Chittaurgarh

from Feb 11 2009, Udaipur to Bundi
Fellow traveler Scott and I made a 3 hour stop in Chittaurgarh
to see the impressive fort on the hilltop.

Udaipur

Udaipur ... think Octopussy... her castle on the water
is here. Watched the Bond movie my second night here. Not much has
changed it would seem!
Still hanging out with my American friend Scott - nice to have a
'wing-man' for a bit. We spend
much of our time at first and second breakfast then first and second
lunch etc. Can't seem to find a good
restaurant!
We witness the smooth Indian guys perfect their western women
approaches... a few laughs but they get forgiven for pretty much
anything... and get better along the way. Sad part is... these guys
all have wives and maybe even kids already!

Pics:
'Ghetto' Cows of Udaipur
North shore of lake - Octapussy Palace in distance and drying cowpies
for cooking fuel in the foreground.

Pushkar !

Pushkar is a tourist hangout! I met a lot of my Delhi crowd there. In
fact Pat from Ireland was just departing on the next leg of his pedal
bike ride as I was walking up. I helped him shop for his bike in
Delhi. His journey ends at the southern point of India.. unless it
doesn't... this is India after all!

I met up to travel for a bit with my American friend Scott who I first
met back in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He's a 5+ year traveller. He ran
into my friend Silke and found out I was in India - complete fluke.

Pictures: Irishman Pat ready to bike away.
View of holy lake from my guest house.
Lake under
construction/cleanup ( something about wet lead paint on statues put in
tbe lake killing the fish)?? Notice the women doing the hard labour
( dishes of mortar balanced on their heads ).
A 100 rupee buffet with dancers and fire-eater.

Delhi Parade

I spent a bit too long in Delhi! It's not the most pleasant city to
be in but it does have a very nice new European metro system.
You meet
a lot of tourists in Delhi. They are either getting ready to fly out of
India or having just arrived, are in shock at the brutal reality that is
India.

Pictures: I was able to see the Republic day
parade. Past years had Elephants but this year the camels impressed the
most.

One year Anniversary!

Hi everyone!!

Hard to believe but it's now been a whole year traveling!
At this day and time last year I was sitting in the airport in Beijing
waiting for my friend Steve and his friend to arrive.
The year has gone by quite quickly. I bet I've probably averaged 6 days
in each location..? A few were 3 weeks or more but many were a few days
or even two overnight trains in a row!

I've seen a lot of interesting things; met a lot of interesting people
and experienced a bit more of the world. I hope I've brought a few of
you along for the ride in some way!

Justin

ps. I'm back in New Delhi at the moment... a bit of a recharge. The
camel was in Agra though ;)

Jaipur and The Taj Mahal in Agra!

I headed out to Jaipur to catch up with my German friend Silke after staying back a
day to do a computer call to a Christmas party in Calgary. I had a great New Years on the roof of the guesthouse watching the fireworks. The next day we
headed to Agra where we found out the Taj Mahal would be closed the
next day (Friday) so we joined the huge lineup and saw the Taj Mahal on
New Years day after all! I think it's a bit overrated but still
definitely a must see!

New Delhi for Christmas

Dec 22 - 30

I headed from Gorakpur to Delhi with the idea of having a few days to
find some new friends to spend Christmas with. I wasn't as home sick
as I thought I would be thanks to fewer reminders that Christmas was
indeed here. As you can see from the
picture, the Santa mask worn by the bar doorman would be better suited
to a bank heist. In the end it wasn't hard to gather a group of new
friends as many were in similar circumstances.

When I first arrived I stayed at
some of the limited cheap accomodation near "Connought Place"; a nice
tourst area with some newer western shops. I then moved the next day
to the more backpacker friendly area conveniently near the New Delhi
train station. It's more rundown but always interesting. I found a
fancy western coffee shop with free wifi access but expensive coffee
( 60 rp - still not bad ). I made a lot of great friends hanging out
at that coffee shop.