Blogs from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 70

So today Brian and I made plans for the rest of our trip. We are working until the 15th of July, and then the night of the fifteenth we are taking a train from Jaipur bound for Amritsar, which is the capital of Punjab. Before we get there, however, we're going to transfer trains a couple times with the goal of ending up in Dharamsala before nightfall on the 16th. Dharamsala is the seat of the Tibetan government in exile and the home of the Dalai Lama. It's supposed to be a very relaxing place with great Himalayan views and lots of friendly Tibetan monks. We had plans for getting way into the Himlayas, but decided it involved too much bus travel with lots of hairpin turns, and wouldn't have been relaxing at all. This way ... read more

Ok, so my coworker (the one I live with) is clearly incapable of taking photos, so some of these didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but here you go....photos of an Indian wedding. Actually, upon further inspection, I've realized these are mostly photos of Brian and I dressed up for the wedding. Oops...well, there wasn't much to see there anyway. :)... read more

India is definitely growing on us. We've made our way to Jaipur, which is a very different city from Agra and (what we saw of) New Delhi. First, it seems to have a middle class, driving around town in regular cars and shopping among the sari stalls at the bazaar. They are marketed to by billboards advertizing condos, clothing, and brand new shopping centers, just like any other city. The old part of the city, laid out by Maharaja Jai Singh 400 years ago, is by far the most organized (not to be confused with orderly) place we've been in India--a 4 by 8 grid of streets, with vendors loosely grouped by product. All in all, a walk around Jaipur's old city made for teriffic sightseeing and gift shopping--and plenty of haggling experience--and we seemed to ... read more

India never ceases to amaze me. I was sitting at my desk doing some work a few minutes ago, when all of a sudden I heard glass shattering. A lot of it. It turns out we are having another monsoon storm roll into town, and, as usual, there was the requisite sandstorm. This one, however, is the worst one I've seen. The doors to the office were blowing open, and I guess the pressure change opened one of the interior doors. The door slammed so hard that the glass shattered in the frame of the door, right next to my desk. We had to lock the front doors of the office to prevent anymore damage. Looks like it will be another crazy night for weather. At least it's cooled off nicely:) ... read more

Our arrival was at 11:00am after getting up at 4am to catch the train to Jaipur from Delhi. The train was awesome, and only took 4 hours. They served us a meal and brought us tea two times in 4 hours. Plus we had loads of leg room. I still believe trains are the best way to travel. After fending off a number of rickshaw wallahs and autorickshaw wallahs, beggars, children, sales people, their relatives and friends, we were still stuck with one guy that walked with us for more than half a block. Nabil and I thought this was hilarious at first, but we quickly started getting annoyed. He wouldn't leave, even though we were getting progressively more pissed off and agressive towards him. Also, we were getting hopelessly lost. Jaipur is a confusing city ... read more