Udaipur and Jodhpur

Rajasthan! (see album at 

Udaipur

Udaipur..once again, we're afraid to cross the street. Hold hands, look both ways, look down (cow poop, dead rats), look up (low-hanging awnings), listen (horns honking, cows mooing), hold your breath (smells, dust), say your prayers, and go. Drivers here drive faster than in the south and are more aggressive. Gods help us.

Once you are across the street, there are AMAZING sights here. The City Palace, Lake Palace, Jain temples, and begging holy men are incredible to see. Most remarkable are the COLORS. I swear that they have more colors here than we have at home (ditto with smells, but that's not always a good thing). Women in their saris put us westerners to shame. I'm wearing khaki and MAYBE a yellow shirt if I'm feeling frisky. They are covered in magenta, fuscia, orange, reds, saffron, and teal, brilliant combinations. I hope some of our photos capture a bit of this, because it is truly outstanding. They dress like this every day. The saris are covered in gold embroidery, sequins, glitter, and beading. The road crews (see photos) are dressed fancier than Oscar attendees, no exaggeration. Little girls wear beaded satin dresses and they play barefooted in the dusty streets.

Ditto with jewelry. I wear a small pair of gold hoop earrings and a wedding ring (sorry, fellas, I'm spoken for). A 2-year old boy I saw yesterday wore 5-6 bangle bracelets, ankle bracelets on both feet, necklace, and had painted nails. Women often seem to wear more jewelry at one time than I own. 

Rajasthani Road Crew

The Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur is truly amazing. We had an entertaining, informative audio tour that was so much better than the "live" guides we've had at other sites. (Actual quote: "This is the up part; that is the down part. This is the new part;. that is the old part. This is the men part; that is.. " you get the idea). The current Maharaja has made a career of restoring the fort and making it accessible to tourists and has done an outstanding job of it. Not a single employee there asked us for money for doing their job.  How western!

Today's excitement- Roger sees a doctor about back pain..sore muscle, Malarone side-effect, cracked rib, deadly disease, who can say? The doctor-sahib, that's who! He says pulled muscle, and prescribed a few pills of undetermined origin, composition and expiration date. Cross your fingers. He can't do a camel ride with a sore back, and Jaisalmer and a camel safari are next on the agenda. Camels are kinda huge and look a little scary, so a bad back MIGHT be a good excuse if we get cold feet. We'll see. We have already decided that a 2-day ride is way too much time on any kind of animal (especially a camel). We're shooting for something shorter and less painful. 

On to Jaisalmer!