TravelStream™ news feed for member bangkokrandy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bangkokrandy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:19:50 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1258466181/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1258466181/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1258466181/tpod.html Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:19:50 -0500 Rajasthan 2009

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Bundi, Rajasthan, India

15 November - BundiWe are very sad to leave our comfort in Pushkar but, well, sometimes you just have to move on to try new places that might even be better. (Actually it's already the future now as I am writing this so I happen to know that our next destination, Bundi, was even more enjoyable than Pushkar.  But you don't know that yet so I won't spoil it for you . . .)We packed some delicious cheese sandwiches on whole wheat bread from the Sunset Café for our four hour road trip to Bundi.  Our lovely host at the Everest Hotel saw us off - but not before giving us a beautiful, fragrant necklace that he had made of a local flower.  (I'm sure that it has a nice name - but I don't know what it is.  So let's just call it a flower necklace - until somebody can enlighten me.)The scenery on the ride to Bundi was nothing special.  The highlight of the drive, however, came when we stopped for a bite to eat and a cup of tea at a local roadside diner.  We had a look at their menu and Gregory commented that there was no way that locals would pay such high prices for food and drink.  So then I said, "Let's go in and try to get hold of the OTHER menu - the one for locals."  It was easier than we expected:  Some locals eating at one of the tables just handed THEIR menu to us when we asked for it.  We put the menus side by side - and all of the items on both menus were absolutely identical.  The prices, however, on OUR menu were two to four times higher than on the menu for the locals.  (Photo attached.)  We always suspected that we foreigners have to pay more for most things but somehow seeing them cheating us so crudely and blatantly was a bit distasteful.  (When I lived in Budapest, the Hungarians also had different menus for foreigners and locals in some restuarants.  But at least they had the good sense to put the Hungarian menu in their own language!)  In this case both menus were in English and completely identical except for the prices.  Needless to say, we didn't eat there.  They probably felt like WE cheated THEM.By the time we arrived in Bundi I had such a headache that I couldn't think straight.  I don't seem to be able to take long drives very well anymore.  We looked at four or five hotels before settling on the magnificent Bundi Haveli.  It was built about three years ago and the owners have done a wonderful job of renovating this old haveli.  At 800 rupees a night for a completely modern, comfortable room, it is easily the overall best value place I have stayed in on this trip.  In fact, and this is something that I have very very rarely said in my life:  With this amount of comfort for this price, I almost feel like I'm cheating the hotel.  It kind of makes up for the ripoff hotel that I stayed in with Tony in Jaipur on the first day of this trip.After a few hours in bed trying to sleep off my throbbing headache, we had a delicious dinner at the Shivam Guest House just behind our hotel.  The restaurant at this guest house was one of the few good recommendations from my guidebook.  The owners are very lovely, cheerful and charming.16 November - BundiAfter a nice breakfast of omelets and fruit and yogurt muesli, Gregory and I walked around for hours in the extensive back streets of old and new Bundi.  The town is much larger than I had expected it to be and aside from it's touristy section there is an entire section dedicated to the pursuits of "modern" life, with markets as well as all sorts of tradesmen and such.Very noticeable was the fact that the people here, as elsewhere in India, just throw their garbage into the streets.  Gregory made the observation that this is a holdover from times past when everything that was thrown out could be eaten by the pigs and cows that roam the streets.  The Indians haven't developed a way, though, to deal with the mounds of plastic trash that they generate each day.  They just throw it into the streets along with the garbage - and it just piles up - making a rather hideous mess in some places.  It doesn't seem to bother the people, though.  At least not enough to make them want to clean it up.  They could use a bit of American waste management technology - Soprano-style.  After all, India has its own mafia as well.At lunch Mrs. Shivam commented on my red shoes, suggesting that they are a lady's color.  She then went on to comfort me with the comment that "In India, every color okay."  I agree with her - as long as those ugly colors are on either Indians or Gregory.  As for myself, well, I still prefer green or blue - and maybe brown or black.  Just call me old fashioned.For a change we decided to have dinner at our fancy hotel - especially since its kitchen had been so highly praised by the very nice owner.  In a word, the dinner was disappointing.  The food could best be described as "mush".  Every dish just looked like a different color mush.  And worst of all, it cost FOUR times as much as a rather tastier dinner over at the Shivam's place.  Further, it was my first time to eat meat in a couple of weeks.  And even as a lifelong meat eater, I somehow found the idea of eating meat disgusting.  It felt like we were chewing "flesh" rather than meat.  I now have a bit more understanding for vegetarians although I still think that we meat eaters have a bigger variety of choices when it comes to eating.  And sometimes there's just nothing that can fill a man's stomach like a nice, big, juicy hamburger - not to mention my delicious Louisiana-style chicken.  But for the rest of my stay in India, I think I'll stick with vegetarian.17 November - BundiGregory went off for a walk up the mountain to explore the Bundi fort with some new American friends whom we had met at breakfast at Shivam's, and I went off on my own walking around as well as updating my blog at the internet café.  Later when I was walking around, total strangers were telling me, "Your friend is looking for you."  I asked them how they knew it was I who was being sought.  They said, "Your friend asked if we had seen the guy with the red shoes."  After that, every time I passed by those guys, they commented on the attractiveness of my footwear.  Oh, and I was able to find Gregory.For some reason, at this point the SIM card on my phone stopped working.  I am unable to make or receive calls.  Other travelers have reported having this problem and it seems to be due to the paperwork for my SIM card application being rejected. As I have mentioned before, India has a big problem with terrorism from its arch-enemy Pakistan so they are very sensitive about whom they give SIM cards to.  I just wish they had rejected my application BEFORE they took my money.Related to this:  Whenever you use a computer in an internet café in India, it is like checking into a hotel.  They take down ALL of your details, like name, passport number, name of your hotel, etc.  The only thing is that I can imagine that terrorists are smart enough to lie about these things.Later in the day, as I was walking down the main drag in Bundi with Gregory and the American couple, Sandy and Adam, we got to talking about our hotels.  Since ours is so nice, I wanted to recommend it to them so I took out my camera to show them a picture of my room.  Immediately, a passing Indian stopped and craned his neck to see what we were looking at.  This sort of thing happens often in India.  Indians are very curious people - and they lack our concept of privacy and personal space.  So they don't hesitate to get right up in your face in circumstances in which it seems to us to be totally inappropriate.Related to this, Gregory and I were returning to our hotel late in the evening, and a couple of curious locals stopped us on our walk home and asked us right out which hotel we are staying in.  A bit taken aback by this intrusion into our personal lives, I just told the guy, "Yeah" and kept on walking.  Silly questions deserve silly answers.18 November - BundiAt breakfast I got the life story of the owners of the Shivam Guest House, where we take most of our meals.  Mr. Shivam (not his real name.  This is just a name created for the Guest House from the name of the Indian god Shiva as well as the name of Mr. And Mrs. Shivam's fathers.)  Anyway, Mr. Shivam, as we'll call him, is a 71-year old retired army man married to Mrs. Shivam, a 55 year old woman whom I embarrassingly took to be Mr. Shivam's daughter.  They have two sons (in their late 20s) and a 24 year old daughter doing her MBA in Udaipur.  Mr. Shivam is on a military pension of 6,000 rupees per month.He got the idea to do a guest house from a friend and neighbor of his who had been successfully running a guest house for years.  They have been slowly building up their business for several years and their charming friendliness and good cooking has resulted in their being included by now in several popular guidebooks.After breakfast Gregory and I went for a walk around Bundi's fort and we nearly made a mess of things when we came back to town down the steep side of the mountain.  We narrowly escaped hurting ourselves and promised ourselves not to do anything that stupid again - until next time.At dinner, again at the "Shivam's", we had a wonderful Indian meal, after which I suggested to Mrs. Shivam that she could open an Indian restaurant in America with her good cooking.  She suggested that such a thing was an improbable dream but that anyway she had the next best thing with people from around the world visiting her place.  This she said in her inimitable way:  "Everything people here coming.", which translates to "People from all over come here."
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256008079/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256008079/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256008079/tpod.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:54:52 -0500 Rajasthan 2009

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Pushkar, Rajasthan, India

11 November - PushkarOne of the highlights of this trip for me has been leaving Jodhpur - and now I'm getting to do it twice! Last night I went to bed at about ten and I woke up literally every hour to look at my watch and check the time - out of a subconscious fear of oversleeping and missing my departure from this dump of a city.  (As a note, however, I should add that I have met several people who claim to have loved Jodhpur so in the end it all comes down to one's personal experiences in a given place.)I left my hotel at 6 a.m. and in spite of the early hour I was able to find an auto-rickshaw to the train station.  The ride to the station took only ten minutes at this time of day due to the lack of traffic.  In the daytime it would have taken at least twice as long.  On the way to the station, I saw dozens of people sleeping on the sidewalks under their blankets.  Some of them were just waking up - but to what?  Another day in that dirty cesspool - struggling to survive.Once I arrived at the train station, I started asking official looking people from which platform my train would leave.  Two people said platform one and two others said platform two - so taking the average would have been of no help.  Eventually there was an announcement over the loudspeaker saying that the 7 o'clock train to Ajmer would depart from track 2, so it was there that I waited.  By this time the platform was packed with hundreds of destitute looking people whom I assumed would be my competitors for a seat on the train.  I wasn't looking forward to the scramble for a place to park myself for what I was told would be a four hour journey.  In fact I was dreading what was very likely to be an unpleasant seating arrangement.When the train arrived (only twenty minutes late - not bad for India), I looked around for my wagon but was having trouble finding it because there were no numbers on the cars.  Eventually I asked someone and I was pointed in the right direction.  I was absolutely elated to find that my wagon was the nicest on the whole train.  I should have guessed this based on the relatively high price I was paying.  I couldn't imagine that all of those destitute looking people were paying as much as I was for what was a relatively short ride.It turns out I was in a sleeper wagon even though it was daytime and shortly after departure I was given sheets and a pillow by the attendant.  I then took a nap and when I awoke I asked the ticket collector when we would arrive in Ajmer - expecting that we would arrive soon.  He said it would be after two o'clock, turning my expected four hour ride into a 7 1/2 hour journey - a big difference for someone traveling with little food.  I had my hotel in Jodhpur make me a couple of breakfast cheese sandwiches last night but by the time I was ready to eat the sandwiches were completely inedible.  By then I was quite hungry and, like many Indians, wondering where my next meal would come from.Well, to every problem there is a solution - and one of India's thousands of gods came to my rescue.  In the seats next to mine was a group of young Indians traveling with one older gentleman.  One young man from the group, a fellow in his mid-twenties by the name of Achilles, came over to talk to me.  It turns out he is studying for his Masters Degree in English Literature and he, along with his four female colleagues, was now preparing for an exam to become a government employee.  They were traveling with their instructor for the exam, a man of about my age (late 30s, in case you are wondering.  VERY late 30s.)Anyway, they asked me to join them for "breakfast" (consisting of a variety of Indian snacks - most of which were quite tasty).  I then spent the next several hours having a very interesting conversation with this wonderful group of friendly Indians.  We talked about everything from religion to politics to (arranged) marriages to love.  All four of the girls in the group, in their mid-twenties, professed to have never been in love before.  It's just not a realistic option in their lives since they can't really mix with males of the species until their parents hook them up with their future partners.  I suggested to them that relationships with members of the opposite sex are just like everything else in life:  They require practice.  They pointed out that Western "love" marriages don't seem to last any longer than Indian arranged marriages.  To this I responded that the duration of the marriage is not the important thing to me - but rather the happiness of the partners during the relationship.  I suggested that people should stay together as long as they are happy together and then in the event that they find themselves no longer compatible, they should part ways and perhaps seek out a new partner with whom they could be happy.  I don't think I changed their minds.  In any case I think that being in love is one of life's greatest experiences.  I also think that the capacity to feel love is greater when we are younger.  So I really feel that these young people are missing out on a very important part of life.This interesting conversation helped the time to pass and before I knew it we had arrived in Ajmer, only 3 1/2 hours later than I had expected.  As I was still vey hungry I decided to have lunch in Ajmer so I took an auto rickshaw from the station to a restaurant recommended in my guidebook, the "Mango Masala".  This place was described as an "American diner-styled place with wide-ranging menu including pizzas, sizzlers, Indian and sundaes.  Standard is high, portions large and service outstanding."  You can probably guess by now that I mentioned all of that because the reality was pretty much the opposite.  I ordered a Canelloni Florentine, which turned out to be a bowl of the ingredients for that dish apparently run through a blender before being served in a bowl.  So I ended up with the usual Indian bowl of mush lunch.  When you're hungry enough, though, anything will do and I ate every drop of it.From the restaurant I walked the short distance to the government bus station that had cheap (9 rupee) buses to Pushkar - leaving every few minutes, as soon as they filled up.  The ride to Pushkar was picturesque and went fairly quickly.Once there I started walking around the town looking for a hotel.  The first place I stopped was one that I had picked out from the guidebook:  Hotel Seventh Heaven.  It is a very popular place and consequently was full.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 I asked the manager if he could recommend another place and he suggested the Everest Hotel.  As I was leaving Seventh Heaven, a little old lady was waiting in the doorway of her hotel next door.  It seemed to be her practice to sit at her door catching the people who were leaving the popular neighboring hotel due to it being full.The room at that hotel was very nice and the price was acceptable but I told her that I wanted to look at the other hotel before I made a decision.  She told me that the guy from the first hotel only sent customers to the Everest because he would get a big fat commission and the rooms were not very nice and were expensive as well.  Being exhausted from my long journey, I decided to stay there and after an early dinner, I went to bed early.As the hotel was on a busy street, there was lots of noise throughout the night and I woke up many times.  But due to my exhaustion I was able to fall back asleep.  By the time morning came, I had slept long and well.  But I was concerned about whether I'd be able to sleep as well again in a more well rested state.12 November - PushkarI went out in search of breakfast and walked over to the Sunset Cafe where I had agreed to meet my friend Gregory - and when I arrived, I found him sitting at a table smoking a cigar, having just finished his baked beans on toast breakfast.  It was a great feeling seeing that our plan to meet up like this worked out so well.I had my breakfast (plain porridge, apple pancake and a cinnamon tea) and then walked around Pushkar's empty lake with Gregory, looking for a quieter hotel.  We walked around the entire lake before happening upon the Everest Hotel (the one that had been recommended by the manager of my first choice hotel when it was full.)  Both Gregory and I found this hotel to be charming.  The rooms were somehow nice; the owners had a good attitude; it was a bit up a hill and therefore rather more quiet than most places; and at 300 rupees (a little over six dollars) a night, the price was right.We then went back to our respective hotels to check out and bring our bags to the Everest.  Both of our hotels from the previous night were rather disappointed by our early departure.  Business is really slow for them this year due to the global economic crisis as well as to the waterless lake.We had lunch at a falafel joint with an owner who appeared to recognize Gregory from his visit there two years ago.  Gregory and I marvelled at this man's ability to recognize him after having had so many customers over the two years since Gregory had last been there - until we figured out his memory technique:  This guy pretended to recognize EVERYBODY.  The people who had actually been there before, like Gregory, were impressed by his memory.  The people who had never been there before just thought he was crazy.  Ha.  Brilliant marketing tactic!13 November - PushkarAs we were passing through the lobby of the Everest Hotel on our way out to breakfast, I told the very nice manager that Gregory and I love his hotel.  He said, "No, it is not MY hotel - it is YOUR hotel."  He was of course trying to display an extreme level of hospitality, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to say to him, "Well then get out of my hotel!"  He didn't find my comment nearly as funny as I did.It had been raining all day due, as we later found out, to an unseasonal cyclone that was moving across this part of India for the past couple of days.  This storm turned the already cow-crap-covered streets into an absolute sludge of a mess.  Since it was too wet and muddy to do anything outside, we retired to Gregory's room for awhile to continue our two-day tradtion of listening to George Carlin recordings.  We also discusssed a bit about the books we are reading now (economics, Roman history, Indian history, etc.) before I went downstairs to my humble abode for the night.14 November - PushkarWhen I went to change money today, the money changer received a phone call from someone looking for his brother.  As it happens, his brother is running for political office and today would be the deadline for him to withdraw his candidacy.  He is not associated with any of the main parties and is running as an independent.  The problem is that he is very popular and looks likely to win.  This is unacceptable to the main parties, who, like everywhere else, like to take turns between themselves pillaging their respective countries.  So these parties are trying to get this money changer's brother to withdraw his candidacy.  Since he doesn't want to withdraw, he has gone into hiding until the deadline for withdrawing passes.  And every few minutes his brother gets a call from people asking if he knows where his brother is.  Of course he knows - but he's not telling.Later in the afternoon Gregory wanted to buy a T-shirt that had the saying "Same Same But Different" on it.  He was able to find this shirt with a particular vendor but he was having trouble finding it in the color and size of his choice.  The vendor kept bringing a variety of shirts in the right size and color - but they had a totally different slogan written on them.  The vendor kept insisting that the T-Shirts were all exactly the same.  Eventually it dawned on us why the T-shirts all seemed to be identical to the vendor:  He couldn't read!The rain storm last night caused my several year old but very nice and expensive sandals to finally wear out.  They had rotted and the bottom fell off so I had to replace them immediately.  I found a pair of imitation Crocs in a nice, conservative dark blue in my size.  When I got home with the shoes I put them both on (I had only tried on one of them in the shop - and it had fit perfectly.)  Well, as luck would have it, the left shoe, even though it had the same size number written on it, was several sizes smaller than the right one, which was a perfect fit for me.  So the next morning we went back to the shop to try to get the shoes replaced.  This being India, they only had one single pair in my size.  And of course they were bright red/orange.  I hesitated for a long time over the choice between the ill-fitting blue pair and the perfect fitting red\orange one.  Gregory coaxed me into breaking out of my conservative mold and going for the unconvential look.I'm having lots of trouble with computer viruses on this trip.  I had written this entire entry on my phone/computer and when I went to check it, chunks of it had been deleted by some virus that left a taunting smile in the place of my text.  So I'd better send this entry out before something else blows up.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1258024433/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1258024433/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1258024433/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:54:53 -0500 Rajasthan 2009

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Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

10 November - JodhpurWe departed lovely Jaisalmer at 7 a.m. for our four hour drive to Jodhpur, the armpit of Rajasthan. We dropped Tony off at the airport for his flight to Jaipur, where he will visit the Amber Fort before making his way to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. It is at this point that our time together comes to an end as I have already visited these other places that he wants to visit.I asked the driver to bring me to a new hotel that was recommended by a couple of Dutch girls we had met in a restaurant in Jaisalmer, but the place looked so awful from the outside that I told the driver to just keep driving. I had him bring me to the same hotel I had stayed in during my previous pass through Jodhpur, where I immediately took a nap to try to rid myself of my usual Jodhpur headache.By now it was late afternoon and I was very hungry so I headed up to the roof restaurant of the hotel for a late lunch. While there I met a couple of very nice Spanish girls and a young man from Buenos Aires who had met the girls in Udaipur and was now traveling with them. We had a very nice conversation and we all went for a walk together around the busy backstreets of Jodhpur. And it was every bit as dirty, chaotic and depressing as it was four days ago. I took leave of my new friends to head back to my hotel to try once again to sleep off my headache.At 7 p.m. I was awakened by the guy at the reception of my hotel to receive the train ticket that I had requested for my trip to Ajmer tomorrow. (To get to Pushkar, where I am to meet up with my friend Gregory, it is necessary to get to Ajmer first, which is on the main train line - and from there to take a bus.)  I was a little disappointed to see that my ticket had third class written on it, but I reserved judgement because so far most things in India have been the opposite of what I expected, so third class might in fact mean first class. At least I hope so.I then had another disgustingly disappointing dinner at the hotel restaurant while a local song and dance troupe were trying to extract money from us foreigners by playing pounding music. With the headache that I had, I would have gladly paid them to stop. The only thing that salvaged the evening for me was a good conversation that I had with a very nice French woman whom I met there. Speaking of which, for some reason, the overwhelming majority of the tourists we've met in India have been French. I have no idea why.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007745/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007745/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007745/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:47:15 -0500 Rajasthan 2009

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Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India

07 November - JaisalmerOur pimply-faced driver was waiting for us after we finished breakfast so we set off for Jaisalmer straight away. The drive took five hours in total, including a one hour lunch stop at a very greasy roadside diner. The drive itself was rather stressful as we were dodging people, vehicles and above all animals all the way. We also spent a lot of our time passing the numerous military vehicles (tank transports, rocket launchers, troops, very large guns, etc.) that were moving towards bases near the Pakistani border.  Our driver's system for overtaking other vehicles was faith-based.  He often overtook on hills and blind curves, just assuming that no one was coming the other way.  This sytems works - for awhile - until an accident occurs.  Then the driver has to look for a new profession in his next life.We arrived in Jaisalmer in the early afternoon and had our driver show us several hotels before we ended up in the nicest one, which was the one we had booked anyway - the Pleasant Haveli. In spite of the fact that we arrived a day earlier than planned/booked, this six room guest house had a couple of very nice rooms available for us.After a brief rest, we walked around this charming town of beautiful architecture for a few hours before going to dinner at the rooftop Trio restaurant. By the time we finished eating, it seemed like every foreigner in town was there - mostly because of limited other options rather than due to any merits of its own. I had a tolerable fried chicken and french fries. Frankly, Tony and I are getting a bit sick of Indian food.Tony finally was able to get a massage from a woman - in his hotel room, no less. This being India, though, the masseuse was accompanied by a chaperone to ensure that there was no hanky panky. Perhaps this is why massages are so expensive in India: it is necessary to pay a watcher as well.08 November - JaisalmerAfter breakfast we walked up to Jaisalmer's famed fort. As we were a bit tired, Tony and I sat on some steps near the fort's entrance for about an hour and just watched the world go by. Sooner or later everybody passes through the gates of the fort, both Indian as well as foreign tourists alike, not to mention the various beggars, magicians, shoe-shine boys and others who make a living from the tourists.A number of Indians in various types of military uniforms passed by and they wanted to be photographed with me while they were wearing my hat and I wore one of theirs.We also had an interesting if a bit sad conversation with a woman selling cheap bracelets to tourists. I would have guessed this woman to be around 40 years old but she claimed to be only 21. Further, she was the mother of four (live) children (3 others had died). She got married when she was 15 to a husband 20 years her senior and now the husband drinks while she supports the family by selling cheap jewelry at the fort. And I thought I had a rough life . . .All this people watching made us hungry so we found what looked to be a decent Italian "fusion" restaurant within the fort. The pizzas we had turned out to be our worst meal of the trip (so far - there's still time to beat this record yet). The chef must have confused our pizzas with a car because they each had about a quart of oil in them. After draining as much of the oil as possible, I only managed to down about half of my small pizza, leaving the restaurant hungrier than when I entered it. At least I was well lubricated.After walking around a bit more, Tony and I went for not one but two dinners - to fill the void left by the horrible lunch pizzas. For my first dinner, I ate at the Trio, where we had had a tolerable dinner the night before. While there we got into a conversation with a few obviously gay Americans from San Francisco. (I know - how cliché!) I'm pretty sure they thought Tony and I are gay - Tony because he looks gay and me because I'm handsome. (I get to write this because this is my blog. In Tony's blog I look gay and he's handsome.)Anyway, after our first dinner, Tony and I went next door to the Mandir Palace restaurant, recommended by a couple of nice American ladies we had met yesterday. The nightime view of the fort from there was so spectacular and so romantic (we were in fact the only customers) that Tony and I were wishing that we had been there with anyone besides each other and for the only time in my life I regretted being heterosexual. Oh, well - maybe we'll make it here again someday with a couple of ladies. 09 November - JaisalmerTony went to the fort museum while I walked around exploring the back alleys of the town. We had a tolerable lunch amid pleasant surroundings at the Saffron restaurant. I had a nap and a shower in the afternoon before Tony and I went for one last walk in the fort. While sitting in the fort we got into a conversation with a couple of friendly souvenir vendors. They took the opportunity to complain about the guide books used by western tourists (mainly the Lonely Planet) that advise people to avoid the fort because their presence causes damage. From the perspective of the vendors, who live in the fort, it is only the money of tourists that allows them to remain living in the fort, thereby keeping it viable.Tony and I then excused ourselves for dinner, at which point the vendor recommended an Italian restaurant that made good pizzas - using real olive oil. Given our disastrous pizza experience from the previous day, we were skeptical. However, the Krishna Boulangerie ended up serving us our best meal of the trip. And once again it was a case of a good place not being in the guidebook.And speaking of that, I want to take a moment to praise our guesthousèe in Jaisalmer, the Pleasant Haveli. It was pure comfort, and there was little that the owner/managers Narendra and Dilip would/could not do for us. They are a couple of great guys with the desire to build a successful hotel for the long term. As Narendra put it, he is satisfied if his chicken lays just one egg a day for him. He's not in it for the quick kill. I like his attitude and I wish them success.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007807/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007807/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007807/tpod.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:59:40 -0500 Rajasthan 2009

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Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

06 November - JodhpurUsing our new SIM cards, we called four hotels in Jodhpur from the airport before finding one with rooms available. This saved us a tremendous amount of effort and frustration, so I would say that the SIM cards have already paid for themselves.Since I knew from my guidebook that the town is only five kilometers from the airport, I refused to play by the rules and take an overpriced taxi from the airport to the city.  So Tony and I just walked out of the airport and tried to get into the first waiting tuk tuk at just a fraction of the price quoted just inside the airport premises.  This set off a fight among the drivers for our business, taking into account everybody's interests and desires - except ours. We stuck to our guns and made the ride to our hotel for a mere 100 rupees.Being able to book a hotel from afar, however, was still not enough to make Jodhpur a pleasant place.  If not for its magnificent fort, which we visited in the afternoon, this place would have little to recommend it.  In fact, on our walk towards the train station in the evening to find a place for dinner, the city reminded me of the post-Armageddon description that I used for Jaipur in my introduction to this blog.  Tony went so far as to describe it as the worst place he's ever been in his life.  Since the place is such a dreadful dump, and since we've already seen the fort, we decided to leave town already first thing tomorrow morning.  In fact, so eager are we to leave that we have booked a fairly expensive private car to take us the four or so hours to the desert city of Jaisalmer.  We're hoping and expecting it to be better than Jodhpur.So back to what I said about India in my previous post:  Places are very different, so the impression one gets depends to a very large extent on which places one visits - as well as what one does in those places.  For example, we have met several people who found Jodhpur to be wonderful.  So there is no objective best or worst place.  It all depends on what one is looking for and what one does while there.  But for us, it seems that smaller places are better than larger places.  (Jaipur and Jodhpur are the two largest cities in Rajasthan - and were at the same time our least favorite.  Perhaps not a coincidence!)Another thing:  the latest version of this blog site allows for a much faster uploading of pictures.  This allows me to include many more pictures in my blogs, which seems to be well received - so I'll try to continue to show as many pictures as is practical.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007923/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007923/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007923/tpod.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:42:21 -0500 Rajasthan 2009

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Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

03 November - Udaipur We arrived in Udaipur right on schedule and Tony pointed out that, contrary to India's reputation, this was the first time that he had ever taken essentially three consecutive flights that were completely on time and problem-free in every respect. And I must agree with him. The whole thing was rather remarkable.From the airport we took another pre-paid taxi (350 rupees) and on the drive into town both Tony and I already had a much better feeling about Udaipur than we did about Jaipur.  After a bit of small talk, our taxi drive presented us with a brochure for a hotel that was not mentioned in our guidebook.  Normally I am very skeptical about such offers as the driver will of course get a commission - to be paid out of our own pocket.  Tony, however, convinced me that we should give it a look - because what is important is how much we like the hotel and how good a value it represents to us rather than simply whether we have to pay a commission on it or not.  When I saw the room, I liked it immediately, but the price was a little more than I wanted to pay.  So we looked at a few more places, and frankly, none of them appealed to me as much as the one that the taxi driver brought us to.  So we went back there again and negotiated the price down a bit more (1,000 rupees a night for a lovely room with a  good view of Udaipur's trademark lake).  So the Krisha Niwas Hotel is to be our home in Udaipur for the next three nights.As I was exhausted from the previous day's travel and from this morning's early wake up, I had a nap and then a shower before heading out for a walk to explore the town.  The weather here in Udaipur is perfect at the moment:  cool (in the mornings) and sunny throughout the day.  The air, however, is horribly dusty and polluted.  Anyway, on my walk around town, among all of the fascinating things that I saw, I also found a tailor whom I had photographed on my visit to Udaipur some 17 years ago when I was here with my friend Martin.  The same guy was sitting in the same place doing the same thing all these years later.  The view of his shop was not as nice and photogenic as before due to a couple of obstructing structures being built there in the meantime.  But I was pleased to have been able to find his shop and to see that he was still hard at work.  I would have liked to have had a chat with him about how his life had been in the intervening years.By then I was quite hungry so I went to the nearest restaurant to my hotel that was recommended in my guidebook.  It was an Israeli-owned restaurant (Gokul) on the roof of the Hotel Minerwa.  I had an excellent and very filling meal (for one-fifth of what I paid for that rip-off meal in Jaipur).  I also had a very nice conversation with a couple of English girls who were in India to do charity work as part of their studies.By then I was a bit tired so I went back to my room for a nap and a bit of reading.  (I bought  great book about India - recommended by my friend Gregory.  It is called "City of Djinns" by William Dalrymple and it presents a very well told history of India from the perspective of the city of Delhi.)  By then Tony had reappeared.  (He often has trouble sleeping and is unable to take naps, so while I was out eating and snoozing, he had spent the whole day walking around town.)In the evening we went to a fancy restaurant overlooking the lake and had a delicious, stuffer of a meal - once again for considerably cheaper than the meal last night in Jaipur.  After that we went for a beer on the rooftop of another nearby hotel before calling an end to this long day.04 November - UdaipurI had a very good sleep - although Tony didn't.  The barking dogs, noisy motorcycles and humming air conditioner kept him awake although they didn't bother me too much.  (I woke up once or twice but fell back asleep.)  After a decent breakfast at a place recommended by the English girls I met at the restaurant yesterday, Tony and I walked around the town together - getting quite off the beaten path.  At one point we encountered a (holy) cow in the middle of a road that we could swear had it in for us.  Numerous Indians passed by this cow in the road without incident but whenever we tried to pass it, it shook its horns at us.  (I wonder if it could sense that Tony and I are both atheist - and even EAT cows when the opportunity presents itself.)  Anyway, we were finally able to pass when a nearby Indian gentleman, who had noticed our plight, came to our aid with a stick and chased the cow away.  Even then, though, the cow kept turning back at us and giving us the evil eye.  I think he would have gored us given half a chance.After a couple of lambburgers for lunch, we retired to our respective rooms for a rest.  (Actually Tony shifted to another, quieter room due to his inability to sleep well in the other room last night.)  As an indication of Tony's negotiating skills, he was able to bargain down the price of his new room from 1,600 rupees to 500!  They even agreed to give him the use of another, nicer room (with a view) during the daytime as the new room was darker and only suitable for sleeping rather than for just hanging around in. After lunch we walked over to the Udaipur zoo.  I didn't really want to enter because I didn't expect that the animals would be kept in very good condition, but Tony argued that their condition would not improve by us not going.  Unable to counter Tony's impeccable logic, we entered the zoo and saw some mostly miserable animals.In the early evening I got one of my shirts repaired by the tailor in front of our hotel.  I guess it was a stroke of luck that the pockets on my favorite travel shirt gave out just as I was in perhaps the cheapest place in the world to repair such things.  (Two pockets repaired for a total of about 40 US cents.)Shortly thereafter Tony was in the mood for a massage so he asked in one shop where he might be able to get himself massaged - by a woman - as is quite common in Thailand.  A lady in a beauty shop recommended a shop up the road for such a massage.  But when Tony went to the recommended shop, the male shopowner was so incensed at the suggestion that there were women giving massages in his shop that he threatened to call the police on Tony.  With his gift of gab, though, Tony was able to smooth things over with the offended massage parlor owner.For the past several days Tony and I had been trying to find a shop where we could buy SIM cards for our mobile phones, mainly so we could keep in touch with each other in case we got separated.  Unable to do it by ourselves, Tony was accompanied by the very nice guy from our hotel, on the back of his motorcycle, to a little shop on the other end of town where it might be possible to get a SIM card for foreigners.  The selling of SIM cards in India is apparently very strictly regulated due to the risk of mobile phones being used by terrorists to detonate bombs.  So Tony had to sign piles of documents over a period of more than an hour to finally secure a couple of precious SIM cards for us.We ended the day with a disappointing dinner at the same restaurant at which I had such a nice lunch yesterday.  I think they just wanted to make me look like a fool by recommending the restaurant to Tony and then serving us a crappy meal.  It was a distasteful end to an otherwise very pleasant and eventful day.05 November - UdaipurStarted the day with a delicious omelet and muesli with fruit breakfast at, by now, our regular breakfasts cafe.  After breakfast we had our usual walk around town, this time in the other direction - to an area less frequented by tourists.  We were able to see a bit more of the normal Indian life.  (It ain't pretty!)Tony wanted to have a non-Indian lunch, like pasta, so we went to the Savage Garden restaurant, supposedly Udaipur's best Italian restaurant.  My ravioli was very tasty but it was a bit skimpy, with only 5 raviolis on the plate.  And Tony found his pasta to be so bad as to be a complete waste of time and money.  He is a good judge of pasta because his father was one of the biggest pasta manufacturers in his home country of Malta when he was growing up.We tried to fill the void left by the inadequate lunch by having dessert at the Edelweiss Café, an establishment owned by the same people who own the Savage Garden.  Tony had the Apfel Strudel and I had the Apple Crumble Pie.  They were both good.  Just as we were about to leave the cafe a couple of European girls stuck their heads in to look for a seat.  All the seats were occupied but since Tony and I were about to leave we told the girls that they could have our table if they just waited for a minute.  One of the girls then said, "That's okay.  We're still young."  I then commented to the cafe in general that I didn't like the implication of that comment and then everybody in the cafe starting discussing whether those girls intended to insult Tony and me by suggesting that we were NOT young.  I then limped out of the cafe with my walking stick and gave the young ladies our table.After dessert we went to a photo shop to print out the picture that I had taken 17 years ago of a local tailor.  It is my intention to present this tailor with a copy of this photo as a reminder of how he looked way back then.While we were waiting for the photos to be developed, we visited the spectacular City Palace, a few pictures of which I have attached.After picking up the picture of the tailor, we went for a Thali dinner at the Garden Hotel.  It was not only delicious and filling, but it also cost only one fifth of what we paid for a similar (but not as substantial) Thali in Jaipur on our first night in India.  (Okay, I promise I won't mention that disastrous first meal of ours again.)Now for a bit of reflection and observation:  I really have to say that so far India has exceeded both of our expectations in almost every way.  This is my fourth trip to India and the first couple of times that I came - many years ago - I found the country to be a bit overwhelming.  Maybe I'm getting mellower with age, but many of the things that used to bother me don't seem to bother me quite as much anymore.  The touts are still pretty much as aggressive as before, but I somehow find them easier to ignore.  Now I'm able to focus on the better things about India.  For instance, some of the cityscapes I find incredibly beautiful in their simplicity.  And rather than being only irritating, many of the people we have met so far have been downright helpful, friendly and charming.  If things continue like this, I just might have to reassess my opinion of this country!  (Okay, I'm only at my first real stop of the trip and I'm only three days into it.  Let's see how I feel by the end of the trip.)  Or maybe I'm just in a good mood because my stocks have been up for every day of the trip so far . . .06 November - UdaipurUp at 6:30 in order to prepare for our flight to Jodhpur this morning.  After breakfast I tried to deliver the photo to the tailor, but he wasn't in his shop yet.  (I guess he's slowing down a bit with age - unlike me . . .)  So I gave the photo to a guy in the next shop and told him the story.  He found the story amazing and he promised to pass the photo on to the old tailor.We then went to the airport with the same taxi driver who had brought us to our hotel three days earlier.  Once at the airport, we went through a very rigorous screening.  On all previous flights I was able to carry two bags onto the planes but this time they told me I could carry only one bag.  So what did I do?  I took my jacket out of my bigger bag and put my smaller backpack into it - thereby consolidating my possessions into a single bag.  Once I got through the x-ray machines, the guards insisted that I take everything out of my bags and let them inspect everything manually.  They asked me why I had a lock on every part of every bag that I carry and I told them "The world is full of thieves."  This seemed to satisfy them and they let me through.  And once again, for the fourth time in a row, our flight departed exactly on time.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007676/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007676/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007676/tpod.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:12:28 -0500 Rajasthan 2009

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Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

02 November From the airport in Jaipur, we took a taxi (pre-paid, fixed price, 330 rupees) to a hotel I had selected from our guidebook (The Footprint India Handbook 2009). The reason I chose this hotel was that it was in an area with several other recommended hotels so if this one turned out to be unacceptable, we would have alternatives in the neighborhood.  Well, totally contrary to my expectations, the first hotel we looked at was full.  We proceeded to the second one, which seemed to sense our growing desperation, and they quoted us an excessively high price.  So we made our way to the third and final hotel in the neighborhood (the Maduhban), and the price was so much higher than we expected (2,200 rupees) that we decided to take a double room together for the first night.  (This room was more of a suite with two separate rooms, so I was able to sleep away from Tony's snoring.)By then we were very hungry and as there were no restaurants in the area, we decided to eat in the hotel restaurant, which was recommended in our guidebook as well as by a Dutch couple whom we had just met at the hotel while checking in.  The food was fine, but it was an extremely small portion for an extremely high price.  We felt that the owner was taking advantage of the fact that we were kind of stuck at his hotel in the suburbs with a limited choice of alternatives.  So my conclusion about this hotel and its restaurant is that the hotel is quite nice but overpriced for what it is, and even more so the restaurant.After dinner we rented a tuk tuk with driver for a couple of hours (at 100 rupees per hour) and had him drive us around town showing us the sights.  Jaipur has a lot to see but as I have already been here, we didn't plan to spend much time here.  In any case both Tony and I will pass through here on our respective ways home.  (I know where I won't be staying next time!)03 NovemberAfter a very short night, we had to wake up early for our connecting flight to Udaipur.  We booked a taxi through the reception of the hotel, and continuing with his policy of gouging his customers, we were charged 500 rupees for a ride that cost 330 in the other direction.  (This is the first time I've paid more to get to an airport from a city than the other way around.)  Anyway, we left the hotel at 5:30 and were at the airport by 6.  We checked in for our flight and it looked like we would have to give up our water once again as we passed through the security check.  Tony went through security first and he asked if he had to give up his water.  The security guard told him to put it down on the floor near the x-ray machine.  Then when I asked about MY bottle of water, the security official told me to carry it through.  I was overjoyed that I would get to keep my water through an airport security check - for the first time in the post-911 era.  We then proceeded to the boarding gate and when I approached the next security check, it was noticed that my bags hadn't been stamped at the previous security check.  So I was instructed to hurry back and get the necessary stamp before returning to the bus to head out to the plane.  Well, would you believe that in my hurry to get back from this security check, I dropped my bottle of water, sending its entire contents splashing across the airport floor.  I was hoping that Tony hadn't noticed (as I had just been teasing him about the fact that I was able to get my water through security and he hadn't).  But when I looked up after dejectedly picking up my water bottle, there was Tony - laughing his head off at my unfortunate turn of events.  I would have found the whole thing a lot funnier if the situation had been reversed.  Heck, even with it happening to me I could appreciate the humor of the situation.  I think this mishap will turn out to have been the highlight of the trip for Tony.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007542/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007542/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007542/tpod.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:10:18 -0500 Rajasthan 2009

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Bangkok, TH.40, Thailand

02 NovemberWoke up at 3:30, which would normally be insignificant except that it is the time that I normally go to bed. (While in Bangkok I work on the night shift as the U.S. stock market is open during the wee hours Bangkok time.)  Piddled around for a few hours getting ready then took a taxi to Tony's apartment, which I had never seen before because he recently moved into a new one.  We took the same taxi to the airport as had brought me to Tony's.  Our driver was from the Northeast of Thailand (as is often the case with Bangkok taxi drivers) and in this case he was a very nice, talkative guy - pleased to find a couple of long-nosed foreign devils who could speak Thai with him.The trip got off to a very good start when, upon checking in for our flight, we were upgraded to Business Class.  I asked the girl at the check-in counter if we were being upgraded due to my being handsome.  She was a little bit too quick to confirm that that was NOT the reason for our upgrade.  It seemed to have more to do with the fact that we had checked in online and had booked the emergency row seats for ourselves and it was thought that those seats might not be appropriate for us given the excessive length of my legs.  As the rest of the seats in cattle class were already booked, the kind lady upgraded us.  This was only the third time in my life to fly business class - and the first time to do so by upgrade.  We then spent the two hour flight in business class looking down our noses at the lower caste chumps in coach class.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007628/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007628/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256007628/tpod.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:27:17 -0500 Rajasthan 2009

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Kolkata, Bengal, India

02 NovemberWe arrived at the Kolkata airport right on schedule and walked over to the domestic terminal, which was comparable to a provincial bus station in Thailand. We had a four hour wait until our connecting flight to Jaipur so we sat around the airport killing time by walking around, eating (the sandwiches that I had brought with me from home) and chatting. Our flight to Jaipur departed on time and Tony and I thought we would have our whole row to ourselves.  (He had the window seat and I had the aisle seat of the right side of the first row.) Just as the plane departed, though, a very big Indian came and sat in between us, squeezing us a bit and making us somewhat uncomfortable.  After sleeping for the first hour or so of the flight I got to talking to this chap sitting between Tony and me - and it turns out that he is an officer in the Indian army, returning to his base near Ajmer after a long visit to his family in Kolkata.  He was a very nice guy, speaking excellent English and we had a very interesting conversation with him, mostly about politics (Would you  believe that Indian politicians are also self-serving?  Where have I heard THAT before?)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256744488/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256744488/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bangkokrandy/17/1256744488/tpod.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:29:20 -0400 Rajasthan 2009

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Bangkok, Thailand

BackgroundAfter a long, dark and painful couple of years (figuratively speaking, of course, except for the part about the pain), I have finally emerged from the stock-market-crash-induced depths of despair - to the point where I finally feel like traveling and blogging again.  I feel like a born-again Christian - without the Christian part.Actually I did take a couple of trips in the past six months (a one-month trip to Taiwan, for which I didn't do a blog because I had done a blog on my Taiwan trip from the previous year); and a trip around Thailand and over to India to see the Taj Mahal with my parents (father and step-mother) who were visiting from Louisiana from mid-June to mid-July (I didn't do a blog on that trip because my father did one - and a fine job he did!).So here I am now, having somehow managed to completely recover from the great stock market crash of 2008/09, and I'm ready to hit the road and the blogosphere again.  I think I have learned some things from this crash and my recovery therefrom - and I expect that from this point forward my life will be smooth and problem-free.  I exaggerate (slightly), but I did develop a trading strategy that is, at least in my own humble opinion, nothing short of ingenious!  Time will tell if I am right. You might be as surprised as I am at my choice of destination:  India.  India is not my favorite  destination as it is not an easy place to travel - even for someone as experienced as myself - and especially for someone with some of my character traits (impatience; dislike of ambiguity, deception, dishonesty, inefficiency, germs; etc.).  The main reason for my re-visit to India is practical:  A friend in Bangkok (Tony - from Malta) wanted to go there and my visa for India from my trip there with my parents a few months ago is still valid.  Anyway, as an Indian gentleman said to one of my friends (Gregory - who will be joining us later in the trip) during one of Gregory's recent trips to India at a moment when things were not going well for him:  "If life has no obstacles it wouldn't be challenging."  I guess the point is that we sometimes go places for the challenge and excitement rather than for ease and comfort.  That is certainly the case with India.The TripTony and I will depart from Bangkok on 02 November, flying with Jet Airways through Calcutta (or as it is known now: Kolkata).  This is not an obvious place for us to fly into India but we do so because of the timing of the flight.  Most flights from Bangkok to India fly into Delhi and arrive late at night.  As we want to make our way to Rajasthan without an overnight stopover, we chose this morning flight to Calcutta, which has a connecting flight to Jaipur in the afternoon.  (Assuming our online flight bookings work.  We have booked all of our flights online - a total of six flights each.)We'll arrive in Jaipur on the afternoon of the 2nd and spend a night there before heading back to the airport for a flight to Udaipur early the next morning.  After three nights in Udaipur, we'll fly to Jodhpur and spend a couple of nights there before getting ourselves (somehow - probably by bus or train) to the desert town of Jaisalmer in the far west of India.  Even though Jaisalmer is a popular tourist destination, it's airport, being near the border with India's arch-enemy Pakistan, serves primarily as a military airport.  Sometimes the airport handles commercial flights, but only when it is not needed for military purposes.  And given the unpredictability of Indo-Pakistani relations, we can't count on being able to fly into or out of Jaisalmer.From Jaisalmer we'll make our way to Pushkar via Johdpur and Ajmer.  Actually there is a very famous camel fair in Pushkar every year around November, but by intention we will miss it as it turns an otherwise quiet, pleasant place into a hectic, overcrowded tourist trap.  In Pushkar, we'll meet up with my friend Gregory, a very experienced India traveler (this will be his third trip to India this year - but the first one without his dear wife and traveling companion - who will stay home to look after herself and the baby that is growing inside of her belly.)At this point Tony will make his way back to Bangkok via Jaipur and Delhi and I will continue traveling with Gregory, a bit off the beaten path, for another week or two.  We plan to visit Bundi and other small towns in the vicinity before returning to Bangkok via Jaipur and Delhi.A Bit of (Personal, India-related) HistoryA bit of history - about my first trip to India (this one will be the fourth):  While I was working in Budapest back in the early 1990s, I made a trip across India with one of my colleagues and (still) dear friends, Martin (who is presently in London looking after HIS pregnant wife!).  We visited Bombay, Udaipur, Jaipur, Agra, Varanasi and Calcutta.  So there will be a bit of overlap on this trip (Udaipur and Jaipur).  I don't remember much about those places, but I do have a couple of very vivid memories of the trip, a couple of which I will relate below.  Also, strangely, I remember the name of the Air India agent from whom we bought our flight ticket in Budapest:  Mr. Soos Gyula.  I remember this because "so" in Hungarian (pronounced "sho") means salt.  And "sos" means salty.  So, to a couple of word game lovers like Martin and Randy, "Soos" (pronounced "Sho-osh") would obviously mean VERY salty.  And Gyula sounds like "Julie".  So we referred to our ticket agent as Mr. VERY Salty Julie".  And hey, here we are some 17 years later - and I still remember the guy's name.  I wonder what he is doing now.  I would imagine he's probably suffering from high blood pressure by now . . .Anyway, back to the plot:  In Udaipur, Martin and I had gone for dinner at what seemed to be a decent restaurant.  After dinner we took some kind of contraption to transport ourselves back to our hotel.  By the time we reached the hotel Martin was already feeling a bit off.  I remember feeling a bit pleased with myself that I wasn't feeling bad, hoping that that was due to my stronger constitution.  Well, it took only about 15 minutes for me to catch up with Martin.  We spent the next couple of days taking turns running to the bathroom, where the ghosts of meals past were flying out of us from both ends at the same time - if you know what I mean.  Luckily the bathroom sink was within reach of the toilet as this enabled us to eject the poisonous food that we had eaten from a comfortable sitting position. Eventually we recovered and went on to lead happy, healthy and somewhat normal lives.The other memory I have was from our arrival in Jaipur.  Tired of having to deal with transport touts, we selected a hotel from our guidebook that was close enough to the train stationthat we would be able to walk to it - without the use of paid transportation.  On our walk from the station to the hotel, we were accosted by numerous transport purveyors, including one auto-rickshaw driver who was so persistent that he caused Martin to lose his cool.  Martin shouted, and I quote, "Fxxk off!"  (without the "exxes") But even this didn't faze the guy.  (That was probably the most polite thing he had heard all day.)  Anyway, on the rest of our dusty walk to the hotel, we encountered camels, begging lepers, elephants, and countless other people trying to beg, borrow and steal from us.  I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "This must be what the aftermath of Armageddon would look like."  By the time we reached the hotel, we just locked ourselves in our room and didn't emerge again until we got hungry the next day.Parting WordsOkay, so there you have it:  The background for my upcoming trip to India.  Please do join me on this adventure - and I look forward to your comments and e-mails along the way.  And if you know of any place along our route that we should/MUST see, or any restaurant or hotel that is particularly recommendable, please let me know.Thanks for joining me, and talk to you soon.Oh, and just in case someone should make off with all my money while I'm traveling, just send me some money through your favorite hacker.  I'll pay you back when I get home - NOT!
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