Hot...Sandy...Desert...

Tiffany and I finished our tour of the major India sights and the Indian desert, traveling from Delhi, then back and forth through the hot, arid state of Rajasthan. We started off in Delhi, the nation's capital, and visited a religious Sikh temple, which also doubles as a soup kitchen (or a naan and curry kitchen, in this case). They let us help stir a giant pot of curry stew but more out of generosity for the photo op than our actual ability to help cook. They offer free food all year around to anyone and everyone, serving 20-40,000 meals every day!

Next stop, the religious center of India, Varanasi. Varanasi is the Mecca of India, with all Indians striving to travel there at least once in their lifetime. Crowds of colorfully dressed folks of all ages come at dawn to bathe themselves in the sacred river Ganges, which is supposed to absolve sins and cure illness, as well as spread the ashes of their cremated loved ones. It also happens to be filthy, as it receives a substantial amount of sewage along with aforementioned ashes. But that is no deterrent to the millions of faithful (Tiffany and I not among them) who plunge headlong into the river every day. Our first overnight train experience in India was not a pleasant one. We were crammed into a four person, double bunk section about the size of walk in closet, and only separated from the rest of the train car by a sheet divider. As the other couple was a kindly, older Indian couple, Tiffany and I offered to take top bunks. As you can see, they allowed for very little maneuvering space. And these were the second best accomodations on the train! We slept very little that night, as the foot traffic bumping into us throughout the car combined with the deafening snoring of the "kindly" Indian man sleeping below Tiffany.

From Varanasi, we took the train to Agra, home of the famous Taj Mahal, the world's greatest monument to love. Constructed in 12 years by the Emperor Shah Jehan for his wife as a memorial (she died after giving birth to 14 children in 19 years of marriage!), the Taj Mahal is a stunning architectural masterpiece, and was glowing in the dawn sunlight as we watched the first rays of sun strike the glinting stones inlaid around the marble domes.

Here, Tiffany manages to "grasp" the significance of the Taj. In Agra we picked up our trusty driver Rana, who would accompany us and transport us safely through the desert for the next 10 days. Unfortunately, both Tiffany and I were struck down by our first India stomach sickness and spent most of the evening in Agra running to the bathroom, crawling out, and then running back in. As a side benefit, I think I've lost at least 5 pounds so far!

Our first desert stop was Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Below, we visited the giant astronomy park built by a king, or maharajah. He built amazingly accurate sun dials that told time to a 20-second accuracy. Below is a neat looking apparatus that does god-knows what, but it looks neat.For our next overnight train, from Jaipur to Udaipur, I insisted that we upgrade to the best class on the train. Not that I'm a complete wimp (partial, yes) but the price differential was about $40. And Tiffany's peace of mind not having to listen to me whine all night? Priceless. We got the same size cabin but only the two of us, and a sliding glass door to complete our privacy.
Our next stop was perhaps my favorite city so far, Udaipur. Sitting on a huge, man-made lake, the city was serene and quiet in comparison with everything we'd seen so far in India. Below is the Lake Palace hotel, which sits in the middle of the lake and is only accessible by ferry boat. After a sunset boat tour around the lake, Tiffany and I enjoyed the end of our day sipping fresh lime sodas (an India specialty) at a restaurant/bar in the middle of the lake. Now this was more like it! Udaipur is also famous as the setting of the James Bond movie, Octopussy. Every local hotel and restaurant plays the movie every night at 7pm, with complete disregard for Roger Moore's terrible portrayal of 007.

From Udaipur we drove to Jodhpur, the "Blue City", so nicknamed for the number of homes painted blue. Formerly the color of the elite, Brahmin class of priests, it became popular for citizens of all castes to adopt this color paint, perhaps when it became known for its mosquito-repellant quality.
From Jodhpur we drove to Jaisalmer, where Tiffany fell in love with yet another animal, the camel (or technically dromedary, as the one-humped variety are called). We took an ill-advised camel ride into the face of a whipping sandstorm, and even though Tiffany spent most of the time with her eyes closed, our faithful underaged camel guides pulled us through safely. Below is Tiffany with the poor boy that had to drag her camel though the hot, blistering sand, and looking none too happy after the ordeal. By the way, it is just incredible the way animal life and human life are so intertwined here. We see cows, goats, donkeys, camels, dogs, rats and sheep freely roaming city streets, cars swerving and screeching to a halt to avoid them.From Jaisalmer we drove to Bikaner, and rather than visiting the infamous Temple of the Rats, where thousands of rats scurry along the floor of a temple and religious adherents celebrate having their bare feet run across by the furry disease carriers (an even better good luck omen is eating something with rat saliva on it, I kid you not), we decided to visit a camel breeding farm. Tiffany clearly enjoyed the attention of the adolescent camels below, much more I'm guessing than from rats of any age!
So we are now out of the desert, having logged approximately 30 hours in the car and 2 overnight train rides. Tomorrow we fly to Darjeeling and get a close up of the Himalayas to wrap up the India leg of our trip!