Then, he hired many architects to build the Taj Mahal. Now, these workers didn't have today's technology, this was the 16th century. They used ramps that were at least 1 mile long to push marble to the top dome. On the marble, they have stones inlaid in the marble in different designs, which is very beautiful and extremely detailed. Inside, Mumtaz Mahal is buried there and so is Shah Jahan, but nobody can see the real caskets anymore. It gets too crowded. They have replicas in the center. Mumtaz is perfectly centered, and Shah Jahan is next to her, not centered. There were slabs of marble that a pattern had been cut into. It was amazing.
That's all for the Taj Mahal. Keep in touch and updated for my trip in India.

We Made It!!

Well, we made it. India is very different from the states. They drive on the opposite side of the road, traffic's crazy, and everybody speaks differently. Some speak Hindi, Gujurati, and English. We were shopping today and stopped in a couple of stores. One of the stores, an emporium, to be exact, had rugs, clothes, instruments, and lots more! An emporium is like a mall, only smaller. It was a lot of fun. We took auto-rickshaws to the different places. As we were going around New Delhi, we saw the schools as they were ending. The kids wear uniforms to school and take public buses or walk to and from school. The traffic was crazy. The motorcyclists can drive between the cars, but sometimes the cars are so close that they can't get through. We also saw monkeys roaming the streets. This was a great first day.
Keep in touch and stay updated for my trip in India.