We went on three plane ride to get to India from Montenegro.  The first plane ride was one-hour going to Belgrade.  The second plane ride was five hours going to Abu Dhabi.  Then the last plane ride was four hours going to India.

When we got to India, it was 2 in the morning and we went straight to bed.  We woke up, it was afternoon time in Bangalore.  We wanted to explore the place, so we rented a tuk-tuk to explore Bangalore.  The tuk-tuk driver recommended a place that sold scarves, but we didn’t want to buy anything because we just arrived there.

At lunch time, we ate off of banana leaves as plates.  It was cool because we ate with our fingers.

After that, I noticed babies were on motorcycles and they didn’t have helmets, someone was just holding them.

After Bangalore we drove to Mysore. It took four hours to get there.  On the way, we stopped for a fresh coconut.  The coconut guy opened it by taking a machete and slicing the top off.  After we drank the coconut water, we gave the coconut back to him and he cut it in half and there was jelly inside so we got to eat it.  I only liked the coconut water, not the jelly. My sister liked the jelly.

Then we went to the hotel.  When we got there, I noticed there was a pool. I was so happy but the pool was closed.

PS: I forgot to tell you, we got here at midnight.

In Mysore we bought an elephant that was made of solid brass. It was very heavy and we packed it in a box to send home to put on our bookshelf.

We went to a temple where you had to take your shoes off.  At the end we got these orange and yellow bracelet strings that are supposed to give you good luck.  When we were walking down the stairs, we saw a big black bull.

We went to the royal palace in Mysore. It was where the royal (Maharaja) family used to live, I think.  There was a new palace and an old palace. The royal family lived in the old palace.  I visited the new palace.  You had to take your shoes off, because they wanted to keep the place clean.  They put our shoes in a box so no one can take them.

After the palace, we went back to go swimming at the hotel.  We got our swimming shorts on and went swimming.

The next day we went to Ooty on a very, very steep mountain with 36 hair pin turns. When we got to Ooty we unpacked and went on a walk to a chocolate place. We learned they made chocolate in Ooty.   My mom and dad got chocolate with nuts, Chloe got milk chocolate and I got white chocolate.

The next day our driver took us to this viewpoint called Needle Rock Point. Our driver stopped the car and we walked for 30min to the viewpoint. We took a lot of pictures.

Next we went on a drive for 10 hours to our hotel in Munnar. Because we were driving on curves and bumps, that was why it took us so long.

A couple of days later, we went to a tea plantation.  It was the highest tea planation in the world. To get to the top we took a jeep.  We were driving up and it was really bumpy. When we got to the top we took a lot of pictures and we had a walk on the top of the mountain.

On the way down, we went to a tea factory.  There were different stages: there was a sorting stage, then a grinding stage, then another grinding stage again where they added powder, and then they put the tea in the oven.  After that, we got to touch it and it was very, very smooth.  At the end we got to try the tea and had an Indian pudding cake with it.  The cake was so good.

While in India we had a Ayurvedic massage. I hated it. They put oil on you and they karate chop you and whack you in the back. After an hour of torture, I had a steam bath. It was basically just steam on you. When we got out we went to a spice plantation. They let you try some of the spices. I tried one of the hot peppers and my ears were steaming.

Then we went on a 30min elephant ride. The elephants eat palm leaves, banana leaves and cooked rice—a total of 250 kg each day.

When we got back to our hotel we went for a swim. After a few laps we went out because we saw lightening.

On our trip we also went on a houseboat for one night. We had a cook that cooked for us. He caught the fish for our lunch. For breakfast we ate omelets and bread with jam. When we got off the fun was over (tragic) and back to normal again.

One evening we went to see a play. There were dancers and they were moving their mouth like crazy…like blah, blah, blah (you try it!). They were telling a story without any words. It was pretty cool. That day we also saw Chinese Fishing Nets. They were ginormous that catch a lot of fish!

From Kotchi we flew to Udaipur. We had a great hotel with this really old elevator. It had a chain door to open it. On the rooftop there was a pool. Every morning before breakfast we went swimming.

***

On the last day at the hotel was the start of Diwali. We had a big party.

We went to a place that was celebrating Diwali. We wore traditional Indian outfits. After that we went to the rooftop and saw the whole city and there were some big, big fireworks. We made some fireworks too and it was crazy and loud!!!

On our last day in India, we woke up at 6am to go to the Taj Mahal. I have never been there. Supposedly the king built it for the queen, but the queen never saw it because she died before it was built. The entire Taj Mahal is symmetrical. In the middle of the Taj Mahal is the queen’s grave. They were going to build a black Taj Mahal across the river, but the king did not have enough money to pay the workers and was bankrupt.  The king had 2 boys and 2 girls. When the king got bankrupt one of his sons put him in jail and he made himself king.

The entire trip in India was a lot of fun. We had different experiences trying other kinds of food. The traffic was crazy. The driving was good but I did get carsick a couple of times. India was the first time I rode an elephant.