udaipur, jaisalmer, jaipur, delhi

fam and friends!

i've been on the road quite a bit for the past two weeks, stopping in four major cities for a few days at a time.

first was udaipur, a small city with unrivaled beauty in its location and architecture.  originally founded in the middle of a dessert, about 10 years ago a massive rainstorm so severe (or promising) created a lake in the middle of the city.  this was the first time in india that i felt like i was in a foreign country; i know that sounds weird but with the 'aladdin' style buildings and a gorgeous body of water flowing thru the vast sands, i have to say this is one of the most aesthetically pleasing places i've ever seen.  and it doesn't hurt that the sun is always shinning (it's a dessert after all!).  it made me think what paris may look like, although without the indian people and the indian buildings and the dessert sands and the cows everywhere.  actually, i don't really know why i thought of paris.  but!  i did smoke out of a real indian hookah for the first time on my birthday!

udaipur

indian hookah!  (not much dif from any other hookah tho, lol) 

i just liked this pic

next stop inez and i took a 12 hour train ride to spend two nights in jaisalmer specifically for a camel safari.  it was totally worth it.  we rode camels all day to come upon a sand dune in which we slept under the stars.  besides a few ants eating me during the night, sleeping with the moon and stars overhead kinda makes me want to become a dessert hermit, if only for one night.

my camel was a pain in the ass.  he was always groaning (do camels groan?) whenever one of the drivers would conduct an order, but i sympathized thinking he just hated his line of work, as i was the same way when i was working back home.  so i tried to free the bastard in the middle of the night, but he got pissy at me for that, too.  dumb camel.  maybe he just likes complaining...

our little group of 11 (3 drivers, 8 riders)

my stubborn-ass camel

damn tourists...

small village along the way

the dessert dunes

after the camel stint, we went to jaipur to join in on the annual 'holi festival'.  'holi' is renown for celebrating all religions and castes throughout entire india, and is known for throwing powder and liquid forms of color everywhere and on everyone.  people were literally covered head to toe in the stuff.  it was a messy, beautiful day.

colored power was sold eeeeeverywhere

a painted elephant

another painted elephant

two painted elephants

in the color scheme of things, i got off easy compared to most

my last stint in india consisted of delhi for a night, which isn't really much to type home about, as i saw it as just another crowded, tourist city.  i just went there to catch a flight to bangkok, as i am now in... THAILAND!!

talk with you guys soon :)

hi grandma and grandpa!!

india in general (very general)

hey fam and friends!

i've been on the road a lot the past couple weeks.  i have tons of pics to show but no wifi to post them.  so instead of posting events without pics i'll try to tell of how i've seen india thus far.

it's definitely a cool place to visit, explore and learn a completely different culture.  the people are smiley, nice and friendly, but very agressive in terms of sales and profit.  as for the atmosphere there is poverty everywhere, even in the upscale areas.  trash is on the streets (some places knee high) and in the gutters and sidewalks, and cows and livestock of all kinds eating and sleeping in it.  because of this, tourism may seem like a huge market (and of course it is) but not in the way i initially thought.

india is impressively unique.  the sellers and locals may cater to the tourist when it comes to making a dollar but they don't integrate themselves to the western lifestyle.  when it comes to entertainment, for example, as much as they love hollywood, their movies are completely filled with singing and dancing, like frickin live-action disney films.  their television shows are no different.  the appearance of a typical indian is what you would see in a western film: red dots on the forehead representing different castes of beliefs, turbans for the muslims, curry on every menu.  blah, blah, blah.  and so many people are singing and dancing all the time, whether in public or in a tuk tuk.  it's kinda refreshing to see people maintain their culture regardless of outside influences.  except for the toilets, damn they need to get on board with the crappers.

as far as relaxation goes, goa was prolly the only place i visited that one could really get r&r.  it's totally hippie-ville and the streets are definitely tourist, but one could relax (it has tons of beaches).  everywhere else is pretty fast paced.

as far as pricing and costs go i find them to be interesting so maybe some of you guys will as well.

$1 = 45 rupees

-2 star hotel: rupees 300-400
-5 min tuk tuk ride: 40
-hour of internet: 40
-pop: 25
-1 liter bottled water: 20
-small pack of cigarettes (10): 38
-curry meal (average cost): 80
-hour helicopter ride: 2200
-long sleeve shirt (average cost): 200
-12 hour bus ride (sleeper): 800

so that's my weak attempt at trying to stereotype india.  all in all, it has been just frickin awesome to see and i recommend it to anyone looking for a change of pace.

laters!

navsari and umbar

hey!

since our little group met in goa, we've been to hempi and now navsari ("no-sorry"), where kish's family's place is.  we've met his relatives on both his mom and dad's side, eaten in their homes (two separate villages) and stayed with his autie and uncle and cousins at their house for a night.  it's awesome here, definitely different... eating with your (right) hand, squating toliets (sucks), and livestock everywhere.  everywhere.  and i milked a friggin buffalo on their farm today!  please don't ask about that one tho, definitely weird.

so kelly and diego had to take off yesterday. diego northeast to delhi to fly back to argentina (he travels every february for a month, and his time was up), and kelly is off to thailand to get settled in for thai new year (april 13-15).   and now inez, kish and i are figuring out what we want to do before kish heads back to england next thursday...  i think they want to go to some super, awesome, super club in mumbai.  hmmm, sure, i'll try it.

i think i'm gonna head up north to nepal, maybe.  or fly to burma.  not really sure yet, but i'm sure i'll find something.  but one thing for certain is the GIBBON EXPERIENCE in laos.  i won't go into detail (gooooogle ;) , but it consists of tree houses in the middle of some laotian jungle and they have zip lines to all of the tree houses around the jungle.  it's like a three day exploration, and you stay the nights in the tree houses!  it's like $250 american, so you can see the seriousness of it's awesomeness.

i'll post pics where/when i can (i think kish took a picture of me milking that ram), although i think i've said that before, but i haven't had wifi since goa.

hope you are all well :)

-paul

                                                                         kish's family

diego, me, inez, kelly

on the way to kish's family farm

eating on the floor, indian custom

buffalos!!  and they're everywhere

clockwise: me, inez, diego, kish, kelly