Golden Triangle

We've been in India for about a week and half now and have already seen a good bit of the Golden Triangle!

We moved from steamy and humid Mumbai where we spent a day at Elephanta Island, had a fancy dinner near the Racecourse with one of Krista's dad's friends from business school, and starred as extras in a Bollywood film to Udaipur where we saw a beautiful sunset from the Monsoon Palace, watched a late night screening of James Bond's Octopussy (a majority of which was filmed in Udaipur), played dress up with saris and were convinced to have some Indian clothes tailor-made, to Jaipur where we took a day break from the bustle at an organic farm, read our books and paddled in the half-full pool and then had one day touring the Pink City with a rather incompetent, but well-meaning tour guide. Highlights included Mantar Jantar, one of the largest and most well-preserved astrological parks in India, and seeing Dr. Vinod Shastri for a palm reading and astrological charting (after the guru that our guide took us to tried to sell Krista a pendant to unblock her heart shakra(?!) and made me cry!) Looks like according to the stars both Krista and I are going to have long, happy lives filled with travel - let's hope he's right!

Yesterday, we spent the day in Agra. We were both feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the heat and victimized by pushy and somewhat mafioso drivers/tour guides/shop owners, but a late afternoon and sunset at the Taj Mahal was a cure-all. The Taj really is the jewel of India - more beautiful and grandiose in real life than any photo or postcard can portray and a calming aura with the pristine white against a stark bright blue sky pervades which is refreshing after the mishmash of colors and sensations of the Indian streets.

We got into crazy Delhi late last night and are staying in the Tibetan refugee area of town having our own little refuge. It turns out that, at least in India, Krista and I are country girls! Doing some maintenance today- emails, postcard writing, uploading photos - and are excited to head north to the hill stations of Shimla and then Manali tomorrow morning where the temperatures should be less than 46 degrees Celsius (we're scared to look up what this means in Fahrenheit, I think over 100!) and perhaps do some hiking and, if I can convince Krista, some yoga.

Namaste!