Africa by bathtub

Hello!!!! I’m writing to you from Jaipur, in Rajistan, the most sexist state in India apparently (according to one of our travel guides, and my own take so far). We have rented a car and driver to take us across RAjistan. At first glance, from the car, I liked this state a lot (partially because the roads have been so great). Given that i Have only been here a few hours though….I”m not so impressed. We’ve had some issues trying to book tickets, and people - sorry, MEN - being total dickwads to me, but other than that….we are excited about seeing what this area has to offer. I”ll talk about our time in Agra though, as it was absolutely wonderful. I loved it there. We arrived, totally paranoid, via rail from New Delhi. I say paranoid, because everything you read about Agra is that there are a ton of touts (scammers, guys trying to sell you things), and it is dirty and hard to breath from pollution, and just way too many people. We did not have that experience at all. We ended up in a rockin hotel. We didn’t get scammed. We found a great guy to tour us around the city in an autorickshaw both days for fairly cheap. We saw the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort (where the Mugal rulers of India lived and ran the country for ages), Akbar’s mausoleum, the “baby TAj”, a tomb, and a bunch of mosques. we learned how those carpets are made (so, so much work!!!) it was awesome. the Taj was fabulous. There are so many carvings and detailed work. It took 17 years to build, and 40 million dollars. So, so beautiful. it’s totally symmetrical, except for Shah Jahan’s grave, because it was put in as an after thought by his son. it was originally just meant for his wife’s body, and so her’s is in the middle, and his is to the side. We got up early and went at 6am when there we’re as many people, thank God, cause it got busy. I tried to go incognito (because I have had a major problem with people staring at me CONSTANTLY!!!), but it did not work. I think they may have stared even more actually. Next step: pretend I am Muslim and wear the burka. That oughta do it (but we all know that I am a face sweater, and so that really isn’t the best idea). Since being in the north, I handle the dry heat so well. My face hasn’t sweated since we left Travindrum actually (and I dont’ miss it!).
What else? we have done a ton of shopping. I love how in the different states you find different things. Up here there is as lot of marble and wood carvings. it’s cool because you can drive by and see all those statues taht they export, being made right in front of you. Rajistan is also known for its silver and gems. There’s so many scammers though, and we are so paranoid, that its hard to really trust and enjoy it sometimes.

Anyways, hopefully Sam will give you his take on the last few days. it has been very enjoyable on the whole, and hard to believe we have only been here 3 weeks - it seems like a lifetime ago. Over and out for now,
Love,
Devi

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 10:24 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.