Delhi & Agra, India - 6 September - 9 September 2011

6 September 2011
We woke up early and headed to the Pune airport to catch our flight to Delhi, which was a bit delayed - we flew Kingfisher Airlines to Delhi - it was a pretty decent airline - no complaints here. We were picked up by Pawan, who is a driver Chris knows from his friend Alex who used to live in Delhi.

{Chris and Pawan}

Pawan, unfortunately doesn't drive taxis anymore, but he brought his friend Sucha as a replacement, who turned out to be a great driver. We piled into the car and headed to our hotel - The Imperial.

It was an extremely amazing hotel and had a bit of a vintage vibe. I love that about India, there is such a historical vibe to everything. After dropping our bags off, and gladly being upgraded, we ate some lunch and Sucha took us to see Humayan's Tomb.

We walked around for awhile, took some pictures and then went to India Gate and did a bit of walking around.

We were so exhausted so we went back to the hotel to shower and order room service. By this time, I was so over eating Indian food that I ordered spaghetti and it was absolutely delicious! We had a very relaxing evening and went to bed early because we had to wake up super early to head to Agra the next day to see the Taj Mahal.

7 September 2011
We woke up very early to head to the Agra, since it is about a 5 hour drive. After an uneventful drive and Sucha providing us a very helpful guide once we got there, we headed to see the Taj. After buying our tickets we headed over. It's not the first thing you see; first you have to go through a small gate.

And then.... You see it.

It's absolutely stunning, breathtaking - and that doesn't even really begin to describe it. We took plenty of pictures and our guide told us all about the history.

After walking along the grounds for awhile, we went back to the car and stopped at a shop where we inevitably bought stuff. It was items made by the descendants of the people who built the Taj Mahal - a specific kind of art. After that, we went to see Agra Fort. It was full of history and once again our guide was very helpful.

{View of the Taj Mahal from Agra Fort}

We stopped for lunch at the ITC hotel after all of our walking and while we were there, we got a text message from a friend asking if we were ok because there had been a blast in Delhi. We were fine, obviously, but we asked the hotel what had happened. They seemed to think it was fine and not a big deal - it turned out it wasn't too near our hotel. We headed back to Delhi, another 4.5 hour drive. We ate in our hotel at the Spice Route and fell into bed. Not more than 15 minutes later, the entire hotel started shaking. I grabbed Chris and held on tight, honestly we thought, and it felt like, there had been a bomb. After the longest 5 seconds of our lives we called downstairs and after many passes of the phone, they finally said it was an earthquake!!! We immediately turned on the news and watched the comical turn of events from an earthquake starting at 6.6 for 15 seconds with an epicenter in Sumatra to 4.2 for 5 seconds and epicenter near Haryana (near where we were earlier today) once we knew it was fine we went back to sleep. But it was by no means a peaceful one.

8 September 2011
We woke up to a normal morning and did some sight seeing. We started at the President's house, then to Qutub Minar which is an old mosque which is mostly ruins except for a huge minaret.

After that, we went to the Baha'i temple or Lotus temple and sat there for awhile, it incredibly peaceful and the Baha'i have some interesting beliefs.

Then Sucha took us to a handicraft store for some shopping. We ate at a place called Haldiramns for lunch, and then to the Gandhi Smirti museum where Gandhi took his last steps, then off to Khan market for more shopping.

{Ghandi's belongings}

{Ghandi's last steps}

After all the shopping and sightseeing we went back to the hotel for a rest before our dinner reservations at Bukhara - delicious indian food.

9 September 2011
We slept in, had a leisurely lunch at the hotel, packed and watched the rain since we had had great weather the first 2 days in Delhi. We stopped at the Tijori jewelry store at the Oberoi, possibly saw a Bollywood actress and then headed to the airport way too early. While we were waiting, I ran into Deep and Cheena, they were headed up north, and then we got on our flight safe and sound.

Overall, India was an experience I will never forget. I'm very glad we went and one day, I hope to go back, not anytime soon, but one day. :) In fact, I ate so much Indian food, it wasn't until about 3 months later that I felt like I was ready again! In any case, there is so much culture there that it can be overwhelming, but also unexplainable.

Mumbai & Pune, India - 1 September - 5 September 2011

1 September 2011
We woke up ridiculously early to make our flight from Cochin to Mumbai and we flew Jet Airways. The flight was fine and we arrived with no problem. We took a taxi to our hotel -  Taj Mahal Palace which I would find out later is the nicest hotel I have stayed in in my life.

{view from the pool}

{view from Gateway to India}

Our room was amazing and was right next to the Rajput Suite, which, don't worry, John Lennon and Yoko Ono have stayed there, as well as Brad and Angelina, unfortunately not while we were there. The room was gorgeous, service was impeccable and food was delicious.

{view from our room - Gateway to India}

We had lunch at a place called Khyber, delicious Indian food and then hired a car to drive us around the city. It was still monsoon season so it was raining for most of the day and the easiest way to see the city was to drive through it. We saw the Gateway to India and I told a street dog he was "a super cute hound" and he wagged his tail and literally followed us all the way back to the hotel. It totally broke my heart.

{Gateway to India}

{"Super Cute Hound" waiting for us outside the hotel}

We went to Crawford Market, Mani Bhavan (which was Ghandi's house at one point), saw a temple, passed by Bombay University and got stuck in traffic. Unfortunately, lunch plus the humidity and constant bugging of people really unsettled my stomach but I pulled through. We got home around 7 and decided to order room service and relax. It was delicious and one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in, in my life. The next day we would be heading to Pune for our friend Deep's wedding.

{Bombay University}

{Crawford Market}

{Gandhi}

 2 September 2011
Our driver arrived at our hotel to take us the 2.5 hour drive to Pune. Once we got to our hotel, we were instantly greeted by out friends, were ushered to a desk to be checked in and given our itinerary for the next 4 days. I had never been to an Indian wedding before so I had no idea what to expect, the fact that we received an actual itinerary for the weekend should have been a clue that it was going to be amazing! Once we got settled in, we went to watch the dance practice. Several of the bride and groom's family members were putting on a skit for one of the evenings and it was really fun to watch! After that, we started getting ready for our first event - the ring ceremony. Seeing as we had 6 events to go to, Chris had brought 2 suits, he had sent one to the laundry for the next evening and kept one for the first event. When he went to change, he realized he had no pants! They had fallen off the hanger in the driver's car on the way and there was no way for him to get them back until the next morning! After many, MANY frantic calls to the laundry and thinking we were going to be so late - fyi, nothing started on time, ever - we got his suit back and rushed downstairs. We made it just in time to see the ceremony and cake cutting and then proceeded to drink and dance the night away. There was an actual guy running around making people do shots, who we deemed the "Shot Devil", but everyone was having such a good time. One of the funniest events of the evening (and the whole weekend actually) was that Chris took a picture with a girl who wasn't even me, yet still thought it was me...Haha, luckily the first event was in the hotel we were staying in so we were able to make it back upstairs safely.

{Deep & Cheena}

{The entertainment}

{Chris, Adnan and Mo}

{Hiba, Me & Emma}

{The crowd}

{The Shot-Devil}

3 September 2011
The day started really rough, but we had to head out to the Henna party. There were buses which took the guests to all of the various events we had to go to and unfortunately, we got on the bus which was lost for 3 hours, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

{"How many more hours on this bus?"}

{Entrance to Henna Party}

There was tons of food, party favors, more shots, dancing and henna. They also made a mess of the groom - I have no idea why that is a custom, but he was covered in food condiments and it was gross.

{The boys had to wear their traditional wear}

{Henna!}

By the time that was over we had to get back to the hotel and barely had time to get ready for our next event - the cocktail party. Most of us tried to take it easy since the first night was such a disaster but everyone kept telling us each night would just keep getting worse. Anyway, after some dancing and other events - and some glasses of champagne, we decided to leave a bit early as the temple event was the next morning.

{Bride and groom watching the show}

{The dance show}

4 September 2011
This was the morning of the actual ceremony which we were told we had to wake up and be ready early for. During breakfast, the boys had their heads wrapped in turbans and there was a small ceremony for Deep. Then everyone went outside where the ceremony continued with Deep getting on a horse which looked as though it was mainly for pictures.

{Turban and sari}

{Deep's ceremony}

After that, we were bussed to the temple where there was a horse drawn carriage of sorts and an elephant, and basically the whole procession blocked an entire street.

 After music and Deep riding in on the carriage, we were ushered inside for some refreshments and snacks and then were told to go into the temple for the ceremony.

{Inside the temple}

After the ceremony, there was a huge buffet lunch with all sorts of food - everything was delicious! Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the "casual night". It was much needed but everyone was in the mood for partying. There was more dancing and fun and afterwards everyone went back to Deep's room for an after party. Believe me, I thought 5am was pushing it it, but we didn't have any events until he next evening so we took advantage and had a blast!

5 September 2011
After sleeping forever, we grabbed lunch downstairs and found some of our friends (Jo, Ashley, Emma, Mo, Mutaz, Hiba and Ramzi) and decided to do a little sight seeing. We grabbed some auto rickshaws and went to a house which used to house Gandhi and walked along the grounds, then we decided to go shopping.

After that, went back to the hotel and got ready and packed. It was the most formal night - the reception, but we were so exhausted. There was a huge buffet, of course, and because of noise complaints, the whole after party was moved into the night club on the 1st floor of the hotel which was empty - they literally moved everything, including the bar. We left "early" around 2am and got some sleep before having to catch our flight to Delhi.

{Us with the bride & groom}

Overall, the wedding was an experience I was glad to have. We were taken good care of, having breakfast and lunch (and all meals, really) provided for us, as well as all laundry services and hotel. Plus we were so happy to be able to celebrate Deep and Cheena's wedding! It was definitely a weekend to remember!