Just finishing up my India trip posts

So I know that I have been home for a week and a half, but I haven't had time to update the rest of our India trip. We had some really fun experiences the last couple of days that we were there and I didn't have time to finish blogging about them while we were there. I had every intention of finishing it as soon as I got home, but I have found myself running non stop since stepping off the plane. For my own journal purpose's, I wanted to finish blogging about all of our experiences so I decided to blog the rest of it even where I am not still there.

It has been fun blogging throughout the trip and it will help us remember all the things we got to do while we were there. I hope you have all enjoyed following our adventure as much as we had fun being on the adventure!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH ALAN, KERRI AND KIDS FOR SHOWING US SUCH A GREAT TIME. I'M SURE I CAN SPEAK FOR KATIE IN SAYING THAT WE WILL NEVER FORGET OUR EXPERIENCES IN INDIA!!!!! WE HAD A GREAT TRIP, AND MEET A LOT OF GREAT PEOPLE!!!

THANKS AGAIN, WE LOVE YOU GUYS

Kabini Trip

The last adventure that we would have in India was in a place called Kabini. It was a very pretty place and we had a fun time there. The weather was really rainy and it cooled down a lot because of that. We weren't prepared for the colder weather because India is usually so hot. We went on a couple of safari's and because we weren't very prepared we thought we might freeze to death. (It still never got as cold as Woodruff does sometimes in the middle of the summer, but for India it was chilly!!!)

We were all really excited to go on the safari's, but because of the weather there weren't a lot of animals out. That was ok though, we still had a great time!!

The only complaint any of us had on this trip was that we couldn't eat any of the food that was provided for us because it was "True Indian" food. When Alan couldn't even eat it Katie and I didn't feel so bad. He has gotten pretty good about eating there food and this was even too much for him. We pretty much lived on the snacks Kerri had packed in a bag for the road trip. It's a good thing she was a little prepared.

This was our room the first night of our Kabini Trip
It was a very nice hotel and the bed was very comfy!!
This was surprising to us, because the other beds in the India hotels weren't so good

(We stopped in Mysore and stayed one night. It was halfway to Kabini which was like a 5-6 hour drive)

A big Chess game just outside our hotel room
The kids had a lot of fun playing on it

Alan and his kids swimming

Alan getting attacked by the lobby bird
(The Hotel lobby was outside and they had a pet bird. It was very friendly and obviously wasn't scared of people.)

This is our Hotel room in Kabini
It was older and the bed wasn't as comfy as the other hotel, but not bad.
The lock on the door was the best part of the hotel and I thought I got a picture, but I couldn't find it. Anyway, it locked from the outside, and the lock was a paddle lock.
Nothing in India was a surprise after awhile, but we got a laugh about the lock.

This was outside of our hotel room. It seemed more like we were camping then staying at a hotel. (I think it was more like a lodge then a hotel)
The Erickson Crew on the Jeep Safari


Some of the animals we saw on the Safari were.................

Elephants!!!

It was really neat to see the Elephants in the wild. We saw a couple different groups of them. They are an amazing animal.

Spotted Deer

Indian Bison

A Crocodile

And a few others that we didn't get very good pictures of.
Some of these include......
Wild Bore, Wild Dogs, lots of Birds, Tree Squirrels ect.....

We went on 2 safari's, one in a jeep and one on a boat. Both were fun, but we saw more in the Jeep. To bad the weather wasn't a little better so that we could have seen more animals.

COW TAKING COVER FROM THE RAIN

This is kind of a random picture, but a funny one. On our way home from Kabini it started to rain really hard. As we were driving down the road we noticed a little shelter with a ton of people under it trying to keep dry from the rain. Right in the middle of all the people was this white cow. The people just stand around it like it is no big deal. We found humor in it and had to stop and take a picture of it. It is probably something that is funnier to see in person. Crazy things like this are not uncommon to see in India. In the time that we were visiting we saw things that you could never believe you would ever see.

EVERY DAY IN INDIA IS A DAY FULL ON NEW ADVENTURES!!!
YOU NEVER NOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SEE NEXT

Meeting Baby's Family

Alan and Kerri also have a maid. Her name is Baby. She is the sweetest lady ever. We didn't really get to spend a lot of time with her, because she was always left home tending while we went out sight seeing. She was also busy making us dinner and yummy treats and also doing our laundry. I must say, it was very nice to have all of that done for us for 3 weeks. I'm thinking Kerri is very spoiled!!! I would love to have her come live with me and take as good of care of me and my family as she does for Alan, Kerri and their kids. Although we didn't spend a lot of time with her the time that we did was very rewarding and I am so glad that we got to meet her and her cute little family.

Baby's family
(Minus the cute little white baby, our niece, Annie)

Baby, Ester (her daughter), Solomon (her son)
and Ragu (her Husband)

Solomon and Ester


Katie and I with the Family

Orphanages

One of the things that we were way excited for was visiting an orphanage in India. We had a lot of preparation for this visit before we got to India. We made yarn dolls and coloring book, crayon, and candy packets for the kids. We had a lot of help from a lot of people back in the US to help us make all of the dolls. (Thank you everyone that helped. It was very much appreciated) All of the kids were so appreciative of the stuff we gave them and they loved playing with their new toys. Every one of the kids shook our hands a dozen times and said "Thank you Auntie." It was so cute!!! It was such a great experience seeing all their cute little smiles. This was probably one of the most rewarding days of my life. I just wish that we could have done more for them. Maybe someday I will have the opportunity to help again.

This is a picture of the kids at one of the Orphanages that we went to
Kerri playing with the kids

The kids showing off their dolls
(We planned on just giving the dolls to the girls, but the boys liked them just as much so we gave them to all of the kids. They were a big hit)

Katie coloring with some of the kids
Enjoying every minute with the kids

Look at that face!!!
Isn't that just the cutest little thing????

Enjoying the coloring book and crayons

The second Orphanage we went to was called the "Home of Hope"
This one was an eye opener. It was actually a home for homeless of any age, but we just mainly visited the Orphanage part of it. When we first got there the owner of the place took us in his office and showed us a DVD about how the "Home of Hope" came about. He started helping people a few years ago and continues his work now. He has saved many people and is now helping the recovered by giving them jobs helping in the Home of Hope facility. The video that we were shown was very graphic and definitely something everyone would have to see to appreciate all the work that this one man has done for so many people. It is simply amazing!!!!

The kids that we got to meet at this place were a little harder to communicate with. Not many of them new English, so we just gave them their dolls and goodies. They were also very appreciative and it was fun seeing their cute little smiles too.

The group of kids at the second orphanage

Giving out more dolls and goody bags

Trip to Mysore

We spent the day in a place called Mysore. It was a lot of fun and again we got to see a lot of neat things. We went to the Mysore Palace and It was AMAZING!! It was huge and very beautiful. We only got pictures of the outside of it, because they wouldn't let us take cameras inside. Oh well!!! They also had animal rides outside the palace so we got to redeem ourselves on riding a camel and we also got to ride another elephant.

Mysore Palace
Katie, Alan and I are standing in front of it, but you can barely see us.

Our Elephant Ride
I got to help steer the elephant
(Well actually, we just got to get up in the driver seat for a picture)

Our "SUCCESSFUL" Camel ride!!!

Trying to pose with the camel, but he kept trying to give me a kiss!!!
I guess we just aren't so good with camels!!!

The story of how we fell off of the camel.....

So I never really told to story about our camel ride. Well, not our camel ride, but our camel fall!!! We were the road driving to a place called Mysore, when we spotted some camels and their owners on the side of the road. Alan had a the bright idea of asking if we could ride the camels. The plan was to have me and Katie ride one and Alan and Kerri were going to ride another one. Of course Alan put me and Katie on first and all went bad, so him and Kerri never did get on one. The camel that we got on had a saddle looking thing on it, and we didn't even question it. It hadn't been strapped down securely and therefore when the camel stood up with us on it, the saddle and both Katie and I went flying over the camels shoulder and on to the road below. A lot of people that watch the video wondered if we recovered but figured that we hadn't, but the video stops just short of the graceful fall to the ground.

Katie posing with the camel just before the fall

This is the camel after it had gotten rid of it's riders!!
As you can see the saddle is up around it's shoulders and not on it's back

This is my injury after the fall.
I had to pull rocks out of my knee, but I feel very lucky that this is all that happened. It could have been a lot worse.

Katie's injured knee!!
She got the worst end of the deal. She not only hit the ground first, but also had me land right on top of her. POOR GIRL!!!! Sorry Katie!!!

It is something that we will never forget and we haven't stopped laughing about it yet. We decided that not many people can say that they have even rode a camel let alone fallen off of one. GOOD, and FUNNY MEMORIES!!!!

Pictures Indian Style

Me, Baby and Katie

Just before going to get the pictures taken

We decided to go get Saree's (an Indian dress) and get our pictures taken in them. We also got Henna tattoo and put all of the jewels on our faces just like the Indian women wear. We went to a photographer to have the pictures taken. I don't know if we were to impressed with the photographer, but we did have fun doing it.

Our Henna Tattoos

Baby (Alan and Kerri's Maid) helping us get ready for our pictures

Trip to Hampi

Last weekend we went to a place called Hampi. We went by train. It was a 10 hour train ride and we didn't get on the train until 10:30 at night, so we slept on the train and when we woke up we were in Hampi. It is a good thing we had Ambion so we could sleep. The train wasn't in the best condition, but it really wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.

Katie and I in front of the train that we rode on

Katie got the bottom bunk.....

....and I got the top bunk.

Hampi is know for having many temples that were destroyed by the Muslim people hundreds of years ago. They haven't been fixed and the temples are no longer in use. It was a really neat place to visit other then the heat. The temperature there is quit a bit hotter then Bangalore. I would guess it was in the high 90's and then you add the humidity and it makes it that much hotter.

These are just a couple of the many temples that we saw. I took a ton of pictures, but I can't post them all. All of them were so neat and it is was very interesting to hear the stories behind each one. Our tour guide was great and told us so much about all of them.

This is a wall on one of the temples. There is so much detailed work on each wall. It just amazes me and I can't believe how much time and work much have went in to building these temples, and then to have them destroyed. I'm sure it was devastating to them.

Outside one of the temples

The guy we standing buy must just walk to streets. He attracted so many people and he always had a group of people around him. We asked if we could have our picture taken with him and he was very happy to let us pose with him. There are tons of cows that just roam the streets and this one wanted to pose with us in our picture. They are all very friendly and you can walk up to all of them.

Alan's family posing with the friendly guy

Alan, Katie and I at the top of on of the temples

The crew!!!!

Eating lunch in Hampi

This is the color that they use

(Like we got on our faces by the driver when we he welcomed us to India)

It is in big bags and there are a lot of different colors

Laxshmi the Elephant

This elephant is so smart!!! If you give it rupees (money) it will give you blessings.

I am giving him rupees and waiting for a blessing. When he blesses you he puts his trunk on your head. I didn't get a good picture of him blessing me on my camera, so that is why I didn't post a picture of the blessing.