ThisIsVlad

the last few days have been spent in jaisalmer, one of the last cities in india as you push westward. it’s in the middle of the desert, and is only about 40 miles from the border to pakistan. jaisalmer has become quite touristy over the years, and has a reputation for being incredibly hassley. apparently at the train station, the police have to set up a special barrier to keep the touts back from the passengers. and the touts here are notorious for being incredible liars who will lie to you that your hotel is full in order to take you to another hotel, or will show you a fake business card so you think they’re from one hotel when they’re actually from another. actually, when we first got off the bus, we were mobbed by like 20 or so rickshaw drivers all screaming and frantically trying to get us into their rickshaw. they fought each other tooth and nail, and i was starting to worry that a fight would break out over who got to take (our money) us. also, one of the most popular activities here is to take camel treks into the desert. there is some insane cut-throat competition and every single hotel here sells tickets. we’ve read that certain hotels, if they find out that you bought tickets from a competitior, will actually throw you out of their hotel in the middle of the night. hardcore eh? well, depsite all the crazy warnings in the book, we actually found jaisalmer to be fairly mellow and weren’t hassled all that much other than when we first arrived, and also when we went to the dunes (i’ll mention that later). instead, we found jaisalmer to be a really nice town to hang out in.

2/1/05
the worst museum ever

there are two museums in jaisalmer run by the same guy, the desert museum and the folklore museum. they’re ridiculously cheap, so we decided to check them out. at the folklore museum, we paid our 10 rupee admission fee (25 cents) and walked into what looked like an empty dirt courtyard. was there even a museum here? we walked by several padlocked doors and then just stood around, a bit confused. eventually, a kid walked up and said that he would show us the museum and proceeded to unpadlock some of the doors and swing them open. obviously, the locked doors meant this place got very little business. in a few scattered dimly lit musty rooms was one of the worst museums i’ve ever seen. the displays were behind dirty glass and were difficult to see. everything was in no particular order and each display randomly jumped from one topic to another. the photographs were all faded, the items in each display were just strewn about. when we walked out, i was glad that i only paid 10 rupees.

afterwards, we went to the desert museum and it was more of the same thing. in fact, some of the displays were exactly the same as the other museum. within a few minutes, i just wanted to leave. both museums had large inscriptions that indicated that “all of this is put together by one man!”. who is this man? and why is he putting together such horrible museums? the desert museum also has this puppet show that they have every night. rajasthan is famous for its puppets (the kind on strings like marionets) and we really wanted to see what this was all about, so a while later we were back at the desert museum once again.

the puppet show was introduced with a speech by the man who created the 2 museums. it turns out that he is a retired teacher and he made these two museums because he was so very concerned w/ saving the heritage of jaisalmer. he was sad that everyone hardly cared about education, or learning about the old ways. all anyone came to jaisalmer for was to hang out and ride a camel, but no one cared about the museums. (which is painfully obvious by the fact that most rickshaw drivers hadnt even heard of these museums!). even though he was an old man, and already retired, he just wanted to do his best to preserve his culture. the art of puppetry, he says, is also slowly being forgotten here. indians of the modern day only want to watch tv.. they have no time for silly things like puppets. as he said this, i looked around… in the puppet auditorium, there was only about 8 measily people gathered to watch.

it was all so terribly sad actually. i felt so bad for this man, with his sad little museums and his unattended puppetshows. thinking back, the museums actually *could* be pretty decent… i think it’s really the presentation that’s terrible. if all this stuff was laid out well, in a nice shiny building, with clear signs etc, both museums could actually have been really interesting. as the lights faded and the show started, i sat there thinking about how much i hoped things would work out here for the guy. i hoped that tv wouldnt encroach on puppetry and all other old forms of entertainment and even life as we know it. i hoped that people coming here would see the museums and pay money, and maybe some day there could be a nice shiny new museum here. it’s so inspiring i think that people like this retired teacher, strive against all odds to do something meaningful.

oh, and the puppetshow btw, was incredibly entertaining. there were several different acts, each with its own unique story and hilarious characters. one funny thing that sets rajasthani puppets apart from the puppets back home, is that these puppets have “voices”. well, you could call them voices, but they sound more like the sqeeking sound you’d here if you lit a rat on fire. it’s high pitched and goes on constantly through the show in different speeds and rhytms depending on what the characters are “saying”. it took a bit to get used to, but was really cool in the end!

2/2/05
visit to the dunes

since we opted not to go on a camel safari, we decided that it would be at least worth it to go see the sand dunes one last time. it’s not often you get to see a huge expanse of desert w/ enormous sand dunes, so we figured it would be a shame not to at least go see a sunset out there. luckily for us, the tourism office offers a sunset tour where it takes you out to the dunes for a few hours to see the sunset and then goes back. we got out to the dunes and started walking out into the sand. the moment we stepped out of our jeep, we were bombarded by people trying to sell us camel rides. everyone swarmed around us and wouldnt take no for ananswer.. but we pushed on through. but the camel guys were only the first battle at the dunes. next, we got followed by two little girls dressed in costumes who kept offering to show us a dance for money. no matter how many times we said no, they wouldnt leave us alone, and kept following us as we walked.

were we to get *any* peace and quiet out here? all we wanted to do was to chill on top of a dune and stare at the desert, but no one would leave us alone. these girls just would not let up. eventually they finally left, but by then a guy trying to sell us cokes and chips started following us. this was ridiculous. even eventually when we found a deserted dune, every 15 minutes or so, someone would plop down next to us and try to sell us something. we’d say no, and they would just sit there. well, you can’t *force* someone to go away. they have every right to sit anywhere they please. but it was so damn annoying not being able to just sit and enjoy the desert w/out the constant hassles.

nevertheless, the desert was beautiful. the rolling dunes were great, and i lay down on my side and rolled down them like a little kid. it was cool, and i ended up spinning down the slopes ridiculously fast. luckily, i avoided any glass and camel poop that lay around. it’s weird.. most of the time i’ve just gotten used to camels. i’ve seen them so many times on this trip that now i usualy dont even flinch when i see another. but every once in a while, i’ll look around at all the camels everywhere and think “holy crap!! i can’t believe that i’m really sitting here surrounded by all this”. it’s truly truly incredible that i get to see these bizarre looking exotic creatures almost every day.

roadblock

jaisalmer shuts down super early each night. by 10 pm, most shops have closed their doors and the city is dark and mostly deserted. by 11, even the restaurants are closed and the town is just dead. our hotel even has a curfew at 11:30, and if you’re not in by then, the huge gate is locked and your outta luck. this night, it was my brother’s birthday and i was planning on calling him to wish him a happy bday. by the time i got his phone number from my parents, it was late, about 11:15, and i desperately was running around the fort searching for a place that was still open to make a phone call. everything was dark, and i ran through the narrow cobblestone streets praying that i would find a place and also praying that i wouldnt step in an enormous pile of crap in the process.

i eventually got to this alley that i hadn’t tried yet. as i sprinted forward, i noticed two huge dark forboding shapes in the night. cows. huge ones. two of them were laying across the alley with only a tiny little space in between them. crap… could i squeeze through? was it safe?

just earlier today, when i was walking w/ an indian guy, he had told me that cows can sometimes get violent and be dangerous. “dangerous? do they actually hurt people?” i asked. “oh definitely. people get hurt by cows all the time” he responded. *gulp*

his words rang in my ears, and i looked at the cows who seemed to stare back in a menacing and angry manner. i could hear faint noise coming from the cows… breathing? snoring? or.. was it growling?! i inched forward, one tiny step at a time. finally, i briskly walked between the two huge animals, and was on my way. phew… the cows hadn’t attacked! two seconds later, i got to a dead end. crap… i was going to have to turn around and walk back between the cows again. just my luck.

kingfisher

back in the hotel, the courtyard was pitch black. 12 am was already 30 minutes past curfew and all the staff were snoozing away. caryn and i quietly chatted in the room. all of a sudden we hear this super loud british voice “HELLLOOOOO?! HELLOOOOOOO?” what the hell? what was this dumbass doing walking around outside our room yelling when everyone was asleep?

“HELLOOOOOOOO!!! HELLLLLOOOOOOO?! HELLO?”

finally his shouts were answeredf my some quiet mumbling…

“YES! HELLO! I’D LIKE 2 KINGFISHERS!. KINGFISHERS!!”

mumble, mumble

“NO,NO….KINGFISHERS!! YOU KNOW… BEER!! I WANT TWO BEERS!” he yelled.

mumble mumble

“WHAT?! OH!!! YOU’RE a *GUEST*! OOPS. TERRIBLY SORRY!”

hahahhaha. we couldnt believe it. the idiot had been asking asome poor tired guest of the hotel for beer. smooth!!!

*v

we’ve been lazying around jaisalmer, the golden city, for the last few days. not doing much, just enjoying town. we decided to rent a paddleboat and cruise around on this small lake. it was nice and quiet out there and it was fun to just drift around. just as we were enjoying the peacefulness, another paddleboat trudged towards us. uh-oh. the light blue swan got closer and closer to our blue lizard. when it finally reached us.. “GIMME PEN!!”. arrrgggghhh!!! even out here, we couldnt be left alone for 10 minutes without being asked for pens!!

cows

it’s really amazing how many cows we see here in india. i remember years ago, my friend kimberley went to india and told me that it’s really crazy and that “you’ll just be walking down a street and there’ll be a cow in the middle of the street”. i thought that would be so exciting. before we got here, i hoped that i might at one point see a cow in the street. hell, maybe i’ll even get to see 2! well, let me tell ya, cows are not a rarity here. not whatsoever. there’s tons of them in every city. i would guess that each day we see at least one or two *hundred* of them, and in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

living in the fort

jaisalmer has a large fort, but unlike the other forts we’ve been to, this one is an actual active part of the city. the fort is full of shops, homes, restaurants, and hotels. it’s quite a little place, and we’ve spent a ton of time walking around its cobbled streets lately. we’re actually staying in a hotel that’s *inside* the fort. one of the big things here (and in other rajasthan cities) is rooftop restaurants. almost every single restaurant has a long staircase (with steps that are super tall so you can barely climb them) that leads to the roof. everyone eats on the roofs and enjoys beautiful views while dining. it’s nice… at least now while it’s not too hot in india!

*v

here are my photos of jodhpur, the blue city.

also, on the way to jaisalmer yesterday, we found out what happens when the indian buses are completely full. when absolutely every inch of space on the bus is full, and the aisles are completely jam packed, and everyone is squished to the extreme… they start putting people on the roof. yup, people
were riding on the roof for the *5* hour bus journey over bumpy roads today!

*v

our last day in jodhpur, we took a “village safari”. i was definitely a bit apprehensive about it since these things tend to either a) be just a fake show just for tourists and you dont really get to see actual village life, or b) you do go to an actual village and there are so many other tourists that you are actually damaging the villager’s way of life. luckily, this tour ended up being neither of those… instead it was incredibly interesting and we really did get to witness how pople lived outside of cities in india.

actually, one of the best things about the tour was our guide. he knew absolutely everything we might want to know, actually lived his whole life in a tiny village so he knew what he was talking about, and made the tour so much fun. if anyone out there is in jodhpur and wants to go on a village safari, you should definitely contact Gazu from Marwar Eco Cultural tours (across from haveli guest house).

as we started our tour, our guide said a little prayer before he started the car… i really hoped that this was just standard protocol and not a reflection on his driving skills. as we drove along, Gazu pointed out wildlife along the road such as antelope and peacocks while he taught us stuff about india. he taught us about the 4 different kinds of cows that you find in rajasthan, and also answerd the questions i had about the caste system.

so it turns out that the caste system is actually still widely used here. besides the 4 main categories of caste that i mentioned before, there are hundreds of other castes and they usually represent your job. i.e.: potter, weaver, etc. or, to be more precise, they represent your father’s job. if your father is of the weaver caste, then you are of the weaver caste… even if you get a job as an engineer or whatever, your caste is still weaver. this may not affect people as much in the big cities, but in the villages especially, 9 times out of ten your job will be whatever your caste is. and then, you can only marry someone who is either in your own caste or in your mother’s caste. you can not marry outside your caste!!

anyways, i’m getting a bit off-topic here. we were off to see some Bishnoi villages. the bishnoi are people who have to abide by 29 strict rules, some of which dont allow them to kill any animals, chop down any trees, and others. our guide showed us this spot where the people had dug a huge crater, but left two small islands so as not to damage the two trees growing here.

our progress was slowed a bit when a huge heard of water buffalo wouldn’t get out of the road, and we had to drive slowly behind them. eventually, we got to the first village… if you could call it that. a lot of people who live out here have a plot of land, and so the houses of each family are actually very far apart. we walked around this family’s house and learned some crazy stuff: they make their own flour so each day someone has to spend 2 whole hours grinding millet (we tried it for 1 minute, and it was tiring!), they have to walk many many kilometers to get any water, their marriages are all arranged (as are most marriages in india).. actually, our guide had gotten married at 15!! we saw where they stored their food, how they slept, and tended their livestock.

in the next village, after a woman served us some really delicious chai (w/ goat’s milk just squeezed minutes before), we saw a little girl playing w/ a baby lamb. this thing was really small and the girl hung it from her arms like a limp ragdoll. caryn even got to pick up and hold a baby goat!!

in the next village, we got a demonstration on how to tie a turban, and i took a dorky photo wearing it! we also, randomly enough, learned about opium. out here in the villages, opium is used by lots of people for its medicinal qualities. it’s used to treat headaches, stomache ache, keep people awake on long drives etc etc. they dont use the opium to get high, and it’s actually illegal to buy it or sell it, but it’ just a part of people’s lives. also, opium is often used to show people hospitality, and guests are offered a drink of water that has some diluted opium in it. we got to see the process for this and in the end, all of us on the tour got to try a handful of this opium water. caryn said that my eyes looked a bit glassy afterwards, but other than that, we didnt feel any other affects.

the opium was followed by a *delicious* home cooked meal. the food was sooo good, and we felt priveledged to try some authentic home-cooking. oh yeah, i just remembered… we were sitting there at one point and the guide asked us how old we thought this old lady was who was sitting in the shade. no one could guess. turns out, the lady’s oldest son is *80* years old… and she’s… 103!!! unbelievable!!

afterwards, there were two more stops on the tour. one stop at a village where people make rugs, and then another stop at a potter’s village. after checking out some examples of his work, we got to see how he made these pots. it was so crazy. he had a huge potters wheel… but it’s powered completely by hand! he just cranks this thing w/ a stick, till it’s spinning fast, and then he starts sculpting. this guy was sooooo good at it!! he made it look ridiculously easy, and was only half paying attention to what he was doing when he cranked out 3 pots!! they then asked for volunteers… and we all got to watch caryn make a pot! dude, she is a total natural at it!! her pot was maybe a tiny bit crooked, but excellent anyways!

hrm… that’s all i can remember (as i type this as fast as i can before the net place closes), but there was sooo much more that we learned on the trip!!

*v

here are my photos of udaipur, the lake city!

*v

we’ve spent the last several days in jodhpur, the blue city of rajasthan. in the olden days, painting your house blue was a sign that you were of the brahmin caste (priest caste), but nowadays a bunch of other people in jodhpur have painted their houses blue as well. we came here expecting almost every single house we saw to be blue, but it turns out that this really isnt the case. in fact, our first evening here, we only saw a handful of blue houses. but that was just the section of the city that we were in. some sections have just a few blue houses, while others have tons and tons of them. it looks especially impressive when you look down on it from above and see this bright blue patchwork of squares and rectangles. damn cool!

the fort

the fort in jodhpur towering over the city

other than just wandering around the blue streets, the main thing to see in jodhpur is the fort. it’s absolutely immense, and looks really formidable on top of this huge cliff overlooking town. this fort has a long history and has been able to withstand countless attacks. there are places where you can actually see dents that canon balls made in its walls. after hiking up to the top of the mountain, we took an audioguide tour of the fort and learned a lot about it, and about how life was back then for the maharaja who lived there. from the fort, you can see incredible views of the blue city below, but unfortunately, almost all my photos looking down turned out blurry. damn. the people who worked at the fort were all dressed in uniform, most of them wore turbans, and i’m pretty sure that every single one of them had a twirly moustache. twirly moustaches are extremely popular here in rajasthan (and elsewhere in india too). so many of the men have them, and although i would never sport one myself, i really think it looks damn cool. it really seems to give people this slightly mystical, and friendly air!

the omelette man

in town, the main landmark is an old clocktower and under the tower is the omelette man. he has this tiny little stall called the Omelette Shop, with just one frying pan, a few benches for people to sit on, and hundreds of cartons of eggs stacked everywhere in towers 7 feet high. all day long, he serves up *delicious* spicy omelettes to hungry travelers and locals. according to him, he goes through about 1,000 eggs per day!! this guy is a jodhpur institution, and everyone in town knows about the omelette man. he showed us the dozens and dozens of postcards he’s received from travelers, all of them addressed to: Omelette Shop, under clocktower, Jodhpur India. that’s all there is to address! no street name, nothin’.

i think there’s something really cool about a place that only serves one thing but does it well. i just like that it’s so specialized. also, i think it’s really cool that despite having such a *tiny* little place (one burner!!), everybody knows him and his business rocks! but, people are encroaching on his business. now there’s a second guy who opened an omelette stand under the clocktower. since india has no copyright laws that i know of, he named his shop, very originally… “Omelette Shop”. so now, there are two places called Omelette Shop competing against each other in the exact same spot.

Makhani Lassi

i really think it’s all the little things that make places special. sure, the fort of jodhpur is the main toursit attraction here, and is undeniably huge and impressive… but it’s the little things like blue buildings or the omelette man that make this town special. another little thing this town has going for it are Makhani Lassis. if you dont know, a lassi is a blended thick creamy yogurt drink. i couldnt stand them at first, but i was quickly converted and now i absolutely love them. especially either mango lassis or banana lassis. so GOOD!! in jodhpur though, they make this special lassi called a makhani lassi and it’s flavored w/ saffron. there’s this small little hole in the wall place that is especially famous here, and people crowd in to drink the excellent lassis. although the menu states that they do serve some other stuff, the 2 times we’ve gone, mostly what we’ve seen is a roomful of people sitting w/ glasses of lassi. the lassi here is ultra thick, fairly sweet, but also has a bit of tartness to it. once we tasted it, it was obvious why so many people come to this place…

Jaswanat Thada

up on the mountain, a little ways off from the fort is Jaswanat Thada, where royalty was cremated. the place is shaped kind of like a temple and is beautiful in its gleaming white tranquility. since it’s quite high up, and (at least when we went) not too many people are there, it’s a really nice quiet place to see.

right before we got to jaswanat thada, there were these two very young girls, maybe 5 years old, who were singing and dancing to get money while their father (or someone) played a musical instrument. although they were wearing traditional indian attire, these girls obviously knew nothing about traditional dance cause they were too young and just kind of hopped around and twirled about while kind of half singing. it was so hilarious! what was supposed to be a cultural display, was obviously just two kids being silly. later, when their father went for a break, the kids picked up the instrument and played it for onlookers… but they had no clue what they were doing… so all you could hear was this *horrible* screeching sound along w/ their chipmunk-like singing and whacky twirlings. too funny!

most of the rest of our time here was just spent wandering about the lively town. it’s weird, despite the fact that there is a decent amount of tourists here, we still keep getting a lot of attention and people, especially kids, keep wanting to interact w/ us. although some of the “hello, what’s your Name!!!” are quickly followed by a cheery “gimme rupees!!” or “gimme money!!”, a lot of them are genuine and people just wanna chat. bizarrely, the other day, as we were getting mobbed by a bunch of kids, an old man came up to me and asked me to “autograph” his hand!!! whoa. i was shocked. what to do? it takes an unbelievably arrogant jackass to go around autographing people’s hands. but, on the flip side, if this guy really wanted an autograph, wouldnt it be more rude to say no?? so i sheepishly signed it.

one thing that i’ve found really odd about india, is that people keep asking for pens. everybody wants pens. once you tell a child that you wont give them money, 8 times out of 10 they’ll then ask you if you have a pen. what is the deal w/ pens?? why are they valued?? actually, in the 2 weeks we’ve been in india, we’ve had 3 different people that we’ve talked to, give us pens to remember them by. and not some crazy weird fancy pen, just a regular bic-type pen. of course, it’s a really sweet gesture and we *totally* have appreciated that they gave them to us.. but why pens? i just dont get it.

….

one evening when we were just aimlessly walking around town checking out blue buildings, we randomly found this temple in the middle of town. some people gestured that we should go inside to have a look so we walked up in there. we walked around checking out the little altars etc. when we were about to walk out, we somehow got caught up in some kind of religious ceremony. a bunch of people were gathered around this altar and a (priest?) was next to it ringing a bell and waving around a burning candle. we got motioned to stand w/ everyone, and being curious, and also not wanting to be rude, we went over there. soon the candles were being passed around so everyone could be blessed w/ the smoke, and then next thing we know the priest was flinging water at everyone in the crowd including us. unfortunately, we know virtually nothing about hinduism yet (or actually, if this was even a hindu temple for that matter), so we really dont know what is was all about… but it was definitely interesting to have been there and checked it out. it’s cool what kind of things you’ll find if you jst wander about!

blue buildings

blue buildings

*v

1/24/05

if you do the crime, you gotta be ready to do the time. in this case, the crime is eating pretty much anything in india, and the time refers to endless hours spent in the bathroom. i knew that eventually it had to happen. i dont think it’s possible for *anyone* to come to india and not get at least a little bit sick from the food. pretty much, it’s not a question of *if* you get sick, it’s a question of *when*. liv recommended that i dont eat the food at all here… but i couldnt do that. i *love* indian food!! and one of the main reasons i was looking forward to being here so much was to be able to eat all the indian food i could handle.

well, so the day after our wonderful cooking lesson, i got completely ill. i’m not sure if the illness was from the food at the lesson, seeing as caryn ate the same thing there and was fine. i spent most of the day laying around in bed in pain, and the rest of it was spent in the bathroom either vomiting or… other things. well eventually the pain went away, and by evening time i was feeling more or less better. half a day of suffereing for being able to eat incredibly good food? not a bad trade off… or so i thought…

that night was the night that the tv show we took part in was supposed to air. we were so excited to finally get to see ourselves on tv. we had been waiting impatiently for the last 2 weeks, and the day had finally arrived. well, the episode started, and in the beginnig they were showing the recap of last weeks episode…. and they showed the wedding scene. the wedding scene that we were in!!! in *last* weeks episode!!!

we couldnt believe it. we were completely in shock. we missed the damn show.. it was on last week!!!! arrrggghhh. our one chance to actually be on tv and we ended up missing it. so frustrating. hrm… well, maybe there’s someway that we could download the episode off the interent??

for dinner that night, i just got some fried rice. i didnt want to eat anything too crazy since my stomach was hurting for most of the day. rice couldnt be so bad, right??

wrong. apparently what i should have eaten that night was absolutely nothing. within a few hours, my stomache started aching and the next day i spent all day in bed once again. sheez. what a life! i guess that definitely taught me a valuable lesson. if you’re even slightly sick.. dont eat until you’re 100% better….

*v

1/23/05

after spending most of yesterday resting from the train journey, we went out to day to explore the city. the main thing to see here is the city palace. they call it the “city within a city”, and it really is like it’s own mini city. inside the palace walls, there is a huge courtyard, actually many different courtyards, and there is a bunch of restaurants, museums, etc. the palace museum was really interesting. More than just being a museum showing different objects, the museum was interesting for the fancy rooms that it was housed in. the palace had all sorts of carved doorways, marble columns, and carved windows with different colored glass in the carved parts.

near the palace, there is this famous temple called the jagdish temple. it’s not that big of a temple, but it was still pretty cool to walk around inside it. i took a few photos of it and these monks that i saw walking around.

india is pretty famous for it’s tea, and although most of the tea drank here is chai aka masala tea, they’re also famous for their regular black teas, especially the ones from darjeeling. seeing as we were still near the palace, we decided to have afternoon tea at one of its fancy restaurants. we had to walk through an uber-fancy dining room complete with gigantic sparkly chandeliers to get there and got a seat on comfy chairs next to a window overlooking the non-existant lake. neither the tea nor the scones etc that came with it were as good as the stuff we had back in england when we went for afternoon tea in brighton, but it was still decent. outside the restaurant, important guests would show up to the hotel, and each time someone drove up, their would be a bagpipe band playing to them and a man would rush out w/ a parasol so that the guests wouldnt have any sun on their heads. man, i wonder what you have to pay to get service like that?!

one of the things that caryn and i wanted to do here in india was to take a cooking lesson. i’ve tried several times back home to cook indian food, but it’s always turned out completely wrong somehow. now was my chance of finally learning the secrets of indian cooking. we had seen a small sign advertising cooking lessons, so we went there and enquired about them. it turned out that this guy’s brother was the one who would give the lessons. 13$ each for a few hours worth of lessons.

we were a bit skeptical at first. how good would these lessons be? did this guy really know what he was doing? since this lesson was at this guy’s home, would we really get a chance to participate in the cooking? or would we just watch as he cooked (kinda pointless)? should we maybe just wait and try to do this somewhere else in a place that was reputable and had nice facilities? well, in the end we agreed to do it, and that night we went over to the guy’s house for the lessons.

despite our concerns, the lesson was actually really good. he taught us all sorts of stuff: how to make a good curry sauce, how to make indian bread out of chickpea flour, how to make daal (lentils), and how to make vegetable pakora (vegetables with a spiced batter around them that is deep fried). everything that we made was utterly delicious, and we ended up really learning a lot. it was kind of trippy that the lesson was just in this guy’s home. we just cooked on this tiny two burner stove that was hooked up to a huge propane tank. the guy’s wife, mother, and children would come in from time to time bringing ingredients. everyone was extremely nice. the only problem was that seeing as the stove was so small, there really was only room for one person to cook at a time, so caryn and i had to trade off on who got to cook and who watched, but other than that we had a really good time. we tried to frantically scribble down notes as to what ingredients he was using and how to make stuff, but unfortunately, i think we didnt get most of it down. oh well though…. even if we dont know the recipes, at least we learned some basics. it’s definitely a start!

*v

1/22/05

after gujarat, we headed northward to the state of rajasthan. we were really excited about this since we had heard that this just might be the most interesting and colorful state in india. in rajasthan, there is a blue city, a pink city, and a golden city! together w/ those, the other most famous city in this state is Udaipur. it’s famous for being a nice pretty town next to a beautiful lake that has several islands.

but when we got there, there was no lake. during the last few years the monsoons that come throug this area and fill up the lake have been rather weak. since the lake is so shallow, it eventually dried up, and now there is hardly any water to be seen. the “islands” that used to be incredibly impressive since they have shimmering hotels that reflect off the lake’s waters, are no longer islands. you used to have to take a boat to get to the island hotels… now cars just drive across the dry lake bed.

nevertheless, despite the unusual absence of a lake in a town known for its lake, udaipur has still been a really nice town to see. it’s a town full of small winding streets that run up and down the towns many hills. the streets are so narrow, that there is barely room for two cars to pass each other and rickshaws have to maneuver very carefully to get past other cars, cows, and people. most of the buildings here have a white color and it adds an interesting uniformity to the town. the atmosphere is quite relaxed, but at the same time, it’s definitely a very touristy town. every building is either a hotel (with a restaurant on it’s top floor), an interent shop (w/ a bookshop and photo lab inside), antique shop, souvenir shop, etc etc. somehow, despite all the toursity stuff, udaipur still maintains a nice charm.

we’re staying at a nice (well, nicer) hotel that’s so much cleaner and better than the other places we’ve stayed at. our room has a little nook next to colored glass windows, a tv, an actual hot shower, and a big bed. all this for just 9 bucks. a real step up from the last place we were at!!

the first evening that we stayed here, i heard all this noise outside. loud music, firecrackers, people chanting. i went outside to investigate, and there was a wedding procession walking by our hotel. it was rally really cool to see. everyone was dancing around and having a blast to the music as they walked. the groom was seated on a decorated white horse and he towered above the walking crowd. but, i wondered where the bride was in all this? wherever she was, she definitely wasn’t nearly as prominent as the groom!

*v