Blogs from Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 360

Where to start? We're the local entertainment in our dorm/compound. We did laundry outside yesterday and today. Always get big crowds with that as we put on as little clothing as possible and get ourselves completely soaked while the women squat in their full saris and don't seem to get a drop on them. We wash them outside in the main tiled courtyard on the ground under the water spouts. The women watched, laughed, and finally one woman came up and took our laundry away (the stuff we'd already cleaned and were getting ready to rinse) and washed them for us - again - showing us the right way, beating it on the ground. One woman asked us with hand motions and broken english why we didn't use a washing machine. We just shrugged and went ... read more

Hey everyone. I have been moving around quite a bit and have started to fall behind on my blogs. Over the past week I have been in the city of Jaipur, Pushkar, and Jodhpur (and am actually in Jaisalmer right now). The problems with my tooth got really bad in Jaipur, and I ended up going to another dentist. This time I was told that an old root canal that I had was infected and that I'd have to get another root canal, but the problem was that the infection was pretty bad (my face was all swollen) and that I wasn't reacting to the antibiotics the other dentist had given me. He said that if the new antibiotics that he was prescribing didn't work then he'd have to go in a manually remove the puss ... read more

...Expecting marbled Island palaces floating like mirages on placid blue waters. We arrived in the yellow cool of morning after an 18hr trip up from Mumbai to Udaipur, the city of Lakes, to find the mirrored oasis of Lake Pichola was no more. The lovelorn palaces sat stranded in a barren dusty wasteland thirsting for the return of the tranquil neutralising waters that are the very essence of Udaipurs majesty. The ambience of desire was palpable - as though every building, mountain, man and beast longed for the return of the cities lifeblood with such intensity; suspending the city in state of glorious melancholic yearning. Udaipur is a victim of its own beauty. Local mismanagement and the undoubted and the ever increasing popularity of Udaipur has put such a strain on its most valuable commodity - ... read more

Oh joy. Frst big hiccup of the summer plans. AA and I went to check our mail tonight. I had a priority package in my box from the consular, AA had a note for an express mail. I thought it was odd that mine was priority since i paid for express.... yeah. Visa app returned, not processed. says there was no money. Which is funny since I have all of the receipts from the money order and my account is now minus $79 that is missing. Gah. Going to call in the morning. AA also needs to check her mail and see if hers was processed. Great. ... read more

We caught an Agra-bound bus at a junction close to our guesthouse in order to reach Fatehpur Sikri, which is actually at very close distance from Agra (37 km). Though the bus was crammed, the ride was bearable because it was short. There we took a horse-cart to our destination, passing impressive fortifications of the old Moghul city. For the first time we had an air cooler in our room, an instrument to cool the air by means of water. A big metal box protrudes from the room, there is a kind of frame at the bottom, the three sides outside the room have metal grids and beneath them mats of coir. A ventilator blows the warm air from outside through this "curtain of water", where it is cooled down and blown into the room. The ... read more