..SouthAsiaRocks..

So, a few days ago, we went around the Old part of the city with our friends the Highs. They know all sorts of cool places to go and see in that area, so it was fun :) They had one of those "Flat Stanleys" so they were taking some fun pictures with him as they went :) I caught this guy picking his nose :) haha! Here's Adam with Aashini in the depths of the old part of the city :) I thought this monkey was making a HILARIOUS face :) haha! We saw some really fancy decorated temples. It was really interesting and fun :) And... at the end of the day Aashini had her first Metro ride :)

Today was Holi ... It's always quite an interesting day :) Click here to see previous Holi Blogposts :) Today was Aashini's first Holi and I'm not sure what she thought about it :) Aashini slept through the first half of it. Adam went out and played with the neighbors while I stayed in with Aashini . Some of our neighbors offered Adam the traditional Holi Bhang drink... It is a very "interesting" drink. If you want to learn more about it, click here: Bhang Recipe - BUT this is just for your cultural reading enjoyment. I DON'T recommend making it :) The main ingredient is Marijuana . Marijuana is technically illegal here BUT, it's allowed on certain religi 0us holidays and for religi 0us ceremonies. They also have government authorized Bhang shops that sell it... Although Holi in our part of the Capital isn't as fun as M-town Holi is, this year was much more exciting. More of our neighbors were out playing and it was fun :) The pic below i...

So here's a couple of pics from our last day. K&C had some meetings so we got to take the car and go out exploring :) First we went to the Grand M0sque (pictured in a post below). It was really fancy inside. The chandelier was from Austria, Wooden doors from India, Carpet from Scotland, stained glass from Italy. It was crazy! Then we went to Toys 'R' Us... we had so much fun running around the store :) I thought the Barbie's were cool. They all had head coverings. In the pic below, the Barbie on the left comes in a fashionable outfit and has a head covering. She also comes with an Abaya (the black outfit that many people wear). The Barbies on the middle and right are wearing their moring and evening pr outfits. It's so interesting to see Barbies in other countries. The area of the Middle East we were in was really neat... It was actually really surprising... I had a lot of assumptions about the area but it was definitely different than I thought it woul...

So here's some pics from our 2nd to last day.... we went to the boarder of the country and got to look at the neighboring country. It was really cool and the water was beautiful! Here's a goofy pic of us... Here's our friends that we stayed / hung out with :) We went to this cool old house. It's really old. It was amazing how they did things in order to keep things cool (pre-AC & fans) :) The pic below is a wind tower. These were used to cool the house. The wind would come in the tower.... You can see it in the pic below, but when the wind came in, it was forced down and through the house - it was amzing how cool it kept the house! We found this weird little thing (below) and had no clue what it was for - but it was really funny! This pic is of a really crazy looking shop...we're not sure what they sell, but it looks really cool... We went to this really old fort. As we were walking around, we saw these bees (?) inside a hole.... they look really diffe...

Today we ventured out into the desert to check out some cool stuff :) Today there was a dust storm all day! It was super dusty. At times you couldn't see the sky or even any of the tall buildings, even if you were almost right next to it! It was super windy too!! As we were driving around, we saw a bunch of camels - hundreds of them!!! The guy in the picture below was the shepherd for the camels. He's actually from South Asia in the Capital :) He told us that they were the King's camels - cool!!!! There were some guys that came to the camels to take some band pics for a CD or website or something - it was funny :) Here's a funny camel pic :) And another funny one... These camels were chillin' :) It made me laugh! Next, we went to "The Tree of Life" or شجرة الحياة It's this crazy cool tree (as seen in the picture below). It's WAY out in the desert. It's considered a Natural wonder because the source of water for this tree is a m...

Sorry I haven't posted in the last couple of days :) We've been hanging out here and having fun :) So, in the pic below you can see this monument (I guess that's what you call it or maybe just art)... It's at a major roundabout in town. The country we're in is famous for pearls. So that's what this monument is all about :) (see the big pearl on the top?) Hanging out in Chili's :) This is the Grand M0sque. It's a really huge M0sque here. Here's a bay with a bunch of boats (I thought it was pretty). I think a lot of these boats are a part of the pearl industry (is that what you call it?) We were in a mall today eating and I took this pic of Adam :) On the left of the pic, you can see a m0sque in the mall. It's there, so that if it's time to pray, then people can go there instead of having to leave the mall. In the pic below, I'm standing in the middle of all the flags that represent the countries of the Gulf. Some guys in the mall... ...

Here's a few more pics from the last couple of days. We've been doing a lot of stuff (like getting Aashini's visa - we'll know more about it next Sunday), so the pics are a little boring :) Here's a pic on the street :) Here's a pic of Keith holding Aashini. Her hair looks pretty blonde in this pic. They have Guitar Hero! We've been waiting 2 years to play this game! This was the first time we've ever gotten to play it ;) Adam's a pro at it... and I'm working on it :) Not only do they have Dr. Pepper here, but they have Berries & Cream Dr. Pepper - crazy!! Here's a pic of Carie and I. And last... a cute pic of Aashini sleeping :)