Rajasthan, India

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Hello again-
Below is a link to the pictures from the real start of our India adventure. We are currently in Bodhgaya(where Buddha was enlightened), but have spent the last 10 days in Rajastan and Agra in Northern India.

First stop after 10 days of meditating and eating nothing but rice, veggies, and chai was the New Delhi Pizza Hut. This place was really hopping. And the pizza was surprisingly similar to what you would find in the US...with a bit of a spicy masala flavor to the sauce. Fun fact: corn is really good on pizza!

We took our first overnight train from Delhi to Jodphur--our first stop in Rajastan. Aside from the friendly older french couple in our car who disrobed rather quickly and candidly, the train ride was uneventful. The upper and lower berths are kind of like bunk beds at sleep-away camp and the man walking through the aisles yelling "Chai, chai, chai" in the morning is a nice wake up call.

Jodphur:
This is known as the Blue City due to the hue of many of the houses here. Back in the day Indigo was used to repel mosquitoes and also for its cooling factor. Its a great sight to look out at a sea of blue from the Fort. The Fort is really the only thing to do in Jodphur (other than shop at the market surrounding the Clocktower--which one man proudly proclaimed is the 8th best market in the world...he was not quite sure what city claims the #1 and/or #4 markets, though I did ask).
After the fort I wanted to check out the fabulous palace that we could see in the distance as it was recently converted to a hotel. The rickshaw driver told us it was too expensive mulitiple times but I shushed him and told him to bring us there anyway. He shrugged and 20 minutes later I was giving him a smart-ass I told you so glance as the doorman ran to greet our rickshaw and usher us inside. But we were promptly flanked by two men who informed us that there was a 2000 ruppee (approx $50) fee just to enter the hotel. I told him I just wanted to have some tea on the veranda and while eyeing my flip flops and plastic watch (timex indiglo) he repeated the 2000 ruppee deal. We left and I wanted to tell them that this palace looked no better than any Four Seasons Hotel but I held my tongue.

Udaipur (my favorite so far):
The next day we took a 10 hour bus ride to Udaipur in Southern Rajastan. I won't go into detail about these dusty, bumpy and ear-piercing 10++ hours of my life, but suffice to say I will never turn my nose up at Greyhound again. But we somehow made it to Udaipur in one piece and checked in to a simple room at the Lal Ghat guesthouse. It was 9pm and already dark, but as I fell asleep I could see the lights of the City Palace twinkling from my window. Not a bad view for $10.
The view was even better in the daylight and I was pleasantly surprised to wake and see a superb view of the shimmering lake and fairly tale floating palaces. We had breakfast on our hotel rooftop overlooking this scene and it seemed like a painting rather than reality. This was one of the most serene and pitquresque views I have ever taken in. Some of you may know the Lake Palace from the James Bond film "Octopussy" (which is shown nightly at many Udaipur restaurants...as if we needed to see it not only before us but also on the small scratchy tv screen!). And if you did not know it before you certainly will now because I think i took about 50 pictures of it.
On our first day, we saw the Udaipur City Palace, went to a cool park that was on an island, checked out the Ghats where the locals bath and do laundry in the (polluted) lake, and visited the Monsoon Palace for sunset. This Palace high on a mountain (getting there in a Rickshaw was like riding the little engine that could..."I think I can, I think I can...") has been abandoned for a while and it makes for a spooky experience, especially after sunset when night falls and a full moon appears. The mountain-top views from the arched palace windows were surreal and unfortunately can't really be captured in photos.
The plan was to leave the next night for Pushkar, but poor Rick got a case of Delhi belly and we didn't make our 10pm bus. 2 nights and 3 cancelled bus tickets later we finally made it out of Udaipur! This was not such a bad place to be stuck for a few days (I loved the views and there were gorgeous fireworks at night because a government officials son's wedding had overtaken the Lake Palace for a week) but it was good to finally leave for our next stop in Rajastan.

Pushkar:
Pushkar is a Hindu pilgrimage town surrounding a tiny lake. There are no cars or rickshaws allowed there so it is generally quieter than most places, although I think the motorbikes are even louder just to make up for it. Pushkar Lake is considered holy and is encircled by 54 sacred ghats where many pilgrims come to bathe in the mystical waters. Many backpackers also come to grow dredlocks, wear atrociously saggy pants, and enjoy the holy hashish. You won't find any meat, eggs, or alcohol here, but as one friend told us "No money no honey...you can get anything you want here if you can pay for it".
We only stayed one night but I really enjoyed this spiritual spot and the shopping was the best I have found so far. We were blessed by a priest at sunrise at a ghat close to the spot where Ghandi's ashes were scattered...and even though we overpaid the "priest" so that our friends and relatives could also have good karma and even though Rick is still muttering under his breath how that guy was not a real priest and why did we do that...i still thought it was beautiful to chant prayers and get a red dot on my forehead while sitting next to my husband beside a serene and sacred lake at sunrise.

Agra:
The town of the Taj Mahal. And not much else. We arrived by bus at 5am and went straight to the Taj for sunrise. It is every bit as beautiful as everyone claims. The most interesting thing about it is that the marble actually changes color slightly depending on the time of day. As the sun rose higher in the sky the white marble morphed into a lovely shade of pink. It was mesmerizing and somewhat spooky all at once. We were stuck in Agra for two days because we couldn't get a train out, and although we wanted to leave because there was not much else to do, we ended up really enjoying the town. On our second day we met a very sweet 15 year old boy whose parents own a restaurant near the Taj. The Taj is closed on Fridays and he informed us that is because on Fridays the Muslims in Agra go there to pray. Can you imagine having the Taj Mahal as your local prayer spot? This boy goes every Friday and shrugged nonchalantly while telling us.

After Agra we headed to Varanasi--one of the oldest cities in the world, Sarnath--where Buddha gave his first sermon, and now we are in Bodhgaya--where Buddha was enlightened. More on these spots later...

We leave at 5am tomorrow morning for Southern India and I cannot wait to trade some sun and sand for dharma and dust!


http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=yrxns91.bzj5w5ot&x=0&y=3fjccj

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