Adventures in India - Delhi

Our trip to India back in February was amazing.  Because we took over 1,000 pictures (between our camera and Maren's), I've been working to organize our trip into logical segments.

The format for our India trip is going to be slightly different.  Since pictures say a 1,000 words (hmm... 1,000 pictures times 1,000 words would be....) the majority of our story-telling will come from our picture albums and the captions made to particular photos.  Just click on the links below for the different parts of our Delhi tour.   Once you're on the webpage with the photo album, click on the first photo and you'll see the pictures and comments, as well as have the option to view it as a slide show.

The streets of Delhi spoke a lot about the people's energy and how well they could cram things in.  Included in these pictures is the outside of a Hindu Temple where we were not allowed to take pictures.  We'll show pictures of other temples we visited later in our tour which look similar.

The Jama Masjid Mosque was one of the first places we visited after arriving into Delhi.

The Mahatma Gandhi Memorial was the highlight of the trip for Nils.

The Qutb Complex included several ancient memorials and monuments. Click here for more information on the Qutb complex.

Humayun's Tomb resembles the Taj Majal without all the people.

We spent the end of our tour in Delhi as well.  We managed to visit the Red Fort and the Zoo.  Hoping to see a tiger in captivity since we had missed being able to see one in the wild, we spent most of the afternoon at the zoo.  We still didn't get to see a tiger, even a caged tiger!  Ah, well.

As you can see there's a lot, and this is just Delhi.  I'll work on organizing the other parts of our trip and hope to share those with you soon.  At the end I'll give my lessons learned and other little anecdotes that didn't make it in with the pictures. 

Everybody helping

This was just so cute, I had to share.  It's so fun when everyone works together, even if you have to do it over again... :)

My little fairy

A while ago, I made fairy wings for Jane.  They didn't last very long, and I hadn't quite figured out the mechanics of attaching them comfortably.  This morning she found them on the play shelf and decided she wanted to put them on and be a fairy.  I found some soft ribbon and managed to secure them so we could run around the house and play.  She looked so cute!  Here's a little picture, adjusted for artistic effect.

J and H

Harry playing with his new piggy bank from Grandmama and G-Dad

Harry enjoying the playground

Jane, sporting her new outfit from Paca, Ceci, and Aunt Maren

Jane at the dinner table, exhausted after a full day of play

Happy Easter!

For Easter this year, we had a lot of fun activities to attend.  My friend Jan put together an Easter party at her house and coordinated an Easter Egg Hunt for all the kids in our "neighborhood".  Maren got to hide some of the Easter Eggs and some of the spots were pretty tricky.   There was also an activity at the embassy and later a gathering of some of Jane's friends.  Needless to say, Jane brought PLENTY of candy home with her and didn't go to sleep until after midnight last night.  So, did we give our children Easter baskets this year?  No.  We did not.  

We were trying to get Harry to go for the egg (see there at the corner of the step).  He seemed more interested in climbing...

Maren and I made this little basket for Jane.  I made sure it was "small" so she couldn't fit as much into it.  

Nice open space for the Easter Egg Hunt!  The kids had a great time and it was so cute to watch the older children help the younger children find eggs.

At Jan's house, wrapping up the party with the parachute.  All the moms did a great job contributing games, crafts, and treats to make the party really fun!

Easter Sunday seemed like quite a stressful day for a few of us at church since we had a potluck and musical program.  Luckily, Maren made three splendid dishes so I didn't have to worry about cooking anything for the potluck.  We all had fun and my duet went well, thanks to Nils helping me last night with the verse in Russian.   When we got home, we made sure to take a few pictures.

I managed to finish sewing a dress for Jane and a matching skirt for myself!  I didn't think to make them until Thursday.  Luckily I already had all the material.

Birthdays

We've been traveling around India, Nepal, and the UAE (more on that later).  Since we were traveling when Jane and Harry had their birthdays, we managed a little celebration as a family once we got home. No time to plan a big party.  Ah, well.

I'd been working on a princess dress for Jane, which I finished just in time for her birthday celebration.  As we were getting ready for the party, I remembered a little "pea" costume I'd received from a friend a few years ago.  And then it hit me... The Princess and the Pea!  Here are a few pictures of the kids on their "birthday".  For anyone wondering, they weren't born on the same day but three days apart.

Harry, getting a look as I make the frosting.  He's getting really good at climbing.  He'll be walking soon! And sorry, I can't find a picture of the cake. 

Jane in her dress!  I've had the dark pink material and some of the trimming for a long time.  Glad I finally made something out of it!

Jane and Harry playing with Harry's present.

Cute, isn't it?  Maren was able to capture this picture.  Pretty hard with such wiggly kids!

Caucasus Christmas

On a whim, we decided to make a quick holiday trip to the Caucasus region and visit Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. We also got to see a little bit of the Ukraine on our way home. Below are a few anecdotes of our adventure.

Arrival into Tbilisi

• We arrived minus one suitcase, which we had to retrieve from the airport three days later. Not to worry, I had packed extra clothes for the kids and underwear and pajamas for everyone into our carry-on luggage. Nils and I just wore the same thing for three days - thank you dark jeans and brown long-sleeved shirt. 
• The one checked bag that did arrive, the kids' car seats, we checked at the train station so we wouldn't have to carry it around. Finding where you can leave luggage was a bit scary as we had to wind around dark stairwells and underground passages before finding the hole in the wall (literally) storage service. We gave them our bag and $7. We got a small piece of paper with a number scribbled on it - a matching scribbled paper stapled to our bag. 
• Purchased tickets to Baku, Azerbaijan for the following evening. First class sleeper car, baby. 
• Beautiful city! Click here for Tbilisi pictures.

Night train to Baku

• This is the life! Private cabin, portable DVD player, and simple groceries. 
• Apparently, I look Azeri because at the border crossing into Azerbaijan, the guard looked at me and through non-verbal cues (and some verbals ones that I didn't understand), asked if I was. It's amazing what you can understand without understanding the words. Anyway, maybe I need to look a little deeper into my genealogy.

Arrival into Baku

• We hadn't been able to secure return tickets to Tbilisi ahead, so upon arrival we went straight to the ticket office to purchase return tickets. Apparently everyone had holiday plans in Tbilisi because at first they told us it was all sold out. Then, after two hours, nowhere to sit down!, a lot of negotiation and some misunderstanding, we were able to get third class sleeper seats on the very last car, in the very back, near the bathroom. Kudos go to Nils on that one. Whew!
• Intending to learn the metro system, we set off on our own toward the old city center. Our best efforts were foiled by a "helpful" teenager who took us to our stop without explaining how to get back. When I asked him how he could tell which way to go he laughed and said, "because I live here." Yes, thank you, but how can I know which way to go? Have you follow me around for two days?
• We forgot to take our hotel address/information with us (thinking we could just retrace our steps on the metro), so it took extra time, money, and the taxi driving stopping ever few meters to ask around before we made it back to our hotel. As he drove off we found out it wasn't actually our hotel. Ours was another block away and around the corner. Sigh....
• Another gorgeous city. Click here for more pictures. 

Night train back to Tbilisi

• As luck would have it, we ended up in the same train car with some famous Azeri people. I didn't catch all of their names, but one is a singer, Shole Sefereliyeva. You can see her music videos on youtube (warning, nice singing but excessive smeared mascara). She and the others work together on a radio / TV show (?) which you can see on chatbox.az. Given that I can't read the language I wasn't able to navigate very far. But they were all very nice sleeper-car-mates and were great with the kids!
• Jane was quite popular with everyone on the train car. We let her walk around a little and she came back with her pockets and both hands filled with candy. That girl can work it!
• See the bed above Nils' head? That's where he slept. He's sitting on my bed that I got to share with Jane and Harry. Let's just say Jane wasn't able to do her usual thrashing during the night.

Rental car drive down to Yerevan, Armenia

• We had a two-hour delay on the train, which somehow caused another two-hour delay in getting our rental car. We didn't start driving until roughly 4:00 pm. We made a quick stop at the airport to get our other bag and grab a bite at Burger King.  From there we started on the path to Yerevan.... or so the sign said... and then didn't say... and then said again... and then disappeared again... where are we???  Three hours later and we're still in Tbilisi asking around for directions. Getting directions was hilarious since most of the people would suggest going "that way" and to ask someone else once we got "there". We didn't find the right road until 9:00 pm (because of much fervent prayer and a mighty miracle) and we still had the whole way to go!
• Arrived in Yerevan at 3:00 am. Determined not to sleep in the car, Nills rang and rang the doorbell of our "hotel". A sleepy man answered and pointed us to our hotel which was through a gate and down a few stairs. Oops. Sorry sleepy Dr. Without Borders. 
• Nice hotel, excellent breakfast, and even better price. The shower was a little crowded though, having to share space with the hot water heater. No matter. At least the shower was warm... HOT... warm... COLD... warm again.
• Went to church in Yerevan. It took another miracle to find it, but we did. Armenian is a cool sounding language, even if we couldn't understand it.
• What a beautifully decorated city for the holidays! A lot of colorful lights! More pictures here.

Heading back to Georgia

• Beautiful uneventful drive, until we got 40 km from our hotel and we hit a road that was closed. Apparently the National Park is closed during the Winter. When we called our hotel, the man gave Nils an earful of how fortunate we were to be going to their hotel for New Year's Eve, and that we must have heard about their party, and it is going to be so amazing, so much food, and music, and dancing.... It was hard for Nils to convince the man we weren't coming because the road was closed. 
• Spent New Year's Eve in Akhaltsikhe (anyone wanna try to guess how to pronounce that?? Beats me). Lots of exploding firecrackers and fireworks. Only one restaurant open, which wasn't very kid-friendly, so we took our dinner to go and returned to the hotel for a quiet evening. We crashed around 9:00 pm or 10:00 pm and Nils woke up again at midnight to watch the fireworks display. It would have been almost romantic if I had been able to wake from my slumber, but I remained in dream-land even with all the loud exploding sounds. 
• Visited the outside of the Rabati Fortress (shown above). Pretty cool, huh?
• More pictures here.

Last stop - Kiev, Ukraine

• Our main objective was to visit the temple. Such a lovely place! Some people from Moscow were visiting that day too, including one of Nils' friends.
• Thanks to the hospitality of the patrons' lodge, Nils and I took turns babysitting the children so we could go inside.
• More pictures here.

All in all, a marvelous trip! We got to see a lot and meet some very nice people.

We flew an overnight flight back to Astana and when we got home Nils had to go straight to work. I didn't get to sleep either. By the time Nils got home I felt half-crazed and in the haze of my memory, I recall him suggesting a road trip from Astana to somewhere in Africa. Ha! For now, we're looking forward to our next trip happening next month to India and Nepal.