Sikkim

Last week I went to Sikkim, in northeast India. It looks very different from Delhi and the typical images you see of India. There are beautiful mountains (it's on the edge of the Himalayas), with small towns and villages scattered throughout the valleys, and lots of monasteries. The air felt so fresh and cool compared to hot, polluted Delhi!

Quitab Minar and Jama Masjid

It's taken me nearly six months in Delhi to see some sights that I'm pretty sure most tourists who are here  even two days manage to get to, but better late than never. A couple of weeks ago, I went to Quitab Minar - a very large minaret and surrounding Islamic architecture from the about the 1300s. And just last weekend, I finally went to Old Delhi. It's the most hectic and crowded part of the city, so I think it was actually good I waited a while to go; it would have been overwhelming when I first arrived. One of the most famous sites in Old Delhi is Jama Masjid - the largest mosque in India.

Quitab Minar surrounding area

The minaret. It's so tall, this picture doesn't do it justice. 

The colors of the stone and the designs carved into these arches are so beautiful. 

Me in front of the Jama Masjid. Nice outfit, huh? If you're showing much more than your wrists and ankles, they give you this mumu thing to put on. And of course, you can't wear your shoes. 

Jama Masjid

Old Delhi

Andaman Islands

I didn't end up going skiing this weekend after all, but I did finally get my pictures together from my trip to the Andaman Islands a couple of weeks ago. The islands are part of India, way off the southeast coast, in the Bay of Bengal.

The only flights to the Andamans are in and out of Port Blair, but we immediately took a ferry over to Havelock Island.

The beaches on Havelock are pretty amazing...jungle goes right up to the sand. Sand is so white and clean. Water so clear. No seaweed. No trash. Not even very many people. Sigh...

There are about six elephants that live on Havelock Island. Apparently they are left to roam around the island, but the tourist companies go get them whenever they need them for elephant rides, etc. If you shell out $200, you can go snorkeling with one! It would be pretty amazing to see an elephant swim, but that was a little outside my budget and I think there might be some animal exploitation issues that I'm not too comfortable with as well. 

Swinging on a vine.

Next we went to Little Andaman, another island which is even less touristed.

Traditional boats being built on the beach.

We bought coconuts from these women. Sooo good. 

Back in Port Blair, before flying out, I visited this old jail, which housed a lot of the political prisoners who were active in the movement for India's independence from Britain.

Sunset from one of the ferries.

Happy Holi!

Thursday was Holi, which is celebrated by getting together with friends and throwing colored powder and spraying water all over each other. I feel like kind of a Grinch because I chose to avoid this messy occasion, but Sue went for it. She came home looking like a smurf and several shampoos later, her hair is still pink! 

Breaking stereotypes of India

I always thought of India as a sweltering hot place (which I have been assured it will be in just a couple of weeks), but tonight I am going ice skating and next weekend I am going skiing! Ok, so the ice skating is in a mall, but the ski trip is to the Himalayas in the north part of India.
Last week I went to the Andaman Islands--I highly recommend it as a travel destination!! Will post pictures from that trip soon.

Valentine's Day: A Western perversion

A coworker alerted me to this website (completely serious), which encourages Indians not to celebrate Valentine's Day: http://www.hindujagruti.org/activities/campaigns/religious/valentine-day/

TED

Tonight I went to a TED event--a series of short talks from interesting people doing interesting work in India. The theme was social entrepreneurship. If anyone hasn't heard of TED, do yourself a favor and go to the website. My favorite organization that was profiled was Milaap, which does microfinance throughout India. It works similarly to other microfinance organizations, in that you loan an amount, the recipient pays you back once they can, and then you can choose to reinvest in another person. It's all done online and with just one seed amount you can aid several different people through the repayment and reinvestment cycle. It's also nice because you can read about and choose the people you are giving loans to. http://www.milaap.org/

This event was at a center that's affiliated with the American embassy, which means displaying the presdent and vice president's pictures is required. It made me happy when I saw these tonight and remembered the days when I had to cringe at Bush and Cheney's faces as I entered American buildings abroad!

Having leaders I'm proud of representing America...priceless.