India

I know I promised writing more, but I really didn't get any time throughout my trip to India to get on the internet!  The tour I was a part of had a busy schedule. This trip to India was much better then my last.  While Delhi was the same (no time to see anything other than school visits) Mumbai was a wonderful time.  Due to the protests occuring in Hyderabad, our trip there was cancelled giving us an extra 2 days in Mumbai.  With a day off I took advantage of visiting the Elephanta Island caves.  Elephanta is an island about an hour off the coast of mumbai where centuries ago, a local king had a temple to Shiva created out of the rock hill.  Intricate carvings of the god Shiva were carved out of the stone a massive undertaking but a beautiful place to visit if you ever have the chance.  The video below shows the trip from the Gateway of India, constructed for the arrival of King George V during his first visit to India.  The gateway is across from the famous Taj Hotel, a beautiful hotel which unfortunately was the target of the terrorist attacks a few years back.  As you get to the island you will see the abundance of monkeys were are quite a nuisance.  I watched as a monkey stole a bottle of pepsi from a kids hands and peanuts from someone else.  They can be quite aggresive!  The temple itself is shown near the end,  the main figure in each carving is the god Shiva the preserver.  Shiva is one of the 3 main gods who are manifestations of the one god that Hindus believe in.  The three include Brahman the creater, Vishnu the destroyer and Shiva the preserver.  In total there are over 3 million gods in the Hindu religion, however one you learn about the religion you realize there really is only one god they believe in and millions of manifestations of that god depicted in the hindu stories.  Hinduism is a fascinating religion and the stories that go with it are just as interesting.



After a bit of shopping around Colaba we were off to Madurai to visit Kodaikanal International School.  A very good school on top of a mountain which takes 4 hours to get to from the city we stay in but well worth it.  Check back shortly for another post on my trip to Sri Lanka!