Jodhpur and Udaipur and Jaipur

After visiting Bikaner, I took a bus south for about 5 hrs to the city of Jodhpur. Here an amazing fort rises off a huge rocky cliff. It is quite a site, particularly in early evening at dusk with the sun going down. My 2nd day in the city I took a tour of the fort, called Meharangarh. Work on the fort began in the mid 1400's, not sure exactly when it was ultimatly finished. There is quite an epic history associated with the fortress, with lots of raids and battles having occurred in its time. In visiting the tour I purchased the audio tour option and learned much about the history and other information asociated with its being. There were amazing rooms and artifacts throughout the various levels and areas of the compound. One exhibit showed an amazing array of weaponry that was utilized by the inhabitats during its days. Some horrible looking knives and daggers which spread open when inserted into one's body. The views out the high windows, particularly at the top, were great. Looking down at Jodhpur from high atop the fort, I was able to glimpse panoramically the old and new city sections. Big chunks of the old city are filled with endless blue-colored dwellings, giving Jodhpur the name "the Blue City." Seven main gates were spread throughout different areas of the fort, some the entrances decorated with cannonball hits from centuries old battles.

As always it was fun walking throughout the narrow alleyways and lanes in the old city, checking out the local life and see the bizaares. People here seemed quite friendly, more so I perceived than in other spots in India. There was some amazing shopping available in areas of the city, particularly near a huge clock tower. Textiles and spices seemed to be the big items of appeal. I bought a few nice items to hang on my wall when I get a new appt back in Denver. Some very good prices and beautiful handicrafts, although I'm sure I could have done better pricewise if I had been sticking around longer and taken an excursion into one of the nearby craft villages. The clocktower seemed to be the epicenter of the current old city with tons of shops and a fair number of tourists there. There was an awesome omelette shop selling masala spiced omelette sandwiches at the great price of 15 rupees apiece - less than 50 cents - which included 2 sandwiches. It can be quite easy traveling in India to put on weight eating cheap and delicious food, particularly when your not sick and throwing up or practicing yoga consistantly each day, even if I am walking hrs and hrs a day.

Also nearby at very good prices were freshly squeezed juices, of which I gorged on too replenish myself of vitamin C and other nutrients which I was probably lacking. There were some other palaces and sights I would have liked to check out in the city, however time was not on my side. I stuck around the city for a day and a half and it was time to get moving along to my next stop. After reading up Udaipur and Pushkar, two other notable cities in the state of Rajastan, and seeking opinions from other travelers, I decided to head south to the city of Udaipur even though it was a bit out of the way.

Arriving in Udaipur after a 7 hr long busride south, I was a bit annoying after having been lied to by the Indian I purchased my bus ticket from. Nothing major but I still hate it, although I should be used to their constant attempts by now, when I am taken by the Indians. I just need to shake off these occurances and not let them get to me. In this situation I was first off promised a solo seat next to a window, of course winding up with a neighbor in my cramped seat. Then I was told it would be a 5 hr trip, which turned into another 7 hr trip. Finally I should have shopped around a little more for my ticket, as I found out later that I had overpaid just a little for my ticket. Ultimately I paid no more than .75-$1 more, a miniscule amt not worth being annoying about but a decent amt in rupies. It is the whole business of getting lied to my face which gets most annoying. However to survive in India one needs to accept the reality of Indians constantly inflating prices for tourists and trying to squeeze as much extra money out as possible. When one looks at the drastic poverty and squalor most Indians live in I suppose the over charging and double standard for a few extra rupees becomes a bit understandable. It is getting lied to that makes me most annoyed.

I was expecting a truly magical and unique city in reading the write up of Udaipur in the Lonely Planet guide. Written up as a city "watermarked by whimsey and splendor, the Venice of the east holds strage as one of India's truly seductive cities," it sounded like a very desirable city to check out. A huge lake, Lake Pichola, lies amist the city with the floating Lake Palace sitting in the middle of it. It is quite an amazing palace, with rooms apparently available for rent at upwards of $1000 a night, quite a price for India let alone anywhere in the world. It is spectacular enough that a James Bond film 'Octupussy', was partially filmed here. As a result the film is shown nightly at dozens of guesthouses and other venues throughout the city.

Another amazing destination in the city is the immense City Palace, towering over the lake and filled with balconies, towers , and lots of beautiful rooms. I took a tour of the palace and enjoyed looking at much interesting artwork and other antiquities common to the place. High up in the palace I got great views of the surrounding area and city, particularly the nearby hills closing in on the city. It was a remarable palace but I didn't find it as stunning or beautiful as the Meherangarh fort in Jodhpur.

In spite of these interesting and beautiful palaces, I found Udaipur a bit disappointing and not quite as stunning as I was expecting it to be. The major factor was the extremely low levels of the Lake Pichola. It was much more dried up than I was expecting, as much less than ideal monsoon rains had struck the area in preceding months. Large areas of the lake were covered by unsitely algae growth, while in other areas the water was so slow the bottom was exposed creating abundant grazing area for roving cows. Garbage and litter filled areas, making for a bit of an eyesore. It is a shame Indians don't take a little more pride in their treasured cities, allowing garbage and other filthy to accumulate so freely in areas. It is such a permissive culture in which littering is generally not given a second though. It doesn't help that garbage cans seem to be relatively non-existent from what i have noticed. In the street it seems to be swept up regularly. However in common areas such as lakes and rivers trash, sewage, and refuse generally collects unimpeded. Apparently several yrs ago there was record rainfall and the splendor of the lake was renewed. I was hoping there would have been a similar situation this year but that didn't turn out to be the case. I would like to come back another time when the lake and city is in better shape.

After several days in Udaipur it was time for some long trainrides heading east across the country on the way back to Kolkata for my flight back to Thailand on Sept 30. First was an overnight jaunt up to Jaipur, the capital of Rajastan and known as the pink city. Apparently in 1876 the entire old city was painted pink by the reigning ruler. The colors are supposed to come alive most vibrantly at dusk, particularly from certain vantage points I would imagine. Unfortunately my stay in Jaipur was only for about 7 hrs during the morning and early afternoon. During my stopover in Jaipur I decided to rent out a rickshaw to take a minor tour of the city. I was also hoping to check out some of the shopping bizaares the city is known for and perhaps look for some good deals. From what I saw the bizaares hadn't really got going at that time of the day. The beginning of the ride through the city I was taken to some noteworthy sites which I don't recall the name and glimpsed at quickly. After this I was taking to a jewelers shop by the rickshaw driver where about 3 or 4 manager/owners tried to aggressively persuade me into smuggling or fronting sizable quantities of gems back into the states. Promising great profits for me with next to no risk of course, they didn't seem to quite comprehend my issue of not knowing nor trusting them. Perhaps I was walking away from a lucrative career in the transportation of prescious gems back to America, at any rate I got the hell out of the office as quick as possible. It seemed like some a shady operation and they wanted me to start signing off on papers immediately, perhaps hoping they could blinding me with hopes of easy money while eliminating any time for rational thought or reflection on their proposal.

I boarded my next train shortly before 4pm on the way to Varanasi. I was expecting a 16-17 hr trip. This of course turned into a 21 hr ride, arriving at the Varanasi train station around 1pm. The train stopped about 1 km short of the train station and waited for over 1.5 hrs before resuming the remainder. I had no idea the train station was so close or that the wait would be for so long. Some British travelers in the seats across from me found out that we were allegably 1 km away from the station and we decided to jump out and walk the remainder on the tracks. Of course 1 min into the walk the train resumed moving. I decided to jump back on the train and escape the sweltering sun.

During the course of the ride I woke up in the morning with a nasty swollen eye, apparently having been bitten by a mosquito or something. I didn't feel a thing during the course of the evening as I slept soundly through the night in relative comfort, enjoying the benefits of imbibing a slight amt of opium I had acquired previous in the wk. Otherwise sleeping in the cramped up and dirty sleeper seats are not exactly much comfort, although they do allow the benefit of lying back and not having to sit upright the entire time.