Arjun's India and China Summer Adventures, June 25th

This is mommy in the Kebab Express restaurant in Connaught Place

We're back in Delhi and we decided to go to the Taj Mahal because Dadaji (grandpa) me and Kullu have never seen it. This is a camel wagon outside of the fort surrounding the Taj Mahal.

 

This is me, Kullu, Dadaji, Dadima, and Santosh Chacha walking around the fort of the Taj Mahal

This is Kullu, Daddaji, Dadima, and Santosh Chacha and me next to the entrance of the Taj Mahal. I got in for the Indian price because my family was Indian and care much about Americans.

This is me holding the Taj Mahal

This is me in front of the Taj Mahal and reflecting pool

This is me, Dadima, and Dadaji in front of the Taj Mahal and Reflecting Pool

This is me, daddy, Kullu, Dadima, and Dadaji on a bench in front of the Taj Mahal

This is me next to one of the big towers that's built next to the Taj Mahal but connected to it.

This is me and Kullu in a frame on the Taj Mahal

Santosh Cha Cha, Daddy, and Dadaji in front of the tower.

This is a dead bug back in Delhi on the sidewalk in front of the house

Tomorrow we leave for China!

Arjun's India and China Adventures June 21st

This is the village of Affour. This is daddy with Mausi, his aunt, talking in the front room while Mausi massages Guriya Phua’s new baby.

This is me and Hemu bhaiya fighting.

We went to visit relatives in another village. This is me and Hemmu Bhaiya and Vinod Bhaiya sitting outside under a tree at my daddy’s uncle’s village house.

That is me in front of a hut used for grain storage.

Bhutti chacha doing an Indian pose.

That is me pulling up water from a 50 foot well near my daddy’s old house in the village. I pulled up the 50 foot rope bucket in about 30 seconds with full water in it. There’s a video, but it takes too long to upload.

This is me at the house next to daddy’s old house with the relatives and friends who live there. This is Parmila phua. She put alta, a red dye, on mommy’s feet for decoration. That means that you’re married. And then I wanted some on me. So when we got back to the other village house, me and Hemmu bhaiya went on a walk, and a group of people making chipari/gotal made of dried cow poop which they use for fuel to burn a fire to make food. They thought I was married because of the alta on my feet.

 

This is me and my cousins in the house next to my dad’s house sucking caramel pops we brought.

That is my family's ancestral land. It’s going to be my land. This is me saying that it’s my land even though it’s not a video.

This is me and the friends at mama’s house. We played tag. All of them chased me for every single match. We had a leaf fight. There was a big leaf tree, and we just pulled leaves off of it, there were tiny leaves, and we just pulled them off until they came off the stick and we threw them at each other.

 

This is mommy with the new brides of my daddy's uncle's house. They can't leave the house, and have to wear their veils.

 

The next morning in Affour, we went to the “boring” well. This is mommy and Aditi, walking on the road to the “boring” well.

That is a cow and me and Hemmu bhaiya with Tuk-Tuk known as Simran in the family, standing in the front.

That is the “boring” well which is a generator which pumps up huge, thick water to irrigate the fields. This is me trying to get used to the cold water to take a bath. It’s a mud bath cause there are all sticks and rocks and stuff. It’s a mud pit, and they fill it with water for the bath.

This is a picture of all of us all of us children in the village watching Cartoon Network in the village when the electricity is working.

This is a rug seller who carried all of these rugs on his head to the village house.

This is manu chacha's new baby in Patna.

This is an ant carrying a bindi next to Manu cha-cha’s house back in Patna.

This is manu cha cha me and mommy at his store in Patna. After this we left on the overnight train to Delhi.

Arjun's India and China Summer Adventures June 19th-20th

 

This is me eating puri two hours away from a visit to  to Rajgir and the oldest University in the world, Nalanda.

 We stopped at a small tent shop with puri, jelabi sweets, chai and chick pea subji

This is the sign at the oldest university in the world, University of  Nalanda. It was started in the 5th century, and stopped in the 12th century.

This is one of the dorm rooms at the University

 There were 1,000 dorm rooms in the university

This is one of the stone beds in one of the rooms

 Monks slept on this rock bed when it was sitting in the hot, hot weather, and even I can't stand it.

This is our family going down only one of the many staircases of the Nalanda University

This is where the monks did their meditation

This is one of the Buddhist temple stones at the University

Kids picking up ground fruits, kazoor (wild dates)

This is me eating kazoor that fell from the date trees

 After Nalanda, we went to Rajgir, a famous Buddhist ancient town and temple. This is me and my family, going up a chair mountain rope all the way up. If you were under 5, you could go with someone, but I'm 7, so I went alone in one of the chairs. As it got higher, it got scarier, but I wasn't scared.

Buddhist Stupa at the top of the mountain

 After that, we saw the Buddhist temples, and these are the pictures of Buddha from one of the temples

Sleeping Buddha

This is me sitting on the stairs overlooking the mountain

 If we missed the rope chairs, we would have had to climb all the way back down the mountain, but we got there in time.

 The next day, this is me and Hemmu Bhaiya going to the village in a 3 hour car ride. After awhile, Hemmu Bhaiya let me call him Hemmu Bhaiya instead of Hemant Bhaiya. These are some of the things we saw on the way.

When we got to the village, me and Hemmu Bhaiya went on the bicycle. The clothes I'm wearing are brand new clothes I got from Professor Sahab, my uncle.

 Then we on the tractor, and we got a ride all the tractor barn. Next to me are my cousin-sisters Simran known as Tuk-Tuk wearing pink, and Jaya known as Soni wearing violet stripes.

There are lots of lizards in India. So when there's a light, the lizards usually come out. This is a picture of a gecko next to a light trying to eat the bugs.

To be continued......