India

Here was our last SUPER girls trip. 4500 km in 4 days... What a great time. We flew into New Delhi and spent the night at a bed and breakfast just outside of the city. Next morning we were picked up by our drive Jatin who stayed with us the whole trip. He totally made the trip what it was. We drove the 2 lane "highway" to Agra where we went to the Taj Mahal! How amazing. This palace is so much better in person than any picture I have ever seen. We made our way to the main gate on a camel! Yes, a camel ride to the Taj! That night we sat on the balcony the Oberoi Hotel overlooking the Taj. Great night with great friends, eventhough I got at least 500 bites from some little animal that itched like you know what and made me look like I had a serious, contagious, gross skin disorder. Next day we hit the Red Fort, early in the morning so there was hardly anybody there. Beautiful and peaceful! We continued our adventure with a drive to Jaipur. The Pink City as they call it. There is a school here where we were going to bring all the school supplies we brought. Its a school for street kids. They come for the whole day, get a free meal and they can shower there too. They teach them crafts that is sold to tourist. We bought a bunch of jewerly and bags. That night we shopped for carpets and actually bought 5! We spent the night in a wonderful little hotel. Next morning we toured some old forts and we spent that night doing more carpet shopping. Our last day we left early to make the drive to Delhi. We toured the imported things and spent the last hours shopping at local markets and bazars. Another great trip.

First morning in Delhi...

Kids of the staff at the Bed and Breakfast

Christi, me, Kim, Anne our host and Cari

Street girl sticking her face in the car to beg
Camel ride to the Taj Mahal

First view

Sitting on the Diana Bench

Pushy street vendor getting into the car to sell something

Taj from the Red Fort
Elephant ride in Jaipur
Fatehpur Sikri

Had to be covered up by either a scarf or a little plastic "hat"/french fry basket

Shopping for carpets and tapestry

Everywhere we went they destroyed the store for us. So friendly and helpful, just wanting to make a sale. First they offer Chai though! We did not drink any as we were worried about getting Delhi Belly!

Snake Charmer

Carpet weaving lesson 1

Street vendor

Loading the car back up...

Happy luggage, barely made the weight limit

Phuket

We went to Phuket for Springbreak. We had so much fun. It felt like we really had to "make the most of it" as this is our last Asian Family Vacation. The end of August we will be returning to the US after another summer in Europe.

Hermit Crab

Going surfing

Hotel pool

Taking the Hobie Cat out to sea

Spending the day on Khai Nok, feeding fish, snorkling and relaxing. A beautiful little island, soft white sand, emerald green clear water with cute tropical fish. What a day!
In taxi on the way back from Patong Beach. 2 tired kids and an ipod.
Trapeze lessons. No fear!
Wants to do everything his sister does!
And can do most everything his sister does

Our last night!

March 2007, First trip to Phuket