In Jaisalemer at last!

Well, it's been awhile since I posted, so I will try to add a few highlights that Jeremiah may have missed. I have also added a few pictures to previous posts, so make sure to take a look!

From Darjeeling we headed back to Kolkata to catch a train to Varanasi. I enjoyed Varanasi, however the huge amount of pollution there is upsetting. Besides the ritualistic burning of bodies into the Ganges, according to our Lonely Plant the river is heavily polluted with E. coli and other nasty bugs. During our boat ride we were all very careful not to touch the water. Our boatmen, two young 10 year old boys, happily informed us that their grandfather had caught a Ganges Dolphin, and was proud because the dolphins "have very good oil!" We were all horrified because there are only about 4,000 of those dolphins left in the Ganges! But, how can you compete with the lure of "good oil"?

One highlight of Varnasi was the holy cow man we encountered while wanderling lost in the streets. We were taking pictures of a particularly large cow when an old man approached us and told us that he was a caretaker for the cows, and showed us a tiny stable where a 13 day olf calf was resting. He didn't even ask us for money (which totally surprised us), all he wanted was that we mail him a copy of the picture.

Varanasi is somewhat of a tourist attraction not only for foreign travelers, but also for people from all over India. We were able to watch a nightly ceremony performed near the river, and while it was interesting we didn't understand anything that was going on, and had to leave after 2 hours (it kept going for several hours after that!).

After Varanasi was Agra, where we spent the minimum amount of time. The Taj was gorgeous but due to a train delay we didn't have enough time to see the fort. We did, however, have enough time to store our stuff in a cheap hotel for a couple of hours while we visited the Taj, and and discovered to my dismay that ants had totally infiltrated my bad while we were gone.

After Agra was a horrific train ride to Jaipur. Traveling second class to save money (which actually equated to about $10) was a terrible idea. The train was late, was filled to the brim because they didn't check any tickets, there was a hole in the ceiling about a fot wide above my bunk that I was sure was full of cockroaches, and even though it was a night train there were so many people hanging around talking that none of the lights were ever turned off. I wanted to take pictures but I was afraid to take out my camera!

Jaipur turned out to be a lifesaver because we found a clean, cheap hotel and were able to catch up on laundry and sleep. We saw a Bollywood movie called Drona, which was in Hindi so we couldn't understand most of it. Basically it was a story about a guy who found out he had a magical destiny to defeat a strange puppet loving man. It was pretty funny to us, although I don't think it was meant to be. :) The whole moviegoing crowd got into it though, cheering and yelling throughout the whole 3 hour long debacle. Hilarious.

We are now in Jaisalemer and are having a terrific time. The city is in the desert and the main attraction is a beautiful fort. It's beginning to sink into the ground due to an overtaxed plumbing system, so I am glad that we have had the chance to see it. It's VERY hot here. I have a nifty digital cloclk/calculator/thermometer that I have been carrying everywhere, and it read 102 in the shade! I put it in the sun to see just how hot it really was, and after a couple of minutes the whole screen turned black! I cooled it down on my water bottle and it started working again, everything except the thermometer function. I permanantly burned it out!

Anyway, we are going to get an early start tomorrow for our camel ride in the desert- I hope everyone is donig well!