Neeralaya 1:39 AM

Once we finally made the long car drive from Fazilka to Manali, which took close to 10 hours I think, we pulled into our luxurious cottage stay!!! The small resort was called Neeralaya and was located at the edge of the owners apple orchid. It was a beautiful place, well located and really felt like a completely different place than the streets of Himachal. The layout of the place reminded me a lot of the cabin on Kenai lake. A small cabin, some gardens, and then the water, the place was great. We spent three nights before our trek.

one thing for sure, both Tinesh and I were ready to buy our own cottage as soon as we arrived, but they weren't for sale.

Delhi and Fazilka 9:22 AM

So to catch everyone up on our lives real quick Tamanna and I have both graduated from BYU last month.  We packed up all of our belongings into our small 1990 Honda accord and drove from SLC to Seattle, where we will both work for Microsoft starting in July.  Ok so currently we have a 2 month break so we decided to spend our 2 months in India this summer. The itinerary was to go visit family in Delhi, Fazilka, go backpacking in the himalayas, listen to Elder Holland in Delhi, then return to Goa. The next few posts will be some photos from the trip.

We stayed at Tamannas grandparent's house in Delhi which was nice. They were amazing people I had to start learning Hindi so that I could talk with them. By the end of our stay my Hindi was horrible but at least we converse with small phrases.  We took a train to Fazilka to meet tamannas other grandparents.  Fazilka is where Tamanna was born and is a small village in the state of Punjab on the Indian-Pakistan border. Tamannas grandparents were super nice and showed us around their farm. They also had a reverse hottub. It was a huge coldtub which felt amazing in the hot hot heat.  Fazilka was fun while it lasted. It was cool to see how the village remained a small town for all these years since tamannas youth. Themarket was the same and so were many of the places she remembered.
Here are some photos of these days:

The blessing of GSM 8:58 AM

For my birthday this year I asked for an Indian sim card with data on it so that for my 2 month vacation in India I could bring my unlocked cellphone either my Samsung Focus or Nexus One and have internet while there. What I didn't know was the cost.  I thought I'd post the costs to show everyone in America how expensive our data plans really are.
Airtel sim card: 50 rs = $1
2gb of data: 98 rs = $2

I love how its super cheap, compared to $30/month for 2gb.  The only network I have been able to connect to is an Edge network but if I remember when the iPhone first came out, all that was availble was Edge in alaska, so its not that bad. I really have enjoyed it though. I have been able to keep up on my emails and stay online of gtalk so now I have quick and easy communication with most of my friends and mother who loves knowing updates on how unsafe some of my adventures are.
Another huge advantage of having a data connection over here are maps. I don't feel lost ever or like I'm traveling out in the boonies. I just open up maps and I can see exactly where I am. Its great. Sometimes I have to even tell Tamanna how to get places cuz she doesn't even know. Maps is a great tool to have when in a foreign place.

Ok enough about me and my phone craze. I promise to get some cool pictures up of northern india because I have tons!!!