The Golden Temple in Amritsar

After a swinging seven hour train ride from Delhi to Amritsar, we arrived to visit the Golden Temple.  Finished in 1577, the Golden Temple (Sri Harimandir Sahib) is the largest Sikh temple in all of India and a hugely popular pilgrimage site for Sikhism.  In addition to the spectacular buildings, they also serve hot, nutritious meals 24 hours a day to anyone who visits, providing over 50,000 meals a day and nearly 100,000 meals on religious holidays.  It was one of the most impressive operations I have ever seen and it's run completely by volunteers!

The Temple at night:

A Sikh man after bathing in the holy water.  Men and women are required to carry a dagger on them, as they were persecuted for their religious beliefs for most of their history.

The start of the food operation:

The main kitchen for the curries and soups:

One of the dining halls:

Making chapatis:

Cooking chapatis:

And the Books Continue...

A compelling tale of female spies during WWI - Loved, loved, loved this book!

A daughter's nomadic childhood with an alcoholic dad and mentally unstable mother:

An instructional book about how to cope with grief and loss as well as how to rebuild resilience and hope - Super fast read:

Old Delhi

I spent a wonderful morning on a rickshaw ride through old Delhi, weaving in and out of small alleyways, visiting the flower and spice markets, touring an old home and ducking from electrical wires.  :)  We even had a parade appear on the road, forcing us to abandon the rickshaw and walk the rest of the tour.  My tour guide and I hit it off and she invited me back to her house for a home-cooked Indian meal - What an afternoon meeting her and her son and learning so much about Indian culture and hospitality - New friendships can be found anywhere!

Delhi Monuments

Delhi is like no other city I've been to - There's nothing soft about it - It smacks you in the face, screams in your ear and rattles you around until you are exhausted.  There are so many people, such much trash and dirt, honking cars and farm animals roaming the streets that you just get overwhelmed in a heartbeat...  Despite all that, I managed several day tours of the city and here are some of the highlights of the bigger monuments:

Jama Masjid (the largest mosque in India):

Humayun's Tomb (the inspiration for the Taj Mahal):

One of the other tombs on the Humayun's Tomb property:

The Lotus Temple (a non-denominational place of worship):

Favorite Myanmar Videos - Part 2

Weaving a horse-hair cup at an artisan workshop:

The Shwe Oo Min Cave Pagoda:

The boat ride on Inle Lake:

One of the 1,054 pagodas at the Shwe Inn Dain Pagoda:

Inle Lake - Part 2

My favorite moments from Inle Lake...

A boat traffic jam:

Jonny loves the wacky hats (and yes, those are teeth - Buffalo teeth!):

Shwe Inn Dain Pagoda (actually there are1,054 pagodas in this complex):

Nadine loving on one of the many puppies we saw:

A fisherman paddling with one foot:

Onward to Inle Lake - Part 1

After a very rickety, local train ride, we made our way from Kalaw to Inle Lake.  The next day we took an all-day boat ride to visit artisan workshops and more pagodas...

What our long boats looked like:

Houses on stilts:

Fishermen collecting seaweed to use for tomato farming:

Our crew!