Hiya,

Alrighty last time I left off I think I was still in

Nepal, well I'm now in India (I've been here for a few

weeks now). I love India. This place is great, there

are some really annoying things about India but there

are by far more cool things and nice people then there

are annoying. Ok I haven't been to Delhi yet or

Mumbai but I have seen a lot of small towns in India.

My introduction to India was a little like jumping in

the deep end. Marcus and I headed to Varanassi first

after spending a few days in the Chitwan National Park

looking for tigers. Nope didn't get to see any

kitties but we did get to ride some elephants. Those

guys are amazing, they sneak through the forest

completely silently.

Varanassi was very interesting, how can't it be to see

all the ritual along the Ganga river. We took an

early morning boat ride, not worth gettin' up early,

but we did get an interesting perspective on the

action at the ghats (some things we didn't really need

to see floating in the river).

Next stop was the Taj Mahal, not a bad piece of

architecture. It really is as beautiful as you might

imagine. Pretty wild being at the foot of a monument

you have only seen in books previously, wild! The Taj

could make even a cynic almost believe in love. ;)

Alright next stop on the whirlwind tour, Jaiphur. I

got to charm a snake! There was a dude with two

cobras in a basket, just like a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

He'd lift the lid and whoa! two hooded snake heads

would pop out. They were kinda comic actually, they

would totally come out on cue and bob their heads.

Then when the guy put the lid on, "ok time for bed".

Then the next tourist would come by, off comes the

lid, out come the snakes they do their thing and on

come the lids again (I even got to pet them, I was

told they were de-poisoned, humm...).

We did a four day camel trek in the "Great Thar

Desert". It was great. No really, camels are fun.

It wasn't a Sahara like desert, more like a Death

Valley type. So there weren't really any sweeping

desert dunes with lonely palm trees. The villages

looked very American South Western. All the houses

where adobe, kinda, only they used camel pooh and

straw.

Now we're in Udiapur in southern Rajastan. It's a

pretty town but has many many more tourists. We'll

probably go to a circus tomorrow night, ought to be

interesting (especially after reading "Son of the

Circus"). Took in an Indian movie already, that was a

great experience. Ours was a cross between a soap

opera and "Conan the Barbarian". Lots of what we all

want to see, wet saris, pouting lips, lot's o'

killin', good moral ending (the main character goes

from evil to Buddhist by the end).

Man tons more stories to tell but I'm sure you've

completely gone glossy eyed by now.

Oh by the way happy Diwali, it's today (biggest Indian

holiday of the year. Take Christmas and the 4th of

July and mix them together).

Peace,

-Tim