Well... Long day. I woke up really, really early, unable to sleep for more than about two-three hours at a time. This time thing is still killing me... Really, I've only been here for three days, I expect to reel for a couple more before I'm on my game. Finally woke "for good" about the time the sun came up; not at all coincidentally as singing and conch shell blowing was echoing from temples all around this large city- in fact the second largest in Rajasthan after Jaipur, which is known as the Pink City.. This is the Blue City. I learned today on my audio guided trip around Mehrangarh Fort (a really quite good one, actually) that the "old" city, where I'm staying, which is closest and in the hills across from the fort, is painted with indigo for three reasons, only one of which I remembered (because I was like... Really? Hm.) - that the indigo keeps the terra cotta homes cool. Who knew. The guy making the tape, I guess.

Anyway ... From the beginning. Woke up really early, managed to piss away the morning the way I do ANY given day; organizing, re-organizing, checking email, trying to figure out what I can ditch, etc.. Showered, went to the roof and had a peaceful tea and toast breakfast in the sun, staring out over the hills and to the fort. I hogged up the swing seat all on my own and enjoyed it.

Got ready, started winding down the hill and in to the chaos of the small streets, especially where motorized vehicles started to be able to fit (larger than scooters).. And donkeys, camels, cows, goats, dogs, motorickshaws, hand drawn carts piled high with burlap sacks of probably grain.. Oh, and one elephant.. And figured I would be able to spot the fort because it towered so far above everything in the city- nope. And as we all know my sense of direction is lacking at best, I said, well, going to the right looks good! ...And trotted off that way for a while. The map in the bible (the LP) gives a nice outline of the main roads around, but does not account for all the crazy alleyways and offshoots- like the streets in old Varanasi . Long story longer, and I mean that literally, physically... Right in this instance was definitely wrong, and so I finally gave up and hired a motorickshaw to take me to the base of the fort. I'm pretty good at figuring out what to pay people, I think.. Cost me 50rps to get up there and 60 to get down (out of the original 100 that was being asked for..)

I'm really glad that I got a ride up there, at least to the foot of the thing, because... It was a climb. In fact, it was twice the climb for at least the steepest bit because I missed where I was supposed to get my *&^%$# ticket, so I went back down, tracked that down (there is SOME signage around town in English, but most is written in Hindi- and not the western alphabet kind of Hindi, but the Sanskrit type Hindi, which is to me... Just Sanskrit.) So. Found the ticket, after searching which little path you were supposed to take to find the ticket person, sweated back up the hill, got my little audio thing and took the tour . Really pretty fort; couldn't help but compare to the Taj.. and it does not. But. Very pretty and ha interesting history- lots of blood and Maharaj wives throwing themselves into the pyre and swords and guns and stuff. Nifty museum displays of very ornate and beautiful armor and palanquins- I think those are the ones that go on elephants, and aren't carried by men- and spikes on doors, holes made by cannons, and so forth. Apparently the main gate's entry was made after a sharp turn in the entranceway so that elephants couldn't rightly charge it with force. I knew that elephants have been working for humans forever, but I really did not know that they were used en masse for warfare- like horses, in western culture- at all! Never occured to me to visualize a herd of elephants ridden by ornately decorated soldiers appear over a hilltop and run charging into battle. Never. Never even partially crossed my mind. I knew about royalty waltzing in on them... Knew they pulled trees out of the ground and carried stuff like sugar cane (seen that) ... But battle? Weird. Poor things.

A couple of funny things: The reason I figured out that I had missed my opportunity to get the ticket at the bottom of the first big hill was when I went to pick up my audio tour thing- was sent back down, came back up after a good sweat, and show my ticket for the audio thing which is included for foreigners (with their larger priced ticket). The guys that handed those out said, "It is just you, all alone?" (I love how the language barrier sometimes comes across as.. not as intended..) and I said, yeah, I have no friends... Not sure how it all came about, but we ended up joking about the audio device being such a good friend, so knowledgeable, doesn't necessarily listen, but only says what you want to hear, on and on, they were witty. The audio thing turned in to my best friend, and when I dropped it off the guys continued my friend's story... "Your best friend will miss you!" as I waved and walked off... . Also, there must have been some kind of event going on up there, because there was a gathering of very well-dressed men and women (in that order..!) at the foot of the gate, and I noticed chairs set up in a garden that I passed- and I know it was the Maharaj's or King's or someone's birthday yesterday, so maybe that was part of it... And there were nice vans lined up to take the party to the garden, I suppose... And there were entertainers en route as well. One such entertainer, or maybe group, was a man in white leading what I initially thought were two women on a camel, heading up the hill; I was just sitting on the big rock wall figuring out where I was going to head next and they walked up, and I got a great photo of them; then they said hello and asked me my name, waving, and then it hit me.. Those are not women.  At least not at birth. There was something in the tour that I'd just taken about a courtyard social area that was exclusively for the wives and the women in the palace, and that they were looked after by men- but only eunuchs, so of course I felt free to draw unneccessary conclusions, for what EVER reason- maybe they were entertainers to fill that role, for whatever was going on? It was so obvious to me though after they spoke that I shook my head a little; no Indian woman would ride a camel other than side saddle, I wouldn't think, and I am personally taller than most Indian women as a whole, and these gals were BIG. Anyway. It was amusing.

Go, Girls!

So - after that, I took an autorickshaw down to the clock tower, because there's a big crazy market leading to sort of more crazy stuff downtown, and I was famished after all that top-o-the mountain stuff, so I got dropped down in the frenzy and started aiming for some food . I zig zagged my way through shops for everything, hello hello madams, stares, etc., etc., and found a place on the street side that was fly-ridden and basically full of petrol fumes, but it was fantastic food- I had Malai Koftta, a Masala Papad, and a sweet lassi that was creamy like custard. It had pistachios and raisins in it. It was so good. Got it together and walked back through, stopped to get a memory card for my camera, got some BURFI at a streetside sweet shop, YUMMM, hoofed it all the way back up the hill on the other end to my guest house... Had some good interactions along the way... Flopped on my bed for a spell and then took a crisp shower to wash off the salt, dust, and pollution that was coating my skin. Still full from lunch, but sorely dehydrated, I'm now going to bed on a Pepsi and a liter of water.

I've agreed to bite the bullet and take a little bit of a tourist detour on a jeep with a few others (not met them yet- All I know is they are two women) to go to these outlying villages where you see rugs and other textiles being made . I am remembering the whiskey village trip I took in Laos- it was pretty cheesy, and they wanted you to buy stuff, of course, but I remember the villages being cool, and I especially remember running out of gas on the boat I was on with my two new travel buddies, and the driver hopping out and disappearing in to jungle-y nowhere on the banks of the river where "Apocalypse Now" was filmed in order to milk some petrol out of a palm tree, I guess, because we were, like, NOWHERE, in the jungle... Us sitting in a tiny abandoned wooden boat anchored to a rock by the shore... Laughing our asses off about it.. So... Why not try the jeep ride? Then, a "sleeper" bus to Udaipur. I have to make it to Ahmedabad by some tinme on the 22nd (still don't know what train number it is or when it leaves) so I can take that 30- hour train ride down the ooast on the way to Goa...

Wow, there are some pissed off cats in the area. Probably the only reason I can hear them is that there are no motorickshaws or anything larger on these old tiny streets up here...

OK! With that, good night. I kicked this day's ass. Let's see if mine gets it in return tomorrow!

Love y'all...

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