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Published: March 17th 2007
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Jain Temple
I can't remember the name of this temple and I didn't write anything about it, but I have seen my last temple. This one cannot be beat with 1444 carved marble pillars, all different. It was fantastic! This priest is decorating a carving and wearing a face scarf so as not to harm any insects he might breathe in. Hi, it's Beth. It's true what they say, just when you think you know what India is like, you move on to a new state and start all over again. We took an airplane this time, to Udaipur, Rajasthan. A 75 minute ride as opposed to 20 hours by train-but the real reason we did it was there were no train tickets and we would have had to wait 4 days (or go 2nd class non AC and none of us could bear that). But it is sort of a shock to fly because you leave Mumbai and arrive so soon in Rajasthan with no adjustment time. Udaipur was dry, old, crowded-an interesting place but we weren't there long enough to get over the smell of open sewers. Now, on our fourth city in Rajasthan, all with open sewers, we are used to and expect the smell. The forts in Udaipur and Jaisalmer were amazing but I think our favourite was Jodhpur because we each got headsets and an audio tour of the fort that was amazing and really well done. Alia and I visited the fort astrologist to have our fortunes told and he basically said the same thing
Getting water from the well.
Rajasthan is dry but they have wells and here a boy and a girl are driving the oxen around in circles to draw water from the well. about both of us-so we've decided that we are either a lot alike or he was a fake. (and we do not have to check and double check everything!)
The cities are interesting though because they were built so long ago that their streets are really narrow. Still, you have the usual India traffic and it's fun to see traffic stop while everyone helps a car, built for the 21st century, try to get through without hitting anything or falling into the open sewers. And the cows don't move except when you're walking or driving and then they go right in front of you. Jamil and I did not make it through India without stepping in a fresh cow patty...
The best part of Rajasthan are the camels everywhere. They are used by tourists for camel safaries (which we did and I know the kids will tell you about) but they are also used to transport goods and people-a new addition for us to the traffic scene! We have rented a car and driver to take us around Rajasthan in six days-Azim was not fired but nobody wants to rent a car without a driver and I'm sure
The colours in Rajasthan.
This camel driver is waiting to take people for a ride, but the camels are this colourful and many are decorated in tatoos. The saris are colourful of course but the turbans the men wear come in pink, saffron, red, blue, rainbow... the only reason we got one before in Allepy was because the car was so dilapitated. This car is a new toyota, seven seater so we are travelling in luxury but still missing Junkie and being on our own. I really like driving though because we get to see so much more and there is a lot of wildlife in the desert. Parrots, deer, peacocks, camels and our driver swears there are zebras but we haven't seen any.
Only eight more days in India and we haven't bought one thing. The shopping is a little overwhelming because there is so much and so much pressure-with lines like "hello, I remember you from my past life. Come just have a look." We always say later and then never seem to get inside any shop-and having three along who hate the whole idea of shopping doesn't help either. Maybe in Jaipur or Delhi...
We got an e-mail (and you know who you are 😊 ) that said she was tired of hearing about India and was waiting for blogs from Japan and she didn't see why the kids weren't tired of India also. Well, they are and we too are
Pillar of rats.
I realize I haven't written about any of these pictures, but I'm leaving that to the kids. This pillar is outside the rat temple. When we got there we remembered rats are nocturnal... and then when we saw the amount of rats out and about at midday, we were glad! Did the kids tell you that at night you can expect to see 4000 rats and that Alia and I were happy to hear no women are allowed in at night?! looking forward to Japan. Could you find two countries that are more polar opposites? Although, we will miss the cows, camels, colours and mostly the people who always help us out and are always interested in who we are and where we are from. Without me along, I'm not sure anybody would know Azim and the kids are not from India-people are always telling me the kids look 99% Indian (it's that tropical/desert sun). They blend right in and always get the Indian prices while I have to pay the 10 times more foreigner price
Just to let you know, we do get and read all the comments that you make on the blog and we really appreciate them! It is a lot of fun for us to be in touch with so many people. We could publish all your comments on the blog but it takes a lot of time and we figure they are really just for us. So, nobody else reads the comments but we look forward to them, so keep them coming!
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