Just a quick hello since I am in a business center. Today we flew into Varanasi. We had a quick tour at the location where Sidhartha gave his first sermon as the enlightened or Buddha - Sarnath. At that estimated location is a large stupa - the largest in the world. A stupa is what was worshipped as Buddha before people started making human images of him. Note that Buddha was against idol worship however hundreds of years after he was gone the followers started created the Buddha statues that we are familiar with today.

At this site were ruins of the many stupas and temples and monasteries. There was also a make-shift museum that had some really nice artifacts. One is the top of a pillar made by King Ashoka. This pillar is the non human idol of Buddha. Anyway, what is interesting about this is that the stone is sandstone and it is shiny. Sandstone isn't shiny. For centuries scientists have yet to figure out how and why this stone is shiny. I couldn't take pictures but here is a website that has a good picture of it as well as the best existing Buddha idol as described below http://members.porchlight.ca/blackdog/sarnath.htm

The temples and stupas were ruined by the Mughals (Muslims) hundreds of years ago. A very nice Buddha sculpture that they have in the museum is now the nicest in existence. In Afghanistan there was the best preserved idol in existence, a standing Buddha - thousands of years old. However, a few years ago the Taliban blew it up and it is gone forever.

I also saw a tree that is apparently derived from the original tree that Sidhartha sat under and gained enlightenment. The original tree had a branch taken and planted somewhere in Sri Lanka. In turn, a branch from the Sri Lanka tree was planted here in Varanasi and now it is a huge tree.

OK, that is all for now - Gotta get up early for a 6:30 am boat ride on the Ganges river. Tomorrow afternoon we are back in Delhi overnight then off to Kathmandu for 3 days!

Bye!

Today I was "had" by a street peddler.



Note the above elephant with a broken leg - in complete form this would have been a nice memento for a loved one. This trinket was sold to me for a negotiated cost of 100 rupees (around $2.35). The jerk gave it to me wrapped up in bubble wrap. I saw something in his eye and should have known. But didn't realize the damaged goods till I got back to the room. Man I was ticked off!

I am absolutely sick of all these guys shoving crap into my face and asking for money. I tell them that I don't want it so they go "OK, I give to you for (some lower price.)" Going through this rigamarole at every site we have seen has caused me to now engage with them in ways I shouldn't. Such as "what part of I don't want it don't you understand." But of course they don't understand this. Sometimes when I am really crowded by them I feel like stretching my arms out and spinning in circles so they all go flying and their crappy gifts crash to the ground.

In fact everyone wants money here. You can't squat in a disgusting, smell infested toilet without someone outside asking for money. I was walking around a mosque today and some random guy is telling me some history and when I left he goes
"money, rupees, money". Man it is irritating.

In fact this guy with the snakes below asked me for $20 US dollars after I took a picture with him. I felt sorry for him and gave him 200 rupees.


Today, we toured Delhi which is an ancient, clean and bustling metropolis. Some # like 90% of the people there work for the government as it is the capital. Beautiful government buildings are everywhere as well as ancient forts built by the mughal emperor Akbar.

We also had a great run through the narrow streets of the local market on a rickshaw. I got some great pictures including this one.


And here is UR on his rickshaw - hahahaha RICKshaw!!


Lastly, here is a picture of moi sporting a fashionable bindi on my forehead.


Found out some more info on the Swastika today at this huge Hindu temple in Delhi - in fact it is the temple that Mother Theresa was a part of. There were swastikas everywhere. And in the hand out is said this:

"This symbol is most sacred and ancient. At least for more than last 8000 years, it has been the mark of Aryan (Hindu) civilisation and culture. (Do not confuse it with the Nazi Swastika which was in reverse form).

This symbol signifies and implied prayer for success, accomplishment and perfection, in every walk of life, under the guidance of the Almighty. It is found not only in India, but in the Buddhist and other foreign countries."

Too bad Hitler had to pervert this symbol.

Here are some more pictures of Delhi.

The Taj Mahal!!


After a grueling seven hour car ride we finally made it to our hotel in Agra. The drive was horrible with constant stopping and going, near death experiences and a driver that had one thing on his mind - "dump the stupid tourists in Agra and get back to Jaipur ASAP." It took me at least an hour to un-tense my body and un-clench my teeth after that ride.

However, going to the observatory tower of the hotel and seeing the Taj Mahal in the distance got me excited and I quickly forgot about the tortuous time trapped in the ancient car.

Our travel agents wanted us to leave at 9 am to see the Taj but I pushed for 6:45 am and was finally obliged. This paid off because we had a great view of the mausoleum and as we were leaving around 8:45 the whole place was hidden in fog. There was still a lot of fog around when we were there but it cleared enough to see the impressive sight.



It is an amazing feeling to stand in front of a sight that you have grown up looking at in pictures and TV. This is someplace so far away that I never thought I would see in person. Seeing the Taj Mahal is the highlight of the trip and made the whole thing worthwhile.

It is huge and beautiful outside with perfect symmetry and gorgeous gardens. It is actual the burial site of the mughal Empress Mumtaz Mahal. This is a Muslim site. Unlike all the Hindu temples we have seen the Taj actually has the body of the empress laid to rest under the center of the large dome. The Hindu people cremate their dead and usually build temples over this site.

Mumtaz Mahal was the second and favorite wife of Shah Jehan the mughal emperor. He built this monument to her out of his great love and her dying wish. You can read the whole story here. http://rubens.anu.edu.au/student.projects/tajmahal/hist_sign.html

After the Taj we toured another Muslim mausoleum and Agra Fort which is pretty impressive in its own right. The day before we also saw the Red Fort, a deserted mughal fort/palace built by Akbar who also built the Agra Fort and is the predecessor of Shah Jehan who built the Taj Mahal.

Click here to see some of the images from the Taj, including some attempts at artsy fartsy-ness, and the forts.

We were supposed to take a train to Delhi this evening but it was delayed meaning we wouldn't get in till 2 am. We reluctantly agreed to take a 4 hour car drive instead. While in the business of the Delhi rush hour someone apparently bumped into us from behind. I think that the driver let go of the clutch. Anyway, we lurched forward and there was a big bang.

Tomorrow we will tour Delhi then we fly to Varanasi the day after, then back to Delhi to fly to Nepal for three days. Then the journey home via Bangkok overnight and LAX!

Hi all! Have to make this quick as I have 30 minutes to shower, dress and pack for a 6-7 hour car drive with a barely English speaking guide to Agra where the Taj Mahal is.

Yesterday we toured more in Jaipur and made friends with our guide who is a very wealthy man. Ended up having dinner at his gorgeous home. Dinner was made by his house boy and it was the best meal to date.

We also had the chance to visit with more village people and were invited into their homes. They even brought up a 20 day old baby for me to hold and take pictures with. You can view all the images here.

In the village we saw the indian child version of Brett. Both UR and I thought it looked like him. So we had to exploit him and take pictures with him. Hee hee.


Here is a great picture of the crowds of people that surround UR when he gives out polaroids and he is handing the picture to someone way up high.


And last, we had a fun elephant ride up to the Amber Fort!


Bye!

Jaipur - the largest city and capitol of Rajastan with 2 million people


This is a picture of me standing in front of a Leo sundial built in the late 1700s by one of the majahranas of Jaipur who was a "great astronomer". In fact we saw a lot of neat things in this sundial type park including the world's largest sundial and other astronomical structures that I couldn't understand.


Elephant walking down the street.

Jaipur was a lot like Jodhpur. We saw a palace and the same street scenes. Then of course were taken to a place to buy something. They fool you by pretending they are showing you how rugs are made and let you try it out even. Next you are taken into a large room for the hard sell.

Also, saw for the first time public urinals. Yep guys were just standing in these things doing their business.

A poor deformed lady gave me her little kid, who was half naked, and wanted a picture and some money. The child was just a baby, maybe 6 months. Poor thing, I wanted to take it away.

Here are the rest of the Jaipur images.

We wrote some notes on some other things that I failed to mention, so here we go:

- On our tour in Bangkok we asked the driver/guide if he spoke English and he responded with "Yes Yes" and that was the last English he spoke.

- In fact there are many translation issues. Sometimes I think the guides just memorize the English parts because when I ask them questions it is useless. However we have had some wonderful and knowledgeable guides. One example was at the Gate of India. The guide asked if we wanted to get out and take some pictures. I said yes, the guide said OK, said something to the driver and we turned around and left the gate of India. Wow. UR and I had cameras in hand and were just kinda staring at each other in amazement wondering what we had done wrong.

- UR is convinced that all the dogs around town are faking being sickly or injured so people leave them alone during the day. The night in Udaipur we were walking around we started to see another side to the canines. It was that time when the shops started to close up and there were less people on the roads. Instead of wandering around helpless and alone the dogs were now in packs yipping and yelling. Their little ploy of being submissive to humans was quickly going away as the day got darker. They became much more aggressive and we are pretty sure if we were out 15 more minutes we could have had a problem.

- "pur" is the basic word for city/town/place in the Hindu language. Jaipur, founded by the maharaja Jai something Singh....Udaipur, same thing with Udai something. "bad" is the basic word for city/town/place in Muslim. Islamabad, Aurangabad, etc.

OK it is late and we have a full tour tomorrow. Please email me if you have any questions or to let me know you are reading this. I don't know who is seeing this.

Thanks!

Above are pictures of the old palace/fort in Jodhpur and the blue city. Click here to see more Jodhpur images.

Unfortunatly I am on a craptop and the stupid thing lost some of my wonderful pictures from Udaipur. I had some great ones of a gorgeous Marwari stallion owned by the king, a royal processional that we participated in with horses, camels and elephants and some awesome street scenes including a movie of a wedding that went by. Major bummer.

I snapped a few shots of our hotel on the way out including this movie to make up for the ones lost.

Here is a short movie that I shot. (6mb)

Here are the pictures of the Lake Palace Hotel.

On plane now to Jaipur. Yesterday, toured the city of Jodhpur the second largest city in Rajastan - Jaipur being the largest.

Jodhpur's royal pastime is Polo tournaments at which the men wore special riding pants. These pants were very much liked by the British and they helped usher these riding pants into the mainstream. Thus the name "jodhpurs" known by many riding enthusiasts as the pants to wear!

We had a marathon tour of the old city fort/palace, the royal creamatorium (yep where they burn people), and the bazaar. I was pretty much in a daze the whole time due to a very restless sleep the night before. I came to bed late from posting all the pictures and never quite slept since my stomach has been sour.

This city is known as the Blue City because since old time people in the highest class painted their houses indigo in respect to Brahma. This custom flowed down to the other castes so many of the houses were and still are blue. I got some nice pictures of the blue homes from high atop the fort.

The bazaar was really neat. Busy and bustling with people, cows, dogs, horse and camel carriages, tut-tuts and motorcycles. We went through the grain dealing area and the spice/food area and I purchased some Darjeeling tea and spices.

Our hotel was supposed to be 5-star. Don't think so. The power kept going on and off. Even at dinner the power went off. We are in a full room with late aged Europeans and it goes completely black. Some people stared singing happy birthday?! Luckily the lights turned back on right when UR was about to chuck a croissant into the center of all the people. Sheesh.

Now on to some random observations:

- Americans have no style. We are pretty much the only Americans I have seen. Most all the other non Indian travelers are European or south American. They are all dressed so nicely with elegant scarves and clothes. Here I am in a t-shirt and jeans. Oh well, I am comfortable.

- Have seen the swastika everywhere. Commented on this to the guide and found out that this symbol and the name even is Indian and means good luck. They said that if you draw it wrong it will cause you bad luck. Hitler liked the swastika and unfortunately for the world had it positioned incorrectly as his symbol.

- Can't stand Americans that have no respect for our country. We were in a textile store and the shop owner asked where we were from. Learning that we are USA he asked if I liked my country and I said of course I love it. He told me that we were the first to like our country and that most of the people he had talked to didn't like Bush or our country. Now I don't care if you are liberal or conservative but for goodness sakes have some respect and pride in our wonderful country and show that to other countries. It is ridiculous to me to tell other people that you hate Bush and our country. However I will note that this is one of the things that makes our country great, that people can go around voicing their opinions. Within our country. ;)

- Everyone is trying to sell you something here. The guides show us the points of interest then drive us to a store. Only tourists are in these stores. I hate these stores. At first it was neat. Now at the beginning I say please don't take us to a shop. But I am positive that the guides get kick-backs so it is difficult to take this part out of our tour.

- India is very colorful. The women are beautiful in their brightly colored and elegantly decorated sarees. The houses, shops, temples, cars and other vehicles are decorated with charms and flowers.


- Bathrooms in general are very scary. Most of the options are squatters. Holes in the ground. New and humbling experience.

- No one can give me the same story on all the cows wandering around. One guide said they are all owned by someone and at night they go home and in the morning they are let out to (jokingly) control traffic. Another guide said they are all old cows beyond their birthing and milking years and/or bulls.