children may have lice

We are staying in a giant hotel that is like a an osasis in a desert. Literally we are in a desert. I have never seen so many camel toes before. CAMELS EVERYWHERE. We went on 2 safaris today and did not see any tigers which is a major bummer. The last safari I had was with the school children we met with yesterday. It was depressing that we could not see a tiger with them. But this did not stop them from crawling all over us. I am pretty positive I either have lice or a parasite. The children were awesome though. We could not understand eachother in the least bit but we all had a good laughe and I am pretty positive they enjoyed their time in the park. Tomorrow we are waking upat 5 am and getting on a train to Delhi at 7am to 1pm then we will shop and have our last supper together. I do not want to leave India at all and if I felt safe enough alone here I would stay untill August when my Visa runs out. But anyways I will arrive in the US at 10am/ish on Tuesday morning. Untill then me and the rest of the group will be drinking King Fishers (Indian Beer AKA The King of Good Times). See you soon!

tigers

So, wewent to Badhavgarh national park for tigers for 2 days and had jeep and elephant safaris. It was awesome and I saw my first wild tiger. They are breath taking. We then rode up to the tiger via elephant so we could get really close... about 3 feet away and it snarled at us ect... The next day we were driving in the jeep on a safari, where you have a driver and a naturalist to identify wildlife anyways, we drove up right on a tiger and tghe naturalist screamed tiger and we all went flying everywhere and there was a tiger literally 2 feet away and really pissed. Then we took a train into Agra to see the Taj. When I say train I mean and Indian sleeper train. Not very plesant I would compar it to jail. Then when we gotr to Agra we went to see the Taj at sunrise which was pretty awesome the Taj is like nothing anyone has ever seen or built before I have about 30000 photos of it. When then went to the rted fort which is insane bla bla bla. Then we went to a national bird park in Jaipur whichwas incredible and semi-boring because it was a bunch of birds. Jaipur is an awesome city though it is called the "pink city" which turned out to be more of a red/orange color. India is pretty behiond onn the whole internet thing one city we were in told us the connection was down in the whole town. ridiculous. We slept on the roof of a hotel which was a fantastic idea untill we all woke up with bed bug bites and mosquito bites. I have seen lots of hoprrible things like beggers with no limbs, deformities and the dirtiest childeren you could phathom. Right now we are in the Rathambore national park which has 40 tigers and today one l;eft the park and attacked 3 people in town and may be killed or taken to a zoo. Its pretty sad. We are in a desert with camels everywhere which is so fun. Today we met with a bunch of school childeren inthe area and ate lunch with them gave them books, supplies ect and taught them about tigers and why conservation is important. The lunch we got was pretty ethnic and by that I mean served by using hands and out of a bucket. It was odd but we all ate it. I bought soo many pairs of ridiculous pants I look like alladin. We saw a tiger drinking really close up today next to ancient ruins it was crazy my tiger count is at 5. I dont want to leave.

experiences

Went to a bar last night where Kate and I sang with a guy ina turbin to Country Roads by John Denver. It was awesome. The bar was a Bennigans, which was odd. When we walked in the final count down was playing. It was awesome. Kate opened a beer with her ring and the bartender looked at her like she was a whore. great. By the way the main type of Indian car here is the TaTa.... which has been the source of many jokes, I am sure you can imagine the hilarity which insues..... "We cut off a TaTa".... "Wow, what a huge TaTa."....ect. ok that is all I am off to walk around Delhi.... Ps. I woke up to the Muslims call to prayer being projected via huge load speakers all over the city.... it was a little surreal/scary...

byeeeeee

I love India.

Sooo..... almost got in another car wreck today. The driver of the car literally curled into the fetal position and the tires squeled and everything, it was priceless. Don't worry though for the rest of the trip we will be using trains and not cars. Yesterday we went on a jeep safari and saw some deer, wild elephants, crocodiles (the really rare ones with the skinny snout), hawks, voltures (endangered), boar ect. We then spent the night at a safari lodge type deal. It was insane looking off the porch and seeing wild elephants. This morning we took an elephant safari to find a tiger.... we never found him and it was a let down but the 3 hours on the elephant were pretty sweet. I like India more and more everyday but the country is way over populated. I keep forgetting where I am then I look out the window and realize I am in a village that has about a million people all over the road/market place.... Today we are in New Delhi. It is very nice at our hotel, Debbie would appreciate that. I tried the fries at McDonalds, and suprisingly they are exactly the same. We had our first American meal tonight at a Pizza Hut. Besides that we have been eating all vegetarian and all spicy Indian food, which is good and all but after a while gets old. I have yet to get sick still. knock on wood. Tommorow we are exploring Delhi and going to Badhughgard via train. There we are going on tiger safaris. They said it is 99% that we will see one so I am pretty pumped. I am having a blast. I will try to write soon but I dont know how my internet access will be. At the last hotel we didnt even have power. Today was my first hot shower since the first night.... a week ago. seee yaaa
-AB

GREETINGS FROM INDIA!

Hello all,

I do not know where to begin so I will give you an overview of what I have been up to.
First day after my 14 hour flight from NJ I arrived in delhi. What a culture shock! The first thing I saw in the city was a man with an AK47 on the street. The driving here is abosulutely insane. We got in a small car accident the second day I was here! I love India though it is truly beautiful. I have yet to get sick at all and I love the food and not eating any meat feels great. There are animals everywhere, especially cows. I went to the Ganges... the huge river from the Himilayas. We spent a couple days in the mountains which was beautiful. I went rock climbing there which was really odd and intense. The next day we white water rafted the Ganges which was ridiculous. It was fantastic though. We rafted to Rishikesh which is a very holy city and there were TONS of buddhist munks that were high as kites. Today we celebrated Holi day which is celebrated by throwing colors all over each other and drinking. It took me about 30 minutes to get my hair back to the regular color... crazy times. I also made a best friend today named Ladili which means lovely, who is a GIANT female elephant and happens to live 50 yards from my room at this safari hotel place we are staying at. I love her and rode her today into town. I also give her bowls and bowls of deserts and she LOVES me, I tried to buy her.... sorry mom. She is 38 but no big deal. We are about to go into the jungle? I think for a walk? We are staying in a national park. I love it here, everything is very cheap. I peed in a hole. I am taking tons of pictures too. It is very refreshing being here, everyone is soo poor and sooo happy. The childeren are really cute and I may steal one. I hope that is OK mom. So, chances are I will bring back and elephant or a child.
love you and miss you all.... kind of.

-Amanda-Brooke

Places I will stay. (Apparently the American dollar is still strong in India!!

This is just the first week. 

Delhi, Silver Ferns- 1 night

Bandhavgarh Jungle Lodge- 2 nights

Bharatpur, Laxmi Vilas Palace- 1 night

This is not a joke, we are actually staying here! Needless to say they knew a Hanlon was coming.

Jaipur, Alsisar haveli- 1 night wow

Ranthambore, Nahargarh Fort- 3 nights This is going to be incredible.

Taj at sunset/channel of water I intend to swim in