Christmas in September (OUR STUFF IS HERE!!!)

We packed our shipment for India way back in July. We decided not to take too much - no furniture and very little household goods. Just the essentials, like 250lbs of scrapbook stuff!! and food, lots of food. This shows it all wrapped and labeled and ready to go.

We arrived in India to discover we were very unprepared, and very bored, and very hungry. And very anxious for our stuff to arrive. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, after many delays, the call came - we could go to customs to clear our shipment. Of course, the relocation company would do it for us, but I didn't like the idea of them keeping Randy's passport for several days, so we went to do it ourselves. They made me leave my camera in the car, so I don't have photos, but it was an interesting place - shipping containers as far as you could see, from all over and filled with everything you can think of. We followed the guy here, then there, then sat for awhile, then followed him here to have someone else look at the packing list and his passport, then there, then sit for awhile, then someone else looks over the list (getting the picture?) etc etc. It was actually way faster than we had been led to believe - maybe because we were there personally. Anyway; we finally went out to a container in the blazing sun and opened it up to see.... it was not our stuff. Oh yes, our crates are behind that one. So back inside we go to wait. Then we go out to try again, and THERE THEY ARE!!!! so close, and yet so far. They open one huge box (it had all fit in 3 containers, one giant cardboard thing like a pumpkin box at home (fits on a pallet, you know?) and 2 wooden boxes with metal bands around) and asked where was the computer (how should we know, it looked nothing like this when it left our house!) then tried to open the other one but of course, this is India so no one had tinsnips and it was about 120° in the container so they gave up. haha. So we paid a few dollars duty on the computer and left. YAY!! so now it will be delivered, right? well..... it was not the 2 days they said it would be, but it was a day earlier than we expected. They called Sunday morning to say it was coming and we did not tell the kids. When they came to the gate we were coming out of our skin we were so excited, but of course, nothing is simple and the guys weren't here to unload it so they parked the truck outside the house and LEFT!!!

I nearly broke into the truck - so close and yet so far!

Finally I decided to shower, and of course, they arrived as soon as I was in the shower. Oh were we all excited!!

They unloaded it into the house and would have put it right into the cupboards if we had wanted them to. We were very excited to see the piano, the karaoke, Sam to get her stereo, etc etc. When I started to unload the kitchen boxes I thought I might cry when those batter bowls came out of the box :) I had forgotten what I packed!! and I was not as clueless as I thought. I coul d have spared myself some trouble if I had remembered I took photos of all the kitchen stuff I packed! Only had to look to see what was coming. But then, that would have taken some of the magic out of opening those boxes!

I asked the kids what they were most excited about - Sam said her stereo, karaoke and cereal, Alex said the piano and computer, and real food, for Isaac it was his nerf gun, computer and RC car, Miranda said her Polly Pocket stuff and her Cabbage Patch Kid Erika. For Randy, karaoke machine, and for me, batter bowls, bacon bits and FOOD!!

Being excited about the karaoke was short-lived - we checked the back and were thrilled to discover it would operate on 220 power, since our transformers weren't here yet, and plugged it in. Hmmmm, doesn't seem quite right. Oops, there is a power source switch. And there is not a karaoke machine anymore. Nooooooooo!!!!!
Look, 15 pounds of chocolate!

We just might live :)

Neemrana, Part II the Camel cart ride

We arranged at the hotel to take a camel cart the 2 miles out to the step well. We didn't know what a step well was, but it is over 300 years old, so it deserves a look. There was enough of us to need two carts, with the Cutlers, us and another family, the Jordans, that the Cutlers had also invited.
The carts do not have springs of any kind, but they are padded well with blankets. Good thing, too, because the roads are VERY rough and potholed. This is the stunning view from the cart. OK perhaps stunning is not the right word!

We had to take the road thru the village, and we were really like a freak show parade! They stared

at us and we stared back. Sometimes the kids would come out of the buildings to stare closer, or even wave. I was interested in the machines that were being used to pound tin. The step well was really interesting. The point of it was to make the water easily accessible, no matter how high or low the level. It was dug sometime in the 1700s, but the water is VERY low now. Some guys that showed up there at the well were telling us all about it (then later inviting us to stop at their silver store near the hotel on the way back! I tell you, when it comes to selling something, these people never miss a trick!) and explained that the drain on the water table is so much more now, with developement and building, that this well just doesn't fill up anymore. It was a very long way down... Alex counted 118 steps and we didn't go all the way. Our guides told us it was 80 metres deep (that is about 240 feet).

Keep in mind as you look at these photos that the majority of this structure is below ground level. I can't believe I didn't take a photo from the top so you could see how it looked. The top level you see is a series of small three-sided rooms that were for travellers to stay in. They would hang a blanket over the opening for privacy. There is not much to see until you get to the edge and look down at all these stairs. We walked down to a main level then decided that was far enough down - we held the camera out over the edge because it didn't feel very safe and leaning over seemed like a bad plan - then walked around to the far side to see the regular round-hole well that was dug at the back edge.
Loading up to go back - we started getting braver with the camels. Here is Alex getting close.
The "guides" also told us that that domed thing behind Alex used to be the end of a tunnel that ran from the fort to the well, as an option if the fort was attacked or under seige.
We got a fairly good view of the fort on the way back - the photo would have been better if I had been a bit taller. A camel cart on a bumpy road is not a good place to stand up for a better angle.
Here is Rich Cutler, chasing the cart! One of his kids dropped a shoe. We all laughed :)

Camels are not graceful or attractive. These ones had a stick thru their nose for steering, and if the driver thought he wasn't moving fast enough he used a thick wooden rod to beat him on the rump. And I mean a THICK rod! They must be tough. They don't move fast. We didn't see any biting or spitting .Isaac really wasn't interested in getting very close to this camel. I wanted him to hold the rope but that was not going to happen!

It was hot. It was interesting. We had fun. :)

Neemrana Fort Hotel

Our very first Sunday in India, we went to Delhi for Church and no one was there. Hmmm. Turns out there was a big conference that day at a hotel. While there we discovered that the branches had split and there was now 3 in Delhi and the people that Randy had met that we should have attended meetings with were now all in the other branch. Rats. BUT, everyone was super nice to us anyway, introducing themselves and welcoming us, and Rich and Merinda Cutler even invited us for dinner that very day! They are a fun family with 3 little boys (including an Isaac) and we loved having spaghetti with them. Merinda organizes the Delhi LDS Expats online newsletter, and is always organizing ways for us ExPats to get together. OK that is a long intro, but there is a purpose - Merinda called us in late September and said they were going to Neemrana overnight and did we want to come? We knew nothing but it sounded good, so the first weekend of October we headed west. The road our driver knew about was closed so we arrived late and in the dark and only could really see the NARROW, twisty, steep road thru the little town to get up to the fort, which is now a hotel.

We discovered that the hotel is very confusing, and that the dessert buffet had mango ice cream (YUM) and then we found our room. I had booked a room with 2 queen beds then we thought we would order a cot for Sam, but it turns out, the second bed was PLENTY large enough!!

There was music and dancing in one courtyard, so we went to check it out, and Sam found herself dancing with the little girl! The music was provided by this guy and a kid playing some sort of drum.

In the morning we explored the fort - built in the 15th century - and took the self-guided tour with an IPod recording that walks you around the fort and points out all the features. Randy and I shared one player because we are cheap, but trying to listen to the directions and walk up steep stairs and thru tiny doorways was kinda hard when you are attached by one pair of earphones!

Can you see the Cutlers at the bottom of this hill?? Rich is in blue and Merinda in peach.

Our room was just a few steps from the pool. The rooms all had names that ended in Mahal, which means palace. Ours was the Van Mahal.

If you look closely, you can see where the fort is being rebuilt or constucted. Being built up the side of the hill would have really helped keep people out - coming over the top would not be easy but you could easily be seen from the turrets. The fort was for sale for a long time and was finally purchased for some ridiculously tiny sum - $25,000 or something like that - renovated to have plumbing and electricity and it opened with just 14 rooms. Now it has about 38 rooms, located all over the fort, (one even in a turret) and can be rented out for weddings or conventions. It feels very private because all the rooms are tucked around corners and thru passageways and up stairs etc. It was really very cool. Not cheap, but even Randy said he loved it! (ok maybe "loved" is too strong - he probably said it was really neat). We also went for a Camel Cart ride out to a step-well (see the next blog for that - I had too many photos!!) then we spent some time in the gorgeous pool.

I am not sure what Sam is doing here.... drinking like a camel, perhaps??makes for a good photo, tho!

I am amazed (both here in India and also when we were in Mexico) at how casually these amazing structures are treated. No government protection as heritage sites, no safety features for visitors, no wheelchair accessibility (HA to that - you should see the STEEP cobblestone ramp just inside that huge front gate to get into the hotel - you'd have to be Hercules to get a wheelchair up that hill!), no rules about tearing parts down or building new parts on, no environmental consideration, no nothing. If a private party had not bought this and fixed it up for a hotel, it would have fallen completely down or been destroyed by people stealing the stones. On the other hand, if this was the US, no way would you be allowed to sleep there, or maybe even enter - there isn't a safety rail anywhere, even when the edge is only a few inches and the drop is hundreds of feet. No way could you wander unattended all over the fort, checking out all the little nooks and crannys, and no way would you be allowed to climb on the fallen down parts! So, there is that.