rtw365

Jaipur 1

I landed in Delhi at 9am. By 5pm, I was in Jaipur, taking a shower and dressing
for the wedding that was to start at 5:30. I joined the groom's family to ready
him and to dance in the procession to the bride. The groom is blessed by a
priest and put into all kinds of crazy garb by his family, then he rides a
horse while a band plays and we dance in front of him. Lots of fireworks, etc.
Then everyone eats and most go home, because it isn't until after midnight that
they start four or five hours of more ritual!

The next night, my second in India, I had the priviledge of joining Hindus in
their celebration of Dussehra, a celebration of Rama's victory over the demon
king Ravana, a triumph of good over evil. It involved sitting through an
hours-long play in Hinidi, and the burning of a huge effigy filled with
fireworks. I guess that's my Burning Man this year. I seemed to be the only
white in the crowd, and I was very welcome. Everyone wanted to talk to me, to
say hi, to shake my hand, to ask if I was comfortable, how I was feeling, or to
point and smile and say "My God!"

Fun. Now I'm off to the next city...

posted by Dale L. Larson @ 11:15 PM 0 comments

Morocco and Egypt - A Few Pics

Most of the pics I took in Morocco and Egypt I mailed off on a CD before I got to a computer good enough to put them on the web, but I did grab off a few quickly from one of the CDs (so other good ones will have to wait until much later).

In Morocco, here is our Berber guide who led us by camel through the Saharan dunes, and my footprints behind me as I walked the dunes at sunrise, as well as me and some camels (that photo is taken by one of the Berbers who had brought his camels and goats to a well in the middle of NOWHERE).







In Egypt, here are some pictures inside of a pharoh's tomb and one of the tombs of the nobles. Don't tell anyone I took them -- the gaurdian who let me take them required much backsheesh and had to keep watch to make sure our police guide didn't notice. Apparently they've banned all photography since they didn't seem to be able to keep dumb tourists from using flash (which damages the paintings) even when educating them while selling them a photography permit.








Here's a scene from a temple wall. No, it's not really Beavis and Butthead Doing Egypt.



I don't know about crocs in the Nile, but there are still Crocs in the hotel:

posted by Dale L. Larson @ 9:31 PM 0 comments