Well we've come to a cross-roads in our trip. Not sure if any of you have been watching news in this area, but there has been a bit of an uprising in Rajistan, where I just so happen to be right now. A tribe known as the Gujjar are P.O.ed about some failure to recieve a bigger welfare check and are rioting/burning things / cutting railway lines/ digging trenches in highways. Yeah so transportation is going to be a little tricky of an issue. Hopefully we will still see the Taj Mahal. Cross your fingers for that. now that you've done that, do it again. we're now in Jaipur, and I've been to a couple places by now so I'll fill you in.

After Mumbai we went to Udaipur by plane. This place is known as the city of lakes. Aftificial lakes. You can't imagine the power weilded by the maharajas in India. BTW the word comes from Maha - Big Raja- king, great king, every city we go to has at least one palace and usually more. And these blow anything in europe out of the water with the exeption of Versaille. The Mahran of Udaipur, Maha -Big ran - warrior, decided he wanted a lake, a really big one. And so they built a dam and flooded a few villages and built a lake with magnificant palaces overlooking it. The Mahran of Udaipur was the only kingdom of india to withstance the might of the expanding Moghul Empire. That being said I think the hotel here is nicer than the palace. Black and green marble floors contrasting with white walls. Fully manicured lawns are immaculate, this is a semi-arid area and having walked past wheret he sprinklers reach the soil here is uber rocky and terrible top soil, all this is artifical. I'm sure at tremendous cost to the environment in terms of energy and water expediture. From about 1996 to 2003 the lake was dry and the shepards brought goats in to graze from the once covered bed. But after massive amounts of praying, the lake returned. The dryup was attributed to global warming not, in my opinion the bigger reason, ass-hatted water policy. These hotels sure are nice but my good there must be an amazing cost. In Udaipur we met up with our bus which will be with us for the rest of the trip. The drive to Jodhpur was absolutly amazing.

Fields divided by stone walls with inner earthen partitions to catch water from the coming monsoon. Palms and other trees interspace this pastoral landscape where irigation is done by ox-power or Bull power. Cattle, being sacred to hindus, are not put to the yolk and just kind of wander about. Mounds of bricks are built around wood for firing, as we roll by some are heated some are in the process of construction or de-construction. For some reason this who area fills me with a great calm. After the scenic drive we cross a mountain range, the road narrows to one lane and some of the curves get pretty hairy with the driver riding the brakes the whole way. Only after someone complains about the smell does he gear down. We arrive in Jodhpur and are immediately pulled over for the driver honking his horn (which everyone does with gusto). Then on to once again a palace of a hotel. This is our guide Raghu (pronounced Rag-oo) lives. After some touristict crap we went to the main bazaar where I bought some spices, and some tea. Unfortunately I"m not going to any of the tea producing areas but it's good nevertheless. After that we went for a bit of a safari going out to some villages where we watched pottery being done on a manual wheel, by manual I mean the man uses a stick to get it going really fast then goes to work. Absolutly mind-boggling to wach the ease with which he worked. After that we went to a village where there was a ritual opium ceremony. Not many of our crew partook. But they did have some really good tea. Anyway my time is winding down so I must take my leave. I hope all of you are happy in what you are doing.

W.