India has been one of the most fascinating countries we have been to over the past year. It is colorful, dirty, full of smiles, frustrating, rich in culture, smelly, abundant with laughing kids, home to the most tasty of foods, overly bureaucratic, carrying a history of brutal warfare, dotted with the most amazing forts we have ever seen, torture when dealing with many of its illogical systems, and ripe with energy. This is a country that has left us wanting more, yet has made us excited to head back home. India is, for sure, one of the most astounding places ever (at least in our opinion).
W
e started traveling in India on one of the coolest tours(our only organized tour our whole trip) with a fun group of people primarily through the State of Rajasthan. Rajasthan is full of forts, ancient cities, colorful saries, spicy cuisine, stinky camels, and melting sunsets. Before even entering Rajasthan, however, we had to check out (as no Northern India trip would be complete without) the Taj Mahal. Words cannot capture this wonder and the beauty of this place left our mouths wide open at first site.
The places we checked out in Rajasthan included Jaipur, Bikaner, Jaisilmer, Tordi Garth, Nimaj Bagh, Jodhpur, and Udaipur. Yet, one of our favorite times in Rajasthan was taking a camel safari about 60 miles from the Pakistan border in the Great Thar Desert. The safari was also amazing in that we woke up to a great sunrise in the desert on Jaime's 33rd Birthday! Though it was tough finding a cake in Bikaner, Jaime had a great birthday evening with a descent chocolate cake:)
The rest of our journey included visits to amazing hill stations in Northern India's State of Uttar Pradesh. We checked out the yoga capital of the universe, Rishikesh, but left sooner than the Beatles did back in the 60's. We loved the towns of Nainital, Mussoorie, Almora, and had a vigorous trek in Himalayan hills filled with bright red Rhododendrons. Our volunteer guide, Denesh, was wonderful and was proud to introduce us to his family. All in all, it was quite the journey and some of the people (especially in the smaller villages) were the kindest we had met all year. Oh...and there was plenty of Masala tea!We returned to the states on April 11th (after one full year abroad) and we're now driving around the country to visit family and friends. We had a great time together exploring the world and managed to make it back with only the carry on bags we started with.
