2nd time in India

City View from the City Palace, originally uploaded by jasonwmak.

I thought I'd give Jennifer a break from blogging and chime in with my report of my 2nd trip to India. Five years ago, I came to India with Bobby. India chewed us up and spit us out and we vowed never to return. Jennifer has always wanted to come to India, so as a dutiful husband, I decided that I would return to India's touts, scorching weather, poo poo streets, and urine stenched glory. One of my big goals this time was to "unpeel the onion". Every traveler we have talked to about India has said it was "amazing" and "unreal"; I too wanted to seek out this exotic and magical India that everyone raves about.

So far, the trip has been quite mixed. Our first stop in Goa was not too spectacular. The low season in Goa is barren, dirty, hot, and smelly; for the first time in our trip, we yearned to surround ourselves with Western tourists.

Mumbai was a little better. A nice driver took us to visit the slums so we could relieve Dev Patel's "Slumdog Millionaire" and Jennifer enjoyed some shopping in the trendy (even by Western standards) Colaba district.

Delhi welcomed us with scorching heat (46 degrees fahrenheit) and Indian touts. A visit to Old Delhi really wore us down. Thankfully, we discovered Khan Market, the Delhi hangout for Indian yuppies and expats. Sometimes, it's nice to hang with the regular locals, yes those that have white collar jobs, cars, and flatscreen TVs. We must remember that not everyone in India walks around with a turban and eats with their hands. A day trip to Agra let Jennifer say "been there done that" to the Taj Mahal. I was surprised to see how much the local government regulated the touts. There is now considerably less touting and better tourist services for foreigners in most tourist attractions in India.

The last week has been spent caravaning across Rajasthan, the India state known for it's vast deserts, forts, and mosques. Most these forts overlooked wonderful shanty towns that looked charming from above but were littered with cowpies at groud-level.

Our first stop, Udaipur was a nice surprise. Our hosts at the Tiger Hotel welcomed us as their only customers for three nights and we enjoyed roti, curries, and daal (chickpea mush) on rooftop restaurants every night overlooking the city. It was also this time where we received the sad news that my Aunt in Taiwan lost her battle with cancer so we spent the days less active and remembering her good character.

Our next stop Jodhpur reminded me of Jaipur, a large city, a dump, with a large fort. We took an unpleasant 5 hour bus and got stuck by a rickshaw driver in a crappy hotel. I think Jennifer was getting a little homesick at this time so we were quick to make Jodhpur a fading memory.

The next day we recruited our spunky driver, Sanjay, to take us to Jaisalamer. Our trip ride was hugely entertaining. Sanjay was a feisty father of 4 who enjoyed Indian hip hop and bungra dancing. Throughout the 5 hour car ride, he entertained us with shaking shoulders, waving hands, and his Indian trance/rave/bungra music....even when we were trying to sleep or read. Finally, we made it into Jaisalemer and turned up into our beautiful hotel inside the actual fort and overlooking the city. What a great find! We are living out of a scene of Aladdin. Thankfully, Jaisalmer is a smaller town which translates into less touts and more sincere people...this has been very welcoming.

Today Jennifer and I went on a camel safari and ate dinner in the desert with the local people. Our camels, Badu and Moinka, had the unfortunate task of hauling us up and down sand dunes through the hot day and at night. The desert people were really poor and really put in perspective our good our lives back home are. We also met a very interesting family from Arizona. The Cohen's stand 5 strong and are taking a year off from work and school to travel. What a cool family....they are fallowing a similar itinerary as us, but they have also been through mainland China and will be hitting up Europe and South America as well. Jennifer and I were all too glad to hear some American voices and glad we ran into such a cool family.

Tomorrow we head back up to Delhi (via an overnight sleeper train) and wrap up India. Next up, Africa...this will be a challenge but I do foresee many cool pictures and stories to tell.

I hope everyone is doing well back at home.

Jason