Update

I finally got in touch with an orphanage! It is ten minutes from my house, so every day I teach English for one to two hours. There are around thirty kids from ages five to seventeen and they surprise me every day with how much they want to learn. They are always enthusiastic about anything we do. They don't know very much English so I speak in Hindi and English. Sometimes it is very difficult to communicate, but somehow they always understand. They make me appreciate so much more the one month that I have left. 

I am visiting one of the other students in Nasik for a week. It is a city twelve hours away from Nagpur by train. The city is smaller, but is steadily growing. It is also very nice to have a break from the extreme heat in Nagpur! We are spending time visiting the holy river that runs through Nasik, enjoying fresh mangoes, studying Hindi and of course, taking in India. 

I will post the rest of my North tour journals when I get back.

Namaste,

Hannah

Forts and Palaces

We visited many forts and palaces on the tour. These were mostly in Rajasthan and they have a very rich history. The Amber Fort in Jaipur was one of the first we visited. I would say it was my favorite. The architecture was beautiful and the intricate carvings and ancient imported tiles and mirrors were breath-taking.
At another palace there was a king (in India known as a maharaja) who was 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide. So much for me being tall!
At Tiger Fort we learned how sneaky these maharajas were. This fort was only inhabited for one generation. The king who lived here had 9 wives! He made 9 separate living quarters for each wife and had a secret passage way to get to any of their rooms without them knowing so they wouldn't get jealous. Very sneaky!

North Tour: Jabalpur and shopping in Rajasthan

At 8am we left got Jabalpur in two small vans. We drove a few hours and stopped for breakfast. We were only 20km from where they found Mogli, the boy from 'The Jungle Book'. The book is based on a true story! My dad and I used to read it together and it was one of my favorites. I never thought I would be so close to where it happened.
We drove another 6 hours until we reached Jabalpur at 4pm. We visited a  huge waterfall which is part of the Holy Rive Narmada. The waterfall is like the Indian version of Niagra Falls. There were many people bathing themselves in the river. We went down the river and went boating. There were huge, beautiful marble rocks surrounding us. The water gets to 1,000 feet deep!
We drove to dinner and boarded the train for Jaipur. 
Jaipur was a great place for marketing. Every shop for 1 km was full of scarves, skirts, wall hangings, embroidered pieces of cloth, shoes made of camel leather, and dolls made from wood and cloth. We bartered for our items and usually convinced the shop owners to cut the price in half after telling them we live in India. When we walked down the street the shop keepers beckoned us into their shops. "Come, look", "One moment, look beautiful scarves", "Yes, yes, I have very good selection". It was what I remember thinking what India would be like. The many vehicles on the road, the beautiful saris, the voices of the shopkeepers. Rajasthan is the foreigners stereotype of India.