A Hike to the Talegaon Temple and Ganesha

We set out this morning to Talegaon (near to where Paul works) to hike/walk to the temple at the top of a tall hill. Here is a photo at the beginning of our walk near near the entrance.






Molly stops to pose as we climb many steps up the hill.



We finally arrive at the temple, which is literally a small room carved into the mountain, and we learn that a small pooja was being performed for Lord Shiva. We are invited to stay and witness the ceremony. Below you will see a photo depicting a man strewing garlands of marigolds around the alter. They were also pouring milk into the hanging copper pot that streamed down into a small basin at the foot of the shrine. Sweets were spread over the shrine as an offering to their god. The reason why the photo is so cloudy is due to the incense that was being burned.

A close up shot . . .

We then walk back down the hill and go home to tidy up. We drive by the enormous Ganesha statue that is being erected on the Mumbai-Pune highway in Talegaon.

Mumbai

Mumbai, home to Bollywood, is our destination today. This port city holds many interesting facets.

Here is a photo of our drive to Mumbai from Pune in the hills near Lonavala.



We finally get to Mumbai and make our first stop at the India Gate.
Here is a billboard for the new film "Mission Istaanbul."

Some houses and stores we pass along the way . . .
A bullock cart passes us as we make our way to lunch.
We end the day at Crawford Market. I was excited to find some Alfonso mangoes.
Here I am stopping to smell the coffee--beans! I decided to bring some home for a gift.

Ah . . . The Himalayas

Molly and I got up early today to catch our plane from Delhi to Dehra Dun. From Dehra Dun, we would then travel for 45 minutes by car to Ananda in the Himalayas. We arrived at the airport on time, but the plane was delayed for two hours due to foggy weather caused by the monsoon.

The airport explained to us that when the morning flight is cancelled, then the afternoon flight is cancelled. The train had already left from Delhi to Dehra Dun, so we could not travel using this option. We finally met a fellow American named Gabby, who we hitched a ride with to Ananda. What was supposed to be a 5-6 hour drive turned into an 11 hour trek through the entire state of Uttar Pradesh. Most of the roads were closed due to a religious festival, so our journey became very arduous . . . to say the least. However, it was very beautiful to see India in such an unexpected way.

Below we snapped a photo of the Ganges and we crossed it on the way to Ananda.


We also got stopped by a herd of cattle on our journey . . .

We finally made it to Ananda late in the evening. Ananda is a beautiful yoga/spa resort located in the Himalayas, outside of Rishikesh. Ananda was simply amazing. If anyone is looking to visit India, and enjoy the Himalayas, I highly recommend Ananda.

Here is a view from our room with the morning fog, if you look closely you can see monkeys in the trees . . .

On our way to breakfast, I snapped some photos of the mountains . . .
Here Molly and I are with the Himalayas in the background (One perk about Ananda is that they encourage you to wear the provided kurta pyjamas throughout your stay--what could be better than getting to wear pj's all day long while on vacation!) . . .

Here is a castle located on the property that belonged to the local Maharajah . . . A peacock strolls by as we are taking a late afternoon stroll . . .
Molly and I are excited to enjoy our dinner after a long day of yoga, meditation, and spa treatments . . . Here we are the following morning out on the balcony. We are completely relaxed and ready to travel back home to Pune the next morning . . .

Another Afternoon in Delhi

We arrived back in Delhi from Amritsar around 3 pm. We decided not to waste any time, and we immediately ventured out to go shopping in Chandri Chowk. We walked down quite a few streets and found a spice market. Here you can see nutmeg and cardamon to name a few that were available.


Molly and I inquire about the price for saffron and vanilla beans . . .


The proprietor of the shop insists that we take a photo in front of shop, while he poses behind us . . .
We continued on shopping and found some awesome stationary on Nai Sarak.

Then, we decided to hop in a rickshaw at sunset and go over to the Raj Ghat. The Raj Ghat is where Ghandi was cremated and one of the places in India where his ashes are interned.

After we finished at Raj Ghat, we went back to the Taj to get ready for dinner. Here we are waiting for our cab outside the hotel.

We went to Bukhara for dinner to share some kebabs. We also had one of Bill Clinton's favorite kebabs that he likes to eat when he comes to Delhi and dines at Bukhara.

As it was our last night in Delhi, Paul and Molly had to get their new favorite dessert--kulfi falooda--one last time before we travelled to the Himalayas the next morning. Of course, we had to go back to the ice cream stand on Pandara Road where they tried this tasty dessert our first night in New Delhi.

Amritsar and The Golden Temple

It's 7:10 am and we are at the New Delhi train station waiting for the Shatabdi Express to leave for Amritsar. The train is to take 5 hours to travel North to Punjab. The train station is literally a maze of people even at this early hour.

Here we are walking across the walkway to the platform where our train awaits. . .
Here's the train . . .
Molly and I are relieved to be on the train where it is cooler than outside . . . it's actually nicer than we expected (Although, we traveled First Class A/C)!Here is our yummy breakfast of Corn Flakes, tea and a banana. We cannot eat the hot prepared food due to the cockroach problem on the trains. However, we only found one little guy running around, so that's not too bad. He would not hold still for the photo as we would have liked to document him in our travels--they are wily little guys!
And of course, here's Paul sleeping!
We arrive in Amritsar only 10 minutes late. Not too shabby. We stayed at Mrs. Bhandari's Guesthouse in the Cantonment area. It is very reminiscent of cottage life in Northern Michigan and Canada. And it only cost $50 USD . . . which we really loved! They put us up in the spacious den with three twin beds and a fireplace--it was rather nice.

Of course Paul claimed his bed first . . . What he did not know is that Molly's was closer to the split A/C, and much cooler at night. Of course it was even warmer in Amritsar when compared to the Delhi heat!

We grabbed a quick lunch consisting of sweet lassi, Amritsari fish (very spicy--finally!), murgh tikka malai, and naan. Then, we got dropped off at the Golden Temple.

Though, Amritsar is a bit of a hike, once we saw the Golden Temple we knew why it was worth the trip. We entered the gates, and washed our hands and feet, and covered our heads. It is very difficult to explain the spirituality that we felt as soon as we walked into the temple. It was simply amazing. The entire temple is maintained by volunteers. As we were walking down the pristine marble to the temple, a group of people took buckets and filled them with holy water to wash the marble while people were walking. Though this does not sound like anything out of the ordinary, it truly was beautiful to witness. To see such devotion from people to care for their place of worship.

Here Paul and I are standing before the temple in the afternoon sun . . .

We walked around the complex before exiting. Here is an example of Amritsari homes . . .

After leaving the temple, we walked to Jallianwala Bagh. This is the site of the massacre that took place in 1919 where over 300 people were shot to death and thousands were wounded. If anyone has seen the movie Ghandi, the scene that depicts the massacre takes place toward the end of the movie. Today, a monument has been erected as a memorial to the victims.

We are little hungry after we leave Jallianwala Bagh, so we find a sweet shop to purchase some samosas.

We decide to wander around the little lanes to shop for awhile before attending the closing ceremony at the Golden Temple. Molly finds a little shop selling some beautiful Pashmina stoles.

Still more time before the closing ceremony . . . we go to Crystal Restaurant for some masala chai and more murgh tikka malai! Yes, this has become our favorite Indian dish.

Here is the Golden Temple at night . . .

We walk around the perimeter and enter the temple as it is closing. Every night they perform the closing prayers and carry the holy book to this impressive sacred vessel to transport the book to the Akal Takht where it rests for the evening. This vessel is made out of gold, so you can imagine how heavy it is to carry.

Below is a video of the closing ceremony . . .

We take a rickshaw and arrive back at Mrs. Bhandari's . . .

Of course, the rickshaw driver wants to take a photo with Molly and Paul before leaving for the evening. He insists that Paul holds his sword . . .

Ah, yes, the firm Indian bed . . .

Up at 4 am, to catch our 5:10 am train back to Delhi. We wait 1 hour on the train not moving at all before we realize something is wrong.

Apparently, activists of the Sant Samaj, a conglomerate group of Sikh organizations, has organized a protest this morning, and our train (luckily) has not left the train station as they had blocked the tracks and would not let trains pass through to Delhi. See the headline below . . .

We left the train and met up with a nice woman who took us to the airport. This is important since the city shut down completely for this protest. It was very lucky that we had transportation to the airport. We wound up booking the last tickets on a Jet Airways flight from Amritsar to Delhi that afternoon.

Hungry and tired, Molly and I decide to eat some Pringles while waiting at the tiny airport. . .

And then I passed out . . .
A few minutes later we boarded the flight, and flew back to Delhi.