Pictures III - The highlights

The moment Kaisa accidently put her little finger in to the Holy Ganges


The chai masala tea !


The long journeys on the roads listening "suru teheran" and other hottest bollywood hits... repeatedly



Riding an elephant in Jaipur.


Delicious indian food.


Udaipur, suite and room service without extra charge (and the turbant..)


Pozu baking.


And.... Waking up at 5.30 in the morning after three hours of sleeping in a christmas day.

Pictures II - The top poses of Kaisa

Pictures I - The wildlife of India

Kiitos ja heihei, which means thanks and byebye!

Sankasta Delhiä riivaavasta sumusta huolimatta yhtäkään Intian sisäistä lentoamme kuin myöskään Suomen lentoamme ei onneksi jouduttu perumaan. Matka onkin jo ohitse ja onnellisesti ollemme takaisin kotikamaralla. Matkasta jäi käteen vauhdikkaat muistot, matkalaukullinen tuliaisia, parisen tuhatta valokuvaa sekä vaaleanpunaiseksi värjäytyneet valkopyykit. Intialainen vaikutus tulee varmasti näkymään arkielämässä ainakin ruuan muodossa jatkossakin :-) Jos Intiaan vielä jonakin päivänä pääsen uudelleen, niin suunnannen vielä pohjoisempaan - kohti Himalajaa, buddhalaisuutta ja Nepalia (Dalai Lamaa ja karmapisteitä unohtamatta). Kiitos vielä tuhannesti kaikille vaatimatonta blogiamme seuranneille ja tulukeehan maistelemmaan meidän superhyvää paneer masalaa!

Just wanted to thank everybody who has followed our blog. Even thought the trip is already over, we got some unforgettable memories, dozens of souveniers and about two thousand pictures (not to forget the pink colored whites..). If I ever end up in India again, i would head off towards the Himalaya, buddhism and Nepal, and of course the location of Dalai Lama... I mean - who would not dare to try accumulating his/her karma credits ?

India in the memory... namaste!

Y llegó el 6 de enero. Como si de 3 Reyes Magos se tratara, nos vinimos de Oriente en tan señalada fecha, con los regalos de rigor ;). Nuestras últimas horas en Delhi, y en la India por ende, las pasamos en Connaught Place, donde incluso vimos en el cine el último éxito de Bollywood: "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi"-3 horas en hindi sin subtítulos :p-. El cine era más bien una tasca, gente hablando por el móvil, entrando y saliendo, etc...
El viaje de vuelta fue bien, grandes vistas del Himalaya desde el avión, y en casa puntuales.
Y como ésta es la última entrada que escribo, quería saludar y agradecer a todos/as vuestro seguimiento e interés en el blog; ha estado muy bien poder compartir con vosotros experiencias del viaje en "tiempo real" :).
Y por supuesto, gracias a Kaisa y Katri, por todos los buenos momentos vividos juntos :)!

English version too :p. January 6th: Our journey has come to its end. I am already facing the harsh reality of being back at work. Our last day in Delhi we watched a Bollywood movie -"Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi"-, and hung around Connaught Place, before enjoying our last dinner at the hotel.
The trip back home went ok, long but punctual :).
I'd like to greet you all, and thank you for your interest in our blog. It was very nice to share our experiences with all of you-in Spain, Finland, and other places too- in real time :).
And of course, I'd like to thank Kaisa and Katri for so many good moments together in India :)!

Namaste!

We love indian food!

Nothing but brief references to the food have been written in this blog. However, we'd like to do an exclusive indian food post, as it has been 2 and a half weeks enjoying it, so I think it's deserved! :)
Along these days, we have tried any kind of dish we have seen in the menus. Menus are divided in veg and non-veg food, because lot of people there are pure vegetarians. In fact, south indian cuisine is basically vegetarian, while northern indian recipes include lamb and chicken among their dishes.

And, of course, the famous tandoori, the well-known clay oven in which some delicious dishes are cooked.
Tikka -marinated-, butter masala -cooked in butter with spices-, and many other "surnames" more can be added after chicken, lamb , paneer -cottage cheese-, aloo -potato-, dal -lentils-, palak -spinach-, etc... we don't remember any bad dish at all, even we used to choose always new things in order to get an overview of the indian cuisine. All of them eaten with rice and the tasteful breads: roti, chapati, and especially, our favourite, the naan. All these preceded by starters like samosa -deep fried veg or chicken paste- or pakora -made of veg, chicken, paneer-... and followed by lassi -yoghourt drink- or sweet cheese balls.
For breakfast, poori bhaji -special round bread with potato and peas- or paratha -stuffed bread, with potato or other ingredients-.

Our passion led us to the already mentioned cooking lessons in Udaipur. In those, we used many spices in order to elaborate exquisite sauces and dishes, such as red hot chili, turmeric, coriander seeds, fresh coriander, fennel seeds, fennogreek seeds and leaves, mustard seeds, cummin seeds, green and black cardamom seeds, curry leaves, asafetida, amapole, ginger, cloves, pepper, mango powder and others. We brought home all these up to 5 kg or something :)!
After each meal, or for breakfast, tea was a must. Our usual picks were the honey ginger lemon tea and the chai masala, aka indian tea. Chai masala is a mix of spices that, when added to the tea -Assam tea better than any- together with some milk and sugar, brings a superb flavour to our mouths.
Now, it's time to go back to our usual food, but we'll try to develop our indian cooking skills, and above all, never forget the flavours that accompanied us in so many good moments along our indian journey.

Are you sure this is the way, Narish?

Unas lineas para hablar del hombre que nos condujo de Delhi a Udaipur a traves del desertico Rajastan: de nombre Narish, de apellido no se, probablemente Murphy, dado que en cada cruce iba por el camino incorrecto :p. Pero, por mirarle el lado bueno a esto, asi vimos mas cosas! ;)

La verdad es que su ingles era mas que limitado, y nuestras conversaciones probablemente se parecieran a las de los conquistadores en las colonias o las mias con un zulu. era reconfortante conseguir sonsacarle la informacion que queriamos a la primera :D! Pero por encima de todo, Narish es un gran chaval, muy buen tipo, siempre atento y dispuesto, ademas de "buen conductor" -al estilo indio me refiero :p-. Aunque siempre mantenia las distancias, acabamos teniendo cierta complicidad. ha sido una pena no tener al lado alguien a quien preguntar cada tonteria que nos venia a la cabeza a lo largo del camino, pero nuestro conductor teorico tuvo un accidente de moto unos dias antes. En resumen,Narish, un buen tio.

Rajastanin kiertomatkaa varten olimme jo Suomessa suositusten perusteella ottaneet yhteytta paikalliseen oppaaseen/kuskiin, joka ystavallisesti jarjestelikin meille majoitukset, oppaat ym toivomustemme mukaan. Delhiin saavuttuamme saimme kuitenkin kuulla etta han oli joutunut moottoripyoraonnettomuuteen, joten hanen firmansa oli jarjestanyt meille toisen kuskin hanen tilallensa. Naris - uusi kuskimme - oli ihan mukava tyyppi. Meidan huonoksi onneksemme kuitenkin han vaikutti olevan Intian ainoa henkilo joka ei osannut englantia, ja muutenkin vahan tumpelo. Kiertomatkallamme kaupungin rajojen sisapuolelle saavuttuame alkoi aina sama rumba, kun kuskimme pysahtyi jokaisen risteyksen jalkeen kysymaan suuntaa ( usein risteysten valillakin). Eika ollut yksi tai kaksi kertaa kun kuskimme lahti ajamaan juuri vastakkaiseen suuntaan kuin juuri oli saanut ohjeet. Sahlaamisesta huolimatta loppujen lopuksi aina loysimme hotellimme eika suurempia ongelmia sen suhteen sattunut. Matkanjarjestajaan olimme kuitenkin vahan pettyneita etteivat pystyneet parempaa palvelua tarjoamaan. Alkuperainen yhteyshenkilomme (joka siis jalka kipsissa) oli kuitenkin useasti yhteydessa ja yritti parhaansa mukaan tehda matkastamme onnistuneen. Ja onnistuneeksi sita voi kylla kaikesta huolimatta sanoa!