04/12/05: Anything that doesn't kill you...

Hello all,

When last I wrote, we were leaving Varanasi for Khajuraho. Khajuraho is famous for some incredibly detailed Hindu temples - especially the finely detailed facial expressions. The temples are also famous for having a lot of erotic carvings - many of the positions in the Kamasutra are carved around the temples...current scholars think that it may have been a "how-to" for the Brahmin (priest-caste) students who studied at the all-boy schools in the area in preparation for marrying them off. Which is an interesting theory considering they actually show images of villagers shunning those practicing bestiality...a good lesson. Very interesting place.

In Khajuraho, we befriended one of the workers at the hotel whose nickname was "Ganga" (like the river). He was an incredibly nice guy and also managed to make us feel very welcome and provided a lot of information without having a shady "angle" to make money off of us. He invited us to his home for dinner - which was an awesome experience and very authentic in seeing how some of the poorer people live. Ganga's entire family (he, his wife, three kids) lived in a very small hut no larger than 8'x 10'. In the same "complex", his mother and father, brother and sister and all of their kids also resided. They had no running water and no continuous electricity (they actually stole electricity from the city in the evenings) as it was too expensive. As I helped him wash the fish for the curry (on a rock set in the ground!), I couldn't help but think how lucky we have it.

From Khajuraho, we continued our tour through the small town of Orccha and then on to Agra. In Agra, we went and saw the Taj Mahal - and although I knew what it looked like, it was really incredible to see with my own eyes. Many people have told me that no matter what you're expecting, the Taj will match your expectations and for me that really was true.

In terms of the other sights of Agra, I got to view them on Deanna's camera because I felt too sick to tour around the city. I somehow managed to pick-up a chest infection - with a horrible bone-wracking cough - and was too obstinate to pay a visit to the doctor until a bit later. So instead I just suffered through it for awhile (as did Deanna as it's pretty difficult to sleep when someone is coughing up a lung all night). Anyway...I did finally go see a doctor and am feeling much better as the drugs he prescribed (what they are...I have no idea) are starting to kick-in.

From Agra, we headed west into the desert province of Rajastan...definitely a unique part of India. At one point, the entire city of Jaipur was within a wall and all the buildings were painted pink with the exception of royal buildings which were yellow. It's a really neat effect although the city is a bit run-down. We were fortunate enough to witness the Ganguar festival - which celebrates the marriage of Shiva and Parvati. To a person of my limited knowledge that means so very little...but I did get to see 100 elephants, tons of camels and horses in a parade...that counts for something.

We're now in Pushkar, a small town of about 10,000 people surrounding a beautiful lake. The city is so laid back - I almost feel like I'm in a different country here - especially because it's a stictly vegetarian, no alcohol, no eggs served in the city. I think we'll stay as long as we can take the strict diet...

Yesterday was 6 months since we left the US! I thought I'd be home around now, but there's just so much left to see.