The Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya

Last weekend mom and I went off to northeast India to discover the living root bridges for ourselves. A four day trip that may quite possibly be the highlight of my year. In the rainiest area of the world, you have some unique challenges - including how to cross rivers when any supplies you need must be carried in a bag, strap resting on your forehead, as you head down thousands of rock stairs. Needless to say, it is not an easy task. The locals have culitvated a tradition of guiding the roots of certain trees to form bridges; a task that can take several generations to accomplish, but which will last for centuries. This living architecture is what we went to see. In addition to hiking down slick, moss coated rock steps for hours amist the rain forest, an unusual experience for me in India, there were the bridges themselves to amaze me. Up to 95 feet long, each one seemed to have its own unique character. One village has even cultivated a doubledecker bridge. Another is the world's longest. This one, sees to sit in the middle of nowhere, but as we rest at the base we see 5-6 people crossing it on their commute to collect beetle nut or work their fields. The living root bridges really are a unique vision.

Check out this video if you want a bit more information.

Driving to Abu Dhabi

Last week I was back in the United Arab Emirates for this year's junior varsity volleyball tournament. My boys played well, but I have to admit it was a disheartening sixth (out of six) place finish. What was fascinating for me was that this time the school decided to fly us into Dubai and then we took a bus to Abu Dhabi, a 2-3 hour drive. The bonus - a chance to see some of the unusual architecture scattered around Dubai, Abu Dhabi and regions between. There are the twisty tall buildings that dominate the Dubai skyline. Some unusual ones that for some reason made me think of snails or mice. One that looked like a wheel, while another reminded me of the train of a wedding dress. There is always an overwhelming mosque - this time the pure white Sheikh Zayed mosque, along with smaller ones dotted around the city. One thing for sure, it is a big change from the architecture you see in Delhi!

The AES boys and girls jv volleyball teams

Orchha

Back in October we had a long weekend (otherwise known as a travel opportunity!) that found me in the small town of Orchha over the Diwali weekend. I and a couple of friends had gone on the recommendation of a couple of people in my department, and before showing up about all I knew was that it was a fairly small town that was full of old constructions. Located about a 6 1/2 hour train ride south of Delhi it is one of the rare 15th century towns that got built around instead of torn down and repurposed. I believe we saw at least 15 16th century structures before it began to feel like they were all starting to blend together. Okay, maybe they blended together before that, but I wasn't willing to give up the freedom of walking everywhere until then. There is the large Raj Mahal (fort) sitting just in front of the Jahangir Mahal (palace?) with its elephant supports inside. Up on a hill overlooking the town is Lakshminarayan Madir, a temple that still contains some of its original hand drawn decoration. One of my favorite places was the Chaturbhuja Temple which was constructed to house a Hindu idol but was never used for its intended purpose as the idol refused to be moved and so a new temple had to be build around it. Instead we were able to climb all over this open building following a sadhu with his flashing green light up immense stairs to great views of the town. I also enjoyed the cluster of eleven cenotaphs that were a mere five minute walk from our hotel, old tombs situated on the banks of the river; I could have done without the vultures - although there is something a bit fitting about them being perched on the tops of the tombs.