India Day 11 - Say Goodbye to Delhi

I woke up pretty late from the usual times I had been waking up and then I started to pack my bags. Then we all went downstairs to check out and leaves our bags at concierge. We gathered what rupees we had left as it was our last day here and we had to conserve and then headed to do some last minute souvenir shopping. First stop was Janpath Street where they real cheap stuff was. We got into the usual two tuk tuks and as my brother's tuk tuk passed my tuk tuk, he reach out and tugged on my friend's bag freakin' her out! It was funny once we figured out what was going on - the tuk tuk drivers were laughing.

I found the two things I wanted, a retarded looking elephant for my friend and India stamps for my collection. Everyone else shopped like crazy - for bangles and jewelry and knickknacks. My friend and I popped by the McDonald's to use the facilities as my tummy was still grumbly and I was sad to note that the McDonald's don't have unusual flavors of french fries - like curry or masala or something. I think that would have been cool and worth purchasing.
PUPPY!
One of the begger children kept on asking us to buy her beads and even though we tried to just give her money, she didn't want the free offering, she says she's a business woman and is selling beads. She even returned coins I had dropped. So, we gave her all our coins - even my american pennies and such and she gave us a beaded necklace. Very cute.
Then, we took the tuk tuk to the big new fancy smancy mall in New Delhi - Saket Mall. We were looking for air-conditioning while waiting 5 or so more hours before we needed to head to the airport and we needed lunch. So, we didn't realize how far this place was and going by tuk tuk actually took awhile - my tuk tuk fell asleep and when we arrived, my brother had to come wake us up. =)
The food court here was odd. You had to pay for a card and you could only use the card to purchase food. Which was annoying, since we didn't need a card that you could refill as we were not coming back, so we tried to budget accordingly. I was having plain soup in the hopes my stomach would keep it down after not eating for a day and half essentially.
Sick people food....
Non-sick people food...
Very non-sick people food....
Then wander wander wander. Get some coffee, etc. Nothing much to report here as it's pretty much like any mega mall in America. There were some super cute stores - I love this store that caught my eye as I rode up the escalator.

Eventually, time was up, we went back to hotel, by cab this time! We do learn! Repacked our bags and headed to the airport.
Now, you think American security is bad? We arrive and in order to get into the building, you need to present your ID and ticket. You only get let into the building if your flight is open for check-in (about 2 hours). As I was leaving first and everyone just came with me, they were having problems being let in. And my brother's ticket was in Chinese and that didn't sit well with the officials either. One friend got sent to the "lounge" to wait until he could get into the building. I had heard later that other members of a different parties ended up bribing the officials to get into the airport.
Then while waiting to get my boarding pass, I was asked a series of questions, then got my pass and I waited outside until the last possible moment chatting with my friends. Then said good bye and headed in. So, security 1 at the door. Security 2 at check in. Security 3 at customs. Security 4 at x-ray machines for bags and mandatory pat-downs for everyone. The boys had their pat-downs in the open, the girls in curtained rooms. Then Security 5 - when you reach the gate, you get asked more security questions about your bags and what you did while in the airport. Security 6 - we all had our bags x-rayed again and we all got patted down again. Finally, boarding!
I'm in the middle again. To my right is this Indian woman who won't let go of her handbag. And every 15 minutes, she opens it and gets something out or puts something in or something. Which means, every 15 minutes, my arm gets whacked by her handbag straps.....Then to top it all off, I do managed to finally reach deep sleep when she shakes me awake because she didn't know how to turn off her tv screen.....
To my right is a very kind American-Indian boy. First year medical school. He went to do a medical camp or something in the Himalayas. He was quite flirty and excited and showed me all his pictures of everything they did and everything, then he learned my age and stopped talking as much. =) Yes, I'm old.
We get off and immigration is easy enough - except this time my immigration guy....didn't even really check out my identity! He spent about 5 minutes, chatting about me living in California and how he travels a lot around the world and how long I've lived in California and if I had a business card I could give him...... *shakes her head* I politely declined and went to get my bags for transfer.
This is where Continental really pissed me off. And I should have known better as they are merging with United. We get on the plane and sit for 20 minutes. The pilot comes online and says that there was maintence to be done on the plane and they needed to turn of the air conditioning. After about 30 minutes of all of us sitting with no air conditioning, the flight attendants say they can serve us half a cup of water or else they might "run out". Ummm. We haven't left the gate you, you can't get more if we "run out"? So, instead of giving us drinks, they just tell us all to de-boarding. About an hour later, we are told the plane is fixed....we were the first flight of the day, you would think you would do your pre-plane checks before you board everyone onto the plane....
To apologize they offer us "free headsets" to watch the two movies they were showing - which, were lame and I had my own headsets. Then told us, we couldn't buy lunch even though it was lunch time because they were only selling breakfast......and it doesn't end there.
We FINALLY arrive in LAX at terminal 5 where Continental parks it's plane. We are directed around all these windy hallways pointing to baggage claim where we end up at terminal 6, which is United's baggage claim. When we all get there, we hear an announcement that our bags are at terminal 5 (Continental) and that we should go outside and walk back to terminal 5 to get our bags......
All things considered, I'm home. Finally.

Things lost/broken on this trip- a tally:
1. Turtle luggage tags that I had JUST bought in Hawaii lost on the way to Delhi...
2. Sunglasses lost at the Taj Mahal
3. Cheap India bracelet lost at the Wedding Ceremony
4. Cheap India armlet that broke before I could even war it for the ceremony....
5. My phone! ><
6. My sanity.
HOME SWEET HOME. TIME TO CUDDLE WITH BEEKER!!!!!

India Day 10 - All about the Poop, Wedding Day!

We get a luxurious sleep in, but I was still sleepy. We went down for a lazy breakfast and then I went back upstairs for a nap before we all got ready and headed out to yoga. For once, we decided that we would not be late, so we left an hour early and took a taxi (who didn't know where he was going, but he had enough sense to call the place and ask for directions).
I had found a yoga center in New Delhi called Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Nataraja Centre where they did a free trial lesson every Sunday. So we piled into the center and waiting..since we were half an hour early, yay!
They teacher came in and started his prayers and relaxation...and that's when it happened. I felt a thread of fire moving up my arm. One of the dang mosquitoes was biting me! I didn't really want to itch and wiggle since we were relaxing, but I had to. It hurt sooooo much! Two bites! I managed through the yoga class. Afterwards I was more sore than I usually am after yoga, but I thought, well, it's been a long time since I did real exercise, so I won't worry too much about it.
After the class was over, we stayed and they helped us through some headstands and crow stance. Lots of falling, but fun times.

Then we caught a taxi and I took the crew back to Way to Canteen to eat. The food there was still way to spicy for me, so I didn't eat much, but everyone else enjoyed it.
TOO SPICY!!!

Then quick stop at India gate for some proper pictures via tuk tuk and then tuk tuk back to the hotel. Here, I was so exhausted, I quickly changed into my bathing suit and went to the pool. I climbed onto one of the lounge chairs, covered myself with the bathrobe and promptly passed out. I had random short nightmares where I jerked myself awake. Also, it started raining on me, but I was under a tree, except my legs, so I just pulled my legs up. =) And then of course, mosquitoes bit me for bite number 3 of the trip. And the flowers. But, for the most part, I passed out.
A friend woke me so we could get ready for the wedding. So, upstairs we went to get shower and get into our sarees. Now, I don't know if any of you guys have seen what these monsters look like, but you are pretty much wrapping yourself in a very long table runner. Haha. And I remembered what the lady said about the pleating and stuff, but we just couldn't get it to look good. So, after running around and asking downstairs for help and being told they were going to charge us 500 rupee per person to help us wrap our sarees, we just put them on the best we can (because now we were late to the wedding) and headed to the party, hoping to get it fixed there.
When we arrived, the Horse Procession or Barat had already started with fireworks going off and everyone dancing. I tried to bop, but by now I was running a raging fever and my tummy was grumbling it's belly off. Eventually, I just sat down to watch everyone else have fun. I was determined to see my friend married! Sometime at at this point, I lose the cheap bracelet that I had purchased, but was pretty, so I was kinda bummed about that too.

Then we went upstairs to the wedding assembly where everyone started in on the food - this time it was dessert first and then India buffet. I couldn't eat a single thing and I didn't want to. All I wanted was my bed. So, I took short bursts of naps and tried to keep away. Drinking as much water as I could get and taking a few pictures with the bride and groom when I could summon the energy.

Eventually, I went back downstairs for a nap nap since the Ceremony doesn't actually start until 1am and I wasn't going to last that long...whilst napping downstairs, I got mosquito bites number 4-7....
Once again, I was woken up by friends when everyone came to to watch the couple FINALLY get married! We all sat there, half asleep as the priest did his chanting/talking blah blah blah. They did serve us this yummy drink that had bits of almonds and spices in it that didn't seem to upset my stomach. The Ceremony is supposed to last until 4am, but at 2am, she finally got bound to him and she motioned for us to go as we were all passing out.

Unfortunately, cabs are hard to come by that late at night, so we had to wait a bit to find a taxi. And then, just my luck, there was a festival going on in the streets so traffic was horrific, but we finally made it home. Where I told them not to wake me for breakfast and I took a burning hot shower and passed out. By this time, I hadn't eaten in a day and my body and expelled anything I had eaten this whole trip! NO WEIGHT GAIN! YAY!

India Day 9 - No Longer a Spring Chicken, Delhi

I know I'm no longer a Spring chicken, but boy, I'm heading into being an Autumn chicken real fast! I could barely get up at my 9:30am wake up call this morning after a full night of clubbing and then staying up late to blog JUST FOR YOU! But, I managed...barely. To breakfast with much coffee to try to get me going.
Our first stop is a temple I've been wanting to visit for a long time - Akshardham. It's a beautiful place and so incredible peaceful - if they would have let me bring in lunch and a book, I could have stayed there forever. But, it's sad that in order for it to be that peaceful, security is tighter than a baby's poophole. You have to check pretty much EVERYTHING in. The security pat down was...well, let's say, they should have bought me dinner first. This sign, if you can see it, says it all. I don't know why chocolate is not allowed, but good thing I left my iron chains in America! And of course, drunkards are not allowed. =)


That being said, the statutes in there were incredible. The stonework was just amazing. It's hard to describe. You just had to be there. Sucks no pictures.
So, we wandered around that place for awhile. I was getting pretty tired already. So, we head to the next site, which is Red Fort.
This is why the stink of Chandni Chowk is incredible! Even though, no one seems to use it, they just whip it out anywhere on the sidewalk...

We had already seen Agra Fort in Agra, so this was just another mini tour of Mughol architecture. When we got there, however, the line for security was huge - it is a Saturday and since we had seen the bigger thing, we left. And I was getting cranky and tired.
We tried to go eat, but that was busy too, so we just came home where I went nappy time.
I woke up just in time for everyone to come in and we went to practice our dancing. The gym was full this time, so we tried to practice in the hallway - I'm sure security was laughing at us from the cameras...but then we were told we were too noisy (it is an Indian song after all) so we took a break. We were trying to re-write the choreography so there was more butt shaking and general silliness.
Back to the room to get ready for the engagement party, which, thankfully, was taking place in this hotel. We just had to go downstairs. I also wrapped the bridal present with whatever I could had made some home-made flowers, stars, and hearts with the hotel stationary. Bent the paperclips into inter-locking hearts and cut out a heart shaped card for us to sign. Then I had my friend organize it properly and we all signed up. Yay!

The clothing I borrowed were a bit big and definitely too long, I kept on tripping over myself. And it turns out, we needed to pin our scarves to our shoulders - so I ended up sewing the scarves to all of our shoulders and I ended up having to sew my friend into her kurta. Fun times, I know. So, when we were all pinned up, we finally headed downstairs.
The festivities have already started - since, apparently, India refuses to allow me to run on time. We did manage to catch the ring exchange ceremony. Then the dancing started. Everyone had their little routine to do. Then it was our turn and my stomach was doing flips! You'd think I'd be calm. But once the music started, it was much better. I messed up and some of the girls was watching me messed up with me. But it was fun. We got cheers and compliments. Video on FB later.
Then the general hubub of a engagement party - dancing (Indian style), drinking (lychee juice..mmmm) and dinner (buffet!!) See pictures. And of course, general silliness by my group. Tomorrow will be a long time, but hopefully nothing too stressful. I did trip over my dress many a times.....but no falling! TA DA!

India Day 8 - Bitchfest, Delhi

So, I haven't bitched too much lately in this blog, but I want to get a few things out now....
Number 1: Why do people not address me? Example, today, we got to sleep in and then eat the hotel breakfast. As we go down, I get my namaste at the door and then they let me walk in. Then my GUY friend walks in after me, he gets namaste and room number? And when I reply, they are a bit ataken back. Yes, I talk and think.
Another example: Tuk-tuk man: Where you goin'. Tuk-tuk? Me: No thank you. Tuk-tuk Man: *looks at guy friend* tuk-tuk? Ummm. I think I just said No, thank you...
The worse example is this: Walk into the restaurant...looks to the male to order - I can order my own food... We eat. Check comes, gives it to the guy. As I'm taking care of most of the bills and have a running tab, the check gets handed to me and I'm suddenly swarmed by waiters who "explain" the bill to me. Yes. I might not be the brightest bulb when it comes to math, but I do understand the bill.

Okay. That was bitchfest number 1. Number 2 will come in due course. So, we do have a leisurely breakfast buffet and then we even have enough time to chill in the hotel room until it's time for our first scheduled event - COOKING CLASS!

We go downstairs and get a cab. And here, is bitch number 2. NO CABS IN INDIA KNOW WHERE THEY ARE GOING. That's correct. I have yet to take a cab that knows where the hell I want to go. They all look confused, drive around like a chicken with their heads cut off. Ask random people, get lost, get stuck in traffic before finally getting me to my destination. Which irritates me more because it hits my greatest OCD...NOT BEING PROMPT. In all my planning and hard work, I have yet to be ON TIME for anything I've planned...grrrrrrr.

This time, was bad. This time, we were and hour and half late to the cooking class which was only supposed to be 3 hours long. And of course, they expect you to pay the meter...

Anyways, the lady was very nice and when we told her we only had and hour and half left, she pretty much went into break-neck speed to get everyone done. She was talking so fast and doing cooking a billion dishes at once and answering our questions. It was kind of impressive. Scary, but impressive. We got to eat a lot and learn special techniques and things like that. I won't share here, but if you are really nice, I'll cook for you.

Then, more cab bitching, as the lady called a cab for us...which, again, got lost and turned about even with her directions. She ended up making tea for us and sitting and chatting with us while waiting for the cab for 1 hour AFTER our class was over!

We finally make it home to meet with the choreography. We had to go to the hotel gym and ask permission to use their small yoga room. They looked at us weird, but did grant it to us. There is video - to be uploaded to fb later. It's so good to dance again! Yay. *twirl*

Our saree's also came. Why do they always make girl's clothes so you need help putting them on. Seriously. Jewelry as well. It should take ONE person, the one who's wearing it to put on the clothes.
Then more resting before we head out to do the Chandi Chowk Crazy Food Walk. We walk to the metro to take it to Chandi, but as we enter, we see a line a MILE long. It's almost out the door of males...apparently there was a loooong queue through security....

So, we went back outside and the 5 of us hop into ONE tuk tuk. Now, that was fun times! After being squished for who knows how long, the tuk tuk man says we have arrived and drops us off. However, we really haven't arrived...we asked around where the metro stop us and we are walking down one street then turning and walking down another before we find the metro. By now we are 20 minutes late and the guide is no where to be found. And of course, no phone to call him with. So, after we waited for about another 10 minutes, we thought we would just look around ourselves. No eating, cause it's one of those super shady places that yes, does have feces and trash everywhere. But we did shop the shady markets.

They don't seem to care of we buy or not. Unlike other places, there is no one calling at you to come into their store. And the few that we did go into, would not bargain with us. They just told us, "fixed price". We bought a few things and then this time - we grabbed 2 tuk tuk's and headed home for a real rest.
Scary mannequin kids.....*shiver*
Then it was time to get ready to go clubbing - third wedding event - Youngsters Party. It was at a club called Shiro, which was like an asian type club - think Tao in Las Vegas. The music was like Tao - sometimes good and sometimes bad. I wanted there to be go-go dancers, because what's better than that in a club? But this was more bar/restaurant like, so no go-go dancers. *sigh*
So, pictures speak a thousand words. See below. Dancing, eating, drinking. They let me have some sips! Yes, I'm a bit tipsy. Yes, I'm a light-weight. Now it's time to sleep...mmmmm, sleep...
Cheers!
Scarwee club!
Dinner!

India Day 7 - Frostbite, Agra

Well, it's that time again...waking up at butt crack of dawn's butt crack. This time to the last point of the golden triangle - Agra. So, we met up with our bus at 6am for the drive. This drive was not like the other drives. First of all, the bus was so cold, I thought I would shiver out of my boots. And second, the traffic was so bad, I thought I would cry, except I was shivering so bad it was hard to cry, but the tears would have frozen on my face anyways.
Our first stop, as usual was breakfast at the very fancy New Maharajas Hotel - complete with dancing monkeys and expensive crappy trinkets. I had this random egg scramble dish that was pretty taste-less. First crap food I've had in India.

Then back onto the bus for another tortuous few hours to Agra - it didn't help that it rained on and off during this whole drive. There we picked up our guide and headed to the long awaited Taj Mahal. We aren't allowed to drive cars in due to pollution, so we had to park nearby and take the golf carts and horses and stuff in. Security was tight and pretty much nothing is allowed in - they pulled the instant noodles from a girl's bag and wouldn't give it back to her...
There we are...one happy group!
The guide was most informative of the Taj. And while we were talking, it started to pour! So, we went to hide. Too bad the sun was not out as we couldn't see it shine through the translucent marble and awe at it's shimmering beauty, but, you take what you can get.
Here's what it looks like without retards in front of it.
We went inside to take a gander at the tomb. Because it was cloudy it was pitch black in there and hordes of people with guards whistling at you to move along in a little circle. It was kind of spooky. I felt like I was walking into the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland and at the end of my walk, there would be a car waiting me to take me into the ride. But the marble work, was very impressive. Go Mugols and your craftiness!
On the way out we opted to take the horse drawn carriage to our bus. Here is where I lost my sunglasses. Let's take a second to mourn....

Okay, so horse drawn carriages. Our horses tried to race each other. I felt bad for the guys whacking the poor think horses. Let's take another second to feel sad....
Okay. Back to the bus and onto our next site - Agra Fort. I have to say, I do like this fort. Even though wherever we went, people were staring at us and surreptitiously taking our pictures, like we can't see the camera following our movements. Come on people. Hold the camera at your chest again, shoot up and hope you capture the freak Asian group with the one token white boy!
I just felt the fort was very roomy, even though you know, it housed many people and was used for protection and stuff.
Like this squirrel....protecting his tree from other deadly things...like other squirrels. Actually, the squirrels in this compound were EXTREMELY friendly. They would come right up to your foot and beg.
View of the Taj from the fort. Pretty.
When you need a bath, you need a bath. Though, you can't really tell, this is Miss B trying to climb into the HUGE bathtub of the king...even though it was surrounded by a gate...what's a gate when you desperately need a bath?
Then off the lunch! Good India food. Enough said. Nom nom nom. Has everyone been eating as much Indian food as I have and getting fat with me? There is only one answer to that question.

Then, as due to traffic and the need to be back in time for our friend's wedding event, we had to skip going to our next site and we opted to stop really quick at Akbar's Tomb in Sikandara - but just the outside. Here's a picture. It's fuzzy because the cold bus + humid weather kept on fogging my camera.

Then back onto the bus where I work on getting frostbite on my extremities - especially my nose. We finally make it back to the hotel where we are already 2 hours late for the event - Mehendi Night. We all quickly get ready. My extremely hot shower still did not abate the frost in my face....
Here is probably the most embarassing picture of me wearing my Kurta, which is borrowed from a friend. Number 1: The MC Hammer pants kept on tripping me up. HAMMER TIME! Number 2: The right side of the blouse was not sewn up. It's only held together by two small safety pins and it was quite....breezy.

We get ready, get into a cab, which, like all cabs in India, has no idea where it's going. We had negotiated a good price with one driver and the other driver was pissed off. One driver was calling the other drive Bin Laden and everything was a mess.
We did eventually arrive at Cherish Banquets where we were super late, but they filmed us coming in and getting greeted. Then we all quickly chowed down on the vegetarian buffet. FOOOOD!
My dessert plate.
We were so late, that we didn't have time to meet with the choreographer to learn our dance, which we rescheduled for tomorrow. We only had time for food and of course...for henna. By the way, I smell like Henna and Indian water...it's not a pleasant smell, let me tell you...

So, since we were late, we sat around and got to chitchat with the bride, while taxi's were called for us and of course they were getting lost, so we had to wait around for quite awhile. So, our instructions were - no washing with water until the morning. When the henna dries, we can use lemon to help us take it off and make the ink shine. And to sleep with socks on our hands to keep them warm.
The cab came, but only one cab. So all 6 of us jammed in. I was pretty much sitting on my side, but I wasn't going anywhere because the end of my scarf was stuck in the car door. Fun times. At least it was a quick short ride to the hotel.
We got some lemon and tried to get the henna off. But then we just got impatient and washed it off in the sink. It's hard to get off! I used a hotel toothbrush to scrubby my hands. And we went to bed without wrapping our hands. Good times.
Ill-treatment of henna....=)
More ill-treatment of henna.
Now don't tell me those aren't some sexy pants!

India Day 6 - Air-Conditioned Cars...old and new Delhi

Normalcy…kind of. We had a leisurely morning. Woke up at a respectable hour and then headed down to a nice leisurely breakfast buffet, if you can have a nice leisurely breakfast buffet…
Here is a picture of a fake looking croissant. They also have lots of fake looking donuts. =) Delicious!

Then meet up with the car to head out to our tour of Old and New Delhi. Our first stop was at Qutb Minar.

This is famous for it’s minaret, which, in itself, was a feat of architectural building as it has lasted through the years. As well as the iron pillar which, historians are still not sure how it was made and why it hasn’t rusted. This site housed an old Hindi temple that was destroyed and converted into an Islamic temple to show their might.

Unfinished minaret.

It was pleasant there – I spent some time stalking the small little cute squirrels and the birds.

Then we hopped back onto the glorious air-conditioned car to head to the Lotus Temple – which is a Bahai House of Worship. The temple is built to look like a lotus plant and is quite beautiful. We sat a few minutes for peaceful prayer and then looked around.

The temple is sooooooo heavy...=/

Then we hopped back onto the glorious air-conditioned car to head to Humayun’s Tomb. This building was the predecessor of the Taj Mahal, built by Haji Begum to honor her Mughal husband, the second Mughal emperor, Hamayun.

It’s quite beautiful, built of red sandstone with inlaid marble. It’s symmetrically, which, calls to my OCD and there is a stream that runs all around the temple. I also did some more stalking of birds at this site.

Then we hopped back onto the glorious air-conditioned car to head to lunch at Chicken Inn. Outside, we were accosted by vendors who insisted that we buy the Kama Sutra book...if not for ourselves, for our friends. Very informative. This restaurant was hilarious – it had an ocean theme even though it served chicken and no seafood. But, the food was yummy!

Butter chicken and paneer and naan and Rogan Josh. How can you go wrong. We went next door the by some chips at the store – Magic Marsala!

Then we hopped back onto the glorious air-conditioned car and drove past India gate…

to the Presidental Palace and other administrative buildings. Did you know there are green elephants in India?

This was a quickie stop to take pictures as we weren’t allowed in.

Then we hopped back onto the glorious air-conditioned car and drove to a shop called the Silk Center to buy some saree’s for the wedding and some men’s clothes as well. It was like being in a carpet factor – the ladies simply unrolled saree after saree for our viewing. I’m a pretty quick shopper, so I picked a color and went with it. I got wrapped and measure and bagged up. Eventually everyone got their clothes and we paid. They are to be set to the tailors for fitting and then sent to the hotel in time for the wedding.

Then we hopped back onto the glorious air-conditioned car. We then said goodbye to Ahki and the driver started to drive us home. However, our curious minds lead us astray – first to buy King Fisher beer from the shadiest shop I’ve ever seen….

Shady shady...

to buy tea and spices at a placed called Tea Moods. This place was clean and welcoming. They made tea for us and were quite exuberant at showing us their spice packets. Guess I’ll be making lots of Indian food when I get back home!

Mango Tea in a Sandy sized glass!

Thought this might come in handy...you never know. =)

On the way out, we spotted this lovely sign…took a picture…you know, just in case.

Then we hopped back onto the glorious air-conditioned car and actually went home this time. Relax a bit before heading out the evening 1 of Puja and Chirag’s wedding – Hookah night.

Then we hopped back onto the glorious air-conditioned….taxi. This taxi tried to rip us off from the beginning. He initially wasn’t going to turn on the meter, until I asked him too. We didn’t really know where we were going, so I don’t know if he took the long way around or not. When we got to the destination, the bill was 250 on the meter, he asked us for 500 because it was 35% tax on air conditioning….yeah right. I gave him 300 and exited the taxi.

Then up to Hookah Night! See pictures. Drinks, food, belly dancers, cake, what more can you ask for?! Congrats Puja & Chirag!

So yummy!