Sariska National Park

This weekend we took a trip to the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is a very large state south of New Delhi. We travelled to a 15th Century fort, called Neemrana. Part of it is now a hotel! Then we drove on to a National park where there are Tigers! We didn't see any tigers, but we saw their paw prints in the sand and many other unusual and beautiful animals.During our safari we saw many wild peacocks, The largest member of the deer family in India, called Sambers. (The are very big and are the tiger's favorite food!)

A spotted owl who was asleep in a tree.

And beautiful brown birds (Magpies?) who land in your hand! We hope to go to another wildlife park in a few months that is up in the mountains called, Jim Corbett! We had fun on our safari!

Pedal boating!

We went boating in the moat (now a pond) of an old fort called, Purana Quila, the other day.

http://www.shubhyatra.com/delhi/old-fort.html We had a red boat. It was a little shabby, but we had fun exploring the pond.

Evan and Audrey each had a turn pedaling and steering with the boat tiller.
The funniest part was when a man and his son decided to rent one of the little speed boats and race around the moat right past us! Our boat rocked back and forth from all of the waves.

Commando Monkey

We had a problem at ATS Village where we live recently. Some local monkeys got into the compound here. The monkeys are a problem because they will eat your plants and throw things from your balcony. And for sure, please don't let them into your apartment! Boy, will they make a mess!Because the monkeys showed up, the management call in the commando monkey! He is a special breed called a "Langur."

The Langur's job is to come in and look for all of the other monkeys. Then he scares them all away! He is much larger and has a black face. The Langur also has a long tail like a lion. He looks alot different than the Rhesus monkeys who are much more common and are the ones who steal ice cream cones from little kids.

Medicine... yuck!

We have been sick for about the last week! Evan had an upset stomach, runny nose and cough. Audrey had congestion, ear ache and an upset tummy. Not fun. We went to the doctor at one of the local hospitals. She is very nice. She is a children's doctor (pediatrician). One thing is for sure - they give you a lot of medicines in India when you get sick! We almost had one medicine for all the colors of the rainbow. It doesn't taste very good, and Dad says the bottles don't have "safety caps" on them. Icky.

The good thing is that we are now feeling alot better. We got to walk to the store to get some treats to eat. Mom and Dad let us do this once a week for fun. We can spend 20 rupees. (That's about $.50). Evan got a small bag of chips and a juice box. Audrey got a BIG bag of chips!

Adventures in the 14th Century

We went to two really neat places in New Delhi over the weekend. The first is called Tughlakabad. It is a huge fort that was finished in 1324 - a very long time ago! It was built by an India Sultan named, Ghiyasuddin Tughlak. Sultan is another word for "king." The walls of the fort are 6.4 kilometers long so it is a very big place! Our favorite part of the fort is the secret tunnel the supposedly goes to another fort nearby. The tunnel is 1 kilometer long and is full of cobra snakes during the day! Don't worry, we didn't go down there.

The second place we visited was a very old Mosque called Qutb Minar. It is very famous because it has a very tall, beautiful "minar." A minar is like a tall tower. Mom and Dad say this is a "World Heritage" site because it is very unique. The minar was built by another sultan named, Qutbuddin Aibak. It is 72 meters tall and was built between 1202 and 1210 A.D. Qutb Minar is even older than Tughlakabad! It have many beautiful carvings and inscriptions on it all the way to the top.
The minar was built to show how strong the Sultan was, but there is a great story that says the Sultan built it for his daughter. His daughter loved the water. The tower was tall enough so she could climb to the top and see the Yumana River from far, far away!