What I Got

I'm looking around at this blog and I'm realizing you kinda got short-changed with the Picasa Web Album. Most of those pictures were repeats (which I knew, but I couldn't do anything about it because I couldn't find the stinkin' delete button), and now I'm finding that they were also repeated here on the blog in previous posts. Lame. Sorry about that. Well, I've got 4 new pictures for you today that I GARE-OWN-TEE you've never seen before. (Unless you were at my aunt's party last weekend or your nickname is LW).

"Eliza"- Daring Adventure Lies Before Us

"Ella" Private Collection

These are 2 of my latest "girls", and I'm really proud of them. They keep gettin' better and better, folks! (If I do say so myself.) I mean, I started off with some pretty "beginner"-looking paintings (you can see them in previous posts) and now I've got tons of layers going on and dimension...I'm really happy with where things are going. And I got like, the ultimate compliment last week: last Friday, Suzi Blu told me that my painting was the kind of work that art galleries are looking for. What?! Suzi Blu? Art Galleries?! I had to slow down and breathe for a little while....take it all in. Now it's been a week and I'm here in my studio working on my next piece, thinking about how it fits in with the others, and in the back of my mind thinking I might finally get the chance to write my Artist's Statement!

"Stella"- Stage Fright

"Alexa"- Courage

Pics

I finally have some pics up, guys. It took me some time...I had to get the rest of Abby's pictures together, then I had to go through and weed out the ones you just wouldn't care about, then I had to put them all in an album and write captions. The captions are just pathetic, but you don't care about that, do you?

So without further ado, click on Album and then click on slideshow at the top left hand corner of the screen, and you will see a slideshow of the pics. Unfortunately, there are some other random pics that you have already seen at the beginning of the slideshow, but you can just fly through those by clicking on the right arrow until you're through them. There are about 30 or so pictures that you'll need to go through at the beginning before you get to the Singapore/India pictures.

Also, these pictures are not in any particular order (sorry!), so enjoy the randomness of it all.

I have been working on the videos and I'm about 1/3 of the way through. It's a really labor intensive process. What I may do is put up just 1 or 2 short videos for the blog and then do a long form video for family, because I can tell already that this thing is going to go a little long. :)

If you're lazy and you don't want to go to the website to look at the pictures with their beautiful high-resolution and larger picture size, you can just look at them below in the little slideshow I've created down there.

Either way, enjoy! TTFN.

Patience, My Dears

I told you it would take me some time. We made it home safely, which I'm sure is your main concern. ;) The last few days were kinda bo-ring being that I was relatively housebound due to my Delhi Belly. I did get a little visit in to Fabindia, which was amazing. That's GOT to be my favorite store in all of India. I bought 3 kurtas there, and to be honest, after trying everything on when I got home, they're the only 3 kurtas that fit me when I got home. Luckily I'm making plans to get back to the gym. I also lost about 4 lbs. in Singapore, so I'm pretty happy about that.

So I'm waiting to get Abby's pictures, which should be this weekend, and then I'll go through all the pictures and post some of the best ones -or- I might post a Picasa album of the best pictures of the trip. I'll also be editing the videos together so that you can see stuff like an Autorickshaw ride and a Textile factory, plus some interviews, if they make it in. :) You'll love it.

So be patient, keep checking back, and I'll be posting some great new stuff soon. Thanks for reading.

One more thing: I'm taping my Mother-in-law (Aai) cooking in my kitchen...making her traditional Indian meals. Is anyone interested in seeing these Indian recipes and cooking methods? If so, I might be able to edit these videos together and post some of them.

LAST DAY

So for the past 2 days, I’ve basically been spending my time between bathrooms. Once again, I’m sure, TMI. But it’s true. I’ve started the anti-biotic I got from my doctor before I got here, and I’m so glad I had the forethought to do that. Also, Aai has given me an herbal remedy which seems to really help, which is made up of grated nutmeg, coarse sugar, and ghee. At least it doesn’t taste bad!

Actually, it was that banana lassi that is to blame for my tummy troubles, but Abby is having tummy troubles of her own. She ate some grapes by accident the other day and is regretting it now...she hasn’t taken an antibiotic yet, but I keep telling her she should!

Speaking of Abby, she left last night at midnight. On a jetplane. She couldn’t get on the same flight as us, so she had to leave a day early. We were all kinda sad that we couldn’t leave on the same day, but we were also in a sober mood, realizing that we’d come this far together, and that Abby is very capable of making it to the US on her own. She’s got it handled.

Today we just tie up loose ends here in Bombay and then get on the plane and go. It’ll be more than 24 hours of travel before we reach the US. I’ll write you guys up a synopsis and post pictures and videos you haven’t seen before when I get back, it’ll just take me some time.

Thanks for reading, guys. It sure has been fun writing this blog. I loved every minit of it. :) TTFN.

Last Day in Jaipur

This morning we all slept in. It was a big change for me- I’ve been getting up early every day of this whole trip to make some arrangement or the other. I’m the kind of person who feels bad about sleeping in, so even though I probably needed it, it felt a little wrong. We had breakfast at the Hotel’s restaurant and then we hung out a little bit and waited for our driver. No Roop

RAM today- we’ve got a fill-in driver today. He’s not as good. He took us to Hawa Mahal first- which is basically a pretty building facade (you can’t go in) in down town Jaipur and while we were there, I picked up a few kurtas, and a Rajasthani bag. He then took us to the City Palace, which is where the King of Jaipur lives (and he was in Residence today). The King’s title is a title only. He has no Kingdom. It’s an interesting place, although I have been there before. In the gallery, I saw a piece of 18th Century Mixed Media art. It was a painting of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II and it incorporated ribbon, fabric, paint and beads.

This is Hawa Mahal.

We then went to lunch at a place our mediocre driver recommended, and it was clear he was getting a cut of our lunch bill, as the place was filled to the brim with other tourists. I did a crazy thing that I immediately regretted. I ordered a banana lassi (a lassi is a yogurt drink, pronounced “lussy”), and I sipped it before I thought about whether or not it was pasteurized or not. I was then plagued all day with worries about the state of my tummy and whether or not I’m going to suffer for that sip I took. (Flash forward to the future, when my tummy is really not in such a good state at all...I’m regretting that sip.)

Me, at the CIty Palace.

After lunch, was just one big shopping trip. Mostly for big-spender-Abby. :) She’s definitely got the hang of it now. We went to some little shops, as well as a huge fixed price government-run shop that had just about every Rajasthani handicraft under one roof.

At the government-run shop, there was a salesman who showed me a real first-hand demonstration of Block Printing---but unfortunately, there was a huge sign that said “No Photography- Secret Process”, or something like that. It was so cool, though. At this shop, the salesmen showed me all kinds of stuff, but what my husband and I fell in love with was an 8’x10’ blue and brown kashmiri rug with double elephants on it, which would’ve looked so great on the floor of my living room. WHY did it have to cost $1000? $500, and we could’ve made a deal, but at $1000 fixed price, we couldn’t do business. It was a beautiful rug. I can’t tell you HOW long we’ve been looking for a rug for our living room.

Usha, Aai and my husband at the City Palace.

We went to a few more shops, then it was time to go to the airport to fly back to Bombay. We got into Bombay past midnight and checked into the Hotel after 1 am. It was a long day.

Oh, wait! The Monkey Temple! How could I forget the Monkey Temple? Maybe it's because I didn't get out of the car at the Monkey Temple! Between going to shops, our driver, who turned out to be Roop RAM's cousin, took us out into the boonies again to what's known as the Monkey Temple, which is a Temple for the Hindu god, Hanuman. A small tribe of spoiled monkeys lives there, and from what I was told after the group got back, they will "smile for the camera" only if you give them a little treat. The reason I didn't get out of the car is that I am a whimp and I am scared of monkeys because I believe they will rip your face off if they are given the chance. Plus, it gave me some time to write this blog. We both win. :)

So that was our last day in Jaipur. Next post: I have serious Tummy Trouble.

Fort Day- Yay!

Today was fort day. Geez. Forts! Come on. I guess you know who wanted to go see the forts, and it wasn’t me. Can you

believe this attitude I have? But seriously. They’re forts. The only good one we went to, Amber Fort, is the same one we went to 2 years ago, so it was kind of a repeat for me. Abby enjoyed Amber Fort though. She got bored after that. What was REALLY too bad, though, was that the battery on my husband’s camera died and he didn’t bring the charger to Jaipur with him. He tried borrowing my camera for about 5 minutes, but he didn’t like the “rules” that came with borrowing my camera ;). (What are my rules? Really? You want to know? For example, you have to turn the camera off after every picture so you don’t wear down the battery. Another thing is, I watch you like a hawk the whole time you’re using it and correct you each time you do something I consider to be an infraction of my self-appointed rules. I’m a more than a little bit of a dictator.) It’s too bad, too, because my husband takes most of the pictures you see on this blog. Too bad for you! You’ll have to make do with my photos and videos until my husband charges his battery!

I guess I’m obliged to tell you a tiny bit about Amber Fort. It’s a highly decorated Palace/Fort which is, basically, huge. It’s a maze of rooms and gardens and “diwans”, or assembly courtyards. It’s very easy to get lost in Amber Fort, and several times during our time there, I was glad to have my husband with me, because I really had no clue where we were going and from which doorway we came.

After Amber Fort, as I have told you, things went downhill. Roop RAM took us to Jaigarh Fort which was a hole-in-the-wall compared to Amber Fort (which is gorgeous), but Jaigarh Fort was more utilitarian, so I guess it didn’t have to be pretty. Let me just say, also, that as we went from Fort to Fort, we went progressively farther and farther out into the wilderness. By the time we reached Nahargarh Fort we were IN. THE. BOONIES. Nahargarh was a little better than Jaigarh Fort and more akin to Amber Fort in style, but it has been badly vandalized, which is a real shame. There is a real beauty in the artwork and craftsmanship there, but it is being destroyed by disrespectful people who want to carve their names into the walls and paint over the 18th century frescoes.

Now we get to the good stuff. Roop RAM drove us out of the boonies (finally) and took us to some shops. First, we went to a Blue Pottery shop. Jaipur is known for it’s Blue Pottery, which is similar to Talavera and Azulejos. I didn’t buy anything...Abby might’ve made a purchase. She’s actually getting the hang of this Indian shopping thing. ;)

OH! And I almost forgot to mention a couple things that happened at Jaigarh Fort. I’m gonna backtrack. At Jaigarh Fort, there was a guy who insisted he wasn’t a guide, but was certainly very quick with the factual information...it turned out he was a tout and that he had a little shop there at the Fort. We fell for it and went into his shop. I was drawn to the Jewelry counter. :) He was selling gemstone jewelry and literally had boxes full of it. I may or may not have bought quite a few pairs of super cool earrings for an unbelievable price, and now my fingers are crossed as to whether they will turn my ears black when I wear them. Usha Maushi and Aai made purchases, too.

Now, it was past time for lunch and I’ve already told you we were in the middle of nowhere. As they say here in India, “What to do?”. Roop RAM suggested we have lunch at the little HOLE IN THE WALL “restaurant” at the Fort. You guys know me, I was against it. My gluten-free, ultra-sensitive stomach can’t handle dodgy places like that. But it was 3 hungry Indians and an always-neutral American against one, so I lost. I tried to console myself by telling myself that it would at least be vegetarian, but the thought of having to be on an airplane tomorrow keeps haunting me.

Basically, we’ll see what happens, won’t we? To be honest, I’ve been having tummy trouble since I got here, so I probably won’t notice any difference, unless I get full-on dysentery from that place. Is that TMI? Sorry, but I don’t know where to draw the line sometimes.

My husband just read this and he says it sounds like a bratty American tourist wrote it, but I really do feel annoyed by the Fort Day. I considered re-writing this post, but I wouldn’t know what to write. I do have grumpy days...and sometimes they happen when I’m in India. Plus, now you know that I really don’t like forts. That’s good information. You could use that someday. :) Anyway, we go back to Bombay tomorrow. Just 3 and a half days left, really. Wow. It’s coming to an end.

Well, just before I publish this this, I have a chance to redeem my bad attitude a little. As we were sitting down to dinner tonight, I was watching out the window and saw an unbelievable sight. I had to be sure when it happened again that it truly was lightning- and it was followed by some very loud rolling thunder. Abby and my husband were truly excited. They raced outside to the front of the building as soon as dinner was over and waited for raindrops to fall. And they did. It was no monsoon, however. But I will say these Indian raindrops are pretty huge and they make the world smell very fresh and clean. An unexpected rainshower. What fun.

PS- I already know you're not going to feel sorry for me when you see the amazing pictures. I guess it just wasn't my day.

Day 1- Jaipur

Well I made it through the airport okay, now we’re in Jaipur. Our old friend and driver, Roop RAM picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel- the Taj SMS Guest Rooms, situated right next door to Rambagh Palace. We were hungry when we got here, so we stopped in at the hotel restaurant and got some breakfast.

Jaipur is such a beautiful city- an indescribeable color of orangish pink is painted on almost every wall, as if people were paid

to put it there. There is a different vibe here than in Bombay. First of all, there are more animals in the streets here. We’ve seen monkeys, pigs, camels, and elephants along with the usual dogs, chickens, cows and goats. My husband says people here are more willing to scam you than in the South, but I haven’t noticed that. In fact, today, we went to some great factory warehouses

where they source Jaipur-made goods, and their prices were excellent. Let me tell you about them.

Jaipur- The Pink City

The first place that we went was a gems dealer called Molto Bello Gems, near Valmiki Bhawan. That place was amazing. They showed us how they get their raw stone in huge chunks from places like Zambia, Brazil, and even from Jaipur itself, and they hone it down and facet it, and then sell it for a fraction of the selling price to companies like Cartier and Tiffany, because labor is so cheap in Jaipur. I had my eye on two rings in their showroom. One was an 18k gold and diamond ring which he was selling for $810 (I could’ve gotten him down to probably $600), and a ruby and white gold ring that he was selling for $825 that I bargained down to $525. In the end, I just wasn’t willing to pay $500. I think I would’ve paid 400, but not 500. We couldn’t make a deal. Too bad, that ring was amazing.

Me- Haggling with Yougi for that Ruby ring!

The second place we went was called Neelkanth, in the RIICO Ind. area. It was a Textile factory, making all manner of things, from block prints to quilts to kurtas to wall hangings to umbrellas.

I’ve got a video of their workers making quilts that I will put up soon so you can see how quickly and efficiently they work. I might show the showroom as well. I’m a sucker for textiles, so we went a little nuts in that place. I got a pillow cover, which I don’t think ever made it into the bag (we didn’t pay for it, either- things were chaotic), 3 kurtas, a bed cover with elephants on it, a wall hanging that my husband picked out, and a dupatta/scarf which is double sided and handstitched. One of the guys there tried to buy my video camera and my husband had to tell him that all our videos are on it! It’s priceless!

I forgot to tell you about our lunch place, which is a place we got from the lonely planet guide. Dasaprakash in Kamal Mansions was a great restaurant, and I’d go back again. Great dosas, semi-okay service. I’d like to try their ice cream next time.

After the factories, we went on a little ride around the city with Roop RAM...it seems like he can never take the most direct route to anywhere. We then ended up in a little---cheesy---place called Chokhi Dhani. Chokhi Dhani is really more of a place for little kids...it’s a fake Rajasthani village (Jaipur is a City in the State of Rajasthan) set up with magicians, snake charmers, dancers, elephant rides, camel rides, shops, restaurants, etc. For the most part, we were all a little bored. We did enjoy the dancers a bit...and Abby and I got free Mehndi (Henna Art) on our hands. Toward the end of the evening, we decided to skip

out early and have dinner at the free Thali restaurant. (Thali, pronounced “Tolly”, is a way of eating a little bit of everything.) I have an Uncle who would LOVE Thali. You know who you are!

After the Chokhi Dhani evening, we came back to the Hotel and Abby and I washed the henna debris from our hands and applied coconut oil. Then I showered and went. to. bed. Yes.

Then it was up at 5 to bring you a blog that has been gone for a few days. Sorry about that, but we’ve been traveling. We’ll also be traveling tomorrow...back to Bombay, so you may get your next update the day after tomorrow (my time). But it will still be packed with the same amount of mundane information that I always provide you with! TTFN.