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Listening to prayer song at Jain temple, Ranakpur.

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Exterior of the Jain Temple, Ranakpur.

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Jain Temple, Ranakpur. The priest in yellow gave us a thorough explanation, we all got "dotted" with sandalwood (and saffron?), and my dad gave a demo of his camera to Aku (the young boy priest) and his father (also a priest). The temple itself was gorgeous.

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Road lyfe, Rajasthan. On the road from Udaipur to Jodhpur, jungle to desert. The woman with the giant nose ring is just a woman in a village we passed through, but note her "bracelets" (armlets?); traditionally, these were made of ivory (now they're plastic, I think), but they are still worn by many women in the more western region of Rajasthan. The man with the red turban: I tried to capture these men MANY times. I saw lots of them, and their turbans were usually red, light pink, yellow, or orange; they wear traditional leather slippers (with pointy, curled up toes), these baggy pajama-like pants, and this shirt/vest combination up top. If you look carefully, you can see the gold earring in his ear and his large moustache. The woman in the last picture has literally just filled up her jug with water and is walking down the road with it. Notice the cloth ring that sits on her head -- makes the pot easier to balance and probably helps with the pain. 

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The only picture I took in Udaipur because my phone's storage was jacked: the view from our hotel room. The "lake city" was gorgeous, so search the innanets for more pictures if you're interested.

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Road lyfe.

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Shikaras aka water taxis

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Tao Cafe, Srinagar. Sat alone, had "coffee" (Nescafe) and wrote in my tiny book for a while. This city is FULL of plush gardens and huge chinar trees (which, of course, I love the most).

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Houseboat lyfe. Breakfast, view from breakfast table. The houseboat, New Lala Prince. View down Jehlum River, up and down. Yousef (dad/owner) taking the little boat to fix the bridge. Kingfishers or herons, couldn't tell which. 

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Srinagar, back lane.

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Srinagar, near Dal Gate

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House boat, pt 2

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Srinagar house boat

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Sunset in Delhi after I dropped off my mondo pack and left for New Delhi railway station (took an overnight train to Jammu) with just a small backpack. White jeep was my chariot from Jammu to Srinagar; black jacket is Maneer, new friend who works at a call center in Bangalore but is heading home on vacation. Second pic is scenery; arm is Arif, new friend in the Indian army, on leave from his post in Punjab. Other pics are taken en route, crossing the mountain pass into the glorious Kashmir Valley.

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Himalayas / home

Am a couple weeks behind uploading, and I've got more stories and vids to share, but alas, that is not for today. Tonight, I leave most of my possessions (incl my computer) behind to go north to the Himalayas. First to Jammu, where I'll catch a bus to Srinagar. I'll stay there for a bit then catch a bus (two days long) to Leh. Stay there for a bit then catch a bus (two days long, on the 2nd highest highway in the world) to Manali. Then I'll figure out something to do and some way to get to Chandigarh, as I have a train booked from there to Delhi on Sunday, July 24th. Leaving India on Monday, July 25th. So I'm gonna go big AND go home. Luh u, India, but luh Amurica more.

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Jaipur, the Pink City. First picture is the Wind Palace. I have no information on this place nor did we go inside; our driver, however, shuffled us out and told us to take pictures. The next pictures are at Amber Fort, where we rode elephants (such tourists!). The final two are at City Palace. Picture of me in the mirrored glass because Rajasthani style is vvvvery into mirrors and colored glass. More of that later (got some good pics at Jodhpur).

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Taj Mahaaaaaaaaaaaal! (As if Oprah were introducing it). It was beautiful, we walked around barefoot, got rained on a little, then got rained on a LOT when we left. I could tell you all about the Char Bagh design (four gardens with four pools) popular in this Mughal construction period (see previous pics from Humayan's tomb, Delhi), but well, I won't. Just know that there are four gardens and four pools, and it was a thing.