India & China – Hindu Wedding

We got to see our friends Abhishek and Ketaki married (definitely the highlight). What an awesome and surreal experience. Traveling overseas to India was an experience of a lifetime. We started the journey of India getting sick eating food from SLC airport (food poisoning). That was NOT fun. A 20+ hour flight crapping and puking our guts out. Avoid the Greek restaurant in the SLC, Utah airport at ALL costs.

After that was done, however, we got to enjoy the Golden Temple in Amritsar:

Golden Temple in Amritsar, India

After the Golden Temple, we went on to Agra and the famed Taj Mahal.

Carisa Posing. Me with my older shades, Taj Mahal in Agra, India.
Less posing. Shades off. Taj Mahal, Agra, India.
James & Sandee, our travel buddies! Taj Mahal – Agra, India.
Taj Mahal (next day, up close), Agra, India.

After visiting the Taj Mahal and walking around Agra a bit, we coughed our lungs up. India likes to burn their fields in the winter/fall before the next Spring. The courts halted it, but it wasn’t soon enough. *cough, cough*

Our friends’ wedding, Abhishek and Ketaki, us wearing traditional Indian garb.
Carisa getting her Henna tattoos. She was SOO excited to finally get this done. She’s wanted to get Henna for years.
“Prince Abhishek” riding in as a conquering hero on his white horse. Hahaha, inside joke. If you ask, I’ll share. <3

After the wedding we went and saw many, many other sites and things. I can only share soo much on this blog, so I’ll capture a few.

The Lotus Temple of the Bahá’í House of Worship was one of the most fascinating things for me to learn about. Basically an all-accepting type of religion that was created in the 1800s. Different than any other type of faith I’ve studied up to this point. Super cool.
India Gate, New Delhi, India. War Memorial dating back to World War I and the British Soldiers that died (interesting bit of information), but it is now a symbol of India’s independence.

The haunted staircase…

Agrasen ki baoli “Haunted Staircase” in New Delhi, India – Supposably haunted? I don’t even know the story behind it. Carisa was all kinds of excited about coming here though. Read about it and tell me. 🙂

What kind of visit/blog to India is a blog without a picture of at least some food?

In Amritsar, near the Golden Temple, we ate at the famous 100+ year old Kesar da Dhaba. OMG. Delicious. Probably some of the absolute best Indian we had. We spent most of our time comparing our food against this dish right here. Ridiculously good.

Lastly, on our 9 hour layover in Shanghai, we hopped in a 1 h 30 min Uber and hit up the Great Wall. Our Uber driver was amazing. He gave us a true insight into the daily lives of Chinese folks our age. They’re very much aware of how much the Chinese government shelters/blocks them. He even told me the average Chienese citizen is savvy enough to use VPN’s to get media they want from the USA. I found this fascinating.

Great Wall of China. A part that our Uber driver took us to, where a tourist don’t normally get to go. SUPER cool. AND freezing balls. Man.

Two Man-Made Wonders of the World to round out this trip. Pretty cool. We’ve also now been to 4/7 continents. We’re getting there! We’re thinking Australia next, but Teddy Bear is coming next time.