Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Taking our Cousin Site-seeing

Our cousin Hannah visited us for 2 weeks here in India. She came all the way from Detroit, Michigan to see us! It was very hot when she got here. It took her a few days to get used to the climate. Delhi can also be dusty and dirty. We think that took her a while to get used to as well!
Mom and Dad didn't waste any time. The first morning Hannah was here we rented a bigger car and drove east to Agra.
The road is dirty and crowded, but we stopped at McDonald's on the way for a snack and to use the toilet.
We stayed at a budget hotel called the "Sheela." We don't think Hannah will every forget the Hotel Sheela.
But she got to see the beautiful Taj Mahal, and the Agra Fort and then the next morning we took her to Akbar's Fatehpur Sikri... the 500 year old ghost city. She liked that a lot.
During the week Dad took Hannah all over New Delhi. They went on a Rickshaw in Old Delhi,
ate in the Sikh Temple on Chandni Chowk (the Sikh volunteers gave her a tour of the giant kitchen there), walked in Humayan's Tomb and went shopping in different markets and got to see the Rajghat - the National Memorial for Mahatma Gandhi.
Then we all boarded the train to Dehradun. It's five hours on the Shatabdi Express. Then we got in an old, white Ambassador Cab and took the mountain road up to 6,000ft to the Hill Station of Mussoorie.  Hannah liked it there. It was cool and sunny. We ate Tibetan food and walked on the outdoor Mall. Hannah got to see the snow peaks of the Himalayas in the distance and visit a Buddhist Temple.
She took lots of pictures. We even had our lunch stolen by a monkey one day. He just came up to our table by the patio and grabbed some of our sandwiches and french fries. He was pretty naughty. Then we had to come back to hot New Delhi.
Our Dad took Hannah for some more sight-seeing. She got to see the Qutab Minar, and Mom took her to a fashion show at the Kuwaiti Embassy! Hannah's last few days were filled with a live Bollywood Musical. This was at a new place called, "Kingdom of Dreams."  The show had lots of singing, dancing, and even a sword fight.
On her last morning, Dad took Hannah to a place he found where elephants live.
Hannah got to ride on an elephant bare-back and she met some of the Mahouts who take care of them. It was like an urban-safari.
We think she was always a little tired, but Hannah never got sick and was always ready to go out for the next day's adventure! We think she had a good visit to the "Sayer Ranch."

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