Alexa Around The World: India

India was so much fun! A little smelly and dirty but its beauty made up for it. When we first got to India we took a Rickshaw "tuk tuk" to go shopping. They were celebrating "Women's Day" and were doing free Henna tattoos. I got a beautiful design on my hand which was awesome and they do it so quickly. I tried on so many saris and I picked a tan and blue one as you can see in my Taj Mahal picture.

On Day 2 in India I had a very fun "American Day"! I was exploring the city with my friend Ryan. Our tuk tuk driver let us drive in the parking lot by the beach which was fun. Then we wanted to go to some street markets and he just would not take us there! He would only take us to the shops and restaurants that he gets a commission for taking us there which was really annoying. Finally we got out and went into a mall. We ate lunch where I tried so much food I have never had before. While we were eating we met two people that have been in Chennai for a few weeks. We got a pedicure where the fish eat your dead skin and then we went to the movies!! We were going to see King's Speech but it was sold out so we saw Hall Pass. The caramel popcorn was so yummy!

The next day I woke up at 3:30 am for my trip to Agra and Varanasi. We arrived in Dehli and then had a connecting flight to Varanasi. All the girls received a rose at our hotel and then we had lunch. Naan bread is so yummy and my favorite. We visited ruins, New Buddhists Temple an Archeological museum. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the silk factory which was really cool. The colors and designs of the fabric were amazing.

The next day I had to wake up at 4:30 am to make it to the River Ganges at sunrise. It is the largest river in India and is extremely holy for Hindus and is worshiped as the goddess Ganga in Hinduism. Many Hindus believe that the water of the Ganges can cleanse a person's soul from all their past sins and it can help cure illnesses. When we arrived we bought these little floating flowers with a candle in it before we got on our boat. We lit them when we were on the river. They have something to do with their ritual. We sailed down the river and watched the famous bathing rituals take place with a beautiful sunrise. Then we saw where the cremations take place. The bodies are wrapped in silk first and then burned. Their ashes are then put in the River Ganges. When we were leaving we had to walk through the city. There were cows just walking around and cow poop everywhere. The coolest thing I saw was a snake charmer. He had two cobras in a hypnosis state as he played music on a "pungi".

The next day I had to wake up at 4:15 to catch our train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal! There were so many disabled homeless people and beggars. The Taj Mahal is so beautiful. It is made entirely of white marble.