Flight to delhi was easy and in our first day in Delhi, I have been identified as a dead-ringer for ranbir kapoor, one of bollywood's finest by our escort to the airport.
http://www.bollygraph.com/profile/ranbir-kapoor-biography-filmography-and-interesting-things/7027/
Even the gate agent at the airport agreed. Only a few hours after landing we were back at the voluminous and empty Delhi airport and en route to udaipur.
Deciding to stay outside of the city proper, found ourselves at the Devi garh, which was a working palace that fell into disrepair and had been renovated back to life and is now a 40 room hotel. The hotel has been amazing and i highly recommend it. Our first afternoon, max and I took off to explore the town and the countryside. Unlike Delhi and Bombay, there wasn't begging in delwara and people seemed happy and welcoming. Max was happy as there were a variety of feral pigs roaming the streets so he felt at home. On our walk we encountered two teenagers who offered to show us around so they could practice their english. When asked about an old tower on top of a mountain in the distance, they agreed to lead us there. While we expected a path, what we got was a straight shot through farmland and up a mountain face through thickets and rocks. It felt great to be exploring but max felt uneasy that maybe these teens were leading us to an ambush. Outside of me being maimed by a thorn bush (thx tetnus shot) it was a great walk and the views over the aravali hills were spectacular; however, max's apprehension was validated the next day when we were admonished for traipsing around unmarked land which is deemed a prime cobra habitat!
The next day we started with a private yoga lesson and then explored udaipur which was a nice city with lots of lakes, sort of like a poor man's Lausanne. The key take away was that there were elephant fights here back in the day which were a giant form of tug of war using elephants. I asked to attend one and was told they are now banned.
Also, wedding season is in full swing here. Both in our village and at the city palace. I was told I should have a wedding at the city palace for only 300k dollars. When I told our guide I didn't have a girlfriend, he told me that they also threw bday parties. Snakefest 5.0 in India?
Yesterday found us at ranakpur, the largest and best kept Jain temple. While there, max prayed for a repeal of the Basel 3 rules and I wondered if I could go completely vegetarian which here means also giving up booze (which Jains are). On the way back, we stopped on the road to see some monkeys which caused max to nearly tap into our emergency toilet paper supply. I guess max is afraid of monkeys as well as sun and girls, and the driver and I had good fun opening up various windows as the monkeys approached. I alerted max to the fact that we are visiting the monkey temple in jAipur next week and that he should begin preparing himself. This morning when he awoke, the first thing he mentioned was " I had a dream about the monkeys." should be good times ahead.
Today we drive 6 hrs to ranthambore where I hope to meet my tiger friends. I hope I am able to give one a belly rub. If I meet my end over the next few days, know I went out on my terms!
Overall trip has been great and hope all is well in the states. I've attached a few pics so far to this post -jacob
Have you ever been to Lausanne?
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