The Taj Mahal

Just spent the morning at the Taj Mahal. It was truly amazing. It is such an amazing and huge solid marble building. The detail in all the stone work is hard to appreciate unless you are standing up close to it. I got there at 6am with Mark and Adele the Aussies I met on the safari. We wanted to get in at 6:30 when it opens to beat the heat and the massive tour business that were pulling up when we left at 9. I can't imagine how they much money they make. They charge 750 INR which is about $15 USD and there is lines of people waiting to get in from three different entrances. I am all for Indian locals paying less but they only pay 25 INR for the Taj talk about them ripping off the tourist. And the bad thing is, there is no in and outs, and you can only bring in one bottle of water and no food, an they don't sell any inside. I would have liked to go back in the evening but I am not paying another 750 INR.

Sorry no pics, this Internet cafe has blocked all the USB slots. Hopefully I will be able to post a few soon. I love and miss you all.

In Agra Taj Mahal here I come

Well I was off the grid for a few days in Ranthambhore National Park. I was a very small village Sawai Madhopur that didn't have an Internet that actually worked. I was a very mellow place but after a day and a half I was bored. I did go on a Safari were I was hoping to see a Tiger but I had no luck. I did see a lot of other cool animals. Tons of deer and Peacocks, Antelope, Gazelle, Crocadiles 1 Leopard a hundreds yards away and they have 600 specias of birds so that was cool. I was bummed at not seeing the Tiger but the Park was beautiful.

I was supposed to be on a night train to Agra but I was getting bored and the Aussies I meet were leaving at 9am. I decided to try and catch the same train. Which I did but was on the loest class avaliblr, it was ghetto. there is about 200 seats but they sell 400 I was packed in like a sardine and had to stand the whole ride which was about 4 hours. I was right next to the bathroom and a kid just pissed on the wall next to me when all the bathrooms were full. All in all I was safe just a little cramped. I'm sure you all thatnk I am crazy. Oh I did manage to get a seat after 2.5 hours standing. I think the ticket checker felt bad and got me a seat in the class up for the last 1.5 hours. I would have been fine but it was nice to have a seat.

I am in Agra now. I am going to go see the Taj Mahal in the morning with a Aussie couple I meet on the Safari. I can see it in the distance and it's huge. I am excited to see it. Tomorrow night I am on a night train to Varanasi so I might not do a post tomorrow.

Thanks for all your comments. I love and miss you all.

Safe in India

Jason

Celebreiting Holi

Today was a Indian holiday called Holi festival, the celebrate by running crazy through the streets and partying hard, they put colored powders all over each other. It's a lot of fun. I only brought two sets of clothing so I purchased a set of traditional India wear. All the stores were closed today so I had a rickshaw driver take me to his friends house / shop to get me fitted. It cost 250 Rupees $5 dollars which was a little expensive but that was the only option. I head back to the room and got changed.

I was planing on just wandering the streets, but as I was leaving the hotel a family was jumping in a car and I could tell by there dress that they were going out to celebrate and get colored. I asked these complete strangers if I could go with them and they said jump in. It ended up being a Italian family that is living in Delhi for work, Georgeo is a archaeologist looking for oil in India, his with was Paolo and son Lorenzo. We head to the center of the pink city were the partying was in full force, in a matter of minutes we were fully colored it was a ton of fun the locals would come up and cover you in powder waiting for you to do the same in return. The people were having so much fun. After about an hour we head back to the hotel to pick up to of there friends which ended up being from the bay area. We had a quick snack the back to the fun. We went to one of the Italian's friends store which had a balcony overlooking the street were we watched the crowds get crazy as they got drunk. The cops were taking no shit we saw one guy gat a baton broken over his head for trying to color a cop, not a smart thing. After an hour of hanging out we went back to the streets. The locals were having so much fun they keep trying to get me to drink there moonshine. After another hour of running through the streets the Italian's had to head back to Delhi for work and school in the morning. I am so glad I jumped in there car it was a great experience. Rob and Dennise from Marin and I went back to the hotel to have a snack and relax. It was such a fun day.

I'm catching a train to Ranthambhore National park tomorrow to go on a tiger safari. Check back for all the cool pics. Hopefully I will see some tigers theirs no guarantee.

Delhi to Jaipur

Today I woke up bright and early and caught the 6:05 train to Jaipur, it was about 5 hour ride but the time flew talking to a few locals I met on the train. When I got to Jaipur I tried to walk to my hotel but I got myself all turned around and was lost, well not really but none of the maps I have are to scale and they don't have all the streets only the min ones so it's easy to make a wrong turn. I ending up just jumping on a rickshaw and he got me here.

After I checked it I checked out a few of the cites the City palace and a few of the gates. I cut the sightseeing short to attend the annual Holi Elephant festival. It was worth it. They put a lot of effort in to making these elephants up. A fret that I went back to the hotel had dinner then here I am.

Tomorrow is Holi a Holiday in India so all the tourist spots are closed. It sucks cause I am not going to see the Amberfort which is the main attraction in Jaipur. Oh well. I'll try and do a post tomorrow. Hopefuly I can get some rest tonight. I am beat.

Walking Delhi

Well today I decided to just explore Delhi on foot. I started by walking to the huge round about and bazzar shopping mecca of Connaught it is amazing how many shops there can be in a small area. After crusing the Bazzar I decided to keep walking to India Gate which is a huge arch memorial for the 90,000 Indian solders that lost there lives in world war 1. It's an impresive.

After India Gate I kept walking to Humayun's Tomb which is a series of temples and tomb's mixed with a lush flowers and lawn. The whole are was built in the 16th century by the same guy that built the Taj, the detail in all the stone work is amazing.

After a few hours of admiring and taking a lot of pictures I decided to start heading back towards Connaught. It was 100 times busier than we I walked through in the morning. I strolled back towards the hotel and stopped by the train station to check it out since I have a 6:05 AM train to Jaipur. The station was crazy busy. I eventuly made it back to my room to relaxe a little before I went out to dinner. For dinner I went to a India resturant, don't laugh in this are there is any kinda food you could want. I had a huge Masala Dosa and a diet coke for $1.50 which wasn't a cheap resturant. You gota love the prices. Well I am of to relaxe and get ready for bed. I shuold be able to do another post tomorrow, check back.

Safe in Delhi

Just wanted to let evreyone know I am finally in Delhi. I arrived at about 11:oo last night and by the time I got to the hotel it was past midnight. I am staying at the Smyle Inn it's very basic but not bad it is only $8 and comes with breakfast and free internet. I haven't seen much yet I just ate breakfast, so I'm going to see what's out there. Check back I'm going to try and update daily. I love and miss you all.

Jason is off to India!!!!!!

Wow I can't believe that I'm packing for a solo trip to India. I have always dreamed of seeing the sights and culture of India, and it's about to come true. I fly out of Reno tomorrow at 6:00am and 28 hours latter I will be landing in New Delhi. I will be crossing the upper part of Indian by train planning on stopping in Jaipur, Ranthambhore National park and Tiger reserve, Agra and the Taj Mahal, Varanasi and the Ganges river, Shimla and the Himalayan foothills, and many other stops along the way.

With my trip to Nepal last year it helped me prepare for India, but I'm sure there will be somethings that catch me off gourd. The tough part with going to 3rd world countries is all the poverty. It can be sad for us in the USA to see some of the worlds worst issues through our own eyes. I always go with a open mind, and it makes me appreciate all the wonderful things I have when I return.

I will try to update my blog every day, so please check back often, there might be a few places were I can't us the Internet so don't freak out if I don't update for a few days.

Danielle is not going on this trip, she is busy writing her thesis to finish here Masters this summer. She also doesn't have much interest with India. I love her with all my heart and appreciate all she does for me, and for her putting up with my travel bug, she's the best. I haven't even left yet and I already miss her.

Please check back often I will be thinking of all of you.

Safe travels

Jason

Danielle's Joint Removal

So, this is the best picture I could find to illustrate what they did to my collarbone during surgery. Basically, they removed the end of the clavicle and a false joint will eventually grow in. As of right now, there is about an inch gap. They also removed several spurs, which was causing catching in the joint.

Danielle's Stitches are Gone!

Other than a lot of bruising down my bicep, all I have left are tiny little scars. Friday, the doc took the stitches out and took some post-op x-rays to make sure everything was A-OK. Finally, I can take a shower without having to cover these things in saran-wrap!

Pics from Danielle's Surgery

From 2009-03 (Mar)

From 2009-03 (Mar)

I thought that I would update everyone on my progress since the surgery. I am doing really well with physical therapy. I still have some pain in the collarbone area, but it is tolerable. So basically, these pics show everything that they did in surgery, which consists of cleaning up a lot of fraying. Lucky for me, there was no complete tearing. Just about everything was frayed - bicep tendon, labrum, rotator cuff, soft tissue, etc. When I separated my shoulder it also destroyed the AC joint. To resolve this problem, they cut out part of my clavicle. I'll post another pic of what that x-ray looks like in another post. Thank you all for your well wishes. Enjoy looking at these pics, unless you have a weak stomach!

Grandma Margret's 85th B-Day

Happy 85th Birth Day Grandma Margret. Today was her Birth Day and Ginger and Janet decided to throw her a small party at there house. It was great to get us all together for my Grandma she loved it. Danny was nice enough to drive my sis up from the Bay so she could come to the party, we didn't tell grandma they were coming and she was really excited to see them. Ginger and Janet made a great dinner a desserts.

It was Danielle's first day out and she did good. She crashed when we got home though. Her shoulder is healing but it's going to be a slow recovery, she already started physical therapy yesterday, she is going every third day for the first few weeks. I'll keep you updated on her progress.

Danielle's Surgery Went Well

Just wanted to let you all know that today Danielle had right shoulder surgery, for the people that know all the medical terms they preformed a shoulder arthroscopic sub-acromial decompression, distal clavicle resection, superior labrum anterior posterior repair?

Most of that is all Greek to me but things went well. The surgeon said that her shoulder wasn't as bad as they thought so it will be a quicker recovery, he said she should be back at softball in 3 months. The doctor said she didn't have a slap tear but a torn bicep and a little fraying in the labrum that they cleaned up, and lots of bone spurs and artherites in the distal clavicle that they shaved down and cleaned up. She is still out of it from the anesthesia and the pain meds but is well on her way to a fixed wing.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines day to all the ones I Love.

Las Vegas SIA Ski and Snowboard Show

Last week was the SIA Ski and Snowboard trade show in Las Vegas. I landed in Reno from Aspen Sunday night and 16 hours later I was boarding my flight to Vegas. With the combination of the last two weeks I am beat. This is the last SIA in Vegas, it's moving to Denver in 2010 so everyone wanted to go out with a bang. I am going to hit on the highlights of the week. The show it's self was nothing special, the ski side was so quiet you could hear the crickets, as you moved towards the snowboards it got progressively louder, until you were in a full dance party at the Skullcandy both.

The night life was off the hook. The best night we started of with a party in a suite at the Hard Rock with Gene Simmons introducing his line money bag. I'm not into Kiss or Gene but the media and the crowd was crazy, it's amazing how girls go flock for an old rock star. After a few hours at the Hard Rock we were of to Hofbräuhaus for dinner with the Burton crew. At first I was skeptical about going to the Hofbräu, but we had a lot of fun and a good dinner, the beers were huge the crew was drunk by the time we left.

After dinner we took a party bus to the Palms were we went see Snoop Dogg, Mix Master Mike and Super Natural opened. It was a great show. Skullcandy was putting on the show and they hooked Porters Tahoe up with VIP passes which got us in Rain with out waiting in the line, that was a few 1000 deep, an open bar and the VIP level, which had great unobstructed views of the stage. Super Natural started the show with his insane freestyling followed by a sick mix session by Mix Master Mike that got the club hyped up for Snoop Dogg. Snoop didn't start until about 1:15 am, he performed for about 40 minutes and the crowed loved it. He sang about 7 songs which were all hits Gin and Juice was the best.

After the show some went to bed, but most kept partying at the Hard Rock round bar until the sun came up. This being the last year for SIA in Vegas Skullcandy helped take it out with a bang. I'm going to miss this show. R.I.P SIA Vegas.