Plan for the next week and this evening's fun

The next week is our tourist adventure.  The following week will be mostly consumed by shopping and Dhaval's wedding festivities.  Just to keep you guys up to date, we leave tomorrow morning for the airport and fly to Delhi.  From there we meet with our private driver/tour guide and drive straight to Agra (5 hours).  We will visit Taj Mahal and stay in Agra for one night.  The next morning we wake and drive to Jaipur (5 hours).  Apparently Jaipur is known for its palaces and we will spend two nights in Jaipur visiting as much as we can.  From there we are to drive from Jaipur to Delhi where we will spend two days exploring with our guide.  On Friday afternoon (the 13th!  My lucky day!!!  FOR REALS!!!) we fly back from Delhi and return to Dhaval's place in Surat.  I'm not sure what kind of internet access that I'll have while traveling over the next week so if you don't see any new posts that is why.  I'm doing a lot of writing in my head as we travel knowing that I want to provide as much detail as possible to all of you!

As many of you know, I'm a culinary tourist.  I firmly believe that one of the best ways to truly get to know a people and their culture and essence is by eating.  I can tell thus far that Indian people, my hosts in particular, are very generous.  There has been an endless supply of food and drink.  The coffee and tea are amazing!  They've also been making special accomodations for my dad as he is a diabetic (so is Dhaval's dad, coincidentally!).  Dinner tonight was sizzler plates at a chain-style restaurant.  The food was still delicious and it was my first taste of seafood.  We had fish, shrimp, and lobster that were delicious.  The funniest thing to me, though, is that they included french fries in the mix and it was a great surprise to bit into something that unexpectedly turned out to be a french fry covered in gravy!

I also tried Thumbs Up cola today.  It was described to me by Dhaval as "Coke but stronger".  This was a pretty accurate description.  It was definitely a tasty beverage.

It also looks like I've volunteered to try my hand at a choreographed dance at the wedding.  I'm not exactly a good dancer but I think I can give it a shot.  At the very least it should be a lot of fun, a true once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I'll be making a fool of myself in front of very few folks that I'm likely to see again!

That's all for now.  It's time for bed and travel tomorrow!