Processing

Hello all,
I know I haven't written in quite some time and the truth is that I was just having too much fun in Singapore and Thailand to bother with the internet. When we returned home we were without internet for three days (Ah, welcome home! You have zero contact with the outside world! Enjoy!) and so I have been slowly processing what we went through the past five-plus weeks.

I really cannot believe all the places we went, all the various modes of travel we took, the people we saw, the food (my god, the food!) we ate.  I am going to try and write about the highlights and lowlights of each place and hope to give you a feeling for what like was like for the time we were there.

Jaipur
Oh Jaipur, you crazy sonofabitch. I was so unprepared for you in every possible way.  After traveling from Agra to Bharatpur, we drove to Jaipur for the last leg with our driver. I wasn't ready to get rid of him. We had a nice cozy minivan and everyone had there own space. Oliver was thrilled to have his own seat (Chuck-Andy's Dad-brought over a car seat we had ordered and we lugged that Britax across three countries). Upon arrival, I was very thankful that we had a very quiet, very beautiful hotel. I could tell that this city was going to be far from quiet and not too pretty to look at all the time. Our hotel was owned and operated by the former Chief of Staff of the Indian Navy. It was run like a ship. Spotless. Impeccable service. Silent. We were so happy to be there for some rest and regrouping over the next five days.

Andy and I have a friend, Rebecca, who lived in Jaipur for one year doing an internship at Anohki Fabrics. http://www.anokhi.com/anokhi/anokhi-home.html
They are known for handmade fabrics, block printing and contemporary designs. She told us they have an organic farm where they grow all the food they make in the cafe. Lucky us, the store and cafe were just three blocks away from our hotel. So we had a very pretty, very tasty place to go to and we went there every single day we were in Jaipur.  When you find delicious, quality food (and great coffee!) in India, you stick with what works. Rebecca also mentioned, not warned, of lots of poop and pee in the streets. I was completely unprepared for the RIVERS we would cross on our way to the cafe. As for the poop, we just hoped it was dog poop. Andy even said, "never in my life did I think I would be so grateful to have stepped in DOG poop." In Jaipur, the streets were toilets and we just had to deal. But I felt like a terrible mother taking my baby to a place where you had to walk around all matter of waste just to get to an organic cafe.

We toured the "Pink City", old Jaipur that is surrounded by a large, pink cement wall.

Pink City

We went to Amber Fort, and shopped in the old bazaars.  Jaipur felt crowded, loud and non-stop. At one point we were walking through a very crowded bazaar, bumping up against people, and a man reached out and grabbed my breast! I spun around and shoved him so hard that he knocked over the two men behind him. Satisfied, we made our way out of the bazaar.

Johori Bazaar

Very slowly and very quietly at this point in the trip I was beginning to realize that India and I are not a good match.  I was really struggling with the crowds, noise, filth, waste. I forced myself to name positive things in my head all the time; "Look Lindsey, a pretty building! A flower! A rickshaw that doesn't honk non-stop!" But I was starting to struggle, especially with the growing guilt over having our baby along for the ride with us. Oliver had black boogers and was starting to cough. I was starting to feel like the worst mother in the world. What were we doing here? Why had we thought this was a good idea?

Andy and I made an effort to find green spaces. We went to Central Park and walked. We played in the yard of our hotel. We really tried to counteract the city noise and pollution for Oliver.

I will say, that we had some amazing food in Jaipur. Amazing.  I was very excited for meal times and the opportunity to try new flavors, curries, and concoctions.  Oliver was game for all the flavors and eagerly reached for items off of our plates. Chuck, Andy's dad, began his love affair with Minestrone soup here too. Once he discovered it on a menu, he would order it every day thereafter while he was with us.

When our time in Jaipur was up, we packed up our bags and prepared ourselves for the first of several overnight trains on the Indian Railway. We found our cabin and placed our luggage under the beds and settled in for the nine hour trip to Udaipur.  Oliver slept like a champ. Out cold and barely stirred.
I was thankful that the train trip was smooth and uneventful. Upon arrival, we realized that Udaipur would be a very different experience from Jaipur and we were very excited to explore.