I'm cutting and pasting some e-mails that I sent to my parents while I was in India.

While we were in New Delhi, we woke up to Muslim hymns everyday. When we walked outside, there were cows everywhere, shops, dust, smoke, food cooking, people everywhere, rickshaws, cars, bikes, and food stands. In New Delhi, we saw some of India's government buildings and we walked around in an underground shopping bizarre. The bizarre was very crowded with about a million people trying to sell us scarves, watches, clothes, statues, and fill in the blank. We went to Humani's tomb and some other Mughal sites. Muslim Mughal architecture is indescribably amazing. We also went to a Bollywood movie in New Delhi.

In Varanasi, we went to famous temples and religious sites. We also witnessed a cremation ceremony on the River Ganges, and took a morning boat ride on the river. We went to a traditional Indian concert, which had a sitar player, a flute player, a tabla, a violin, and a belly dancer. I also got music lessons from the Sitar player(which is kind of like a guitar) and the drum player. We did alot of walking around the city and shopping. I bought little Emmy a traditional Indian dress and Grandma a silk scarf. In Sarnat, we went to a famous Buddhist pilgrimage site...A stupa that Buddha came to after his enlightenment, a Buddhist Museum, and a Tibetan Monastery.

In Alahabad, we went to a restaurant called Friends Forever which had a giant Friends poster outside(the t.v. show). Then we went to a famous river, a museum, and a Catholic cathedral.

In Agra, we went to Akkabar's fort and we went to a mini Taj Mahal. On the next day we went to the Taj Mahal and Akbar's palace--so awesome. In Rishikesh, we went white water rafting through the Himalayas and we went to the Beatle's Ashram. Afterwards, we went to Dharmsala which is also located in the Himalayas. The Himalayas are BEAUTIFUL. In Dharmsala, we heard lectures from Tibetan Lamas and the Dali Lama, and we met the Karmappa. On the last day in Dharmsala, we visited with little children in the slums.

---Kristin Bachman