Savista Retreat Jaipur

... the station we saw a more intrepid sacred cow on a railway line standing and looking at the train it was blocking - a little man was nervously and very gently trying to persuade this cow that it might be a better idea to go somewhere else - I think it was an Indian stand-off and I wouldn't put any money on anyone moving that cow before it was ready - maybe that is why just about every train in India is late?? :)
Now anyone who knows us well knows that we both ...

... sell, and I was pleasantly surprised when there wasn't. We got a tour of the factory and their shop. Trying to look interested we lasted twenty minutes and got out double quick. He then tried to take us to a jewellery shop where I imagined the same process would occur but we declined.

Overall, it was a great tour which gave us a further insight into the city. We paid Ali for his company and said goodbye promising to call him if we ever needed a ride in future.

... Jordan a better and more fun place overall.

Overall - 87%. Not much better than Egypt, but it was slighly more entertaining, mostly for the people, see the above factors for why it was better.

Final Recap on Dubai/UAE
Food - 90%. Pretty much like food in the US, especially since we ate at the Mall so much.

People - 88%. The people here tended to be mostly Indian and Pakistani. They ...

... clever inbuilt ventilation which acted as centuries old air conditioning. We walked, or should I say nudged our way through the manicly bustling Saturday Market, and lunched in the restaurant that overlooked the market. I had an aubergine dish which is the best rendition of aubergine that I have tasted, I definitely need to look more closely at the vegetarian options offered by Indian food. I have to ...

Namaste (Hello), We have just completed a week in Jaipur - the Pink City with very little normalcy except for the 25 chapatti's and 1 kg of bananas we ate for breakfast every day. Everything else smacked us hard and is best described by one of my favourite words - simultaneity. I have always described India as a place you either love or hate. There is no in between here. When Janice and I traveled here before she really didn't like it and I loved it. Now that I ...

... sundial which is incredible and accurate to 2 seconds. It was hard work walking around in the desert heat, so a we also spent time escaping the heat at the Jaipur City Palace Museum which was mainly indoors. The Royal family still lives with in the Palace walls and on display are many royal artifacts and grand furniture. Another highlight of the 2 days spent in Jaipur was visiting the cinema, it was ...

Jai Pal Singh Executive Director Centre for MicroFinance Jai was kind enough to be my overall coordinator during my visits in Jaipur and also selected for me the most pleasant hotel that I have stayed in during my trip. The Centre is working to coordinate, train and generally upgrade the microcredit programs in their State - which is Rajasthan. Quoting from their website: "Centre for microFinance (CmF) is ...

... went off to get Arif and the car! at this stage, we had really had enough so were more then happy to move on anyway. In the car our tour guide asked "some lunch now...?" and we said "no, we're just not hungry, maybe later on." This posed a big problem. What can he do with us now? It was like we were children. Conferring with Arif......more conferring with Arif...."right, where are we going now then?" we asked half-heartedly. He had no idea what to do with us. As we didn't ...

... famed block printing and carpet making in action. Cameron was riveted by the intricate process of block printing on fabric and then he and Verns had a go themselves. Letīs just say they wonīt be giving up the day jobs.... We then watched the many stages of carpet making, most fascinating of which was hearing the carpet weaverīs song, said to be passed down through the family, which he sings in his head instead of looking down at his paper design ...

... equipment the size of buildings measuring the movement of the earth, the time down to the second on a sundial the size of an office building...amazing. We took a rickshaw ride through the markets and stopped to view the 'palace of winds'. We left Jaipur re-energised and really getting to see what the indian people are like, very welcoming and very committed to their hindu gods. Jaipur the Pink City...we loved it.