Rajasthan

View from our room in Udaipur.  Parts of the Bond movie Octopussy 

Were filmed here.  It is very picturesque and our room is wonderful

Thanks Lalit!

Another view from our bay window

We have been in Udaipur for two nights staying in the Aashiya Haveli with a bay window overlooking the beautiful lake. In town we stopped and Lalit asked a man on the street for directions to our guest house and the man told us. Then as we drove on we all looked at each other laughing. Lalit had asked in Hindi and the answer was in clear English! Lalit said that had never happened to him before. He had to verify with us that we had heard English - Ha - a real tourist area. Some of the James Bond movie Octopussy was filmed in Udaipur so there are resturants that show the movie during dinner. We didn't go to any of these but we will watch the movie when we get home. The city is in fact romantic especially in the area we were staying with the lake views of the water palace and the lights reflecting at night not to mention sunset over the lake. We had tea last night sitting in a large opening at the end of the outdoor hall just outside our room door (which we left open) watching the sunset and listening to the chants, prayers, bells, fireworks and all the sounds of the city and lake.

Two nights before we were in Jaipur and had several strange experiences while shopping on our own in a market area. We had purchased some things and while Susan was in a shop I sat outside talking with some other shop keepers when a tall guy came down the street and sat down. Once finding out that I was from the US he wanted to talk about drones and Bin Laden etc. He was Muslim. So I kept telling him that no way Obama is a Muslim. As he got more upset trying to get me to talk about his subject and maybe wanting to escalate, Susan came out and we left while the shopkeeper kept assuring me that the guy was not a terrorist. Then we went with a seemingly nice older gentleman to his silver shop, but his prices seemed high and we weren't really shopping for silver anyway but I made the mistake of asking prices and seeing how much lower he would accept .. Not much so we just left as the man and his two sons ran after us reducing prices all the way but the frantic nature of the scene got the other shopkeepers down the street excited and they began to actively try to block us from going any further and one reached to block Susan and she ran into his arm. I turned and put a hand on his shoulder and yelled No to him and she passed through. As we left and crossed the street we could hear the older mad from the silver shop yelling at the guy "never touch the woman!" over and over. We made our escape across the busy street and we thought that we will not slow down and visit that much again.

But when we got to Udaipur there were some good shops but we were reluctant to do any shopping but the merchants were much lower key and were really pleasant to deal with. So our shopping is continuing. Just wondering how can we tell the difference before we are in such a situation again??

Out walking after dinner last night we came on a wedding procession with the groom on the traditional white horse and the hand pushed band wagon with loud speakers and the generator wagon along behind with the wire running between them powering the party, blocking the street, so horns honking everywhere and the wedding party dancing in the street (some of these girls can really wiggle around in their saris). The groom went into a temple for a blessing before proceeding to ride away to get his bride, with a sword on his shoulder. There was also a brass and drums band marching behind the music wagon (band wagon?) Of course we had left our cameras in the room. From now on we must carry a camera everywhere!

We are in the car heading into Gujarat driving on a really nice four lane divided highway but this is still India and it is not unusual to encounter another vehicle coming toward us on this side of the highway and other things also. First it was a lady herding six huge water buffaloes toward us in the middle of our lane. Then there are the cows and the last thing was something like thirty camels coming toward us on the highway. Being a passenger here can be interesting and a certain trust must be placed in the driver or we might develop a nervous twitch! (still might happen.. Ha!)