(click on the picture above for larger map)
Our visit to India commenced with a very friendly driver, Raj, driving us through the frantic streets of New Dehli where I kept wondering "when are we going to get off these crazy small streets and onto the highway?" Little did I realize that the small street WAS the main street!! But the sites abounded, animals, people, buses, colors and more.
And then, we landed in Vrindavan, one of the holy cities in India, where Krisna lived much of his young life.
Dehli is the bustling capitol of India; a place I did not find particularly inviting, but nevertheless, as all of India seems to be, the people were very welcoming.
The home of the Taj Mahal.
We met "Mina" at an elephant sanctuary outside of the southern city called Thiruvanthapuram.
My Mom and Appa's House in the Kovalam
The bulk of our time was spent visiting my Mom and Appa, at their home in Kovalam. We enjoyed spending time with them and swimming in the warm (80 degrees F) Arabian Sea.
Rishikesh
Rishikesh is the place where the Beatles visited in 1968, and is renowned today as a Yoga capitol of India. It is a very mystical place, and home to many Ashrams. The Ganges River flows from the Himalayan Mountains and down into the valleys of India. At night, prayers are broadcast over loudspeakers echoing over the Ganges, making the atmosphere feel very enlightening.
It was an awesome experience to be ushered through the small alley way type streets of Vrindavan, where there exists literally thousands of different temples, some dating back to Krisna's time, (born around 3228 B.C.) Krishna spent much of his childhood in the is town, and the holy flavor is well preserved, as there are believed to be over 10,000 temples and 1,500 Ashrams in this town/small city.