$4.58 Pedicure

This morning my friend Christine from Canada and I went for pedicures at a place she had been to before. It was clean and in our neighborhood. It was the first time I had a man doing the pedicure. He did a nice job and included a full foot and calf massage. Total Cost 200 rupees=$4.58 Moments like this are what keep me going here in India.

Tonight Ben and I are having ALL of our friends over for a party. Food, beverages, and hopefully a few laughs. We are really excited to have everyone over as we have been to parties at other people's places so it is our turn. The cleaning staff seemed to be excited for us today too as they checked everything over to make sure it was good. As long as everyone can hike up three floors to get here we should be good. Pictures of our friends will be coming soon!

Penthouse Living

Monday night we moved from 2nd floor to 3rd floor (Penthouse Suite) and we are loving it. The apartment has a wrap around balcony and is more spacious than our previous bungalow. Pictures are attached of bedroom, living room, kitchen, and balcony. Please note the beautiful horse picture over our bed. It is a big improvement over the old artwork!

Henna

Several people have asked, "What is that crap on your hands in the camel fair pictures?" The answer is henna. What is henna you ask? Well, I had to go to good old Wikipedia for that answer as I'm not a local. Wikipedia says, "Henna, Lawsonia inermis, produces a burgundy dye molecule, lawsone. This molecule has an affinity for bonding with protein, and thus has been used to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather, silk and wool. Henna's indigenous zone is the tropical savannah and tropical arid zone, in latitudes between 15° and 25° N and S from Africa to the western Pacific rim, and produces highest dye content in temperatures between 35°C and 45°C. It does not thrive where minimum temperatures are below 11°C. Temperatures below 5°C will kill the henna plant. The dye molecule, lawsone, is primarily concentrated in the leaves, and is in the highest levels in the petioles of the leaf. Products sold as "black henna" or "neutral henna" are not made from henna, but may be derived from indigo (in the plant Indigofera tinctoria) or Cassia obovata, and may contain unlisted dyes and chemicals.[3]

Henna is commercially cultivated in western India, Pakistan, Morocco, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Egypt, and Bangladesh. Presently the Pali district of Rajasthan is the most heavily cultivated henna production area in India, with over 100 henna processors operating in Sojat City.

Though henna has been used for body art and hair dye since the Bronze Age, henna has had a recent renaissance in body art due to improvements in cultivation, processing, and the emigration of people from traditional henna using regions.[4]

In the King James Version of the Bible, the book Song of Songs / Song of Solomon refers to henna as "camphire." Modern English translations, however, render the word as "henna".[original research?]"

So essentially it is a plant that comes from the Rajistan India region where we were and has several purposes with one being body art. In the pictures you can see a woman putting it on my hand. She was using a pastry sleeve and putting the design on my hand. We let it dry for about 10 minutes and then she scraped it off with a hair pin. As the day went on the design turned more orange and was more visible. I'm not certain, but I think most designs last a few days. There are henna parlors that look like tatoo shops all over where you can get this done. It was a very fun and native experience.

Viewpoint of a Canadian Blogger Visiting Delhi

I found this blog of a Canadian couple who is traveling the world and visited Delhi for the first time. She gives a very honest opinion of everything and I could not have stated the description better if I tried. This was my first reaction when I arrived.
Enjoy the link:

http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-446624.html

Pushkar Resort & Riding Camels at the Fair

Additional Camel Fair Pictues

Pushkar Camel Fair 2009

Saturday morning at 5:13 am we boarded the 2414 in Gurgaon and headed towards Ajmer. It is a city southwest of Delhi that is the closest to the Pushkar Camel Fair. We were pleasantly surprised by the AC First Class accomodations and enjoyed our 2 person private sleeping car on the ride over. It was really fun to watch out the window and see the change in landscape. As we headed farther west it started looking more like a desert with rolling hills. We don't have hills around Delhi as it is flat like South Dakota. We had our first experience with non Western toilets. Thankfully they didn't smell as the pipe goes straight down to the train track. Never have to worry about sewage back up on the train! As you can see in the picture you put your feet on the two stands and then just squat down and hold on to the handle that is always on your right. You hold on with your right hand (eating hand). I was just glad I remembered to throw in some tissues...those were not provided. 12:30 pm we arrived on time in Ajmer on platform # 2 and we headed out to hitch a ride to Pushkar. The minute we stepped out of the train station there were atleast 25 men lined up offering us a ride. One man who spoke very good English said Ambassador Car and Ben jumped on his offer. Ambassador cars are old British looking police cars that all the government officials ride in around Delhi. Usually they have a flag flying on the front from some country and they are carrying someone from the embassy. Sometimes you will see them driving on the highway with an escort car in front and back. It was really neat! We arrived in Pushkar and worked our way to the fair on foot through the numerous streets of shops selling clothes, food, clay pots, swords, and camel gear. We stopped at Pushkar Lake which is one of the holiest places for Hindu's. My guide book states, "Pushkar is considered high up in the hierarch of Hindu places of pilgrimage. It has one of the few temples to Brahma, the creator. This is the occasion for one of the largest cattle and camel markets in Rajasthan, where the abundance of colour, jewellery, turbans and moustaches is unmatched." Insight Guides India Personally I would have to agree with the guide books description as the Pushkar Camel Fair was full of colorful turbans and sari's with all of the locals selling their handmade crafts from the year. Ben and I sat on a camel, watched woman bend steel rods with their breast bone, got our hands painted with henna, and really soaked in the local culture. We wondered around the fair for a good 6 hours and then finally decided we had seen enough. We took a taxi from Pushkar to our resort in the country 9 km. We found the Pushkar Resort to be a true desert oasis with lush green palm trees and plants. It was only the second time since arriving where I didn't feel I was in India necessarily. The first time was the beautiful DLF Country Club. These places are few and far between! I had the feeling like I was back in Phoenix, Arizona. It was a beautiful getaway! We got a full nights rest with no yelping dogs outside our windows and took Sunday morning to have breakfast with some friends from the Norweigan Embassy in Delhi. We each got an hour massage and then headed back to the train station for our adventure home. The taxi driver stopped us at Ajmer Lake and the Soni Temple for a few pictures. We found the train station to be packed full of people the way a person truly pictures an Indian Train Station. As you can see in the pictures there was wall to wall people and we had to push our way through to get on our train. Our train compartment on the way back was not near as cozy as the ride over, but atleast we had our privacy and a lock on the door. Ben really enjoyed wondering up and down the train while I sat in the compartment and worked on reading "Eat, Pray, Love." Arun greeted us on the platform as we arrived back in Gurgaon around 9:15 pm last night. It was a good feeling to be back in a familiar atmostphere, but we really did enjoy having a weekend getaway to a new place. On the ride home last night we saw atleast 6 different wedding groups in the street. Most of them had a generator in front with men carrying lamps that looked like they had been pulled from grandma's living room for the event. There was a marching band playing music, a group of people dancing, and then the family, and then either the groom on a white horse or a carriage with the bride and groom, and then a generator being pulled behind to provide light. It was really neat to see! We then saw several of the reception venues where they were headed as they were all lit up as well. Indian weddings last several days and can have 700 people in attendance. They are really a big deal as the woman is leaving her family and joining her husbands...literally as they usually all live together. We are hoping we have the opportunity to attend a wedding here before we leave. Enjoy the pictures and keep the emails coming. We love to hear from you!