Rajasthan

Back from Jodhpur. This city in the Rajasthani desert has the most amazing fort, indigo houses, colorfully dressed women, and extremely enthusiastic people. Ingrid has a lot of acquaintences in this city whom we met and ate their food. So far neither Ingrid or I have gotten sick and we have been eating out, drinking and all except for water and ice. Although I did get a small fly in my ear one night and woke up with the sound of the fly jammin' on my ear drum. I don't think we managed to get it out but we drowned it by pouring water in my ear. Then the next day after we ate at the Khan's house and they said we needed to go see their daughter who lives a little further off and suggested Ingrid and I ride with Selim, head of the household, on the back of a 100cc Hero Honda. I did not straight out refuse this but considering there are numerous dogs, pigs, cows, chicken, kids, people, and dung on the road, I said I was afraid. Riding with 3 or 4 people on a motorcycle is common practice in India. Then they suggested that Ingrid and I ride on the Hero Honda and Selim and his brother-in-law would ride on the scooter, and this would be my test to have their blessing for me and Ingrid, so I said ok. Other than almost running over a small child on the road it was an extremely pleasant ride.
Alp

Alp and I arrived back this morning on the Mandore Express, dirty-footed and sooty-nosed, from our pilgrimage to Jodhpur, the desert city where I did my study-abroad program three years ago. I felt rather nostalgic actually for my good fortune to have lived in such a magnificent fort for three months... Nonetheless, I enjoyed seeing it from Yogi's guesthouse below, drinking Limca (a soda flavoured like Pledge) on the rooftop terrace and living it up in our $7 a night suite. Alp has adapted remarkably well to India, politely stepping around the piles of dung in the street, learning Hindi very quickly, and drinking endless cups of chai with our Jodhpuri friends and their huge families. We walked around in the old part of town and I loved once again seeing all the crazily painted old houses and their intricate facades. I insisted we take a food tour of the Jodhpur and introduced Alp to the town's best makhania lassi (saffron-flavoured butter yogurt drink), local soda pop (Black Horse Extra Strong, 10 cents each), and deep-fried peppers (so called "fried rats" because that is precisely what they look like). After the heat and admittedly terrible air quality of Rajasthan and Delhi, I am dreaming of going up to the mountains. Even though we will not be in Nepal just yet, we will simply see a different part of the Himalayas and hopefully find a beautiful place to have a long-term holiday.
Ingrid