Jodphur

Still in Rajasthan but we are now in the "Blue City", Jodphur. Today
we visited the huge hilltop fort and palace of Meherangarh, which gave
us a little insight into the opluence and splendor of the lives of
maharajas. One of the best parts of visiting these places is seeing
the many rural Indians coming to see their national sights. They seem
very curious of us and eager to smile or shake our hands. Women wear
loads of bangles on their arms, gold and gemmed nose rings, earrings,
toe rings, etc. They wear anklets that jingle as they walk around.
Some have huge loops of gold in their noses. Women and some young
girls have the part of their hair painted red to match the red dot on
their forehead signifying marriage. Men wear colorful turbans and
have crazy big beards and massive mouse-like fuzzy mustashes. Andrew
decided to shave his thick beard because too often he was called "Ali
Baba" and we recieved more attention than we wanted.

We also tried some Rajasthani specials today: the creamy saffron
laced lassi is a favorite. And the big green chili rolled in batter
and deep fried was delicious. We stood with others using old
newspaper for a plate while we savored the spicy food. A man worked
behind us stirring an enormous vat of dough. Then after covering the
chili pepper in dough he plopped it into a huge vat of hot oil. It
was fun to watch.

One more day in Johdpur then a long train journey to Varanasi.