TSwift Review...

The rumors are true...she's terrible live. 

 The girl can sing, but she's no performer.

 If you're running out to buy your tickets for her upcoming world tour, save yourself a few bucks and listen instead on your Ipod. Sad, I know.

 The best part of the night: 12 year old Asian girls behind us yelling "Tay-la" every 10 minutes. It really was adorable. Oh, and I tried to count how many times she whipped her hair. In the first 3 songs, it was over 35 times.

 I then lost count.

xx,

Lauren

Tonight

Don't tell me she's terrible in concert.

I'm so excited!

xx,

Lauren

Do you remember...

When we went to Halong Bay in March of last year??

One of the junk boats sank last week killing 12 people. 

Supposedly, the boat sank in the middle of the night and the passengers had only 30-60 seconds to make it out. 

The 22 year old captain and 27 year old engineer were arrested Saturday on charges of violating water safety rules. 

I can't imagine the horror of waking up knowing your boat is going under. 

Lots of families to keep in your thoughts this week.

xx,

Lauren

The beginning of Udapiur

We finally made it to Udaipur. It was our longest journey (6.5 hour car ride), but so worth it. 

Udaipur was, by far, the most romantic city we visited. There are lakes all over the city, and has often been called "The Venice of the East". 

 I loved so many things about Udapiur: the charm of the busy streets, the  mountains that set the backdrop to the picturesque city, the quietness that could be found at an outdoor restaurant.

The Lake Palace Hotel sits in the center of Pichola Lake. The James Bond movie, "Octopussy" was filmed here (does that jog your memory?!?) At $1000 a night, we decided it was probably best to fore-go a night here. 

We visited a beautiful little garden.

 ...and got really excited about the green space and lack of people. 

 MP gets really annoyed when I ask him to jump, so this honestly is a labor of love  :)

We had dinner this night at Jagat Niwas Palace Hotel. You can see the Lake Palace in the distance. 

 A pretty cool hotel, huh?

We made our way home after dinner...saw some cows having a snack. 

*********************

The next morning we woke up to see peacocks walking the grounds of our hotel. 

 We made our way to Jagdish Temple, which was built in 1651. 

 The detail and precision of the carvings was pretty incredible.
(Quick quiz: will someone please tell me if the above sentence uses 'was' or 'were'.  The Phipps' are stumped). 

 We walked up the street a bit to get to the City Palace (yes, another City Palace). 

I can't wait to show you the City Palace and the rest of this charming city. 

xx,

Lauren

Jaipur

After the Taj, we were back in the car...5.5 hours to Jaipur. I literally felt like our entire Indian adventure was spent in a car, but it's just the way India works.

In between Agra and Jaipur we stopped to visit the Fatehpur Sikri. It's a fortified ghost city made of red sandstone and another one of the World Heritage Sites. 

  It used to be the capital of the Mughal Empire, but was later abandoned due to water shortage. 

 The Mosque is still in use, so people come to visit it and marvel at the sandstone. 

By this time, yes, I was getting a little "palaced" and "forted" out. Luckily, I had 5 more hours in the car to find more stamina :)

We saw some more interesting sights on the drive to Jaipur.

And walked through some of the bazaars once arriving.

Jaipur is known as the "Pink City", but don't let this name fool you into thinking its a quaint, quiet, pristine little town. Yes, the buildings are all painted pink, but Jaipur is overcrowded, polluted, and frustrating. It's full of bazaars and they sell everything from bangles and shoes to puppets and housewares.  

 After our 19th Indian dinner, we called  it a night. 

******************

The next morning we were up early to visit the Amber Fort.  

Most tourists ride elephants up to the top. As much as I wanted to do this, I couldn't. I read about how much these elephants suffer (sunburn, cracked feet, lack of water, and vitamin deficiencies) and couldn't put myself on its back. 

 It looked like a pretty cool way to enter the Fort though. 

The Fort was beautiful. 

 It was built in the late 1500s and used to be the capital of Jaipur. 

I could just imagine the pomp and circumstance that once occurred here. 

We left the Fort and made our way to the City Palace. 

 Don't you love this doorway?!? The detail was impeccable. 

 Lots of weddings are held at the City Palace. While we were there, they were taking down the previous nights fun. 

I was really over the palaces by this point.  

We opted for an Indian lunch here.

 Kinda dodgy looking, but delicious food!

 We took in the last few sights of Jaipur before getting back in the car. 

 (the cows are not friendly). 

 We're finally off to my favorite destination...

See you in Udaipur!

xx,

Lauren

(hang in there with me...only one more India post!)