Agra Fort

I'm in Agra at the Taj Mahal and I would love to show you all the cool pictures I took, but I can't get them off my dang camera! This "internet cafe" doesn't have a program installed that automatically retrieves the pics like the last place did. And the camera does not show up anywhere on the computer when I search for it. If anyone has any ideas about how to do this let me know. All computers here are p.c.s
Any Way I'll just have to tell you about everything so far rather than show you. I traveled to Agra from Jaipur by train. That was so neat to see all the farms and huts along the way. I have had several meals now at the rooftop restaurants here in Agra. Last night was the best. There is a great view of the Taj from Stuff Makers restaurant and I was there at sun set. The restaurant is on top of one of the tallest hotels so I could look down on many other roof tops. Many of the buildings have ornaments resembling parts of the Taj. There were boys on several rooftops flying little brightly colored square kites. As I was eating Muslim prayers started to blear out from several different directions. I could see down into a room of a house as some of the rooms don't have a roof. Men's heads with Muslim style hats bob up and down there. On the neighboring roof there were what looked like round breads drying on a bed. An older women in a blue sari was praying along with the loud prayers. I watched a monkey jump from roof to roof. As soon as the sun had set completely a huge swarm of very large bats flew over head.
The Taj is very beautiful. The surrounding area is very crowded and some what dirty. Breakfast was an adventure this morning as a monkey came down off the roof of the restaurant and stole a piece of banana from my hot cereal. In the process it knocked over my chai and the waiter had to chase it away with a big stick. Walking around Agra is quite a challenge. I had a pair of trousers made at a fabric store so I walked a bit today to find what I wanted. I was constantly bombarded by rickshaw drivers and shop keepers saying "excuse me mam, rickshaw, Taj, Agra Fort, Baby Taj, what do you want, where are you going, excuse me, excuse me, hello, hello." I read about this in the guide book and I didn't think it would bug me that much. I was so tired after a few hours of walking around in the heat being fallowed by what seemed like every other man I walked by. I have at no time felt in danger though. Mostly it's just annoying to have to say no over and over.
The food has been good. My favorite thing so far is Veg. Thali (all the restaurants say veg. non- veg. on their signs). It's a combo plate of Dal, curry, rice, bread, and yogurt or sweets. I saw someone eating a banana, honey pancake today that looked good so I'll try that tomorrow.
Looks like I'll be heading to Nepal soon. Perhaps on to Varanasi first... I'll keep you posted!

Jaipur, Farm

I made it to the farm. I took a motor rickshaw about 22 kilometers outside of Jaipur. There are 5 families who farm on the land together. They mostly grow a tree fruit called Amla and barley. They also grow some vegetables for their own consumption. They have some biodinamic preparations like manure tea. They also do Agni Hotra ritual fires and then they apply the ash to the farm. When I got to the farm I was greeted by two men and two little girls. There was only one person there who spoke english so there was a lot of gesturing and saying things to each other that we didn't understand. After spending two days and one night on the farm I realised that there really was not much for me to do there. They only work for 1 or 2 hours in the morning and then hang out for the rest of the day. I decided not to stay. The people there were very nice to me. There was more to the farm than what I initially thought when I first walked around. The soil is very dry, it looks like piled up dust. I thought all that was growing was weeds but it turned out there were vegetables hidden in the weeds. All the buildings are simple brick and mud walls with roofs thatched out of barley stalks. They have a camel and several cows. There was a tree behind my room that was full of bright green birds that looked like the type we would keep in a cage in the US. The fallowing pictures are in reverse order of how I took them.

The vegetable cutlets I had for breakfast this morning.

The view from my hotel room in Jaipur.

This is the man who cooked for me at the farm. Chapati and curried vegetable for lunch and hot hot cereal for breakfast.

Not the best picture of me, but note the camel behind me.

A farm worker who showed me around.

These are the squash like vegetables that they eat all the time.

This is the first bottle of water I purified. It works because I haven't gotten sick!

The orchid garden in the Singapore airport.

First day in India

I'm in the attic of the Jaipur Inn using their computer and there is a band going by below. Men in white uniforms with horns and drums and colorfully dressed women behind them. I rode the bus here from Delhi. I sat next to a man who is a professor of political science in Delhi. He told me about his love marriage to his wife (not arranged) and the book he is writing about the changing cast system in Rajastan. I saw so many things on the way here. Cows wandering around the city eating garbage, monkeys hanging out in trees, people doing all kinds of things-cooking sleeping, peeing, sweeping the road... The rickshaw driver who drove me from the bus was eager to talk about all the foreign people he has met. He showed me a book that people had written to him in and then discovered that he could not read.
It is so hot here. No big surprise I guess. I m looking forward to getting to the farm as the cities are so crowded and dirty. There is so much to do and see here. I think this really is the beginning of a crazy adventure!

Trip Prep

So I fly to Delhi tonight! I have a 7 hour lay over in Singapore.
Here are two pictures of me packing and one of me being silly over my last vaccine.
















This is my mosquito bed net


















I'm not sad that this was my last shot.