Auight, I am currently in Udaipur, Rajasthan, deservingly known as the Venice of the East--also the Lake City, White City and the most romantic city in India. Udaipur was once the home to a great kingdom and is built around a central lake. The architecture is amazing. It's a cluster of winding streets and buildings, or 'havelis,' piled one on top of another, all with extremely intricate arches and moldings. All the buildings have rooftops with multiple terraces that overlook the rest of the city and the lake. The surrounding countryside is the Aravelli mountains, with forts and palaces [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Jaipur, Rajasthan on Friday night and walked the "Pink City" on Saturday. It's really strange...I am essentially the only tourist in this whole city. Only today have I encountered two other Westerners and I think they live here. I am told that the summer is brutally hot and hence they are in the off season, however, usually there are always some stragglers hangin around. Maybe the political situation here is deterring folks as well. Anyways, I think I might be one of only a small hand-full of occupants in my big hotel. Things are very quiet. Also, I [View Full Entry]

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Trying to leave Delhi has been somewhat of a challenge. Civil unrest in Rajasthan (where I am trying to go) has caused large groups of tribes to stage a protest to demonstrate their political will. Ingeniously they did so by sitting on the railroad tracks (rail being India's primary mode of transport), and then blocked the streets as well, screwing up the major routes between Delhi and Bombay. For the past several days they have been threatening to march on Delhi and effectively seal the city off by road and rail. Today that happened, but I am told that a riot [View Full Entry]

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Here are some pics...not many so far since I am still in Delhi. [View Full Entry]

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It seems that every time I meet with senior management at my organization the concept for my work broadens and becomes more challenging. As I understand it now, my mission is to meet with officials and organizations involved in every aspect of the insurance industry in India, and simultaneously review the latest literature on microinsurance and become somewhat of an expert on the current climate of insurance services and the low-income market. In addition, instead of my final report being geared toward ACCESS internal personnel, they wish that my report be constructed in such a way that they [View Full Entry]

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Okay, so what I had imagined I would be doing for the organization and what they actually want me to do are two very different things. I feel a little overwhelmed at current. Instead of just doing an assessment of MFI partners, they are having me meet with representatives from the government of India, large private insurance carriers, other non-profit organizations, USAID, GTZ (German humanitarian organization), the ILO, the World Bank, the UNDP and others. I am to gather information on the current climate for microinsurance, new innovations, and plans for the future, and then locate gaps i [View Full Entry]

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They say that some days you love India and others you wonder why you came. Today is one of the former. I had an AMAZING time today exploring Old Delhi, which was originally built as part of the Mughal empire. I wish I would have lodged here to begin with. Outside of the monuments I only rarely saw other foreigners. The people were incrediblly friendly. Most want to stare at you a while, which is a little wierd, but once you say "hi" they always smiled and said it back. I almost never got hustled for anything (which is definitely a [View Full Entry]

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Well...I made it! The 20hr trip to get here was nothing compared to what I found at the end... Delhi is nuts. It took me about 2 days to get over the jet lag and come back to life from my initial shell shock. This city is packed with people and ridiculous traffic (I will never complain about I75/85 again). I chose the backpacker ghetto, Paharganj, as the first place I stayed which ended up being kind of a mistake. Although I have met some other travelers to hang out with, Paharganj is the definition of total choas (people, taxis, motorized [View Full Entry]

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