Weekends at Rising Star Outreach

Weekends here at Rising Star are tons of fun.

We went to a beach town called Momallapuram, on my first weekend here and as you can see from the picture above I saved the entire town from a gigantic rock sliding down the hillside.

Ok... maybe that rock has always been there and will never budge.  The English empire tried to pull it down  with 9 elephants and it didn't even move.  I think the locals call the slope with the rock a butter bowl.

We saw ancient ruins of a Hindu temple up along a hill that overlooks the city. Where I found my inner peace and saw tons of mountain goats all over the place.

We then hit up an awesome beach resort, where we swam in the Bay of Bengal.  It was warm, refreshing and very salty. I am sure that water had healing effects.  We then jumped into the perfectly blue resort pool to rinse off whatever might have been in that ocean water.

The second weekend was our Delhi and Agra trip. On Friday we took a two hour bus ride to the airport and then another 2 hour flight to Delhi.  We met our tour guide at the airport and loaded into a 15 seater bus. The Monsoon season started the day we arrived in Delhi so we got to experience a beautifully wet Indian tour.

We first got take a bicycle rickshaw ride through Old Delhi.

Seeing Hindu Temples, Gein Temples, Muslim Mosques and even a McDonald's

Markets of every kind including the famous Old Delhi Spice Market most of which in the rain.

After a nice visit in Delhi and some food we took a 6 hour bus trip to Agra where our 5 star Hotel and the Taj Mahal resides.  Early Saturday we ventured out to the Taj Mahal, the "Palace of Jewels." It was breathtaking to say the least.  Our tour guide explained that the Taj Mahal, is monument for a true Indian love story.

This mausoleum was built by a Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal when she died in 1632.  The Taj Mahal is perfectly symmetrical, except for the tomb of the Emperor himself since he had planned to build a black Taj Mahal across the river but was imprisoned by his ruthless son at the Agra fort. The Taj Mahal took 22 years to complete and is made with the highest grade white marble which is as hard as iron and decorated with fitted jewels and precious stones like onyx.

After getting inside and checking out the porch around the Taj Mahal the monsoon hit again and we ended up dancing in the rain at the Taj Mahal.  After wards we headed over to the Agra fort that served as both a Palace for the Mughal empire and a military compound.  It was here that Shah Jahan was imprisoned until the end of his life in a tower that he could see the Taj Mahal from a distance but never again enter until his death.  The Fort had a legit moat with crocodiles, then surrounded by lions and the emperor's army: talk about security.

It was incredible to see the Glory of India up close and personal.  The next day as we headed back to Delhi we stopped along the way to ride an elephant.  What a great way to end a magnificent weekend.