Udaipur, India

First, I'd like to register my disagreement with Erin's assessment of Mumbai as "fantastic." To be fair, try to picture New York City with twice as many people. Now, imagine somewhere between 25% and 50% are "homeless" (around 5-10 million). Add another million stray dogs and some pretty disgraceful littering practices and you're on your way. Although seemingly post-apocalyptic, Mumbai somehow works and isn't quite as chaotic or threatening as it should be. Our cabbie to the train station, while driving on the wrong side of the median and speeding into oncoming traffic, looked at me and smiled "Bombay, very good." Fair enough. Bombay, very good - but not fantastic.

On our way out of Mumbai, we were offered work as extras in an Indian film. Unfortunately, our train tickets were already booked so Bollywood will have to wait. Although we had heard horror stories about rail travel in India, it has actually been quite pleasant. There are monitors in every station telling you exactly where to go and your name is actually posted on the car you're supposed to board. Buying tickets, on the other hand, is a little more confusing. It's like a cross between the DMV and a betting window at Suffolk Downs.

From Mumbai, we traveled up to Jaipur in Rajasthan. For reference purposes, Rajasthan is the area in Northwestern India where everyone used to grow big, awesome mustaches. Only bellhops seem to grow them now. Anyhow, the local people have been very impressed by my own facial hair - one guy, in a UNC hat no less, said I looked like Omar Sharif and another, after telling me "You grow beard like Indian" invited Erin and I back to his house for dinner with his family. We declined. Erin has been getting good feedback as well, especially when our 16 year old rickshaw driver "Lucky" told her she was more beautiful than the Taj Mahal. We'll have to see about that (just kidding).

Jaipur was busy, crazy and dirty, but also dusty, as we are beginning to get closer to the desert. There are many great forts that surround the city with great views. At one, they have sacrificed a goat everyday since the 1600's ("unofficially" since 1980). There were also some great markets and we were able to work on our bartering skills. Erin managed to haggle two pairs of shoes for $10 (down from $13). I got a T-shirt for $2 (sticker price = $2.50). Take that, Indian economy.

We're in Udaipur now after arriving on another overnight train. This town is famous (infamous?) for being a shooting location of the James Bond movie "Octopussy." Although neither Erin nor I have seen this one, fortunately for us, every restaurant in town airs it every night. It's a real chill town (no persistent car honks) and we're looking for a little relaxation for a couple days...

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