thru India's northwest state of Rajasthan. The state is really diverse with the northern part being plains, west part desert, and southern part jungle. We started our tour in the capital city of Jaipur, also called the Pink City because all the buildings in the old city are painted pink, the Indian color for welcoming. As all city's in this state, it has a Palace, a fort, and some mosques. One cool thing was we got to ride an Elephant up to fort. However, I do not think these elephants were that well taken care of--they had some sores and rub marks.After Jaipur, we drove to Jodhpur. This is the blue city, and it has a palace 
and city fort...but this fort was really cool, and the entrance ticket came with a very good audio guide. One thing about all the cities in Rajasthan was that they didn't really put up a fight...here is the story of every city: they are fierce people living in a fierce land, they fought the invading Mohguls (Muslims) in the 16th century but eventually made an agreement with them. The when the British came in the 18th century, they didn't fight just signed a "peace promise".
and city fort...but this fort was really cool, and the entrance ticket came with a very good audio guide. One thing about all the cities in Rajasthan was that they didn't really put up a fight...here is the story of every city: they are fierce people living in a fierce land, they fought the invading Mohguls (Muslims) in the 16th century but eventually made an agreement with them. The when the British came in the 18th century, they didn't fight just signed a "peace promise".After Jodhpur, our driver insisted that we change our plans and go to a small little town called Ranakpur. It was a little relaxing town. Our driver says that he wants to someday build a hotel in this area. It is very green with a pretty lake and lots of monkeys hanging around. It also has a really cool temple, with crazy intricate designs carved all over it. It has something like 1,444 columns and no two of them is carved alike.
After Ranakpur we went to the romantic city of Udaipur. Voted to be one of the most romantic cities in India. This city has a palace in the center of the lake, which was actually used in the James Bond movie Octopussy. We ended our stay at a very nice restaurant, having a candle-lite dinner overlooking the palace and the lake.From Udaipur we went to the dusty little town of Pushkar. This town also has a lake in the middle but it is said to be holy. The god Brama is said to have charmed his second wife there, dropping a lotus flower to earth, which became the lake. Brama's first wife Pavarti became angry and declared that Pushkar would be the only place where he would be worshipped and there is a beautiful temple there dedicated to him. Other than temples and holy places this town is also full of touts selling everything to scammers trying to get you to book camel safari tours. They did have a cheap Bazaar where Sarah bought some stuff. After Pushkar we went back to Jaipur where Sarah and I bought another hand made carpet for ourselves as well as one for Jeff and Debbie.
Last stop on our tour was Agra and the Taj Mahal. Agra is very dirty and the people are not so nice. This is such a stark contrast because the Taj Mahal is so beautiful, but the city it is in is soooo ugly. The Taj was absolutely one of the highlights--it was so
much better than any photograph. The symmetry is so detailed that if you look at a block of marble on one side the block is the same size on the other three...I think it may be the closest thing to perfection that I have ever seen. In contrast, after the Taj, we went to the Agra Fort and it was a disaster. Half the fort was closed, and there were these roving gangs of teenage boys aggressively hounding and leering at Sarah for a picture of her. At one point a group of boys surrounded us, all yelling at us for a photo, I seriously thought we were going to be assaulted. I put Sarah behind me and started yelling at them, "Back the fuck off! No fucking photo!" Of course no security personnel came to our rescue and I thought I was going to have to bust out the old Army moves. Thankfully I think I scared them with my hulking frame : ) Too bad I've lost 25 lbs or I could have threatened to sit on them ;)
much better than any photograph. The symmetry is so detailed that if you look at a block of marble on one side the block is the same size on the other three...I think it may be the closest thing to perfection that I have ever seen. In contrast, after the Taj, we went to the Agra Fort and it was a disaster. Half the fort was closed, and there were these roving gangs of teenage boys aggressively hounding and leering at Sarah for a picture of her. At one point a group of boys surrounded us, all yelling at us for a photo, I seriously thought we were going to be assaulted. I put Sarah behind me and started yelling at them, "Back the fuck off! No fucking photo!" Of course no security personnel came to our rescue and I thought I was going to have to bust out the old Army moves. Thankfully I think I scared them with my hulking frame : ) Too bad I've lost 25 lbs or I could have threatened to sit on them ;)Tonight we say goodbye to Anil, our trusty driver and board the night bus to Varanasi. Hopefully we have better luck on our way to Calcutta.
1 comment:
Way to stand up for your woman Sean!!
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