Jaipur tonight

We just had the funnest expedition around the streets of Jaipur! After the monsoon rains came down this afternoon there was a lot of doubt as to whether us westerners would be able to walk around the streets without drowning/slipping/getting run over, but Steve Our Fearless Leader led us out amongst the people and it was great! We traipsed around like the novelty white Aussies that we are, getting lots of stares and waves (which our kids love!). We met some beautiful Indian kids and made some friends. The kids who chose to step out of the hotel into the big bad world got a lot out of it.



This is yesterday at the Taj Mahal. Everyone agreed it was a wonderful experience and the atmosphere is peaceful and beautiful. I find it amazing that such a populated and busy city does open spaces so well! My last post was titles "Here we are in Heaven" because the whole place has an exterior wall that acts as a barrier to the outside world and when you get into the inner part where the Taj is, it is supposed to replicate what it would be like in Heaven. :)

Back to today: after our adventure on the streets of Jaipur, Bel and I took the group into a textile factory thinking that we would have a quick look...about 2 hours later we emerged with loads of goodies and more to pick up tomorrow! The girls are having saris made up and they will be ready by 7.30am (it was 8pm at the time). That's India! The photo below shows Claudia and Kaitlyn at the back whilst the boys bring out more saris to show them. This was also a kind of heaven. :)

We also visited Fatepur Sikri today but I can only get the photos off the ipad right now and some silly person has taken some good ones but they are upside down... not something I can fix right now. Soz.

But I can put this one up, isn't it beautiful?

And this: East meets West. These are the kind of novelty photos our kids get taken. I think Saul might put this one in his CV.

love ya lots.

SM