Langurs on the Terrace

One nice thing about relaxing for the last couple weeks has been the ability to see all the great things around us. We were sitting at home and heard something big on the roof. When we went to check it out, we saw a big family of langurs (these are the nicer of our two monkey species) having a party on our terrace.

We had a great time watching them play around on the patio furniture and anything they could swing around on.

After all the relaxing of the last couple of weeks, it will be difficult to jump back into the swing of school and the new semester.

Dave and Beth

Bear Hill

In our quest to take it easy during the month of January, we decided to take a leisurely walk up to Bear Hill.

Like most of the hills around here, it gave us some great views of the snow-capped Himalayas in the distance. We also got to see some little critters running around here and there.

The best part of the walk, though, was the abundant supply of pine cones.

The only supply of heat in our house is our wood stove. Pine cones are a great way to get the fire going. Hopefully, this supply will last us until the end of the winter and we'll be able to stay warm.

Dave and Beth

Snow Day

Living in the Himalayas, one would think that we'd get snow fairly regularly. Last year we only had one day of snow. Our first snow this year was about the same--more of a light dusting.

The flowers were still able to peak out in spite of the cold covering.

Beth tried to relive some of her childhood memories of catching snow on her tongue.

The snow didn't last very long, but it was a nice surprise while it was here.

Dave and Beth

Taking it Easy

After our trip with Beth's sister, Emily, we had grand plans to take a whirlwind tour of India. After some thinking, we decided that it would be better to simply stay in Mussoorie for the remainder of the vacation. Though not very exciting, it was the best situation for us. We did have a chance to celebrate Dave's birthday. If you look closely at the cake Beth made, you'll notice that it looks just like our local mountain (Banderpunch).

We also played a great game of 6 Nimmt with all of the friends that were still on the hillside.

It definitely has been nice to take it a bit easy for a few weeks. We know that the upcoming semester is going to be ridiculously busy, and we'll be looking back fondly on this time in a few weeks.

Dave and Beth

Indian Medicine

A couple of interesting things about the medical system. As the sign below clearly demonstrates, it is against the law to learn the sex of a fetus (or fœtus) before it's actually born.

We don't consider this a problem. We would have wanted to wait until July to know the sex of our baby anyway.

Dave and Beth

Only One Day

The last stop on our travels with Emily was a day in Mussoorie. After taking our taxi from Corbett National Park up into the hills Beth and Emily went up to see the snow-capped mountains in the distance. Thankfully, the weather was clear and they had a great view of the Himalayas.

To complement the wildlife that we'd seen in Corbett, they also saw some langur monkeys on the walk around the hillside.

After going out for lunch we traveled deep into the bazaar to take a ride on Mussoorie's man-powered Ferris wheel. Dave had to sit opposite Beth and Emily to make sure that the wheel was properly balanced.

After a spin on the wheel, we got our picture taken in some traditional costumes from our area of India. These Garhwali outfits really made us feel like locals.

From Mussoorie, it was back to Delhi to drop Emily off at the airport. We had a great time with her during the trip and we're definitely looking forward to being closer to family in a few months.

Dave and Beth

The Road to Mussoorie

After taking the overnight train from Jaisalmer to Delhi, we decided that we would take the long way back to Mussoorie. We got in a taxi at Old Delhi Railway station and took it right to Corbett National Park. It was a long ride, and we woke up early the next morning to take a safari through the park. The big draw of Corbett is India's national animal--the tiger. We were told that not very many visitors to the park actually see these big cats and we have some friends who've been a couple of times without a glimpse. We thought we'd try our luck anyway.

Our guides were able to show us some of the tell-tale signs of the tiger. If you look at the tree below, you may see the marks that one of them made to sharpen his razor sharp claws.

We even brought our binoculars to help us catch a view of the tiger if he made an appearance.

If you look closely at this picture below, you can see a paw print of one of the tigers in the park. We saw a few as we were driving around, but our guide assured us that this one was pretty fresh.

All of our searching did pay off. We didn't actually get a chance to snap a picture of the tiger that we saw and we're a thankful that we weren't as close to the cat as this picture implies, but we thought that it would be best to actually show an image of one in this blog post.

After our successful jeep safari, we went on a more laid back elephant safari. We saw a couple monkeys and lots of birds and butterflies, but it was nice just to have a slow, lumbering ride without the pressure of straining our eyes to see a flash of orange.

Dave and Beth

A Touch of Austria

After our rainy desert camel safari, we returned to Jaisalmer proper and checked in at the Artist Hotel. This was a quirky little place that had been founded by an Austrian hippie to give local artists a place to perform and present their work. Our room and the rooftop restaurant both had a great view of the fort in the center of town.

Our favorite part, though, was the Austrian food that they served in the restaurant. It was nice to get some good schnitzel, frikadellen, and spätzle.

We also had some great entertainment as we ate our dinner. These were some local musicians that gave us something to watch as we feasted. The video is a bit dark, but the music should come through pretty well.

Dave and Beth

Rain in the Desert

One part of our trip that we were really looking forward to was our camel safari in Jaisalmer. We arrived very early in the morning on the overnight train. After relaxing for a few hours, we took a jeep ride out to the start of our safari.

The camels were more than happy to carry us for a few hours as we trudged to some sand dunes.

They did get a bit tired along the way, though.

We stopped by a very remoted little village and had a chance to visit with the people there for a little while. It is definitely a different pace of life than what we're used to.

We also stopped to give the camels a drink, but we didn't get off. It was a wet and unstable experience.

Our three guides continued to lead us as we neared the dune where we would be camping under the stars.

We ended up sharing our safari with a couple of newlyweds from New Zealand. They were very friendly and we had some great conversation around the fire as our guides prepared our food.

As we were preparing for bed, it started raining. Our guides had packed a big blue tarp, so instead of sleeping under the stars, we slept under that. It wasn't the best night's sleep that we've ever had, but it was a great time.

If you would like to see more picture of our exploits (including Indian army tanks and giant beetles) you can visit our website.

Dave and Beth

The Blue City

Jodhpur is another one of the cities in Rajasthan. It is called the "Blue City" for obvious reasons.

We stayed in a neat haveli, which was an old mansion with a courtyard in the middle. The room was comfortable, but the door was a bit of a squeeze for Dave.

Most of our first day in the city was spent waiting for midnight. This was New Year's Eve and we had no Dick Clark or Time's Square. We ate dinner and played a few games before laying low.

We pulled ourselves away from our books shortly before midnight and went up to the roof to celebrate 2010. Though we have never experienced one first-hand, we imagine a warzone to be similar to Jodhpur at midnight on New Years Day. The shear volume of fireworks being set off was amazing. It was also remarkable to see how absolutely dangerous these celebrants were.

The next day, we went to see Jodhpur's fort. Like that of Bikaner, it was very well preserved and it even had a nice little gift shop at the end.

We also spent some time in the bazaar there and did some shopping for spices.

Judging by day one, it seems as though 2010 will be a great year!

Dave and Beth