Blue city of Jodhpur

 We find Jodhpur, in itself, unimpressive. We're back to the hustle and bustle of an Indian city, with narrow streets that narrowly fit crowds of people, rickshaws and cows, especially in the busy market area by the clock tower. The blue city is not as blue as we imagined, at least not from a street-level view. You have to climb to a higher vantage point to appreciate the blue-hued buildings.  The blue color was originally used by the Brahmins, the highest caste, as a color of nobility. With time, others picked it up, thinking it's a color that repels insects and provides a cool respite in the hotter days.

Haveli, or private mansion, where we stayed

  Since we only have a day and a half in Jodhpur, we rush to see the main attraction – the mighty Mehrangarh. We splurge on an audio guide to further absorb the historical significance of this magnificent fort. Just like there are foodies, I hearby declare that there are forties as well, and I'm proud to call myself one of them :) We wander around, wide-eyed, and admire the architecture, the impregnable walls and battlements, the numerous courtyards, the anti-elephant spiked doors, the handicraft of the latticed windows, the immortalized hand prints of the royal wives who committed sati, or self-immolation, at their husbands' funeral pyres. We inspect the meticulously crafted armor and weaponry, the colorful jewelry and cloths, the intricate palanquins and miniature paintings. We try to sneak onto some of the older battlements, but it seems we're not the only ones with the genius idea – we find the way blocked off. But it's a well-spent day.

  The morning after, we visit the Omelette Man for some delicious masala cheese omelette sandwiches, and head to the train station for a ride to Jaipur. For the next 10 days, I'll be attending my meditation retreat, while Pawel is off to the western Himalayas. Wish us luck!

Udaipur - City of Lakes

  Udaipur – a small city (only 300,000 people!) with an illustrious history. Its Venice comparison is somewhat of a misnomer since it's really a city of artificially - crafted lakes. Beautiful nonetheless, its white and pastel-colored buildings glint merrily in the water.

  After living in huts for almost a month, it's a change of scenery for us when we get a hotel room. It's clean, with freshly laundered sheets and towels, bright yellow walls, no insects, frogs or mosquitto netting, a roll of toilet paper or two (so not a standard), and a heavenly, heavenly! hot shower (we haven't had a hot one since Kolkata). The small things you learn to appreciate.

  The temperature here is more moderate than in the south, with 70's during the day and low enough at night to require a sweater. Ideal early fall weather in Chicago.

  The first evening, after we get settled, we sit on the steps of a ghat by the main canal with some medical students, overlooking the luxurious Taj Lake Palace hotel on Lake Pichola, where some of Octopussy's James Bond scenes were filmed. P's a big fan. Since a night there costs about 250,000 rupees and would wipe out much of our budget for the rest of the trip, we decide against visiting.

Taj Lake Palace

  The next morning, we make a monumental decision. In order to avoid that train fiasco from Margao, we make a schedule of most of the train tickets we'll need and purchase them at the station. Done and done, we're pretty much settled for the last month in India.

  Another reason we went against our usual approach of NOT-planning ahead was because I decided to attend a silent 10 day free course of Vipassana meditation in Jaipur, which starts on the 23^rd of January. Vipassana offers meditation techniques, where introspection leads to self-transformation and ultimately happiness. We'll see how enlightened I come out :) Having no need for a dialogue with his inner self, P has decided to skip the course and travel on his own for the duration. As much as we like traveling together, we both think it'll provide us with some much appreciated personal space.

  Back to Udaipur. We play at being real tourists instead of just beach bums and sight see some focal places of interest. The most intriguing so far is the royal palace complex, with its well-preserved architecture and various artifacts. Members of the old Mewar dynasty still serve as custodians of governance for the city and occupy the palace to this day. We even stumbled upon some ornate wedding festivities, although the identity of the newlyweds was a well-kept secret.

A groom

Who needs a ladder?

Palace complex

Bath time

Royal toilet from ?

  The last day we spend on the more mundane: laundry (by machine!), shopping for basic necessities and Pawel's new haircut. Deciding he's had enough of his shaggy head, he gets a royal treatment by a local barber.

  For the sunset, we head to a higher point for a pretty view over the lake. There we meet Brit Max, and socialize a bit over dinner. After a quick drink, we go back to the hotel to pack. Early next morning, we have booked seats on a bus to Jodhpur, the blue city.

Patnem Beach, Goa

  Even just a couple years ago, Goa was known as party central. The authorities have cracked down on many of the illegal activities by now, trying to somewhat redeem or even reinvent Goa's image. We headed to the southern – calmer – part of Goa anyway, right after most of the NYE crowds left and the prices plunged down considerably.

  The bus dropped us off at 5 AM on a deserted street corner in Canacona, with a couple of stray dogs for company. We then headed to Palolem Beach, and waited at a 24 hour bar for daylight, with some slurring revelers who did not realize that the party ended hours ago. After a quick look, we decided that Palolem was still too much of a party scene, and headed to nearby Patnem, where retirees come for extended stays. How appropriate – we haven't truly partied since Kathmandu.

Dinner anyone?

Our daily visitor

Home for almost a week

  Patnem is a lovely little town, with a vast stretch of golden beach. Homesick at times, we were able to at least indulge in some Western comforts: still a hut but with a nice bathroom, great service, privacy, especially at the beach with no gawkers (a relief for me), and some really amazing food. Almost every day, we gorged on mouth-watering fish and seafood, Goan spicy specialties such as fish vindaloo and crab xec xec, and, believe it or not, some of the best Italian pasta this side of the ocean.

  When we took some time off from our busy schedule of sunbathing and gaining weight, we rented a scooter and spent 3 days driving up and down the coast. Some of the beach towns and cities are even lovelier than Patnem. Panji, Old Goa and Margao, for instance, have many Portuguese accents, something we expected out of Kochi but didn't really find. We visited Margao more than we wanted, though, when we had to come back twice more to secure train tickets for the next leg of the journey.

  At least I got to learn how to drive a scooter, with my brave bf behind me. 

  I did not feel confident enough, however, to enter the bigger roads, where only one thing matters: the size ;). So bicycles give way to motorized bikes, bikes to rickshaws, rickshaws to cars, cars to trucks, trucks to crazy buses. All stop for one thing and one thing only – the cows, which wander as they see fit. On top of it, everyone (except for the cows naturally) seems to be in a great hurry, so it gets a bit scary on a one lane highway, when (coming at you) you see a bus passing a car that's passing another car. Uff, even writing that got complicated. On top of that, you have to keep an eye out for the police. In India, rental companies don't bother with such small details like license or insurance. We got stopped five times, our white faces too much of an incentive. Once, we got a ticket for no helmets. At least the nice gentleman gave us a receipt for the fine, which helped us out on two other stops. Another time, the officer had an issue with Pawel's motorcycle license, even though other checks thought it complied with the rules. He started threatening us with a 950 rupee fine (only about $20, but exorbitant considering the local prices) and a court day. P nonchalantly mentioned that he'll check with the embassy on the rules, since they seem inconsistent, and all of a sudden there was no problem. Corrupt much?

  Mentally regenerated, we move on to Rajasthan to soak up some of the region's history, with a change of trains in noisy Mumbai. After two days of travel, tired and dirty, we step off the train, not sure what to expect. Surprisingly, it's quiet. It's clean. Udaipur – India's purported Venice.