India pictures

So we spent 2 (long) weeks in India seeing many cities small and large. I left a lot of the picture taking up to Josh since a lot of the times I didn't feel safe walking around with my expensive camera. We started out in Mumbai which to us was a filthy city with not much to offer. We did spend a morning touring the slums which was a great experience seeing how over a million people live and work in these conditions of poverty. We were not able to take pictures on the tour though. From there we headed up north to the state of Rajasthan in the more desert part of the country. We went to the Pushkar camel festival which was pretty fun. I almost got bitten in the head by a camel which came as a shock to me, Josh and all the others around me as I nearly fell to the ground taking Josh with me as I dodged this animal's head lunging for mine! The photo of me with a thumbs down was at our 'prision' like hotel room in this town. We traveled by bus, car and train to get amongst these cities. The Indian train system as we found out many times was very frustrating and unpredictable. Thankfully our tickets never cost us more than $7 so I guess you can't expect too much. We spent a day in Agra seeing the Taj Mahal which we both agree to be one of the most beautiful sights we've ever seen. And then onto northern India where we spent 5 days hiking in the Kashmire Valley. There was a lot of doubt over whether or not we should even go because of the controversy between the India and Pakistan borders but we chose to go. It was the most peaceful 5 days we spent in this country and much needed after the stress of traveling between the big cities. Our first hike was a killer, climbing to a summit of 12,500 feet. The view from the top was beautiful as you can see from one of the pictures. Overall we enjoyed our time but are both glad to be moved onto another culture, and food! Today we arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam!