The People of India

We traveled over 18,000 miles by airplane both flying to India and on internal flights. We travels over 3000 kilometers by train,
we rode in busses, taxis, motorized rickshaws (tuk-tuks), bicycle rickshaws, jeeps, large safari trucks, rode on elephant up steep hills and camels across the desert, we rode boats across lakes and down rivers, and we even walked many kilometers through the streets, villages and forests of India.

We visited fantastic monuments built 1000's of years ago, We saw beautiful Forts made of red sandstone with massive walls and defense systems, We saw the beautiful and amazing art of hindu, jain, moslem, buddhist temples that cover India.

We saw the luxurious Palaces of Maharajas and their wife's filled with gold and jeweled inlaid walls and ceilings. Many had amazing gardens and courtyards that were beyond comparison. Palaces that make any castle in europe seem trivial by comparison.

We visited the worlds most beautiful building the Taj Mahal Which is one of the few sights we have ever seen that surpassed our expectations when we first had a chance to gaze upon it

We saw beautiful tigers roaming wild in natural and well preserved jungle filled with deer, foxes, wild boar, monkeys, and birds of all description.

We saw ancient cities like the Holy city of Varanasi which is where the mother river of ganges is most holy, This is a town like jerusalem filled with pilgrims of many religions and sects. Where life revolves around religious observance and there is an import religious festival for nearly every day of the year. This is where hindus come cremate their dead and send the ashes down stream as it is the quickest way to be reunited with god.

But the very best thing we saw, and we saw it every where we went were the wonderful and varied people of India going about their daily lives. They were always happy and pleasant even when they were trying (and they tried hard) to sell us products and services of which we really had no interest. Many were extremely poor yet they always had a smile and a friendly wave for us. They didn't really make us feel sorry for them because of all the good things in life they are missing compared to the abundance we enjoy. We loved them for their happiness and gratefulness for what they do have, their patience with life. the peaceful way they live and their acceptance of what life gives to them.

These are some of our favorite pictures of our Indian friends