Saturday, November 29, 2014

welcome to india!

|| india || 
 tastes like: fresh naan • smells like: sweet
 smoke & dust & curry • sounds like: car 
horns & "namaste" • looks like: color and
 culture • feels like: beautiful chaos. 
we have loved this adventure and once-in-a-
lifetime trip. wow! i don't even know where
to begin. i can't wait to share highlights of
delhi, jaipur, and agra. i can't wait to edit
the video with chase full of so much beauty
and color and the feel of india. i'm thankful
that we can document travels in order to
always remember them and live them again
and again. i hope we can show the beauty
of this faraway place and do it justice.
today i'm just sharing a few iphone 
snaps from our flight and first days. 
i won't lie, i am pretty ready to head home
today. this was a nonstop, tiring, dizzying,
crazy adventure. our stomachs feel funny,
our sleep patterns are off, & our clothes and
hair still smell like curry, but it was all worth
the adventure. on one of the days we were
talking about if people could just instantly
travel places by snapping their fingers
right away. although that would be nice,
i told chase i like the effort and time you
have to endure to go to faraway places.
it is rough, but it makes the places that 
much more beautiful when you realize
how far away you are. {i have to remember
this attitude during the actual 12 hour 
flights when i am going crazy, but it's true!}
^^ a good breakfast before 24 hours of travel
^^ here's chase reaching the point of desperation at
hour 11 of one of the flights. he kills me. this is
a pattern of his, like this time last year :) 
^^ our hoodiepillows actually saved our lives. 
i am so obsessed with these things. the flights were 
freezing like most flights are, and they were
overnight -- so having a warm comfy hood attached
to these inflatable neck pillows was the bomb.
everyone around us wanted one! there i am looking
fly/AKA knocked out after taking 1/4th of an ambien...
it was the first sleeping pill we've ever taken and we 
both PASSED OUT. chase looks much cuter sleeping than i
 do but i did need to share how much we loved these :)
^^ we had a layover in beijing and had to walk out on 
the FREEZING, smoggy tarmac in the middle of the 
night to get on our next plane. it was so weird to be back
in china when it was freezing since our trip there was
probably the hottest i've ever been. the smog was worse too.
we did, however, get to slow dance at 4 am in the beijing
airport because we could not sit down one more second
and there was no wifi or anything to distract us. it was
practically empty with pretty music playing so we
deliriously slow danced and it was kind of my favorite.
^^ we landed in the middle of the night in delhi,
greeted with leis and a sign for us! i don't know
how it was this crowded at 3 AM but it was.
there were also stray dogs running around in
the airport chasing each other, so that was a nice
little greeting when we walked outside. we were
also greeted by the insane haze/ smog!
got our passports stamped and got in a car to be
taken to our hotel. this is a blurry pic of the 
freeway because we were in shock right away.
1) again -- how is there a traffic jam at 3 AM, and
2) notice no use of lanes. at all. chaos.
*not pictured: nine million horns honking nonstop,
cows on the side of the road, and my nervous laugh.
really really nice to get to a hotel after 24
hours of travel. we didn't get there until 
almost dawn, but it was worth it to have
somewhere to relax/shower/sleep for a bit
before the first day. this was the surya hotel.
*weird fact- all of our hotels in india had
security machines you had to walk through 
every time you entered the lobby. every. time.
^^ indian food breakfast, interesting! i thought they
were making crepes so i ordered one and found it
filled with potato something + sauce. still good!
^^ if we thought the streets were crazy at night,
we were in for a mini heart attack the first day.
our driver was amazing but it is truly insane.
i've never seen anything like it. you can see
this cute little guy hanging on the back of a
moped holding onto those shoe boxes for dear
life. // also it's hard to tell, but our van passed a 
bus soooo close. i don't know how we didn't hit it.
our driver told us that to drive in india you need 
2 things: a good horn and good luck :) 
^^ first sights of the street = tuk-tuks.
^^ immediately fell in love with the crafts
and colors at all the markets as we walked the
streets of delhi. i did not fall in love with the 
constant harrassment to buy touristy things though! :)
//also, they have so many flavors of tea. chocolate?
^^ colorful streets
laughed so hard when i saw chase's 3 recent searches
on the translation app of his phone he used in india.
he also had to try on a turban! he keeps me laughing.
^^ i may or may not have lived off naan {SO good}
and also their corn was for some reason amazing. 
and all the candy i packed before leaving.
we LOVED all the darling kids in india and
made friends with them all. they loved to take
our picture, shake hands with us, and say 
"hello nice to meet you! can i click a picture?"
could they BE any cuter? ^^
i really wasn't kidding about the naan.
SO good and helped us survive through
all the crazy meals during the trip ^^

these random photos off my iphone
give a little glimpse of our time in india.
more coming from new delhi tomorrow!

xo

11 comments:

  1. Looks reasonable basically the ways which works big time fort lauderdale shuttle bus is one those things that keeps it all decent.

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  2. looks amazing! can't wait to see more :)
    and yay for being in slc now!

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  3. Good taste of your first encounters. After your descriptions, I could smell the curry!:)

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  4. Ahhh these pictures are AMAZING!!! Literally counting down the days until Mar 2016 when we go!!!!

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  5. Wow what an adventure!! I love all of the snapshots and details! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

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  6. You literally picked out my gift to my mother in law for Christmas! She just booked a trip to Rome next fall and I am totally getting her that hoodie pillow haha. So thanks!! Can't wait to see more from India! Xo

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  7. emily these pictures are amazing - after we graduate (2 semesters from now) we will have a few months to travel, and i'll definitely have to suggest india to be put on the potential list! this looks like it was so fun!

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  8. These pictures and your description are exactly how I imagine India! I'd love to go one day! Also, NAAN! <3

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  9. I enjoyed this post immensely but I'd like it better if you had added a space after that last line......JK! bahaha. I giggled at my computer at those three language searches on the phone, and I also desperately want a hoodie neck pillow. That might happen for Italy.

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