Attaining nirvana with Roger Moore

This may be a bit late, but India was nuts! The filth on the streets really started to get to us after a while. We did enjoy it though. We searched for nirvana in Bodhgaya which was quite peaceful. The bus from Agra to Jaipur hurled us into the princely state of Rajasthan where the weather heated up and dried out. Rajasthan is the only Indian state that can claim it was never conquered. Jaipur is the bustling capital of Rajasthan and our stay there turned into a bit of a shopping spree! CJ now has a new wardrobe and I got to enjoy some free tea and air-conditioned respite from the draining dry heat.

After Jaipur we lugged our now larger bags on the train to Udaipur...the nicest train ride we had in India, a short overnighter that was comfortable and on time. Udaipur is known for the 1982 Bond film Octopussy starring Roger Moore and the rickshaw driver that we caught from the train station to our hotel didn't let the city down and let us know right away. Nearly every hotel shows the movie just about every night so of course on our 2nd night we enjoyed a rooftop dinner with Roger Moore seducing Bond girls left and right...not much plot in those films and Austin Powers sure nailed the spoof on the Bond series.

We really enjoyed Udaipur as well, its a quieter town with some nice scenery. There's a nice lake that splits the city and the Lake Palace, while out of our budget for accommodation, is still nice to look at during the day and when its lit up at night. We saw some great traditional Rajasthani dancing on our first night including a lady dancing with about 9 or 10 bowls on her head, which is how the women carry there water in the drought ridden state.

The next day we got a cooking lesson so hopefully we can re-create some Indian dishes in our kitchen in the future. The spices alone are spectacular...bright red chili powder, orange turmeric, and golden coriander mixed with sizzling cumin seeds are the basic spices ingredients along a healthy dose of salt. We learned how to make Palak Paneer, Aloo Mehti, Channa Masala and naan bread, but we'll see how much we retained when we return and don't have a true Indian in the kitchen to help out.

We avoided a 24-hour train ride from Udaipur to Mumbai and instead took a 1-hour flight...much nicer. Mumbai feels like a true international city. No cows blocking traffic, no cowpies to avoid on the streets, actual sidewalks, and taxis instead of rickshaws in the city center. We spent 4 days in Mumbai exploring the sights and doing some more shopping. We saw the house that Gandhi called home while in Mumbai, Chowpatty Beach, the Colaba district and the historic Leopold's Cafe, made famous by the book Shantaram that I started to read before I left, but decided not to lug around with me. I'll finish it when I return with a better sense of the Mumbai geography. We saw a free classical dance show in which the Governor of Maharashtra attended as did a Bollywood star and the Indian paparazzi were out in full force and making sure everyone knew they were there with their shutters popping every few seconds. It was good.

We caught an eeeeearly flight from Mumbai to Istanbul with a 3 hour layover in Bahrain. Unfortunately, we didn't get to leave the airport, but the city was abuzz with the anticipation of the Gulf Air Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix which is on the weekend of April 13-15.

thats all for now....see you in Europa!

CJ at the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Bodhgaya

CJ negotiating with a rickshaw driver

Sun setting in Udaipur
Dancing with water pots on your head is fun!