Hiya

31 October 2007: Guildford Halloween pub crawl with Jennifer's pub co-workers.

[insert photo: jen/me] I dressed up as: Jen. It was easy - people always say we look practically like twins. I only needed three signifiers: 1) work shirt, 2) cashier card, and 3) the infamous mole.

Waterwall

26 October 2007: LA-like tour, as we visited where the mountains meet the sea.

[insert photo: Go board and lunch] The Maritime Museum was a treat, even though I lost my folks during a self-guided audio tour. Where could they have gone after stop #4 and we're on the same pace? Maybe they're rowing with the reconstructed galley.

Anyway, we met up again and headed to Port Vell for a razor clam, prawn, and calamari lunch where I decidedly beat my father in our daily Go competitions.

[insert photo: fountain] At sunset atop Montjuic, mom and I descended from the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya to watch the Magic Fountain show. I was thrilled to find the van der Rohe Pavillion and touched the Mecca of my HA85 modern architecture course.

I would have liked to have spent more time around the small, winding streets of Poble Sec. People were pouring out of a small tapas bar with drinks in hand and no chairs. Mom could have rolled me home.

Boom

25 October 2007: [insert photo: lunch plate] Went through El Raval and its trio of art centers (MACBA, FAD, CCCB) after a delicious lunch.

Most moving was the MACBA exhibition: Sota la bomba. El jazz de la guerra d’imatges transatlàntica. 1946-1956. I sat on the ground to watch the documentary video archives from the atomic bomb tests on Bikini Atoll.

[insert photo: modern art museum] I was shocked that people passed by the video, instead heading straight to the exhibition paintings on the wall. I guess it's standard museum protocol to look at art, but here's the real thing - right in your face - blast after blast.

Thanks

24 October 2007: In Barcelona, Spain traveling with mom and dad.

[insert photo: Gruell Park] We made arrangements in Guildford, kissed Jen goodbye, and arrived last night. Our hotel is in Gracia, beside Gruell Park and the Gaudi museum. We've spent the morning in the mountains and the park overlooking the city to the sea.

Mom and dad don't know too much about Gaudi and were in awe when we got to his first stone stacked bridge held up by Catalan arches.

[insert photo: sangria mommy] We wandered to Casa Vicens, Mercat de la Libertat, and Placa Ruis i Taulet for dinner where we learned that mom gets soggy over sangria - a double-whammy of alcohol and sugar. We rolled her home.

What's

22 October 2007: A song is playing at the Star Inn, Jen's workplace.

I ask mom:
- Is that Tina Turner?

Mom bursts up and looks out the window:
- Where?!
... Or do you mean the music?

- I mean... there.

Mom bursts up and looks out the window:
- Where?!

[Moments later, referring to the music, of course.]
- I think it is Tina Turner...

Mom bursts up and looks out the window:
- Where?!

Image from: jackie

Orange

13 October 2007: Brahmin temple, Pushkar.

Image from: jackie

Site

13 October 2007:

After two dreamy nights in the romantic lake and hillside city of Udaipur, I arrived last night (Friday) in the religious pilgrimage site of Pushkar, India.

Thursday was a dangerous day in the neighboring village of Ajmer. A bomb killed two people and injured almost two dozen in a Sufi shrine during this time ending Ramadan.

I read reports today that the attack has been linked to an Islamic group, which does not condone the Sufi sect of Islam? Very unclear at this point.

Last night I met up with a group on my same path. We had rooftop beers (neither alcohol nor meat should be consumed in the city, hehe) overlooking a small street center fireworks explosions for the nine day festival of Navratri.

It's odd to experience the improper and even dangerous perversions of seemingly normal behaviours. But overall I feel secure.

Light

11 October 2007: Lake view dinner in Udaipur.

Image from: jackie

Ride

11 October 2007:

My only trouble was a bad fall on my 4 hour horse riding trip through the Udaipur countryside. My Spaniard guide, Pedro, took me out on his first time as a solo guide.

He was happy I had riding experience and we galloped uphill to a lovely lake view. We actually got there in half the typical time, so we ventured off to explore new routes - giving our horses some relief splashing through small streams, teetering through steep rocky mountain declines, and tromping past cows, goats, and excited children.

On the route back we were in an open field. Vamos - I asked Pedro. Vamos? We did.

Problem was the horse knew the left route, Pedro went right, and a wall was in the middle. I got the horse right, but the horse still protested, pulled back and arched left. The horse was still running, I was off on the left side trying to get back center, but lost it, fell and thanked my helmet.

Now I've got a great scabby scrape along my left upper arm, a bit on my back, and a hefty gash on my left forearm. Just what my parents want to see when I meet up with them in the UK for Jen's graduation next week.

Image from: jackie

Uniform

10 October 2007: City Palace lunch view, Udaipur.

Image from: jackie

Snowflake

09 October 2007: The beautifully carved marble pillars in Ranakpur's Jain temple complex.

Image from: jackie

Sands

06 October 2007:

Tonight's stop was a camel safari [in Khuri]. Afternoon ride to sunset stop [70 km from Pakistan].

Dinner under the stars. Only me, the camel driver, the camel, and a wild dog filled with our leftover potatoes and vegetables.

I was looking up at the sky and the driver asked me what I was "remembering".

Image from: jackie

Holy

06 October 2007:

News of local unrest in the heated desert of Jaisalmer.

Yesterday Muslims in a nearby farm killed 22-27 cows. Today all Hindus closed shops, the massive fort (25% of the city), and went on strike.

My hotel is outside the fort walls and I got a bird's eye view of flames near the fort and a mob demanding the school across the street from my hotel to close.

Eventually the school closed. The only things to remain open were health services and the dairy. Around two dozen cows die and they don't even get a day off... Shame.

I'm sure you would have enjoyed the uncertainty and unsettling energy.

Unfortunately the stories were not informative. Something like this: They killed the cows. They killed the cows!

Images from: jackie

Hot

05 October 2007:

Hello -

All is well in India. I've completed a northern route through Rajasthan - Jhunjhunu, Mandawa, Bikaner, and now Jaisalmer. I'm in the Great Thar Dessert and man is it hot.

The only way I can demonstrate how hot is through science... On the drive to Jaisalmer, power transmission lines were sagging lower than I'd ever seen before.

For those of you who are not engineers, that means the electricity pumping through the cables made the wires hot and expand. More people pumping the AC - more sag.

Turns out Bikaner was the first place in Rajasthan state to employ electricity in the early 1800s. Now windmills turn on the horizon in Bada Bagh outside Jaisalmer.

This morning my priority errand in Jaisalmer fort was: breakfast. 25% of people in Jaislamer around found in this "living fort". They must eat.

I found a wonderful, small kitchen run by a darling grandmother. I enjoyed the best masala chai I've had in India so far, while munching on breads, jam, and curd on her balcony. After returning to the narrow market streets the men said I had power because my belly was full.

The first question market workers always ask is: what country? I tell them India. I also try to convince them my name is Radhika Singh Lutyens. They guess I'm from Delhi. They also ask where's Krishna, Radhika's lover, I point to my driver.

More news to come. I hope all is well with each of you.

Best,

Jackie

Mileage

02 October 2007: I arrived last night in Delhi and today arranged a driver, Keshav.

The mileage reads 73,116 km and so begins my travels around Rajasthan, India.

PS: Happy birthday, Gandhi.

Image from: jackie