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Published: July 13th 2008
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Day 4, but it feels like so many more!
We drove out of Jaipur among the now familiar camels, cows, dogs, and the most diverse, interesting, and curious people all over the random streets.
The masive impressive light pink structure of the AMBER FORT could be admired from afar, "hanging" on the side of a rocky mountain.
The minute we step out of the car the vendors and unnoficial guides start the persistent plee... but we are getting better at dismissing them quicker now, although still very annoyed.
Besides enjoying the beautiful archtecture of the structures, arches and windows, my eyes were constantly being caught by the traditionally dressed locals, the colorful saris, the westernized ones, and the contrats with the few black burka of Muslin women. There was also a group of Brazilians from the Rotary club in Santa Catarina, making a lot of noise, like Brazilians usually do!
The snake charmer, the little boy performing a dance who blew me a kiss, the dance performance we watched, all brought smiles; watching local women doing hard labor, carring rocks on their heads, brought sadness. (more about Indian women rights and colors later).
The signs were
scarce and we got a lost often on the labyrinth inside the Amber Palace, particularly on the women's quarters. Unlike us, I bet the Maharaja did not get lost while paying the nocturnal visits to the chosen women, going thru these narrow, discrete passages!
The Kali Temple, where goats were sacrificed daily up to 1980, the beauty of the ceilings and walls of the Jai Mandin (Hall of Victory), the columns, arches, lattices. All very nice and I recommend a visit if you're in the area.
After Amber, the drive to Delhi was uneventful and boring. Met Mr Yoshen, the retal car owner, at a bus terminal... complains verbalized, and misguided again, we change our plans and book an overnight bus to Shimla, up at the cooler north.
4 hours before departure, we ask for a good restaurant nearby and get "McDonald" as the answer. "No, I don't eat at McD". Reply: "McDonald is very good here in India. Lot's of vegetarian choices". Well, determined not to have the meal there, we found a good Southern Indian restaurant where we ate "dosa", had a mango Lassi (yogurt and fruit shake) and than... had dessert and trip to
the bathroom at the posh McDonald's. We spent 2 hours at McD, Amanda having fun watching the Indian "really bad and funny" Hip-Hop videos on the several flat screen TV. The soft serve ice cream was super tiny, no more than 4oz. That's the size that should be served in the US to the oversized population, I thought.
The semi-sleeper bus was very nice and comfortalbe. We had a well educated Indian couple by us, who told us about their arranged marriage, leaving with in-laws, the advantages of working for an American company in India, about the fact that "cows are on the streets because there are more important issues in India, like conflicts in Kashimir and Pakisthan", etc.
And that's how another one of our Indian days ended.
Til next blog.
Patricia
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Sharon Tomasi
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You did a lot!
Hi, Wow, you guys did sop much is such a small time period at the beginning there. Sorry we missed you on Saturday. We went to the temple (Dalai Lama) and intended to come back in time to see you of, but as you will know, it poured it down in true McLeod style, so we got stuck and didn't want to walk back and get soaked. Hope you made it out OK. Have fun for the rest of your trip and keep in touch! Sharon and Scott xx