We just saw the Taj Mahal for the first time! OH MY!!! It is spectacular! You walk out of typical "India"- people asking a million questions- through the gate....and honestly, it took my breath away! It is beautiful! There are still a million people around....but it is an amazing site! We just watched the sun set and will get up in the morning to watch the sunrise there also.
Health Report: We are both feeling better- head colds are gone....my stomach has "healed" for the most part. Two days ago, we actually were trying to figure out which of our next cities had the best hospital/doctor- and I think that was the majority of the healing process for me....the serious consideration of visiting a hospital in India.
We just spent the last two night in Jaipur. To be honest, it was a dirty, busy city- but does play host to a few good temples/palaces. We hired a rickshaw driver for the day and had him tour us around. This included the typical shops where he gets a commission....but sometimes you just have to surrender to India and see what happens.
After we were finished for the day, I asked our driver if we happened to pass a mailbox if we could drop my postcards off. That translated into taking us directly to the post office, which is fine. I entered the post office, where about 18 people were working and/or standing in line. I'm sure you can see where this is going. I stood in line, only to be told they were closed and I should put my post outside. So...I walked outside only to be told by the armed guard (what?!) that I needed to go to counter 7 inside. Back inside I went to counter 7. I stood there for a few moments until a gentleman from behind the desk took my postcards. For some reason- probably because I'm paranoid- I decided to watch what he did with them. He immediately handed them to two other guys sitting at another random desk. They looked at the pictures- flipped them back and forth and even appeared to read them. The first guy who originally took my postcards- eventually sees that I'm standing there staring and takes them from the two other guys...he flashes them to me and then shows me (from behind the plexiglass) that he is stamping them. At this point...I'm assuming he is stamping them "air" or something of the sort. He then waves them at me and gives me a prayer-motion to his forehead. I then stand there and wait, assuming he will put them in some "organized" type box....."assuming" being the operative word. Without hesitation he tosses them onto a random file cabinet- with a ton of other non-postcard items. After seeing me still staring...now in disbelief....he gives me another prayer-motion to the forehead and walks them into the backroom. I think the translation is...that to those of you waiting to recieve postcards....you should pray that they ever leave that backroom.
I also forgot to mention in my blog from Udaipur that Ang had a terrible run in with cow poop. She was filming a video of me trying to cross a busy bridge dodging cows, rickshaws, cars, people and carts- and all of a sudden I heard a scream that nearly stopped the entire bridge. The minute I heard it...I knew what had happened! She stepped directly into a warm, fresh cow pie. Getting a new pair of flip flops was the next stop on our list!
I've had a few minor meltdowns in the last few days. I almost hate to admit it- but I'm ready to see the rest of India and move on. I'm not done traveling....but India is getting the best of me. Unfortunately, we are heading into one of the most mentally challenging cities- Varanasi. Varanasi is a place in Eastern India where people pilgrimage to die- and although very spiritual- we have heard it is very challenging. We will take an overnight train to Varanasi tommorrow evening and be there for 3 nights.
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