[FAC] Informative, Interesting, Educational & Enjoyable Tours to India

[Brijesh Sharma]

Following our successful first "Art & Culture of Northern India Study Tour"
last year and the very pleasent "India Study Tour Reunion" of the
participants and guests of participants at the Fresno Art Museum last
Sunday, we are now announcing two very fascinating tours to India. These two
tours are being offered at very attractive prices despite the decline in US
dollar against Indian Rupee and the inflation in India:

The *"Northern India Tour with Pushkar Fair Tour"* from November 15 to 29,
2007 includes India's capital, New Delhi, Agra - the capital of Mughal
Emperors Akbar and Shahjahan and Jaipur - the pink city that is the capital
of the state of Rajasthan. About 100 miles south west of Jaipur is the small
sleepy pilgrimage town of Pushkar that awakes once a year at the time of a
Hindu religious celebration when up to one million people converge to this
place to pay homage at the 500 Hindu temples along the Lake of
Pushkarincluding the most famous, the Brahma temple. They bring along
thousands of
camels and cattle among many other animals that are traded during this fair.
Our group will live in especially set up deluxe tents in the fair grounds
for three overnights to observe, enjoy and photograph the various activities
and colorful dresses of the tribal people of Rajasthan. From Agra we will
take a train ride in air-conditioned chair car compartments to a city called
Jhansi in central India. From Jhansi we will drive in air-conditioned
coaches to Orchha, another pilgrimage center for Hindus from central
Indiawhere there is a beautiful medieval fort. From Orchha we will
drive about 3
hours to Khajuraho - famous for its intricately carved Hindu and Jain
temples in red sandstone. After sightseeing of these temples we will be
flying to Varanasi - Hinduism's most holy city, comparable to Rome for
Catholic Christians. It is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited
cities. Prince Siddhartha came to this city 2500 years ago when he renounced
worldly life to learn about the ancient Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit
language. After attaining enlightenment at Bothgaya in eastern India, Buddha
walked to the deer garden at Sarnath, where he preached his first sermon
setting the "Dharmachakra" - the wheel of religion in action. A quarter
century after Lord Buddha's demise, the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka constructed a
Stupa (burial mound) to contain a portion of Lord Buddha's ashes. He also
established a Buddhist monastery and university in Sarnath. Most of these
buildings were destroyed by various Islamic invaders. Today we see the
excavated ruins of these magnificent edifices. India's national emblem - the
four headed lion capital was one of the capitals on top of a pillar of the
period of Emperor Ashoka. This lion capital was excavated in perfect
condition and can be seen in the site museum at Sarnath. From Varanasi we
will fly once again to New Delhi to board the international flight back to
USA. This tour will be lead by Brijesh Sharma. *The price for this tour is $
3'695* and it includes round trip international airfare, 2 domestic flights,
luxury surface transport with India's latest Volvo air-conditioned and
heated coaches that have bathrooms onboard, 5-star hotels with breakfast and
dinner, all entrances to monuments and sites and all guides' fees.


The *"Royal Rajasthan Tour"* from December 27, 2007 to January 10, 2008 is a
very interesting tour of the state of Rajasthan showing some of the most
beautiful places and monuments in the state of Rajasthan along with those in
New Delhi and Agra. In this tour I am using the air-conditioned and heated
Volvo coach with bathroom onboard. The hotels in this tour are also of
higher standard than in the last study tour. In Udaipur the group will be
staying in the world famous, 264 years old, Jag Mandir Lake Palace Hotel,
one of the most luxurious hotels in the world. This is a marble palace that
was constructed as the summer residence of the Maharana of Udaipur. Three
places that were not included in the study tour last year that are included
in this one are: Khimser, Jaisalmer and Mount Abu. Khimser is a small town
that in British period and earlier was a small princely state under the
Maharaja of Jodhpur. It has an imposing fort that has been converted into a
five star hotel where our group will be staying. Jaisalmer was a trading
post along the silk route for merchandise from China and central Asia. The
merchants in this city grew fabulously rich with this trade and built in
this city some of the most elaborately and intricately carved, yellow
sandstone "Havelis" or aristocratic mansions. Because the entire city is
strewn with these beautiful historical Havelis, it has been declared a
UNESCO World Heritage Site and preserved by the Archaeological Survey of
India. West of the city very near to the Pakistan border are the magnificent
sand dunes where our group will be having a Camel Safari Ride and later a
very special dinner on the sand dunes after witnessing the mesmerizing
sunset. The third new place in this tour is Mount Abu that is famous for its
Dilwara Jain Temples. Last year our study tour group members had appreciated
the Ranakpur Jain Temple. The Dilwara Jain Temples of Mount Abu are even
more and perhaps the most intricately carved, white marble temples in the
whole world. They have used a pure and translucent, white marble to create
some fabulous sculptures in the interiors of the domes that are illuminated
by sunlight bathing the entire temple in a glowing light. Mount Abu is also
the highest point in the state of Rajasthan and a very scenic city with a
mountain lake. This tour will be lead by Professor Joan Krejcar Sharma and
Brijesh Sharma. *The price for this tour is $ 3'795 *and it includes round
trip international airfare, 1 domestic flights, luxury surface transport
with India's latest Volvo air-conditioned and heated coaches that have
bathrooms onboard, 5-star hotels with breakfast and dinner (historic Lake
Palace Hotel in Udaipur), all entrances to monuments and sites and all
guides' fees.

For more information and registration for these tours, please call
1-559-446-0499 or email me at indiatraveller at gmail.com.
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