Letter 60 End of our India Trip.

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                                                                                                                                 Shanti  Wilson,

                                                                                                                                 New Lynn,

                                                                                                                                 West Auckland,

                                                                                                                                 New Zealand.

Joseph Kour

The Game Reserve,

Rayalseema,

Andhra Pradesh,

India. 

Hi Joseph & Lizamoa,

            Now things are moving so very fast. I know you will be on your way to New Zealand soon since things are now sorted in Wellington. It will be good to have you here with us.

            Don’t worry about staying with us. We want to have you stay with us. I understand that it is hard finding a house and getting set up in a new country and so we want you to stay with us until you get everything sorted out.

            Also, don’t worry about you mother. We will make her feel welcome too. I am sure once she settles in she will like New Zealand very much. I talked with my mother about her and she will be happy to show her around and help as well so your mum will have a friend more her own age.           

            Now to our adventures while we were in India. It looks like I get to tell the rest of our story about our travels through your wonderful country.

            After our relaxing stay in Ooty, we then travelled to what must have been one of the more unusual places in which we stayed. We took an overnight cruise through the Kerala Backwaters on a house boat. This boat was large enough to sleep all of us and was manned by a crew of two men and two women. They worked the boat and also took care of our meals etc.

            This is an area of connecting backwater lagoons which have now been largely protected as a wildlife area. What surprised us was how much wildlife we were able to view so closely to the boat. We all enjoyed this very much. Sarvesh you made a good choice there.

        One of the crew told us about this area. I made sure to take a few notes:-

        “The backwaters have a unique ecosystem - freshwater from the rivers meets the seawater from the Arabian Sea. In certain areas, such as the Vembanad Kayal, where a barrage has been built near Kumarakom, salt water from the sea is prevented from entering the deep inside, keeping the fresh water intact. Such fresh water is extensively used for irrigation purposes.

         Many unique species of aquatic life including crabs, frogs and mudskippers, water birds such as terns, kingfishers, darters and cormorants, and animals such as otters and turtles live in and alongside the backwaters. Palm trees, pandanus shrubs, various leafy plants and bushes grow alongside the backwaters, providing a green hue to the surrounding landscape.”
           At one point we were able to leave the boat and take a guided tour through a protected jungle area. It was interesting to learn about the plants and animals which lived here.

            We were not able to get into any sexy adventures because of the crew also on board but we got to hear the last two stories following the evening we played the domino game.  Steve and Lizamoa went first and told one of the best stories. They were followed by Mike and Mandara and so finally we found out about how they spend their night together. So is the mystery is revealed now. Ha! Ha! But you guys could have just told me about it rather than playing all those silly games.

            While we are talking about this, we have added the stories to the letters book and now everyone can read about these adventures. 

            From the Kerala Backwaters, we flew to the large city of Mumbai which used to be Bombay under the British.  This city is just so large. Sarvesh had organised a very busy sight-see itinerary while we were there and we were also out both nights and so again there was no time for any fun and games.

            Mumbai was interesting to see but I would rather smaller places as this city was a very big and busy place. The traffic was a nightmare too, going all the time, day and night. Out of all the places, we visited I personally think Mumbai was a least likely place I would want to visit again. It was just too big and too busy for my liking. I think most of the others would agree on that.

            As I said, we didn’t get up at any sexy fun and games here because we were just so busy with all we had to do. With the sight-seeing and eating out each evening, we didn’t get back to our hotel until very late so I didn’t even get time for a swim in the hotel pool and a chance to lose my bikini top either. Ha! Ha!

Joseph:-
          So you were willing to loose the bikini top and show in front of all the hotel guests? I thought you might want that.

Shanti:-
         Of course Joseph. What is the use of having tits if you can't get to show them off?

Joseph:-
         My dear Shanti, you are a worry to me.

OK back to my story. 
            From Mumbai, we caught an overnight train to New Delhi where our final tour was to begin. This tour is called the Golden Triangle Tour covering the three cities of Delhi, Jaipur and Agra.

            Delhi is the capital of India and has been a capital city of various empires for centuries. It is a city of many contrasts of the very old and the very new. A city where modern buildings mix with ancient temples and forts. We had an all day tour of this city and we all found it very interesting.  

            A train trip brought us to the city of Jaipur, famous for its many old temples and palaces. Again there was a lot of history and although it was interesting I think the boys enjoyed it more. Of course, the highlight in this city for me was a visit to the famous Palace of the Winds.

        Called Hawa Mahal in Hindi but translated "Palace of Winds" or “Palace of the Breeze.” This palace was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh and designed by Lal Chand Ustad. It is said to represent the crown of Krishna, the Hindu god. Its outward appearance is like a large honeycomb of the beehive with its 953 small windows decorated and hidden with intricate latticework.

        The original intention of the lattice was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life in the street below without being seen since they had to observe strict "purdah" (face cover). Behind this was the women's chambers of the royal harem.  

            While we were at Jaipur, Mike and Peter also enjoyed seeing the Jantar Mantar. This is a collection of fourteen major architectural astronomical instruments set up as an observatory for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking stars' location as the earth orbits around the sun, ascertaining the declinations of planets, and determining the celestial altitudes. Each was constructed out of local stone with the astronomical scales inscribed in marble.  The Samrat Yantra, the largest instrument, is 90 feet (27 m) high, its shadow carefully plotted to tell the time of day. Its face is angled at 27 degrees, the latitude of Jaipur. Thanks, Mike for those details as I’d never remember all that stuff.          

            What I found interesting was the name “Jantar Mantar.” The name is divided into two parts; Jantar (meaning instrument) and Mantar (meaning formula or calculate) so the complete name means calculation instrument. 

            A road trip brought us to the third city, or maybe we could call this a large town, the town of Agra. Agra may not be that well known although it once used to be a famous capital city. What is most famous is the Taj Mahal which almost everyone who knows anything about India will have heard of. For me, this was another highlight of our India trip. We all enjoyed this but I will not tell you about this because Lizamoa has asked if she can write about our visit to the Taj Mahal.           

            From Agra, we returned to Delhi where our stay in India ended. Sarvesh arranged for us to have a special lunch together before our Indian friends were due to go to the airport to catch their flight back to Southern India. For us going to New Zealand, we had one more night in Delhi before catching our flight to Singapore next morning. 

            One interesting evening happened while we were in Jaipur. Our hotel was one of the better ones we had stayed in and during the day Lizamoa had asked me about us swapping partners for the night. It sounded like a good idea to me so we agreed to talk to our husbands although we both knew they would be happy with it two.

            While we were talking Jenny overheard us and asked, “Hey! What are you two up to?”

            We told her that we were planning a partner-swap for that night since it would be our last chance before Mike and I left for New Zealand.

            She then decided to talk to Peter and see if he was interested in doing the same. Soon word got around our group and the others became interested in the idea too. The outcome of this was they were swapping too. In the end, everyone got to spend the night with somebody different.

            When Joseph and Mike came into the room they had already heard something was going on.

            “I hear Jenny and Peter are doing some partner-swapping tonight,” Mike said.

            “That news got out quick,” replied Lizamoa.

            “Why? Do you two know something about it?”

            “Well really we were the ones who started it,” began Lizamoa. “Shanti and I were talking about asking you both about us doing a swapping and Jenny overheard us.”

            “You mean you two swapping with us?” asked Joseph.

            “Yes,” replied Lizamoa. “Would you be willing to share Shanti’s bed again Joseph?”

            Joseph was more than happy with this and I knew Mike was too. So that is how we ended up doing one of our last sexy adventures while we were in India.

            But it still was a surprise how quickly everyone else came to learn of our plans and quickly arranged their own plans as well.  

            Well, that is all I have time to tell you except to add that while we were in Delhi we went to visit the New Zealand High Commission. When we told them about your wish to come to New Zealand they were very helpful with advice. They said the easiest way was for Joseph to get a job offer of work in New Zealand. Once he had a job offer he could them apply to come here. So that was how this whole process got started. 

            On our last day in India, we had one last morning together so we decided to stay at the hotel and have a final swim. Then we arranged to have lunch, our last meal all together before we parted. Over lunch, Sarvesh proposed a toast and invited us all to share another holiday together. I thought this was a good idea but we have not made any plans for this yet.

            Then those returning to South India then had to leave for the airport to catch their flight. We stayed on for another night before leaving in the morning to catch our international flight to Singapore.

                        So I must end now,

                                    Until next time Love from

                                                Mike and Shanti.  

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