11 August 2000

Namaste (Hindi hello),

My second day in Udiapor was actually quite relaxing. I ran into the French couple Vincent and Virginia Evard that was on the camel journey with me, and they invited me to spend most of the next day with them relaxing. It has been warm. It actually hasn't rained where I have been for over a week. We went to a nice hotel and paid 100 rupees to swim in their pool. The pool was Olympic sized with crystal clear water and nice garden ground around with banana trees and grass. Pigeons liked to land and get a drink. The three of us were the only ones there and it seemed like you were in Florida or somewhere else other than India. Then that night we ate at this ideally situated restaurant overlooking the island that is in the film Octopussy.

We sat around a small table on cushions right on the balcony and saw a nice sunset. The restaurant was more upscale than I was used to eating at here, but the food was quite tasty, and it had a great atmosphere. The French couple was quite nice. She is a Ph.D. researcher of leukemia, and he studied psychology and theology and teaches school. He was also in theater for awhile and seems to be an amateur comedian as well. When he met his wife and found out she was a researcher he pretended to be a nuclear scientist, and she seemed to be the only one that didn't catch on.

Then it was off to Pushkar. I took a night bus and slept much better with a reclining seat. I always like it when they have to wake me up to tell me to get off the bus. I had heard Pushkar was nice, but it exceeded my expectations. It is a very beautiful small town with some nice hills around it, a sacred site to the Hindu's. No meat is allowed in the city, not even eggs, and you’re not supposed to go within one meter of the lake wearing any type of leather. It has a small lake with many washing ghats around it, and it is a walking town that is quite friendly. This sweet Israeli girl showed me this awesome hotel, and I got a room with a balcony with the best views on the lake. I stayed there two nights and was sad to leave. Each morning sometime a troop of monkeys would come by, and so you had to be careful to close the balcony door as well or they would invade. There was some Shiva festival going on so this temple across the lake had constant music and chanting going on 24 hours a day for a week. They felt compelled to boom the music across the lake with a loudspeaker, but it actually just added to the atmosphere. I hung out with Sheffy, the Israeli girl. Her name means peaceful, and she actually got out of serving in the army under the table by joining a peace organization. I went with her to a Hindi temple. After we sat down it was not long until we were surrounded by Indian guys. (They really like western women especially cute ones ). I only get a quarter of the response when I come alone. Then a yoga man translated and chuckled as an angry spouse of one of these guys came over and berated the guy for sitting by Sheffy and made him go do some work.

Sheffy was suffering from diarrhea. She went on a 6 day camel trek to desert towns that don't see tourists and don't have running water, alone with a guide and a couple of camels. She felt safe drinking the "spring" water. Since she has been to a doctor and a lab and was diagnosed with a parasite and amoebas. The lab report had the names of both. I think the doctor prescribed her the right medicine for the parasite, but maybe not for amoebas. (flagyl with impression giardia). I looked it up in the little book and had her get some Norfloxacin.

I met a couple of Indian doctors in a Chi (tea)shop where I went for squeezed orange juice. The Chi guy was trying to explain that he never gets sick and won't get sick cause of his faith in his Hindu gods, and he had a small one there in the shop. I was challenging him a bit saying perhaps this is because he is still young. There was this sickly looking guy I was worried I was sitting too close to cause I thought he might have TB, sitting with his head down with an increased rate of breathing, and I asked the hindu what happened to the sickly guy. Then he mentions the sickly guy was a doctor and right after that another healthy looking doctor came in and actually chatted a bit. When he found out that I was a psychiatrist he started going off on how he thought stellazine was an excellent drug for his alcoholics and how he treated his depressed patients with herbs. Then he asked me if paranoid people think they are paranoid. He had heard something of the S R (I) or something or other for depression. Anyway, I hope I don't get sick in India. As a side note, I noticed he had pulled off the filter of the cigarette he was smoking.

Yesterday I traveled to Agra and this morning visited the Taj Mahal. I wanted to get there for sunrise and when it opened and ended up locking myself out of the room. I realized it as soon as I did it. It caused me undo worry though cause I didn't realize how easy it was to break open cheap locks made in China. They certainly didn't need a lock cutter. The Taj Majal is quite impressive, and I got some nice photos. As other travelers have told me, there is not much else in Agra and I am taking a night train to Varanassi tonight. I am ready to leave now actually. I did see the Fort which is nice but the others I've seen had more character.

chow,

Duane

P.S. I have been trying to send this letter but apparently the server has stopped working, so for the last 25 minutes I have been hoping they fix it. The guy says, "In India sometimes the server works and most of the time the server don't work". ....He has been reading over my shoulder and now says

that I must pay him "royalty" for using his words and "defaming" his country. He is kidding, of course.