Day 3 In Pictures

This is the final pictures post from my vacation. Its been great reminiscing again....But its time to get back to regular issues and to start planning the big vacation for next year.

I have said over and over again that i can get over how beautiful and amazing the Taj Mahal is. So this is another picture of it.......So there is some weirdness at the end of this picture...Let's just say i had a memory card mishap...




These beautiful kids were on a school trip to the palace in Jaipur. Check out the doorway -the peacock door. All the colors are made from vegetable dyes....

Going from one state in India to the other by road means stopping at each border and paying road taxes. While Mr Sanjay went off to pay the taxes at one of the borders, this man showed up at our window. Asking us for money cos we took pictures of his really scary black cobra. We laughed and gave him some. This man turned around to ask us if we needed shampoo...LOL..I mean this man had a stash of stuff in his bag. Well, seeing as i was seriously scared of the man, i tried to ignore him. He had henna highlights in his hair and must have thought he was a super celebrity

The wind palace in Jaipur was undergoing renovation. But the queen or Maharani came here back in the day to simply watch the goings on since she couldnt show her face.

The Water Palace in Jaipur - the story behind this is so so funny. The Maharaja (king) built this and had all this water surround it to get away from the queen. So he would bring all his lovely ladies here for a good time while the queen looked for him...LOL

My love for India as a country also means that i am a major Bollywood fan oh. I cant even say how many cds and movies i brought back. But anyway, Daddy's Girl and I decided we had to go and see some celbrities for ourselves. So we took our cute selves to Bandra with the intention of registering our presence at our honey's house.....LOL. Yes, we went to see Shah Rukh Khan. So we got to his house - complete with flowers and our cute selves. We played up the fact that we had come ALLLL the way from Nigeria to see him. Of course we didnt see him but the guards were really nice. There was a moment when the gate opened that i nearly passed out cos i was so excited. LOL...This is a picture of his house. I am sure Daddy's Girl will put up a post on her bollywood blog on all the bollywood stuff we got up to....So look out for that

Ah..the monkey temple incident. LOL....We got there and i REFUSED to get out of the car. There were monkeys everywhere. From a distance sure...but these monkeys are so familiar with people so they have no qualms about infringing personal space. Plus i am scared of monkeys....But i took loads of pictures of cute monkey families....Thank goodness for zoom....

This billboard so fascinated me. I still dont know what is being advertised. This one looks like antacids right? But this same 9 concept was used with different billboards - like losing weight, changing complezion etc. So i have no idea what it is supposed to be. This one made me smile everytime i saw it though....

The hotel we stayed at in Mumbai was right across the street from the Cricket pitch where India played Australia in 20/20 cricket. India emerged world champions and it was so so amazing. We went on the roof and saw fans on roofs on buildings all over. We were so close. We heard everything. We also captured the cebratory fireworks as they went off. So amazing. This is the same day we went to find SRK. We talked about the fact that since he was a cricket fan, he might be at the game. There was also a silver Mercedes S-Class that was parked so close to the gate of the cricket and i had seen a documentary with SRK and he was being driven around in that car. So i kept telling Daddy;'s Girl that it was his car. We laughed about it. Well how about the very next day in the papers - SRK and his son at the fame. It was all over the news too.. If we had known, we would have fought our way in and all...

I am obsessed with cuteness and cartoons. This statue of Hanuman (the monkey god) was one of the first sights we met in New Delhi and i got excited everytime i saw it. Its massive. It stands tall at over 104 feet....No exaggeration oh. Its orange and has a tail at the back of it...And in between Hanuman's legs is a massive monkey head with its mouth open and white sharp teeth. That open head is the entrance to the temple. Imagine that.....

At Fatehpur Sikri, this beautiful young woman kept whispering to her beau and i figured she was talking about me. She was there with the young man and her mom acting as chaperone. So cute. Her beau came up to me and asked if she could take a picture. I took one of her too cos she was sooo cute and open and shy...

We saw this herd of camels on the way to Agra. I didnt know that there were black camels....

The journey to Elephanta Caves was interesting. The ferry and then the climb up many many many many stony stairs...Kai...that climb was not easy but we thank God...LOL....This picture is of 3 faces of God.....

Playing in the soundbyte thingy today is a song from the movie Swades....Yeh Joh Des.....And if stars Shah Rukh Khan who i will be spending next saturday with .........

Day 2 In Pictures

A lot of people think of India and think of snake charmers - well there are a few of them all around the place. I was still quite shocked to see this in person. The black cobra with the forked tongue in the basket. This man begins to play a tune and the snake "dances". Weird, scary and fascinating all at the same time.



I love India so much partly for its spirituality. All faiths and beliefs co-exist here. And nothing moved me as much as my experience at The Lotus Temple in Jaipur. The temple is for the Ba'Hai faith which is really an interesting religion. Its for everyone. As long as you believe in God. This beautiful white temple which looks a lot like the Sydney Opera House is built to resemble a giant lotus flower which is a symbolic flower in India. As we got ready to enter the main hall of the temple, 2 beautiful ladies told us that when we got in, everyone had to be completely silent and just meditate and commune with God. I was so so moved in this place. Amazingly beautiful. I have never felt God's presence more than in this temple.

No pictures can truly do the Taj Mahal justice but i especially love this picture from the gardens...

This man is a "guard" in the palace in Jaipur. The elephant is all marble. There are actually 2 of these that flank this entrance.....

India Gate is a tribute to the fallen soldiers from World ars 1 & 2 and the Afghan war i believe. The names of the fallen soldiers are inscribed all over the wall. Underneath the main arch is an ever burning flame that is a tribute to the unknown soldier. These strapping soldiers are from the Defence Academy. I think they were having some sort of program there. When we got there, they were already packing up so i didnt know exactly why they were there....

There are some people that scream TOURIST. They dress in a certain way and let's not talk about the rudeness. Anyway, this european man made me smile. We were at the Winter Palace in Jaipur and on the way up, there were people hawking all sorts of things including this Maharaja hat. So imagine my suprise when i saw this man in shorts and hiking boots rocking this hat. Then again, it was quite hot - so maybe he needed to protect his head? I told Daddy's Girl that maybe i should have bought a hat too...Not this type obviously....

The Gateway to India is in Mumbai and we took the ferry to Elephanta Caves from this point. In days gone by, people would come into India by boat and come this way - hence the name

Daddy's Girl and I were local celebrities oh. 2 beautiful black women with braids. People kept stopping us to say hello, ask us where were from, how we did our hair and just to take our pictures....This didnt happen too much in the bigger cities - New Delhi and Mumbai but in the other cities? Forget it...LOL...My dad said i should tell them i was from Hollywood - cos he said the only black people some people would have seen would have been on TV. All this he said when he called me at one of the monuments and heard some people saying "I take picture with you"...LOL. These adorable teenagers smiled and giggled so much and didnt speak much english...There were a lot of "hi's and bye's"...Love it

At Chandi Chowk (the village re-enactment mentioned in Day 1 of pictures), this scary scary archway was there. Pretty scary but interesting.

This hottie was at the palace in Jaipur. He isnt posing oh. He didnt even know i took his picture. He was actually trying to get out of the way of my camera but i got him. Check out his lovely eyes....

This cutie is Mr Mukesh who was our guide in Jaipur. This man oozed charm and coolness. He is so in love with his daughter and wife. Immediately he got in the car, he immediately whippedout his wallet to show us pictures of his beautiful 2 year old daughter and his beautiful wife.

Day 1 in Pictures

Alright - i am taking the time out to do this properly - Here i am - unveiled (sort of). We were on our way to Elephanta Caves and its a 1 hour ferry ride each way. So here i am enjoying the ride to Elephanta Caves



Flora Fountain in Mumbai which we spent an hour on foot searching for. We finally found it and my memorable first words? "I at least expected to see some water". LOL....Anyway, this fountain was put up by the British and there was no water cos Mumbai conserves water. At night though, this beautiful structure had strategic lighting and water. So beautiful

Baby / Mini Taj is actually a temple. I loved this place for a number of reasons. Its a temple and the caretakers were so so nice. We took our shoes off and they bagged them for us (you cannot wear shoes into any of the temples since they are obviously holy places). We walked around and it was so serene. When we came out, we had money to tip them and they vehemently refused.

Sikander Fort - we went to so many Forts but this one was truly amazing. Well i looked nice and golden here...LOL..Private joke. But i was quite rested when we went here and i got some pretty amazing pics here. Believe it or not, this is actually the main entrance into the Fort.

In Jaipur, we were taken to a village re-enactment (Chandi Chowk). It was so so cool. This picture is right outside the entrance gate and is supposed to depict a village setting with local men hanging out - i want to imagine they are talking about their wives (like Mr Sanjey talked a lot about his wife Babli. LOL. "Every 10th of the month, she is calling for money. My family lives in my hometown and i in Delhi City. Always for the money"

The Cenotaphs of Gatore in Agra are very very beautiful. So in Indian culture, the dead are cremated and not buried. Well in this case, the Maharajas of Jaipur are immortalized in the Cenotaphs - with each Maharaja having his own structure - think marble, arches and ornate carvings.

Amber Fort in Jaipur will forever be memorable to me cos we took an elephant ride up to this fort. So see how high this is? Well we took an elephant up and i was so so petrified. I dont like heingts. I am scared of heights. We got onto the elephant and the animal began to ascend and i was clutching tight to my handbag and the rail of the contraption we were sitting on while Daddy's Girl kept snapping away. She told me to bring out my camera - i could barely move. To make matters worse, the animal was trudging quite close to the edge. Daddy's Girl in a dead pan voice said "Its a little close to the edge isnt it?". I looked at her and muttered something like "you think"....LOL....I relaxed enough when we were almost at the top and i figured that if we fell at this point, it wouldnt be death but some broken bones. All the while Daddy's Girl is muttering - How amazing Uzo, How beautiful...LOL. I agreed after i relaxed a bit. Also, i almost fell down coming down from the fort....Did i say was clumsy?

The Palace in Jaipur - is so so beautiful. The Royal Family still lives there so we only toured some parts. The history of Maharaja Jai is amazig. In a nutshell - Jaipus (means Jai's city). A revolutionarya dn scientist, he built an amazing observatory with still working structures cos he was interested in astonomy - combine math and science and...anyway i think you have to be there to get it. Jaipur is called the pink city cos most of the structures are pink. Prince Albert was visiting and the Maharaja at the time decided to paint the whole town pink to welcome him. Yup. other people would get an elaborate bouquet of flowers but he painted the whole town pink.

Agra Fort - So everyone knows about the Taj Mahal? Well Shah Jahan who built it for his wife lived here with his family. This picture is of the Hall of Public Audience. So the locals would bring their cases to the royals who would be sitting within this structure and they would mediate and make the people happy. Shah Jahan's chambers overlooked the Taj Mahal. From his quarters, the Taj is only 2km away. So the walls of his chambers were inlaid with precious stones. And at night, when the lamps were lit, reflections of the Taj Mahal would fill the room (courtesy of being reflected on the surface of the stones). He died in that room.

The Taj Mahal - what can i say that can even compare to what actually being here felt like. I told Daddy's Girl that i want my own Taj Mahal. But not when i am dead. See the Taj Mahal is like an ode to love right? So i dont want to be dead to have love shown to me. And the Taj Mahal is so elaborate and beuatiful but my ode doesnt have to be so big. Every day "I Love you's" will suffice. There is a part of me that thinks that Shah Jahan went all out with this structure partly out of guilt. Like he was trying to make up for somethings he didnt do while she was alive. Just me thinking though. Did you know that it took 20,000 workers to build this structure? And that after the structure was completed, all the fingers of the workers were cut off to prevent them from being able to replicate their work? The descendants of the builders of the Taj Mahal have a thriving marble trade in Agra and their work is amazing. The sides of the Taj Mahal used to be inlaid with precious stones - emeralds, rubies etc. Well they are gone now. The British took them.

For the next 2 weeks on my blog.....

I will be putting up pictures from my vacation. Its been a long time coming but blame it on work....So enjoy.....

On India and being back....

There are simply no words to describe how amazing my vacation was....

First off - this whole vacation would not have been so special if the uber fabulous Daddy's Girl wasnt by my side. When i mentioned that i wanted to do this trip this year - i was ready to go alone as no one i knew was interested in India as a destination let alone being interested in going with me. Daddy's Girl who i met through blogging (started with our love for Bollywood) asked me late last year if i was still going and that was it. We started to make plans and set money aside....Through the planning process, we became firm friends. Catching movies together, talking about life and work and she became a confidante and one of the few people that i am truly comfortable with. She will attest to witnessing some of my moments of madness, giggles for no reasons, some travel hiccups (She held my hand through it all - from the visit to the FRRO, to the memory card debacle) and the general uzo-ness.... So my dear - i say thank you. For coming with me, for being the perfect travel companion and for just being you....

I have so so many pictures - but i will share a few that dont have me or daddy's girl in them...Actually there is this one picture of me that is all me but doesnt show me...LOL...Make sense of that if you can

We visited so so many beautiful places - The Taj Mahal is beautiful beyond belief and Elephanta Caves..Amazing.

There were some funny bits....getting star struck as we set off for Shah Rukh Khan's house and Amitabh Bachchan's house. Me nearly tumbling down the stairs in Jaipur (at the Amber Fort) courtesy of slippery soles, the elephant ride and the other elephant taking a dump (truly a sight to behold), Daddy's Girl making me break my thigh (which hurt for days), our driver (the truly sweet Mr Sanjey Kumar with tales of his wife Babli)...

Some scary bits - the trip to the monkey temple ( i refused to get out of the car and Daddy's Girl will probably never forgive for that. What can i say....monkeys, monkeys, everywhere), the elephant that kept swaying a little too close to the edge as we slowly went uphill, the view of Jaipur from Tiger Fort (Amazingly beautiful but scary and i am scared of heights. Not scared enough to have panic attacks or refuse climb stairs but scared nonetheless), the dogs that started fighting at the entrance to the Taj (i nearly mauled Daddy's Girl as i hid behind her while grabbing her in the process - actually this might have been scary to just me)

We had fun - we haggled and tipped. Shopped for our families and loved ones...I didnt buy nearly enough shoes but hey....i will make up for it since my folks will be in America in December...

More to come if i can summon the energy....

I am home....

I am home and enjoying the rest of my holiday by sleeping, reading and watching the tons of stuff i have accumulated...Today has been dedicated to Season 1 of House....

I will do one post on my vacation and share a few pictures at some point.....But for now...Its sleep, sleep and more sleep..

So what have i missed?

From India with love........

We just got to Agra....we see the Taj Mahal tomorrow. Its been beautiful beyond words so far.......

Away, Away I go

My much needed break is here. I am to India tomorrow with Daddy's Girl and I WILL NOT be doing anything remotely work related which of course includes touching a computer.

Take care.....

Much Love.....

Take me away - 2

And the vacation package i am feeling this week:

Gate 1 Travel has just reduced its 10-night Affordable Thailand tour package by an additional $300 OFF. Travel this fall and experience all that Thailand has to offer including flights, hotels, transfers and much more for just $1,099 per person.

This is an incredible deal considering Thailand flights are $1,000 alone in September and October!

Package highlights:

Roundtrip airfare from Los Angeles to Bangkok (additional departure cities available)

Intra-Thailand flight between Chiang Mai and Bangkok
Hotel accommodations for 10 nights: Bangkok (4), Phitsanulok (1), Lampang (1), Chiang Rai (2) and Chiang Mai (2)
10 breakfasts and 1 dinner
All transfers via a modern, air-conditioned motor coach
Sightseeing and some entrace fees
English-speaking tour manager
The package also includes numerous sightseeing opportunities including a half day city tour Bangkok, trips to ancient temples and sacred Buddhas in Thailand's lush countryside, a visit to an elephant camp, a Thai silk handicraft village and much more.

Take me away.........

I like to torture myself. I have been on the mailing list of this travel company since i went on a cruise with them years ago. Every other day, i get an email with some interesting deals and i simply sigh and say "Oh well". Perhaps i shall share the ones i find interesting from time to time. So i am starting with this one....(The parts of this vacation that just do it for me are in red)

Enjoy the sights and sounds of Central Europe with a scenic and unique cruise along the Danube River. Gate 1 Travel is offering a 6-night special for an outside cabin aboard the deluxe MS Bolero for only $499 per person. That's $300 OFF regular rates!

This special also includes:
All meals on board cruise, including unlimited wine and beer with dinner
English speaking tour guides and tour manager throughout
Select sightseeing tours including a visit to Nuremberg Castle, a concert in Vienna featuring works from Mozart and Strauss, a guided walking tour of medieval Regensburg, and much more
Optional tours also available

This special is valid for departures on November 15 and December 14. The cruise departing on December 14 also includes stops at Europe's popular Christmas Markets, where outdoor markets are decorated in lights and filled with music, along with baked goods, sweets, and crafts

Vacation Time

I just rounded up my meeting with the South Africans that managed to move their trip up by a few days. No pending issues. I am preparing my handover notes and wrapping up. Its finally happened. Vacation time. Off to Dubai tomorrow for 10 glorious days. Not sure if i will be blogging or even checking my emails but i intend to keep a travel diary of sorts and take some pictures. Now off to finetune my flirting skills. Its holiday time.