Saturday January 8th, 2004, 6:10pm

Well, my two companions & I had left Purhiran on the morning of the 2nd, took a Rs 19 bus to Jalandhar, then a Rs 35 bus from there to Amritsar, getting there in the mid-afternoon. That was a good experience, just realizing that I've got what it takes to navigate the local bus scenes and get from place to place cheaply. It adds confidence. We spent the rest of the 2nd and 3rd checking out the Golden Temple, Jallianwalabagh where the British had opened fire on a peaceful gathering of 1500 Indians back in 1919, and the Wagah India/Pakistan border crossing - that was a pretty entertaining experience. Lots of Indians and lots of foreigners... a pretty big show. There's basically a big set of concrete bleachers, like a tiny stadium, then the border gate, then a mirrored set of bleachers on the Pakistan side. Both sets of bleachers fill with people who break into strong patriotic chants, wave national flags, and so forth. The border guards crank on the the rockin music, the crowds go nuts, just lovin it, and after a while the ceremony starts. There's some serious high kicking, fast marching to and fro, interactions between the Indian and Pakistani guards, and in the end their flags are lowered in unison... my description is quite lacking for sure, like just about everything over here - you've got to taste it to understand.

Joel & Kurt had a plan to leave Amritsar for Delhi on the morning of the 4th, and from there they had a tour of Rajasthan already arranged - via a car and driver. I was thinking that I'd stay a few more days in Amritsar, at the Golden Temple itself - we'd been staying at a 'guest house', and then probably head for Jalandhar and Patara, then to Langeri village where I expect I'll wind up spending a number of months. But, the night before leaving they suggested that I join them for their 10 day Rajasthan tour, and so I went with them to the station in the morning, managed to get a ticket general ticket and upgrade it on the platform (another confidence boosting experience), and off I went to Delhi! See? Things not happening as planned...

The morning of the 5th we piled into our little car (like a geo metro), and busted out of Delhi bound for Pushkar. We arrived in the afternoon, wandered through the markets, across the land, and climbed a very long set of steps up to a temple that I'd visited some ~17 years ago. I could hardly make it to the top, and kept thinking about my dad & I doing the same walk so long ago. I'd been feeling pretty sick and unable to eat anything all day, but happily by the next morning I was back in form, and we headed out, bound this time for Jodhpur. Again we arrived in the afternoon, found a good hotel, suggested by our driver, and immediately went off to visit the Mehrangarh Fort - a stunning fort (read: castle) to be sure! It's sitting on top of a mesa-like chunk of rock, more or less in the middle of the city, high above everything else. And its size... it's really, really large. And it's beautiful... amazing architecture, stone work, what can I say. The morning of the 6th we checked out a couple more sites of the city: the Jaswant Thade, which is a large, beautiful, and peaceful white marble shrine built in memory of Maharaja Jaswant II, and then the beautiful-from-afar-but-lame-to-visit Royal Palace. Done with that we headed out of town and toward Ranakpur - which is made up of a very large Jain temple complex, again, all done in white marble. Very beautiful... a really tremendous monument. The detailing of the high roofs, the pillars, the idols and statues... everything. Ranakpur is rather remotely set... there's really no town or city anywhere around it, so if you're going you either have to go from whatever the closest town/cities might be, or you have to stay at one of the hotel/resort places situated 2 - 7KM outside of it. We did that... and it was sweet. It was the nicest place, esthetically, that I've stayed at yet in India. Set it in a quiet little valley surrounded by crumbling sage and scrub brush covered hills and mountains. Parrots and birds of all sorts, lizards, monkeys all over in the surrounding trees... and the place we actually stayed at was really nicely laid out, and had the best showering facilities any of us have come across in India. If only it hadn't been so damn cold at night! It would have been sweet to hang out outside in more comfort. Oh, and I could see the stars! It was the best sky since Washington state. So, this morning we visited Ranakpur, and then took off up twisting roads through beautiful mountains, at once both desertish - rocky and dry, and lush with trees, greenery, and water holes. Apparently there are some leopards living in that area... maybe 8 or so. :) Nice healthy population. Anyway, we arrived this afternoon here in Udaipur, got a hotel and dumped out bags, and headed out to check out town. It seems to be a pretty hilly town... with several "lakes" which are mostly dry with grasses growing everywhere. All of the hotels (or nearly all) advertise nightly screenings of Octopussy - you know, the James Bond flick... which evidently was filmed here. So, we found a nice hotel/restaurant, headed up to the roof, and had some grub. I ate a banana pancake (a banana wrapped in a crepe), and had a rose shake with ice-cream to finish it off - delicious! From our very high vantage point we could see a procession of elephants, camels, and musicians heading away from the palace in the middle of the 'lake' toward another structure some ways away. We decided to find our way down there, and wandered out to where the procession had stopped. It turned out that it was a daily affair. Monied tourists staying at the palace - I guess it's a hotel too, like in Jodhpur, get taken out for a ride and a welcoming and informing talk on the history of the area. Anyway, it was a nice walk and we got some pictures... and now we've come back into town and found this internet joint.

So, this is day 4 of 9... tomorrow we stay here, a two day stop, then it's off to Jaipur for two more days, then... somewhere, then Agra where the Taj Mahal is, and then back to Delhi for me. At that point I'll be planning to head back to Panjab. We'll see eh?

I'm thinking of all of you... and again, thanks for the emails! This is the first time since January 1st that I've been able to access the internet, so please be understanding of slow, or no, personal responses to your emails. It just takes so much time to write, and keeping you all informed pretty much takes the time I have. I do love reading them tho!

ps. in case you're wondering - I was high up in NE India when that earthquake & tsunami business all went down, so I was far away from it.

take care,

dharma