December 8, Jodphur, Rajasthan

We are back in the state of Rajasthan in the Blue City of Jodphur which is made blue by all the painted houses. Historically only the Brahim, or leading caste, could paint their house this periwinkle/light blue color, but now anyone can and people believe that it keeps away mosquitoes. It makes it quite pretty.

From Goa we took a 12 hour train ride to Bombay arriving at 10:30 PM which meant after checking in and rushing to Mc Donalds we were still able to order fries and ice cream! What a treat. Snacks that we carry on the train get old, and we aren't about to try the local cuisine they sell. Again we stayed at the Prince Hotel which is very basic, but cheap by Bombay standards - 350 rs a night for a double.

Our train left Bombay at 1:30 PM the following day and from reading the timetable we assumed we'd get in at 11:45 AM the next day. So you can imagine our surprise when Jeff was woken up at 6:30 AM by our cabin mate telling us we would be in Jodphur in 10 minutes. The ride was probably the worst - we had 2 small undisciplined kids aged 5 and 4 that would play, scream, jump on our laps, push, etc., and then ocassionally get the crap smacked out of them until they would cry. Unpleasant. It was odd to watch - they would play slap the kids across the face continually until the blow would get to hard, leave welts, and the kid would cry. At one point they realized their kids were being obnoxious, so feeling bad, they offered Jeff to share in their dinner. Jeff said it was very good - veggies in bread fried (veg paratha?) and aloo gobi (potato curry).

We are staying at a very nice hotel here in Jodphur which some how we got for a steal as their were no other guests staying there. It's 150 rs a night with our own shower, king size bed, huge clean room, and a fan. The hotel has a roof top restaurant with a view of the large fort, Meherangarh Fort. We ate lunch up there and watched the acrobatic monkeys jump from roof top to roof top.

This afternoon we did a little shopping for Jeff so that he has something to wear for Christmas. We also looked at fabrics, but that takes a lot of patience and after the noisy and long train rides we are both wiped out. Jeff has a cold bug and Liz is getting it. Hopefully we'll feel better tomorrow to take on the hagglers and get some good deals, plus see the fort.

Have fun at all your Holiday Parties and know that we are thinking of you. Love, Liz and Jeff

PS - We forgot to mention the most embarrassing thing to date - Liz was in the market and this woman just couldn't resist coming over to undress Liz and re-tie her sari. The whole process took about 5 minutes and drew a huge crowd of about 40-50 people. Liz was pretty embarrassed being stripped down to her sari undergarments and Jeff just pretended not to notice and continue to read the Lonely Planet.