Manali, and our last week

Alo! Again we apologize for the delayed/sparse blogging as of late. We've been on all sorts of ups and downs these past few weeks and time has been tough to find. I'll provide some details of our trip to Manali, since that was our last adventure and there are some pretty cool pictures. If you notice some pictures that appear to be repeats, it is because we have a combined album of our pictures with Andy's and Jen's.

So we got to the airport on Saturday morning at about 7:00, but we soon learned that the plane was delayed for another hour. We waited around the airport for a long time, talking and passing time. Once we were told it was time for boarding, we hopped on the bus and drove to the plane. Any annoyance that we felt because of the delay soon melted away once we saw the plane. They could have taken however long they needed for all we cared, just as long as all is well. You can see the inside view from the album, both the cramped seating as well as the amazing views of the mountains. The flight only lasted about 1.5 hours, and it was quite a thrill. Weaving our way through (literally through, not so much above) the mountains, we landed at the airport in Kullu.


We hired a cab and headed off for Manali. I had previously contacted a hiking/adventure guide and he happened to be in the area for a wedding, so we picked him up on the way. Among the sights along the route were kiwi trees, Buddhist monasteries, people making gravel (no joke), and the intimidating Beas river. We discussed our various hiking options, such as the lightning temple, waterfalls, and mountain lakes. Whitewater rafting was definitely something we wanted to pursue as well. Sadly, we would only get to go on one hiking trip, since it rained for the rest of the time we were there.

Arriving at the hotel, we checked into our cabin. Since there was 5 of us, we thought it would be cool to reserve a 5 -room cabin, which definitely paid off. The hotel was also famous for its trout, local to the area, and we were sure to indulge. Following a quick lunch, we drove off for the mountain hike. Soon we came across a field where you could paraglide or roll down the hill in a huge inflated ball. At that spot there was also a rope, controlled by a silly old man in a pink hat, that kept illegal cars from going further up the mountain. Our guide had to argue with this man for a while before we were allowed to pass. Two other items of note, at one part of the road we had to drive through the river and another part there were a huge pack of vultures eating a dead cow.

The hike itself was awesome. Such amazing views and people living on the side of the mountain itself. At one point we paused by some children so Andy could do some of his amazing yo-yo tricks. He's a national level yo-yoer and the kids were rather excited about it... that or the candy bars we gave them. (We also have some video of Andy's yo-yoing following the 4th of July party, I'll post that later.) To say that the hike was a challenge would be a vast understatement... it killed all of us, and we're all experienced enough hikers. The hardest part was the fact that the air was so much thinner, we would all be gasping for air after only 10 minutes of hiking. We took a bunch of breaks, which helped. The bridges over the river were also pretty intense... some were better than others, all were pretty exciting. Sometimes there were no bridges and we had to leap from rock to rock. Don't worry moms, no one got hurt! There were cows, birds, and buffalo all over as well, a very beautiful and rewarding hike. Dan V also decided that we must touch snow (ice) in India... so after we reached one of the peaks, we romped off the trail and climbed another part of the mountain and stood on the mini-glacier.

Much more excited, we began our trip down the mountain. Very quickly, the clouds rolled in and we found ourselves literally in the middle of a rain cloud, complete with a mild downpour. As soon as our guide started pushing us, we basically began running down the mountain. Drenched head-to-toe, we hopped from rock to rock, doing our best to avoid oblivious cattle and raging rivers.

We had plans to do more hiking, but like I said, it rained for the rest of that day and the next day. So we spent the rest of the trip hanging around Manali, shopping, and enjoying each other's company. Of course, Monday morning, the day we had to leave, was absolutely perfect... see pictures. This made for a spectacular plane ride, as you can see.

This is our last week, in fact we leave on Thursday and we'll be in the US on Friday at 10:30am!!

We are sooo excited to be home. Packing has been a hassle, but Courtney has done an awesome job of getting everything prepared. I got 2 suits tailored, among other things. We can't wait to see/talk to you all in person! I've been taking some random pictures of Delhi/Gurgaon so that you can see some more of our daily life-type shots. We'll add some comments regarding our post-India feelings, as well as some more videos (the one of our car crossing the river on the mountain is awesome as well as the one of us trying to cross the road by India Gate). Be well till we see you, we'll talk soon!

Caroline's Visit! ... and Udaipur Details

Hello everyone!

It has been so long since we have last blogged! We are sorry about the delay, but these past two weeks have been crazy. As Dan briefly touched upon in the last entry, on June 24-26 we visited Udaipur, another town in our favorite state, Rajasthan. (See pictures here) We flew in on Saturday morning and checked into one of the most amazing hotels I have ever seen in my entire life. It is literally a palace in the middle of a lake. The cost to stay here starts at around 450 US dollars per night, but because we are staying at the Taj Hotel in Delhi, we acquire points for money we spend there. We used some of these points to stay for free! Although I have never seen the movie and can not give you specifics, scenes from James Bond: Octopussy were filmed at this hotel. The hotel was beautiful and it was fun having to take a boat to and from the hotel. One of my favorite things about the hotel was the guy all decked out in his uniform who greeted me every time I got off the boat with a very fancy umbrella. He walked me the whole 10 yards from the boat to the hotel entrance with the umbrella above my head so as not to have the sun beat down upon my delicate skin. This was quite amusing to Dan and I.

In the town of Udaipur we did some shopping and sight seeing. The City Palace, of which we had a view of from our hotel window, was one of the palaces we visited. It was very nice, but in the end not much different from other forts and palaces we have seen. At the palace there was some beautiful glass mosaic art work. This glass mosaic was mimicked at our hotel and we met the artist who did the work at the hotel. He told us that his family for generations had been doing this sort of work and that it was one of his relatives who had done the work at the city palace. One of the great things about Rajasthan is how artistic it is. Udaipur is known for their tiny paintings with extraordinary detail. Well the same glass artist also does these tiny paintings so he painting a tiny lotus flower on my finger nail for me. It was really neat.

The other palace was also in the middle of the lake. We took a boat tour of the lake and stopped here for a little bit. There was not much to the palace that we had access to. So we walked around admiring the view for a few minutes only. Both nights we had great thunderstorms to watch. The first night we hit up the pool and the hot tub and watched the storm roll in from there. The other really amazing thing was the bats. In a group of trees next to the city palace there lived thousands of bats. These bats were the biggest I have ever seen. Their wing spans were probably about 1-2 feet long. They literally looked like vampire bats. Every evening at sunset the bats would leave their trees and hunt for bugs over the lake. We had great views of this as well as the storms from the pool. Though we did do our fair share of sight seeing in Udaipur, most of our time was spent relaxing at our hotel, well palace. The city was beautiful, and very romantic. It was wonderful to just relax.

Later the next week, Caroline arrived!!! It was so much fun having someone to share this experience with. It was especially fun for me to have someone to hang out with again. Since the other wives have left things have been boring during the week. But Caroline and I did some major shopping and hanging out. It was great. One of the days she was here, she and I and the other Dan, who is here from Hewitt, went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We had a great trip and Caroline got to see monkeys, elephants, camels, peacocks, and even the bears on leashes - locals keep them so when tourists are stopped at the toll booths they can make them do tricks and try to make money. This is quite a sad sight to see, but it’s kind of crazy to see bears doing tricks on the side of the road. While we were stopped, a trained monkey was jumping on top of the bear and sitting on his back, then he would jump up and balance on top of a stick, then the monkey jumped up to my window and pressed his mouth against it and slid it down as to expose his gums and teeth. It was hilarious! The Taj was as majestic as ever and this time we did not go on Sunday so it was way less crowded. (Dan and I went on Sunday last time and Sunday is Indians get in free day) Check out the pics, there are some funny ones of us that look like we are picking up the Taj by the point at the top and there is a great one of the other Dan eating the Taj.

On Saturday Dan and I took Caroline sight seeing around Delhi. We hired Raju, who drives Dan to and from work everyday, to take us around Delhi. We went to India gate and saw parliament, the army and navy buildings, and the president’s house. All of these are in the same vicinity and are about equivalent to Washington DC. We also went to a huge temple called Akshardham. No cameras were allowed, but check out the link. It was amazing, huge, and so intricately carved. Probably the most amazing temple we have been to so far in terms of size and intricacy. It was fun going here also, because Raju came with us. This happens very rarely in India. In fact we have never had someone who we have hired come with us to do any sight seeing. This shows that Raju considers us friends, and the feeling is mutual. Someday we will do a blog entry on the people we have met in India, but Raju is definitely one of our favorites.

That night the US embassy hosted a 4th of July party for all the US citizens in Delhi. We went a were greeted with American beer, real beef hamburgers, hot dogs, tex-mex food, and Papa Johns pizza. There was a fireworks display and a dance floor with a DJ. At one point at the end of the night Caroline and I were the only ones utilizing this, finally the other Hewitt guys joined us and we had a blast. It was a fantastic night. We had a great time, and we welcomed Andy to India. Andy is the newest member of the Hewitt clan and also a friend of ours from back in Lincolnshire.

The day after the party we hopped on a plane to Mumbai (Bombay). Here we stayed at yet another AMAZING Taj hotel – the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower. This one takes the cake in my opinion. It was huge and here we actually felt really out of place. The place was swarming with very high class looking people, Indians and goras a like. This Taj actually looked like an art museum, or some historic building. It had huge grand stairways with red carpet. It had about 10 restaurants and bars, and it had basically a shopping mall inside which included a Lous Vuitton store. We, thanks yet again to Taj points, lived it up for free in the junior sweet. We had a living room and bedroom each with a huge flat screen TV which basically had a computer running it with surround sound. Each room had a sizeable and beautiful chandelier. The room came with a complimentary bottle of wine, a free cocktail and hors d'oeuvre hour, and 24-hour butler service. It was extremely high class and we felt very pampered. The downside to this trip was Mumbai being in monsoon season. It rained the entire time we were there, and not just drizzle. It was a down pour. This made sight seeing impossible, but we shopped, ate at some cool places and relaxed in the lap of luxury. We swam in the pool in the rain, ate sushi and enjoyed each other's company. The day after we got home Caroline headed back to the states after visiting us for a week and traveling around Europe with friends for 3 weeks.

It has been a crazy few weeks and our trip is winding down. Dan and I are both going to miss India, but we are beginning to grow tired of some of the ins and outs of daily life here in Delhi. I am tired of being confined to a hotel room with no one to talk to during the day. We desperately want to make our own meals and eat food our stomachs can handle. We can't wait to drive and have multiple rooms to live in! We can't wait to come home and see everyone!! It will be only two weeks on Friday! We will miss traveling and the people we have met, but there really is no place like home!

Speaking of traveling, we went to Manali this past weekend. It is way north and right in the Himalayas. We did a crazy hike and had a great time, but we will post more on that this coming weekend while we are relaxing and doing some final shopping, sight seeing, and eating at restaurants that are on the must-do list.

Miss you all! Much Love!
- Courtney