Colorful Rajasthan

As we write this, we're only about 80 km from Pakistan in India's desert state of Rajasthan.

Our itinerary has been:

Delhi
Agra
Jaipur (Celebrating the International Rajasthani Conclave 2000 - 50 years since the formation of Ragasthan)
Udaipur
Jodhpur
Jaisalmer

Despite the brutally hot weather (in the upper 90's and low 100's), we are greatly enjoying our travels. Gorgeous old forts and palaces, intricately carved temples, fantastically colored saris and turbans, delightful people and great food make this a fascinating trip.

We relish being in a predominately vegetarian country . The spicing is fantastic - not super hot (John requires either additional chilies or a side order of chili-fry to sate his needs) but complex and rich. Due to the heat we are not eating as much volume as usual, but the prolific use of oil means we're not losing much weight or cholesterol unfortunately. John had our first intestinal bout for a few days but Kim's prompt medical attention (Cipro and Imodium to the rescue) resolved it rapidly and fortunately.

While West Bengal is getting struck with the worst flooding in 30 years, Rajasthan has the worst drought in memory. Each of the past three year's monsoon's have only brought a single day of rains. The heat makes us look forward to higher elevation and Nepal's cooler climes in in a big way!

We're also enjoying the varied animal-life. We spent a fascinating morning watching a barrelful of monkeys from the roof-top of our haveli (an old merchant's house with multiple stories and traditional carvings and decorations-typically surrounding a courtyard). We've seen lots of herds of water buffalo, cows, goats, sheep, and camels at positions alongside or somewhere in the middle of the road. Yesterday we witnessed a camel drive numbering close to 200 head! We also did an abbreviated "sunset camel safari" out of Jaisalmer a couple days ago. Given our sore bums, we are glad we only committed to 2-3 hours, rather than 2-3 days!

The people though are universally friendly and eager to get to know us. A simple walk though the marketplace usually takes about three times what one would expect. The Rajasthani's are a super colorful lot with bright turbans, fanciful handlebar mustachios and vivid saris.

Turbaned, handlebar mustachioed handsome men walk proudly while women toil together out in the fields or at a gravel plant. All are incredibly colorful and friendly, somehow surmounting the heat and dusty conditions to eke out a simple lifestyle much as has happened here for millennia. Descendents of the fierce Rajiputs, the culture today is less full of bravado but the pride is evident.

Everyone is pretty poor and life here is incredibly cheep. We're staying at moderate hotels with lots of character and sometimes air conditioning and TV for about $15/night, while meals (consistently better than anywhere in Europe!) are about $5 for a good dinner for both of us.

Crafts are easy to find here but hard to bargain for. We've met many tough bargainers but fortunately Mom's training has put John in good stead. Typically we find prices overstated twice over what we're able to actually obtain. It gets tough when someone doesn't play the game and leaves you feeling like you're bargaining so hard that their family might suffer.

We're traveling with the great help of Pappu Goswami, our taxi driver, who we pay 1100Rs (~$25) per day - inclusive of the taxi, petrol, his food, lodging and wages. Though we're uncomfortable having someone basically waiting on our whims, it creates jobs, is as cheap as raveling by train or plane, and is the utmost in flexibility. While our Hindustan Motors cab rarely gets going as fast as 65kph (~40mph) - even on the national highways, we find it a proper pace to cover the territory. His knowledge of his native state is obviously vast and has helped us in many ways.

Traveling with Pappu has given us great respect for his driving skills. Crashes are about as frequent as the road-side liquor shops unfortunately and apparently drunk truck operators can still avoid serious jail time with a few well-placed bribes. Aside from liquor is the poor state of the roads, and even more so than Europe, the incredible disparity between the slowest objects on the highways (sleeping cows and dogs) and the fastest. Given the universal two lane highways, many accidents are head on--typically when both vehicles are about the same size--making it unclear who is really supposed to give way.

Yesterday we spent the day purchasing a couple pieces of furniture (older) in Jodphur. It will be interesting to see what actually arrives! NOTHING, but nothing is done with any hurry, and the bureaucracy is thick

Tomorrow we start the drive back to Delhi and begin preparing for Nepal. We'll never forget our wonderful two weeks in rugged, wild, beautiful Rajasthan though!

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