Last Post

These are the last pictures I have to share (they are a summary of the things I haven't posted about).  Also, the trip is over and I am back in the US :-)

The Hampi Trip, 4 days in a few pictures (all the monuments are between four and six hundred years old):

Farmers harvesting rice (all women).

Eight hundred steps up to Hanuman Temple, but worth it for the view.

Statue of Ganesh

Beautiful Engravings

What remains of a public bath.

Kate, Me, and Vania in front of a statue.

The city was razed to the ground in the 16th century (a lot of the temples survived).

What remains of the King's Palace.

Big chariot, small elephants.

Ahhh…. Good bye my shower...

And Goodbye to all the people I met and worked with this summer.

A small layover in London:

The White Tower of the Tower of London, and back to the US.

Two Weeks

Sorry for the long delay, but let me recap the last two weeks:

The weekend of June 21:

Dubare Forrest, Abe falls, and a Tibetan Settlement:

A river to cross...

with friends...

to see elephants being ridden 

                                                                           To see them eat

And finally to ride them :-)  (also those trunks are incredibly versatile.  And slimy)

Entrance to the Tibetan temple

Main Temple Outside

Inside

Disciples Mural

Other temple

More Buddhas

Waterfall

Sunday we attended a Nameday ceremony for one of our coworkers, which started as a gameshow complete with cameras and a host.

And then we had a traditional feast on a leaf.

Julien, Me, and Vania

That week we also went to the J.S.S Ayurvedic hospital to see how that kind of medical practice takes place.  The hospital itself is in a secluded peaceful place, with most of the facilities dedicated to restoring wellbeing (retreats for yoga, massage, meditation, purging).  But doctors were also diagnosing and giving herbal medicines to patients.

The Weekend of June 28th

Mysore Palace

St. Philomena's Cathedral (yes we're still in India, although the palace also had some British inspired architecture and was made of cast Iron painted to look like wood, since the old one burned down in like, half an hour)

Brindavan gardens behind the dam

Ditto.

Off to Hampi tomorrow, to bike through the ruins of Vijayanagara, ancient capital of the Vijayanagara Empire.