On A Jet Plane

So as I count down the minutes to leave this evening, I thought this picture summed up a lot of what we've experienced....shock turned to understanding turned to hope. This was actually a light load for a moped and most times you'd also see a mom on there holding a baby and we would pass by with our jaws dropped until day three when it wasn't shocking any more. Yet, yesterday they announced the world's cheapest car made by Indian manufacturer Tata to combat just this scenario. Things are changing bit by bit but at a pace that takes more patience than I can imagine. As we thought when we arrived, all of us on this trip will be astronomically more appreciative for everything we have in the US when we return and that was worth the trip alone. Can't wait to see everyone and share the tales and stories in person.


So long from India!

Our Friends Along the Way

As much as a trip to an incredible booming country, it's also been an adventure that feels like a trip to the zoo at times. Here are a couple pics of some of our encounters, the cutest of which I think was the mama monkey with her baby in the pouch. Our professor started an introduction at one of the businesses with "My students had misperceptions about India and thought they would come here and see monkeys everywhere jumping on them." He paused and we all laughed out loud remembering that we have seen monkeys everywhere and that one did jump on our car at the tiger reserve.

Dinner

A couple pics of some of the meals I've had while here. Most of us were adventurous (especially the train platter you can pick out) and had sworn off American fast food...but I'll tell you what, after you've eaten anything for 14 days straight, some Pizza Hut hits the spot and we had a little pizza party to wind up the trip last night. It was back to Vegetable Biryani and Naan tonight though.

Generics

So a little break on the blog as we wrapped up the last visits and tours in a hectic couple of days. We hit a number of companies in various industries and this picture is from a tour we took of a pharmaceutical plant near Hyderabad that makes generic AIDS drugs (among others). As I'm not in the chemical manufacturing industry it was a fascinating tour and discussion of production operations and the generics industry. This company in particular is trying to provide AIDS drigs to Africa at a 20th of the cost that US manufacturers provide. Legal issues abound of course as the patents are being challenged. I had never been in a clean room as well and we had to get dressed up even more for that.

Hyderabad

This city is a stark contrast to Delhi. Being a Technology city there is more money here and less people, a combination that leads to clean streets (contractors clean each night from 2-4 am), no animals in the streets (by law) and minimal smog. The Delhi area was good for history and a look at the more impverished side of India, but this city is someplace you could tolerate for a while. Here's a picture from yesterday walking down the street.

Kingfisher!

So contrary to our thought, the Indian airline kingfisher is actually nicer than our airlines at home. No smells :) .. Great food...great service...really impressive. On our way to hyderabad!

Lotus Temple

This is a temple from the bahai religion made completely of Italian marble and in the form of the lotus flower. The picture can't do this place justice but its incredible.

The bus

This has been our mode of transport for a large part of the trip. It takes hours to get anywhere in the traffic and the smog will take years off your life in the city. Outside the cities the air is actually nice and clear and not what I had thought of India. Pulling up next to a city bus is like a meeting of cultures and everyone stares at each other.

Tigers!

Although they said it was a remote possibility, we saw a bengal tiger 100 feet from the jeep!! We were driving along and the guide was trying to track the footprints and sure enough, there she was. There are only 32 in the park so even the guide was excited about what a clean view we had. We saw many other animals but this was incredible to see in the wild. She had cubs nearby we were told but no luck on seeing that. Some monkey pictures to come and I just had a camel ride out in the desert!

Pictures (3)

In a mosque near Agra. Covered head and no shoes of course. Behind me is all carved marble.

Pictures (4)

One of the more well known buildings in Jaipur, the pink city.

Pictures (2)

Pictures

Pictures!

Hopefully this works. I'm sending these to the blog with my phone so hopefully the picture comes through. I'm on the game preserve now and we just had an incredible dinner under the stars with a bonfire and music from a Rajasthani family. The drive here is something a blog would not do justice for so I've got stories when I get home.

Elephants!

This morning was a tour of the amber fort which you get to by riding an elephant up the steep incline of the fort wall. It was incredible and the only fearful part was teetering on the top of an elephant while he walks 3 inches from the edge of the wall and a huge drop. Now we head to the bengal tiger preserve before beginning the more structured company visits. Phone access hasn't been a problem but internet is expensive so I've held off sending pictures until I find a better place.

Agra to Jaipur

On the long bus ride across the rural areas of India and its an incredible ride. You are so much more of the people and the life this way. As much as I wanted a 5 hour bus ride, this has been a special part of the trip. The fact that I can get cell coverage out here is a testament to a nation that is in the process of growing up. Very slowly though. I've never seen so many camels and cows on the side of the road and in the road. Mustard fields , agriculture, and brick making fields account for most of the sights out of the window between towns. We're heading into the desert now so it gets dryer by the minute. Onto jaipur and the elephants...pictures if I get a minute tonight!