Wednesday, December 5, 2007

India Trip - Day 1, part 2

(evening of 2 Dec 2007)

After taking a much needed nap, we were met by our friend Navin Goel, who is an employee at the company we are visiting here in India called Tavant. Navin picked us up in the afternoon and was took us to a local Hindu shrine call Akshardahm. Wow, that place is really stunning and quite beautiful. Akshardahm is a temple dedicated to an eigthteenth-century Hindu priest named Swaminarayan, and the complex has several large statues in his honor. The is some truly amazing sand stone and wood work that was done - the sand stone elephants scenery around the main temple is absolutely beautiful. Interestingly, Akshardahm was just completed two years ago, so it's extremely new. As night fell, there is a water works display with lights and music that follows the Hindu beliefs for the creation, duration, and end of life. It was quite elegant and nothing garish.

After Akshardahm, we went for dinner at the Radisson hotel nearby our guest house area. Mahesh thought we should be cautious and ease our way into the local food here in India - a wise choice. We ate at the buffet, and the food was extremely tasty. We were all pretty happy with the meal, and I finally had my first real meal in India of Indian food! After dinner Navin dropped us back off at the guest house and I promptly fell asleep for the night.

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