One Lousy Photo of the Taj Mahal

I came from south india (Kerala) back north to the town that i started out at(Vrindaban). The master plan was to spend a few days in Vrindaban and then on Friday morning go see the Taj Mahal then drive to Delhi to get my return flight. Sounded great to me until I learned that the Taj is closed on Friday. I learned this about 3:30 on Thursday. So i rented a cab to drive me the 50 miles immediately in the hopes that we could get there in time to see the place. Well, everything in India takes longer than you would think. It was closed by the time i got there. Soooo, all i have is this one lousy photo of the back of the place, ohhh well i tried. Next time!!!!
So that's it 100 days, 50 posts- thanks for looking!

Sadhus of Vrindaban

A sadhu is a renunciant who lives his or her life for spiritual realization and relies on the good will of others for their sustenance. I had a real hard time shooting these people in the beginning of my trip because they are quite intimidating looking and they generally would ask for a donation for the photo. The donation aspect only really bothered me because i didn't like paying for candid photos, it seemed to ruin the "realness" of the encounter. Regardless; i went back to Vrindaban (the place i started the trip) and i was invited to a feeding of the sadhus event. A local man organized and fed about 200 of these people and i got to shoot it. Sooooo, because they were being fed and happy they let me photograph them. They are pretty far out looking, and that one guy; i don't know, perhaps that's elephantitis?

Spice Markets

Rickshaw drivers love to take you to their cousin's silk shop, or their brother's trinket store, or; in this case their uncle's spice market. It usually pissed me off when they did this, but it is the way it works in India. If I buy something; they make some sort of profit, everyone is happy. I bought some ginger candies; they were damn good.

Fort Kochi Fishing Nets

These fishing nets are beautiful and photogenic, but i didn't really see them catch that many fish. It takes like 5 guys to drop these huge nets into the water, and then upon pulling them back up; there was like 3 fish in the nets. Perhaps i was there on a bad day. Anyway; they are called Chinese fishing nets, believed to have been introduced by Chinese traders in the early 1300s.

Kerala People

The people in Kerala were great; BUT one of these last four punk kids stole my cell phone! I was playing with those kids on a water taxi, and remembered checking my phone to see what time it was, and then the kids got off, and my phone was gone. I think it was the kid in orange, he looks most punk-like. Ehhhhh, i don't really know if it was one of them, but my phone did indeed get stolen that afternoon(i called it and someone answered!!!). It cost about 15 bucks and i only had a few weeks left in India, soooo i wasn't too concerened. Punks!

Kerala Water Canals

I left Goa and took an 18 hour train ride to Kerala. In Goa i started taking malaria medicine; malaria medicine may or may not prevent malaria, but it most certainly makes one insane. I had the weirdest sleep on that train that i have ever had in my life. The strange sleep and wicked paranoia had been a running theme since i started taking the medicine; I stopped taking it when i got to Kerala, to hell with malaria.
Kerala is possibly the most beautiful place that i have ever been to. I was in a town called Alleppey, this is where boat tours originate that travel the backwaters of Kerala. I was alone, so i didn't do a full on backwater boat tour i did hire a guy to pattle me out around the area, and it was quite a beautiful and serene little tour.