Hi all!

The trip went well for the most part, the car ride from Delhi to Agra and back was a bit much for the Bear without naps, but we all did our best.

Lora and Pat dubbed the vacation “The National Lampoons Indian Family Vacation.” We were a massive crew of 7 people caravanning around Delhi, Agra, and Hyderabad for a week. They were sure troopers for traveling with a toddler. If you ask them the highlight of the week was the Taj Mahal, the worse parts were the two 4 hour car rides with a toddler (I would agree). I attached a picture of the Griswald’s, more will be posted to the photo website soon.

Here’s how the trip went:

Sunday morning we all packed up and headed for the airport bright and early. We flew Air Deccan direct from Hyderabad to Delhi (everyone warned us not to fly this airline, saying that it was always late and you have to fight for your seats, like Southwest in the US. We didn’t have a single issue and saved ¾ the cost of a ticket for any other airline). We arrived in Delhi and waited 30 minutes for our driver to arrive. (Note-The starring is a lot worse in Delhi and Agra than in Hyderabad.) Our driver arrived, not speaking much English and in a different car than what they had initially told us (different plate #’s and a different driver name) so we were a bit skeptical, but after using his phone (ours didn’t work in Delhi) to call the agency, they assured us that it was ok. So all 7of us, plus the driver packed up, with the luggage on the roof, and headed off for the big adventure.

First stop- McDonalds. That’s right, McDonalds. It’s funny, we never go to McDonalds at home, but since it isn’t available to us in Hyderabad we jumped all over the opportunity to go there in Delhi. The menu is quite different, Veg Surprise burgers, McAloo Burgers (my favorite), etc. the fries and milkshakes are the same, mmmm yummy.

A 4 hour car ride later (with a fussy toddler) we arrived at the Holiday Inn in Agra. A much nicer hotel than we were expecting. We didn’t do much that afternoon, a little exploration while the baby was sleeping and dinner out. We lucked out at the hotel, they were able to give us 2 interconnecting rooms, so Baagya was able to stay in one room while Claire slept in the other. It worked out really well and gave us a lot of flexibility.

Monday morning we packed up and headed to the Red Fort (the emperor’s fort), it was amazing and we had a great guide (who we then hired to be our guide for the Taj Mahal later in the day). We found that the street salespeople and beggars were much more aggressive in Agra than in Hyderabad, as we were leaving the fort, the sales people were actually jumping in our car. It was a bit uncomfortable.

After the fort and a nap for Claire, we headed to the Taj Mahal. They have an interesting system for arrival. You park a kilometer down from the entrance and take an electric auto up to the entrance. The theory is that they don’t want pollution to ruin the structure. The Griswald’s decided that the cities could use them elsewhere as well to help with the pollution in general, but unfortunately they didn’t ask our opinions. The Taj Mahal was beautiful, much bigger than I had pictured. It was extremely busy, but looked just like a picture in a post card (plus a lot of people). Inside the tomb is not that amazing, it’s the outside structure, reflection pond, and the story behind it that takes your breath away. We stayed to see the sun set. As Claire would say, “Nice.”

Tuesday mid day we packed up and relived Sunday in reverse order (including McDonalds).

Wednesday we did some shopping in an area called Abids in Hyderabad and then Pat, Lora, Clay, and Ash took a tour of Golconda Fort and watched the lightshow.

Thursday we went down to the Charminar, did some shopping and exploring. Topped off the evening with some UNO.

Friday we went to Runway 9, did lots of go-carting and some archery. Claire was a great cheerleader. That evening we went to Shah’s (our driver) house for a typical Ramazaan dinner. (Last week I found out his name is Mohammed Abdullah Shah, I asked him why he has us call him Shah, he said it’s because that’s the easiest part to pronounce. Makes sense, but I felt a little bad that we have known him for 5 months and just learned his real name.) They served Haleem which is a meat dish only made during Ramazaan. They also had 4 other dishes and 2 deserts, but I can’t remember the names. When we got there Lora, Ashley, Claire, and I were invited into another room to meet the women of his family (there were 20-25 women in a room that was about 12X12). Pat and Clay weren’t allowed to come with us, because the women can’t show their faces in front of men. It was a bit awkward, but Claire was the perfect icebreaker no one can accuse her of being timid.

This vacation was the perfect balance between sightseeing and relaxing. The trip to Agra was nice, but I have to say that I’m glad we are stationed in Hyderabad instead of in Agra, it was nice to come back.

This week:
We were back to work on Monday, catching up on email and what not. Clay had his first day in the new office, it went pretty well. Monday night was the apartment complex Halloween celebration. We had to bribe Claire with a lollipop to put on her cupid wings, I’m sure we’ll never have to do anything like that againJ It went pretty well, there will be more pictures on the website soon.

Driver’s License Update-1 and ½ months and 1,600 rupees (800 to pay the consultant to get the license, and 800 for the actual license) later, Clay got his drivers license Monday. I thought you might find the information on his license interesting. This is how it is listed:

Ehlars Clay Steven
Juliana Ehlers
210 Jaya Bheri Silicon
Country Madhapur Rd

Notes:
The license is for Clay, not me, but his last name is misspelled, mine is correct.
The “husband of” is listed on the license (I don’t know why)
There are 3 “210’s” in our apartment complex, the address is actually Beta 210, they forgot that important part
The apartment complex name is “Jayabheri Silicon County” not “Jaya Bheri Silicon CountRy”

Tuesday and Friday this week are/were holidays here. Tuesday was “Diwali” and Friday is “Ramazaan.” It’s been explained to me that Diwali is the biggest Hindu holiday and Ramazaan is the biggest Muslim holiday.
We were invited to 2 different Diwali celebrations on Tuesday. First to one of Clay’s employee’s house where they served us snacks and we set off some fireworks. Claire had a blast, she thought the fireworks were music, so she just kept dancing around and occasionally would say, “boom!” After that we went to Patrick and Madhuri’s house (some friends we met through the expatriate association here), again we had some snacks, set off some fireworks and sat on their roof for hours watching the sky light up. Claire even participated, they have the “snaps” firecrackers on a big stick here, so you can just hit the end on the ground and it makes a popping sound, no fire involved. She loved it. The whole night was really cool, Clay even said that it was one of his top 10 nights in India so far.

New Claire Stuff:
-She can count to 5
-Claire is starting to have conversations, it’s awesome. She can tell you about her day, what she wants to do tomorrow, and a lot of other random things.

New Words:
And=Sand
Oclate=Chocolate
Ice=Rice
Touch a=Touch It
Izard=Lizard

Billboard quote of the week:
“Free eye testing, 50% off”

We start our journey back to the US one month from tomorrow, see you soon!

Sincerely,Julianna Ehlers