Lonnie in India cont.

Hope you are keeping well. The heat here is scorching but thank God for A/C in the car and hotel rooms. The food is excellent and very cheap. I've been sticking to vegetarian items as I had a chicken dish once and the chicken was undercooked. I've toured more palaces, forts, and temples than I can count and forget about naming them. I am very impressed that so many Indians are very interested in their history as they are abundant at every point of interests. I am still blown away by the tiny streets made even smaller by the constant flow of foot traffic, cars, motorickshaws, bikes, motorccycles, sheeps, dogs, camels and the ever present... cows!

I was sitting in an internet shop and all of a sudden, I heard..."Moooooo!" It seems completely normal now to hear that. I saw a man chase a couple of cows away from his shop and not only did the cow return, there were at least 10 more. The man gave up but I was hoping to see 'the running of the bulls' :-) The saris the women wear are the most beautiful I have ever seen. There are colors everywhere, including the spice shops where there are mountains of exotic spices in the most brilliant colors i've ever seen. I have seen a number of folk shows where the dancing and singing of the gypsys and other Rajastani tribes make me feel like I am in a time of old.

I get a lot of attention, stares, finger pointing at me, people passing then recircling me to get a longer look, folks actually stopping, coming closer and just staring at me. I always smile and greet them with a Namaste or Hello so they know all is well, and they almost always return the greeting with a smile. I sometimes even take pictures of the folks who stop to gawk at me, and they pose for the photo! Touche!

Something I had not realized when I was packing my luggage for India, virtually everything I'd brought was made in India...how crazy is that? I called myself packing for hot weather without a thought as to the items being bought in California, but made in India where I was going until I started seeing some of the fabrics I was wearing....surreal!

Oh, forgot to tell you about my monkey experience! I was in Mangore Park in Jodhpur where I visited ancient ruins that date back hundreds of years. I climbed up to a high point and tried to retrace my steps back down only to run into a monkey. I'm not afraid of wild monkeys but 2 days before, a Swedish woman told me her story of how she was bitten by a monkey because she had a bag that the monkey assumed had food in it, so he came after her. She had to go thru a whole prophylactic rabies exposure protocol which included injections, medical evaluations, etc. That was all I could think of when I was trying to figure out how to get down off the top of the ruin without passing the monkey!! I was anxious for a few minutes until I heard some boys voices and saw them enter a side gate. I was glad that I was no longer alone in case the monkey attacked me but even happier that I now had an escape route. I started talking to the boys who didn't have a clue what I was saying after Hello! I didn't care but I was saying, 'thank you little guardian angel boys, I will always be grateful for your arrival...may God, Budha, Allah, Krisna, Vishnu and all the Gods bless you and your families always....Namaste! they responded in kind with a puzzled expression, 'Namaste' and I departed without one single monkey bite!!!

I saw my 3rd and 4th Black people today, a couple traveling with a French group which explains why they didn't speak to me. Those Frenchies! But the Belgium brotha and I took a photo together as we were genuinely happy to connect. I saw the other brotha in Delhi and we greeted while passing. Otherwise, there are loads of Israelis traveling around Rajastan as well as Japanese. I've even met folks from eastern Europe and Australia.

Anyway, i'll stop for now and post more photos for your enjoyment! Namaste,

Lonnieworld1