January 2010
8 posts
My tree necklace made it in a Travel Channel Commercial! My Seattle penpal tivo-ed it for me. I’m a one-hit wonder with that darn thing. But I guess that’s better than no hits at all. I’m fighting off yet another post-India cold, but mind over matter - I think I’m winning.
Another nail in the coffin
I’m sitting here stewing in my own juices - a nauseating feeling oddly similar to the night of Nov. 2, 2004. Just like that fateful night, here I am in a kind of mouth-open, stupefied slump. Although this time, my cupboards are cursedly devoid of booze to lull myself to sleep. I just read that the Supreme Court has handed lobbyists and the corporations that employ them, the power to spend...
Yesterday, my Grammy died. She had 9 children, and 18 grandchildren. She used to call me “Lamb” or “Lover” or “Jenny Penny”. She was beautiful. And she will be missed.
Home Again Finnigan
So here I am, back at “home” (a tiny speck of an island in the East China Sea). Funny that Japan is “home” to me now. And, ironically, only for about 4 months longer. After India, I was exhausted, dirty, beaten down. Osaka airport was a clean, disinfected pillow on which to rest my dreary head. The first chance to give my hands a thorough washing in two months. I arrived...
Jaipur - city of gems
Well, it was going to be difficult to match the beauty of Udaipur, and unfortunately Jaipur did not. The highlight of my 3 day stay there was a rendezvous with my friend from college, Rachel and her husband Scott. They had hired a tour guide and a driver, so we got to see some sites together in the comfort of an actual car and with a very knowledgeable guide. We hadn’t seen each other in...
Farewell Fair City!
Today I spent my last day in Udaipur, reluctantly. So far this has been my favorite destination. There’s just something beautiful about a rajistani sunset over a floating lake palace. Today I took a boat ride from the city palace to the lake palace, where James Bond’s “Octopussy” was filmed. I saw the movie for the first time last night at my hotel’s open air lounge....
Udaipur - quite a little gem
Udaipur is described as the “Venice of the East” and I think perhaps that this time, Lonely Planet got it right. Flanking both sides of Laike Pichola, the narrow streets rise and fall among clusters of shoips and eateries. Sipping a rose-flavored lassi (yogurt shake) on the top of a haveli five stories up, I can see rooftop cafes from which to choose for my next meal. This arial layer...
Some Oddities and Observations
1. When you walk into a shop in the US, most shoppers appreciate a brief greeting and then the freedom to browse without pestering. But at a restaurant, you usually want prompt and repeated visits from your waiter, attending to your every whim. In India it’s exactly the opposite. You cannot enter a store without the salesman unrolling every rug, draping you in countless saris and insisting...
