My India Pics

Here are some of my pictures from India. It’s such an amazing place, filled with the extremes of life: rich and poor, high-tech and low-tech, modern and ancient.

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	A colorful display of beans and vegetables in Old Delhi.
	Interesting people are all around.
	The women were especially beautiful!
	Some stunning sunset views.
	A typical scene of people on the street.
	These are women road workers. It looked like they were shifting rocks and being supervised by men. We saw lots of hardworking women in India.
	Women working in the fields in Rajasthan.
	Amber Fort.
	Amber Fort near Jaipur. Amber was a flourishing settlement in 967AD. This fort was build by Meena Raja Alan Singh in the 1600s. We rode on an elephant to get to the fort from the valley below.
	The journey to Amber Fort by elephant.
	This structure is part of King Akbar’s summer palace called Fatehpur Sikri. It was built in 1571. Later in history the water resources dried up and the fort had to be abandoned. This is typical Mughal architecture like the Taj Mahal which was built during the same time period and is located about 40 miles away.
	This was the restroom at Fatehpur Sikri. This was the entire bathroom. The sink was outside.
	Taj Mahal at sunset. Built in the mid 1600s by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan using materials from all over Asia and India. Along with white marble, jasper, jade, crystal, turquoise, lapis, sapphire and carnelian were used for inlay into the white marble. 1,000 elephants and 20,000 workers were needed to build the Taj Mahal which was built as a tomb for his beloved wife Mumtaz who was Shah Jahan’s third wife. Other wives are buried in outlying buildings.
	Grounds of the Taj Mahal, located in Agra city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The state is home to 185 million people. Only 5 countries in the world have a larger population than this state. Amazing!
	These guys were following our car down the street.
	Taxi.
	Agra Fort in the city of Agra. Built during the Mughal Empire. It has a view of the Taj Mahal.
	Tomb of Akbar’s son Humayun. For scale just see how small the cars are.
	Motorcycles are used as transport vehicles. I once saw a family of four riding on one. Imagine that!
	Believe it or not, the four large blue bags in the background on — you guessed it — a motorcycle!
	In India cows rule everywhere. In the street, in the city, and in the country.
	Dr. Yu Hsi from Taiwan. One of the top directors at the Congress of Poets. A student and teacher of Buddhism, and a very creative man.
	Some members from the Congress. I travelled to India with the lady in the middle of the picture who received an award for her book.
	Noriko Mizusaki with other participants in the Congress.
	This was our bus for the South India Temple Tour. I am in the left, near the back of the bus.
	This is a man who was on my bus. He is from Taiwan and writes under the pen name “Sweet Potato.” He didn’t speak any English but we enjoyed the journey just the same.
	More of the tour group, from Inner Mongolia and Taiwan.
	Thatched hut neighborhood used by millions in India. Well, there weren’t millions in this particular neighborhood, but the types of homes I saw all over India — both in the north and south countrysides.
	Tent cities where the less fortunate live. These things were hard to look at. There is much poverty in India…
	Downtown.
	More scenes of downtown. People travel pretty much anywhere they can fit.
	Camels were used for towing carts too.
	At a Hindu temple in Chidambaram called Nataraja Temple. The temple sits on 40 acres andis dedicated to the Lord Shiva represented as the Cosmic dancer of bliss. Parts of the temple date back to the 2nd century A.D. Now that’s OLD. The 2 shirtless gentelmen are Hindu priests. We witnessed a temple ritual.
	Part of Nataraja Temple.
	This is the entrance to the Brihadeeshwara Temple. Built around 1000 A.D. it was originally built by a Chola ruler named Rajaraja. The temple was originally called Rajarajesvaram but then later changed to Brihadeeshwara.
	These were street vendors outside the Brihadeeshwara temple.
	At the temple entrance.
	One of the porters at the hotel. Very colorful uniforms!