India (finally!)

So I have been back from India for 8 months now and still haven't posted my pictures....so here they come!


A light traffic day complete with cars, bikes, and people sharing the road. And you thought *your* commute was bad! ;)



Stacked pottery at the outdoor market. Needless to say, my clumsy self was a bit nervous wandering around here.




Charminar in Hyderabad's center. We were advised not to get out of the car here but we suck at following directions, apparently :)



Mangos! Not sure why but they are *super* sweet in India, almost nauseating really.



Typical street view



The Muslim mosque next door to Charminar. It was bombed about a month before we got there (hence the instruction to avoid the area)



Crystal and I at the royal tombs. India humidity....great for the curls, not so much for the oily skin :(



The group we trained at the office. Such awesome people! So genuine and just sweet.



Taxi!



These are the gems we were shown to have them set into our beautiful rings and necklaces!



Homes near our hotel



This Hindi temple is randomly located in the middle of an intersection.



Shoe shopping in India is awesome! They try on one shoe to figure out your size, then send their youngest child up to the attic where he throws down every single shoe they have in your size. And then they put them on you and you weed through them until you find the pair (or 8 pairs each, in our case) that you can't live without! This picture was taken when they had already cleaned up 3/4 of the shoes...it was heaven, really.



The tombs were amazing. It was so surreal to be wandering through these ancient buildings. The U.S. is really a tiny baby of a country compared to the Indian architecture.







Payal and Jeena at Ohri's, our favorite restaurant! They serve only desserts. I believe that one was called "The Titanic". Delicious!



The Tailoring shop that even after measuring and altering twice screwed up our tops. The entire shop was about the size of my bathroom, and those sewing machines were peddle powered!



A typical alley we would hike down to reach the shops





Another shot of the Hindi temple in the intersection



This was the fabulous saree shop. Everyone here showed up just to help Crystal and me. There were two more people we couldn't even fit in the picture. We were definitely the talk of that alleyway!



The Saree shop



Our girls Payal and Jeena







Mural of an Indian god at Golconda Fort



A Hindi temple at Golconda



This beggar tapped on our window every night on our drive home from work. She was one of about 12 that live on this corner.



Homes near the hotel



An empty scooter! It was not unusual to see an entire family of 4-6 on one scooter. Kids learn to hang on tight at a young age!



The view from my hotel room



These adorable kids at Golconda followed us around until finally their dad asked if we would shake their hands. I took out my camera to take a picture of the fort and Crystal pointed out that they were all lined up waiting for me to take their picture. So of course I did :)



This awesome Hindi temple is made 100% of marble. Unfortunately they do not allow cameras inside (or shoes! we had to hoof if barefoot).



Though there are traffic lights, no one really bothers to follow them, so this guy will attempt to help you cross the street if you need to.



This stopped surprising us after about a day. As did the site of random men peeing on the side of the road, though I didn't get a picture of that. There were many penis checks on our travels!