Mostly Udaipur

Okay, so this post is cheating a little, for two reasons. One, Adrienne is already back in Pittsburgh (as of April 3) and Two, we uploaded these pictures two weeks ago and so the blog date is wrong. But better late than never :)

Between Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, we spent a day in Delhi waiting for our night train. We took this picture from inside an autorickshaw - a three-wheeled taxi with open sides which is something like a large golf cart. These little girls are two of the many children who weave in and out of traffic asking for money, especially from tourists. They happily let us take their pictures.

The Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur on Lake Pichola. Some may recognize it as Octopussy's floating palace from the James Bond movie.

A small representation of Vishnu, we are pretty sure. Any of our Indian friends who read this, please correct us if we are wrong.

Tailor's shop near our hotel. His iron was awesome - gigantic and literally made of iron. He flipped open the top and we saw that it was heated by glowing hot coals.

Small temple near our hotel.

Rajasthani puppets. We bought some like this to sell at craft fairs back in the States and give as gifts.

View of Jagdish temple and the Udaipur skyline showing the traditional local architectural style.

Occasionally in India you may see an elephant walking down the street. These guys are big and kind of scary up close. Cute too, but BIG.

Getting down to let the passengers off. Those familliar with Bollywood will notice the ultimate Indian movie star, Amitabh Bachchan, on a poster in the background. This guy is super famous and his face is everywhere - movies, music videos, Cadbury chocolate ads, deodorant commercials. There is even a temple dedicated to him near Kolkata.

The driver has spotted us: You want ride? Notice the food in the elephant's mouth. As the elephant ambled down the street, he stopped every few feet at each produce cart that he passed and took whatever food he wanted - unpeeled bananas, raw potatoes, bales of wilted greens. Not surprisingly, the owners of the food stands didn't try to stop him - some handed the food up to him.

Local kids outside a Chamunda temple on a festival day. Inside the temple many colorfully-clad women gathered for a ceremony.

A shrine to Hanuman, the powerful monkey god. This one is right in the middle of a bustling fruit and vegetable market.

Okra! very popular in India. Also known as lady's finger, or as Stephen has mistakenly called it, widow's finger.