I will get back to Jodhpur. We arrived in Udaipur yesterday, Sunday afternoon,  after a 6 plus hour plus drive from Jodhpur. To be fair, we did travel part way on a modern poking highway, four lanes, 2 in each direction, and I saw one sign that said “mind lane markings.” But there are no traffic police, very little signage and very little attention to lane markings.

After a stop at a Jain Temple Complex to view a 15th century temple with 1,444 intricately carved marble columns, the last part of the trip was through the mountains on a one lane road with 2 way traffic, blind curve after blind curve and no guard rails. (Unless you count a few stones along the way).  Anyway, we arrived safely,

Today is our last official day of touring. Tomorrow we will fly from here to Delhi to Dehra Dun and drive to Mussoorie!

To tell you the truth, these places are running together.  Too much time on the road in the car and too many historical places that are hard to keep straight. Jaipur is the pink city, because at the time of some maharajas visit, they painted everything pink. It’s still pretty much a salmon color. The city is walled and gaited; it has the Amber Fort where we took an elephant ride and saw a real snake charmer. Like many things in India, snake charming is a family business passed down through the generations. Successive generations venture into the wild to hunt for cobra which they defang and depoison (supposedly). There is something about  Infdia that lends doubt to the claim that the snake is harmless. Two other things about the fort- it has flush toilets that were clean- either one of these things on their own would be memorable.

The other thing is the elephant ride which was a bumpy experience. You didn’t feel it was quite stable enough to keep your camera out and I worried my slip on shoes might slip off and down into great piles of elephant dung but that didn’t happen. Just another unreasonable fear as Jim would point out. Also, right in front of a huge sign that said “no tipping” the elephant driver asked for money. I wiggled a 10 rupee bill out of my pocket without dumping us off the elephant. He refused it – saying “I want a 100.” That was a gamble that did not pay off for him.

An update on Jodhpur later.

On Tuesday we left Agra behind and headed to the National Park at Ranthambore, a tiger preserve. We made a stop to your Fatehpur Sikri, a city built by Emporer Akbar and later abandoned(lack of water). The Emporer kept a harem of about 5000 women here and played parcheesi using the women as life size board pieces. As our guide said: divide that by 365.

It was a 6 plus hour drive from Agra to Ranthambore. These drives are tough because of the state of the highway system which is that there is no highway system. Many roads are a paving patchwork, reduce to one lane in places and sometimes are just rutted dirt or gravel. Traffic is a mixture of cars, overloaded trucks and buses, bikes and motorcycles, camel carts, sheep herders and an occasional elephant. Here a man on a motorcycle can transport his entire family- including kids.

I mentioned the infrastructure before. India seems to have a lot of incompleted projects. Big highway overpasses with rebar hanging out the end. Many “houses” under construction but not completed- rooms open to the elements with people already moved in. There are piles of rubble everywhere – if something caves in, no need to move the rubble. Similarly, there are many stacks of new brick laying around. One day we drove over a bridge, maybe a quarter of a mile long, with the rickety- est guard rails you could imagine. Imagine multi- lanes of traffic careening over this bridge in both directions. That called for a few Hail Mary’s.

Anyway, back to Ranthambore. We stayed at a ridiculously over the top hotel that looked like a white palace floating on the plain. The rooms were nice, all meals were included, but there was only one reason to be there- tigers. We had 4 safaris available. Missed the first because of late arrival (there was never a chance we could have made it by the 230 start time). Yesterday we went on two 3 hour safari trips and this morning on our third. The morning safaris, in open jeeps (the Suzuki version), leave at 630. It was freezing!! The afternoon safari yesterday was more comfortable temperature-wise. But no tigers! This morning we did see a big cat print- maybe you can make it out in the photo. I don’t think the Disney people put it there.

Well, it was a bit of a bust- long drive followed by 9 hours in a jeep; but I felt a bit like Hemingway adventuring to such an exotic place for a safari.

Today was another travel day – to Jaipur. Tomorrow an elephant ride to the Amber Fort.

One of the wonders of the world. It is truly spectacular. We get to return tonight for a full moon viewing.

Agra, outside the Taj Mahal, does not differ much from Delhi. Dirty. Garbage abounds. Smells. Loud. Our hotel, ITC Mughal, is 5 Star for Agra and is a Starwood Hotel. Elaborate lobby, grungy rooms.

We leave in the morning for Ranthambore, a tiger preserve, where we will go on safari with the hope of seeing a tiger or two.

For me, the Taj Mahal probably makes the trip worthwhile. It’s hard to describe its majesty. That and the safari days to come will be highlights for me. Francie and I are homesick, we need some comfort food (our hotel does not even have a sundry shop where you can buy a KitKat or coke).

There is something about the air here – pollution, smog, stench. It brings on a malaise. The hotels combat this by burning pungent candles in the hallways! We are hoping the preserve will bring some relief from this, but who knows?

From Varanasi, we flew to Khajuraho where we visited a group of Hindu temples constructed a thousand years ago. The facades of these temples are decorated with detailed stone sculptures – many of which are sexually explicit. The sandstone sculptures were done by hand and transported to this location for installation which is all by interlocking groove pursuant to a detailed plan. No cement or mortar. Originally there were over 50 temples at the site but only 20 or so remain.

This town is another oddity – our guide told us that there is a lack of “connectivity.” Air India and Jet Airway fly one flight a day. We flew Jet Airway on new jets – part of United’s Star Alliance. The planes were clean; flights were on time and efficient. But we pulled up to an old terminal and exited onto the Tarmac. Jim asked why we didn’t arrive at a brand new adjacent terminal. Our guide: “it will open in a few months.” The roads in Khajuraho were rutted dirt and broken pavement- a rough ride!

More on Indian infrastructure later.

I have noted a couple of comments from our guides about driving in India:

We don’t use the lane system.

To drive safely in India it is said you need three things: good horn, good brakes, good luck.

Yesterday we took in the Temples at Khajuraho after a flight here from Varanasi. Today a long drive to Agra. Our train trip was cancelled- no clear reason: the weather, delays, lack of sanitation. Sounds like I will prefer the car.

Varanasi is older than history, older than tradition, older than legend and looks as old as all of them put together.

Our guide in Varanasi told us that it is every Hindu’s dream to visit Varanasi to bathe in the River Ganga. This morning we were out on the river, which is one of the world’s most polluted, watching the pilgrims dunk themselves, pray, soap themselves and wash in the Ganga. We also saw laundry men busy at work washing clothes, towels, sheets, everything in the river; pounding them or beating the clothing dry and laying it all on the ghats (steps) to dry.

Last night our “cruise” took us to the cremation sites where multiple funeral pyres burned. Before laying a deceased loved one on the flames, members of the family carry the body on a bamboo stretcher to the river to dunk it in. Cremation takes 3-4 hours and when completed, the ashes are put in the Ganga River.

The streets of Varanasi are narrow and cramped with open drainage running on each side, busy traffic going every direction, cows everywhere (even inside stores) and cowpies in the street. Men openly urinate into the gutter and side of the road.

Food is being prepared by many street side vendors and people (not Westerners) are eating it; women wash dishes in the muck. Men, women and children are crowded in the shops and stalls. Dogs roam freely.

Today when driving, we saw a jeep with a stretchered body on top heading to the river. The bodies are wrapped in bright orange and gold foil so they are easy to spot.

Our guide, who is from Varanasi, told us the “people are content.”

So what about Varanasi? It assaults you; horrifies you; but we have been here 24 hours and somehow, you acclimate to it. We will leave tomorrow, but this will go on. The drive to the airport will not be as shocking as the drive in from the airport yesterday. I am ready to go.

There is a great Mark Twain quote on Varanasi which I will look up and post. Hopefully some pictures will follow (I can’t get them to upload at the moment).