Kerala in a weekend...

I did not spend enough time in this state. Kerala is beautiful, and it's where my good friend Sandhya is from. Kate, Greg and I got on a plane Friday evening and met up in Kochin, Kerala's capital city.

We woke up early on Saturday and started our 2 hour drive to Alleppey. Alleppey is known for it's beautiful backwaters.

On our houseboat, we toured the backwaters all afternoon and then docked overnight. As we rode through the backwaters, kids would smile and wave at us from the shore. We thought they were yelling 'friends,' at one point, and we were flattered, but really, they were yelling 'pens!' This little girl came up to our boat as we were docked and asked for 'pens,' while making a writing motion with her hand. I dug through my purse and found one for her.

Sunday morning we woke up on the houseboat and we could hear singing from the Christian churches across the fields. It was so bazaar. We couldn't see the church, we just heard the chanting and it was really just so serene.

We toured Fort Kochi (not an actually fort, but the name of the city) on Sunday. From the first European church to Chinese fishing nets to Vasco de Gama's tomb, there was plenty for us to see.

Below is a video of a wedding that we got to sit in at, at Saint Cruz Basilica in Fort Kochi. I felt a little weird dropping in on their wedding, especially since I would have been mad if someone crashed mine! But here, it's almost like a compliment that we would want to sit in. Can you tell from the decor that this is a Catholic church???

Enjoy the rest of my pics!

Sunday Brunch

Sunday we had brunch at the Novatel and noticed a huge, gold, elaborate archway in front of the hotel that wasn't there two weekend ago. Sayid guessed it was a wedding and he guessed right. I slyly asked the concierge at the hotel if we could check out the reception area and he was more than happy to let us in while they were setting up.

If I didn't know better, I would have guessed they were setting a stage for a concert. This 4,000 person wedding (yes, 4,000 people Mom) was to start at 11:30pm and go until the lasts guests arrive. Guests arrive, eat, dance, bless the married couple, and then leave. It was amazing. I've never seen so many crystals in my life! I asked the concierge if he thought I could get away with crashing the wedding.

(alter/stage set up for wedding)

Charminar & Chowmahalla Palace

(Charminar monument)

Charminar means '4 towers' and is one of the seven wonders of Hyderabad. Sayid took us to this monument Saturday morning and was our tour guide for the day. He did a great job. We climbed the 45 steps to the first level (piece of cake compared to Notre Dame Cathedral). There are no guard rails when on the first level, and the wall only comes up to your thighs. From here you can see pretty much all of Hyderbad.

(Mecca Masjid Mosque, outside of Charminar)

(typical traffic in Hyderabad...mass chaos)

Our second stop on this 106 degree day was Chowmahalla Palace. Absolutely beautiful...reminded me a lot of the Palace of Versailles. Kate and I toured this palace for about 20 minutes until we came across the world's most embarrassing tourist trap ever, and we gave in...I've been sworn to secrecy :)

Darjeeling, West Bengal

This past weekend a group of us went to Darjeeling. You may recognize the name from the tea, the famous toy train, or the movie, The Darjeeling Limited.

We were at the airport at 5am Friday morning, and arrived in Bangladore at 1:30. We then had a 3 hour car ride to Darjeeling. What I didn't realize was that 90% of the car ride would be going up, up and up the side of the Himalayas. Darjeeling is a 'hill station', hill town, and was much much cooler than Hyderabad. It was a nice break from the heat.

Darjeeling is know for it's tea, and we were greeted at our hotel with masala chai and were sure to visit the tea fields (left picture). It was a holiday, so no one was working the tea fields. Below is a pic of me sampling some green tea.
















Early Saturday morning we visited the Japanese Peace Pagoda. As we walked up to the temple we heard drumming. When inside, we were invited to drum along. Shoes off with a drum in hand, all of us followed the leader's beat, while she chanted along. I wish I could have taken a picture of the shrine we were sitting in front of, but no cameras were allowed once you were in the room.





Below is a picture of the beautiful colors one of the several monk monasteries in Darjeeling. When we arrived, their prayer session had ended and a flood of boys ranging from about 7 - 25 years old, all in burgundy cloaks, flooded the level. Anup chatted with one of the boys in Hindi, and he explained to Anup that he had been there for 15 years, and it was the greatest decision he had ever made. This boy couldn't have been older than 20 years old. He lives (and will live the rest of his life) at the monastary, but is able to leave to visit his family at their home.




The Tibetan Refugee Self Help Camp was our last stop on Saturday. Here Anup played basketball with some of the teenagers while Gina and I were getting silly faces made at us by a 4 year girl.

This camp has helped Tibetan orphans to elders, and has trained over 1600 people in various crafts. The products that are made here are the center's main activity and all profits go towards the center. It was here that the 13th Dalai Lama spent his exile in India, between 1910 - 12.








Sunday morning, Gina convinced us all to wake up at 4am :) and make the trek to Tiger Hill. On Tiger Hill you are suppose to be able to see 4 out of the 5 tallest mountain peaks...on a clear day. We watched the sunrise over the mountains, with about 300 other people, and unfortunately, could not see the peaks. It was still fun, and I have to say, I've never really watched the sunrise before.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy Easter!

I'll be posting pictures soon from my Darjeeling trip. Summary: We explored monasteries, pagodas and tea fields, drank the best tea ever, and ate the most delicious Tibetan food.

Shopping at Shilparamam

Shilparamam is a large outdoor marketplace where people sell their homemade crafts and goods. You pay a fee of about 20 rupees (40 cents) to get in and there are rows and rows of craft booths, ranging from scarves from Kashmir India , Indian Saris, bangle jewelry to home goods such as pottery, statues and dishware.

Puppet show at Shilparamam

We visited Shilparamam last Saturday and were able to catch a performance of singers and musicians in the outdoor auditorium (pic below).

Ginger Chai Tea

I have a new found love...Ginger Chai Tea. There is a coffee/chai counter in the ground floor cafe here that you can special order from. Chai tea with milk and a little bit of sugar, steamed and frothed to perfection - so good! The proportions here are very small, so a large tea looks like a kiddie cup. I drink about 2-3/day :)

Driving in Hyderabad

Hyderabad is known for having crazy traffic. No one, and I mean no one, obeys traffic lanes, lights, signals, etc. The only signal used is the horn.

The little yellow cars are 'mini taxes.' It's also common to see a whole family of 4 riding on a moped.Kate, Gayatry and I went to Chutneys for lunch, which is a very popular vegetarian restaurant in Hyderabad. There are about three in the city. I had idli which has a cake-like texture, and is paired with different types of chutney. Idli is one of the top ten most healthiest foods in the world.

एंजेला शेरमेन

That's my name in Hindi. Want to see your name in Hindi? Visit www.translate.google.com to translate your name.

I'm Here!

Hi All!

Kate and I arrived in Hyderabad at 10:00 am Thursday morning. Our driver, Sayid, was waiting for us at the terminal and helped us with our luggage. The ride to the office took about 40 minutes and was quite the experience. The highlight was passing a herd of about 20 cows along the 'highway.'

Our apartment is really nice. Pics below. Kate and I are rooming with Gina, one of our coworkers from Ann Arbor.

I'm on Skype and Video chat if anyone wants to chat. My Skype name is angela_sherman, and in gchat it's acoleman129. There is a 9.5 hour difference (yes, Dad, a half hour difference is possible) so when it's 8am in Michigan, it's 5:30 here.

Read more about where that 'half hour different goes' HERE.