Shapes

Bangalore is filled with tons of colors that really make you notice all the different shapes pop out from the most unexpected places.

My Angels

HUGE SHOUT OUT TO BILL AND SUSAN!!!!!! The care packages could not have come at a better time! Jeneva and I were like little kids who's parent's packed them a lunch and we were trading right and left for things we wanted. Some of the trades were so easy since I don't eat cereal and have problem with milk and oatmeal etc.... others trades we really went to town with our bartering skills it was so much fun. You should have seen us we were sitting on the floor of our room with this food spread out all around us just as kids do when the come home from trick or treating. Dividing things up evenly at first, but inevitably you come across something you know you really don't eat so then starts the trading. LOL I easily traded most of the sweets for fruit and soup and wound up with the peanut butter with out a fight. I could not be happier!! As I sit here typing this post I have my spoon full of peanut butter, yes even in India I can not seem to break bad habits. =) You guys are heavenly sent and I could not thank you enough for the kindness, friendship, concern you have shown, always being there on the other end of the line answering all kinda of wacked out phone calls, the laughs you have provided me and so much more! I am truly blessed to have you both in my life!

PS Bill I am now on my second spoon of peanut butter now you see why I get the low fat or whipped stuff. LMAO !

Hanging in There....

(I am an I Camper)

That about sums it up for me. I am already a picky eater in my own country, but you realize after about 2 weeks of struggling to eat you should think twice about going to a third world country. You have to have a sense of humor and a good laugh at yourself daily in order NOT to lose your mind. Here is my most recent laugh at myself.
I went out to see the town and while walking around I could not help thinking how tired and hungry I was. That one thought was running through my head all day with me trying to come up with ideas of how I could make it. Just about the time I came up with no ideas for about the millionth time I came across this Jeep, I thought it said "I am a Camper" and I swore it was a message from above telling me I was stronger than I was giving myself credit for. I actually dug a little deeper and that day decided I would eat like I do back home tons of fruit and veggies to heck with the warnings about the uncooked food quite frankly the "cooked" stuff was killing me any way! That actually did the trick I have been eating tons of apples and when I find plums or grapes I load up. I have not had the "stomach" problems I was dealing with for almost 5 days now.... which is huge trust me I will spare you the details. It was only until I was editing photos to put out here on my blog that I noticed the Jeep actually said "I am an I Camper" ....... go figure my inspiration was truly only a perception of what I needed it to read at the time. I guess a person does not become an less crazy in another country if anything I may be improving my skills. LOL

Are you surprised???

Of course I found one!!!! Every where I travel, if there is a Hard Rock I find it to get some pins as souvenirs of where I have been and give them to my Mom and Dad. It's my way of providing a map of my adventures I go on and letting them know they were in my thoughts during my travels. This place was very neat inside but extremely empty. Despite the fact they may have had 4 customers tops they still have a security guard outside the front door to inspect your bags and wave his metal dector wand all around you. One thing I can say is India is not lacking in the security guard jobs!

Mom & Dad
I am hoping this post brought a huge smile to your faces. Wait till you see the pins!

Magic Carpet

These guys were TOTAL salesmen.... I went shopping the other day and came upon this store that is filled with hand made carpets. when I walked in I was instantly greeted by 4 men asking what I liked and thought was pretty... "please sit down sit down WE will bring you all the carpet no need to walk around". Needless to say they did too EVERY SINGLE last carpet they had!! LOL They begun showing you how they make their carpets and why their are better than anywhere else you may go. A cup of hot tea was presented for me to sip on while I sat back and watched the presentation began. One after another they came out with these carpets held high in front of their chest then just let them roll out of their hands making a loud THUMP as the carpet hit the floor and rolled out the rest of the way for you to see it in it's entirety. It was an attention grabber each time and TRUST me they did it every time. It made for one heck of a presentation. The end of the carpet that they were still hold they would move it up and down to show the richness of the colors and how the carpet appeared to change colors as they moved it around. Simply because of how they tied the knots in the carpet when it was turned it would show the grain of the carpet in a different manner, but the guy was serious when he said to me "no it changes color because that's what makes a magic carpet"!

Street Vendors

I pass this lady everyday on my way to work. She looks pretty old and is always sitting down working feverishly on something. She has all her treasures spread out along the side of the street selling everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to pottery. I would love to stop by one day when I am not heading to work to buy a piece of her pottery or at the very least get a picture of her up close.
This is a common problem in many of my pictures that I am trying to avoid. Since I work and nights and sleep the days the only available time, during the weekdays, to take photos of the outside world is on the way to work from the inside of the car. I dislike the fact that in quiet a few of my pictures you can clearly see that I am in a car however, this one I had you show.

This CRAZY man and many like him take their life into their hands when they push their street carts to their next location. This two lane road that already has THREE vehicles horizontally next to us and motorcycles squeezing in and out of the barely visible spaces that are created from nowhere now has this man casually strolling along avoiding cars, like mine, that look like they are going to run him over at any moment. His defensive tactic to stay alive you maybe wondering..... please sit down for this. Like you see in the photo, if he thinks a car is getting to close or about to hit him he just sticks out HIS ARM as if it has some magical powers to stop and move the cars. Literally the only thing between this man, his cart and death by vehicle is his ARM!!!!!!!
Morale of this picture....
Can of Soda - 25 rupies
Nice Spicy Dinner - 1100 rupies
Power of street vendor's sticking out their arm in India - PRICELESS!

It's not the Indy 500... but it's CLOSE!!

The signs here crack me up. (Speed Thrills But Kills.) Let's not mention though you can have as many people as you can pack onto a motorcycle (including small children and babies) and the only one required to where a helmet is the driver. LOL (I am getting a collection of pictures together that show just how many people can fit on one motorcycle. I can't wait to get enough for a good post it should be enlightening and shocking.)
This is one of the biggest roads around the hotel. I believe it is 3 lanes but as you can see it looks more like a starting line at the beginning of some crazy race. Keep in mind this picture was taken in the middle of a Monday when traffic is "light". This may give you some insight into what a mess it really becomes during rush hour. I must say though being in India is doing wonders catching me up on my sprint training cause you have LOST YOUR MIND if you think you can walk across these roads. For those of you who are not runners, its like the highest level in the Atari game Frogger everything is zipping past and if you think too long when you see an opening without a quick move .......... SPLAT!

Day Dreamer

There is no such thing as "rush hour traffic" in India. The best way to describe it is some how controlled chaos 24/7. On a one lane road at any given time you will have 15 vehicles (of sorts) around you. You can not even stick a finger out of your window with out touching at least two other vehicles. You wouldn't even think about trying to stick your arm out FORGET IT !... The ride to work is normally very crazy. Everything is on the road all moving at once coming at you from all directions from bikes, chickens, stray dogs by the dozens, motorcycles, scooters, rickshaws, cows, horses, cabs, street vendors pushing their carts to a new location to sell their treasures, buses I could go on and on. The smell of exhaust is overwhelming you will see people covering their mouths with cloth as the walk along the side just trying to breath. Car horns constantly fill the air like music being played in rhythms that only the locals know what they mean. People trying to carry on conversations with others on different sides of the street so they attempt to yell over the horns. Beggars coming up to the windows to tap on them when the cars slow down hoping someone will drop a coin in their hands. Babies crying, children chasing each other giggling, people randomly digging in the dirt along side the road (still trying to figure that one out). While all of this and MORE is going on I look up at a bus one day and see the boy who appears to be in total peace just day dreaming. Amazing

On Guard!

(You have to click on this on to enlarge the image.)

YES.... that IS a shotgun! This is a picture of the entrance of our hotel. Everyday once we get through the guarded gate past all the men who seem to be in a contest of who can carry the bigger gun, we have our car inspected for explosives. They look under the car with these large mirrors, in the trunk, glove box you name it they look mean while you are still sitting in the car. (On a side note if I ever see them look at my car and scatter like little bugs when the light has been turned on I will be right behind them and they better be some of the fastest Indians or I will be knocking them over to pass them. LOL) Then we pull up to this... the front of the hotel. Where you are greeted by more armed guards a metal detector and your bags searched. This picture is not a proper representation of how MANY there normally are out there.

He is MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!! I call him "Punjab" from the movie Annie. We really don't know what his name is but he is always smiling and the sharpest dressed guard we have. If you enlarged the first photo he is smiling in that one also while everyone else has this don't mess with me face. The outside guards don't play around I haven't seen one of them smile yet, with the exception of "Punjab", but I'm working on them. LOL

We even have guards in our hall way. There are normally 4 different ones, this guy is the youngest I think. I call all 4 of them "the shadows". No matter what time of day or night it is they have a tendency of popping out of NO WHERE to watch you as you leave your room. These guys don't miss a beat they are always there just as you open the door I have yet to see the hall empty while I'm completely out of my door. I even tested it by opening the door one day and sticking my head out and the guard came out of his hiding space. I closed the door quickly, waited a few minutes then opened the door and stuck my head out as fast as I could and looked down the hall where he last popped out and thought "AH HA I WIN " cause the hall was empty in the direction where I last saw him. I started to walk out and heard something behind me and I stopped quickly, turned to look and almost smacked right into him. Scared the living daylights out of me all the while he just smiled like they always do . LOL

Beautiful India

This is a prime example of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. Everywhere you turn there are brilliant colors exploding in front of you. I have never seen such colors in all my life they are truly remarkable. The third picture is a prime example of what most of the roadsides look like. You see rubble piled all along the roads and these ripped posters on the walls., columns, pretty much everywhere. While some may think it is just trash I think it is a proper representation of India herself adding beautiful colors to the most unexpected places.

These colors remind me very much of one special person in my life who surrounds herself with beautiful flowers. Wishing my grandmother a Very Happy Birthday! I love you Meme!!!
xoxo
~S

Coming to you from India!

(click on the picture to enlarge it you can see the details better.)

Someone ..... Somewhere .... Loves you ....

This was the perfect picture for my family and friends to see to start off the new chapter on my blog. This "little gypsy girl at heart" is safe, happy and taking tons of photos so say tuned there is more to come.