Blogs from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 73

Good Evening, All! It is Saturday morning on your side of the world, but I'm writing you from a brisk evening at a vacation "hill station." It is wonderful here! It is like a European village...I can hardly believe I'm in India...it isn't like the India I've seen anywhere else...wait til you see the pics! Anyway, we don't want to leave, but we have tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night, and then we're off to the tsunami devastated area...which I know will be amazing in whole other ways. Yesterday, on the scale of 1 (love this place, don't ever want to leave) to 10 (get me the hell outta here!) I was at a 9.5. We presented at a combined Rotary Club meeting in a little town yesterday. The meeting was outside under bright lights with swarms ... read more

Part 7 January 10 Bikaner, India It is surprisingly hard to connect to the low income lives of so many people in India. I hesitate to use the word poverty, as this seems somehow a more Western notion that is both judgmental and clinical at the same time. Poverty as most in the West know it indicates an income level that is inadequate, but still can support a standard of living in the developed world that seems to far exceed the basic standard here. And poverty in the west usually implies a degree of destituteness that rarely has any sense of vitality or vibrancy that somehow slips through life in India more often that one would expect. By outward of appearances of where we have been (admittedly not even a tiny slice of this large and ... read more

We arrived in Goa this morning and are staying at the Ronil Beach Resort in Baga, Calangute- it is really nice with air conditioning which is must as it is 34 degrees out here ( sorry to make you guys jealous!). I have had a hectic few days so the intention is to spend the next few relaxing on the beach, with a few cocktails and perhaps some water sports! So if you don't here from me for a while don't worry! P x... read more

....FLEXIBILITAET BRAUCHST IN INDIEN.......... wollten eigentlich am 31. 12. von amritsar nach delhi, um mit den tibetern silvester zu feiern! haben dafuer sogar eine schlaflose nacht im ueberladenen und ueberfuellten bus in kauf genommen und nix wars damit!! sind im morgengrauen in delhi eingeritten und los gings uebernachtig auf herbergsuche. nach einer halben stunde war uns schon klar, dass wir weder ein zimmer, noch eine matratze oder auch nur eine ecke zum pennen kriegen koennen, ganz majnu-ka- tilla ist voll bis ende jaenner! deshalb trat plan "b" in kraft, taxi zum india gate und gleich einen bus nach jaipur, rajasthan checken! hat gut geklappt, nach einer weiteren, 4 einhalb- stuendigen fahrt war's also soweit! ziemlich verkatert und zerknirscht landeten wir bei den rajputen,! dachten, dass die wohl auch gut silvester feiern koennen. auch deshalb, weil's hier ... read more

Summary: This blog turned out to be longer than I was expecting so just to outline things I've basically written a discription of what I think train journeys are like here, the sorts of things that you see and the people you meet. As mentioned before, after the disaster of missing taxis in Darjeeling, the spectacularly late fashion of my train (over 9hrs) meant that I had finally managed to successfully book a train and get on it myself! It's clear that the train journeys here are going to be one of the most memorable experiences I have here so I thought I'd make another effort to right down what they are like. It turns out that trains don't travel overnight to Assam (This eastern region) due to bandits which would otherwise hold it up and ... read more