

Rajahsthan is a heavily populated (56 million) desert province of northern India west of Delhi. Rajasthan seems much poorer than Kerala; there are a lot more miserable people living on the streets and at times we have been accosted by people demanding a contribution. these are people who eat, sleep, on the street, have no access to running water or a toilet. When you give to one, you may be surrounded by several others in the vicinity demanding payment; it is an extremely uncomfortable and delicate situation. You also see some terrible shanties and sizable shanty neighborhoods in the cities.
Rajasthan is also one of the most popular tourist destinations in India because of its many palaces and ancient forts, many of them built on hillsides, its colorful street life, and its crafts and art. The women wear beautiful saris, there are markets all over, and you can see many camels pulling carts. We also saw an elephant lumbering down a boulevard in Jaiper.
Yesterday we visited a fantastic fort and palace built in the 15th century in Jodpur (the blue city). It is amazing to see how the rajahs lived with their many wives and very interesting to learn about the history of the place, the many conflicts and actually see the artifacts associated with this history.
We are getting along really well with our driver, Shambhu. He is very considerate and always helpful to us. He stops when we want to take a picture, to use the "open toilet" or go for a hike. We always invite him to have a meal with us and he takes us to some cool lunch stops where you can have a "thali" for the equivalent of about a dollar. A "thali" is a complete Indian meal with a little bit of several dishes: at least one veggie dish and legume based stews, some rice, a little curd (sour yogurt), a little cucumber salad and some chapatties, for instance. You don't get a whole lot of any one thing, but the cooking here is excellent wherever we have been. We haven't had one bad meal in India, and haven't really gotten sick either.
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