Italy - Roma (March 17-20)

March 17
We arrived in Rome airport and found a place to stay, Youth Hostel Station in the Bologna area near the university. Pretty convenient to take the train and then the metro, no real hassles except a minor problem with the train but we made it. The hostel is nice but had LOTS of young people staying there who have been pretty darn loud! Yikes. We didn't have much sleep so this day we basically ate, went on the Internet, and fell asleep for hours!

March 18 - Visiting the Ancient Sites
Today was our time to take most of the day to visit the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Forum, Fori Imperiale, etc. It was a day of walking and getting tired but worh the time. The line to get tickets was sort of long but a tour guide had two extra tickets so she sold them to us for $10 euros (1 cheaper then regular price). But, we had to walk along with our group of older Texans until they exited the Colosseum and we could get our tickets to go on to the Palatine. They also had a small exhibit of statues, reliefs, and some architectural pieces to view. Like Greece, it was strange to walk around the corner of the city and find the huge Colosseum right there before you! You could almost imagine the fighting of the gladiators and animals that used to come from below the main level. Now the main level of the arena portion is missing but you can see the levels below where the animals were housed. The gate where the gladiators came in was called the Live Gate and where all but one went through after being killed was the Death Gate. Only one survived! Gulp!

The Palatine Hill was the highest of the 7 hills of Roma and where Caesar lived. After leaving here we walked throught the Forum and then down Fori Imperiale which had a statue of Caesar and we ate a late lunch/dinner at a restaurant with a view of some other ancient ruins (and a few cats too!) On our way back to the metro we ran into a Peace Parade by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. That was really interesting to see (but not really understand too much) the groups of people protesting. There were a few anti-Bush protests as well as both anti- Palestinian and Israeli groups. Finally, made it home to get some rest after a long day of walking!

March 19 - Touring the City Squares and Fountains
Today we took the metro to Piazza Spagna to see the Scalinata di Spagna (Spanish Steps) for some people watching. Later, we went by the Fontain di Tritone which was pretty impressive and then on to Fontaine di Trevi in Piazza Barberini. This fountain was designed by Benini and was huge and just gorgeous. After a bit of shopping here we headed to the Crypt of the Capuchins, talk about creepy but interesting. The church has a large crypt that is decorated with the bones of 4000 capuchin monks. I would say it was pretty eerie but beautiful in a strange way too. We had a nice dinner of pasta, surprise surprise!

March 20 - Vatican Musei: Sistine Chapel
Today, I went on my own to visit the Vatican Musei mainly to see the Sistine Chapel. The line to wait was huge and we had a train scheduled for later in the afternoon so I sucked it up and payed the extra euros for a guided tour that was going in 10 minutes. Turns out that was a great idea and our guide was really funny. She told us all sorts of fun stuff about the Sistine Chapel and the artists lives, etc. I will not bore you all with most of those details but I will say one thing I did not know: Michelangelo was imprisoned for 3 months by the Pope until he agreed to paint the Sistine Chapel. He was a sculptor and did not want to paint but I guess prison life turned him! The Chapel was just breathtaking, it literally brought tears to my eyes it was so beautiful. Everything including the Last Judgement were just magnificent. I can not begin to describe it to you. I also walked through the Basilica di St. Pietro which was also magnificent but in such a grandiose manner that it seemed a bit pompous. But, it was incredible to see Vatican City when I exited the Basilica.

Then on to our hostel and the train to Firenze! Ciao for now!

Rush Visit to Greece (March 13-17)

After extending my trip in Israel a few days, I left on the evening of the 13th to arrive in the Greece airport around 11pm. Carrie left me a message that she might miss her connecting flight to Greece because her flight from Delhi was delayed for hours. So, when I arrived I checked email and found no word from her. In case she was coming the next morning and because it was almost midnight, I decided just to sleep in the airport that night. I figured I would save 20 euros as an added bonus, I must say the seats with arms aren't the most comfy so I moved on down to the floor. Luckily, I had bought a warm jacket that served as my bed and I kept checking the free 10 minutes Internet desk hoping to hear from Carrie.

In the morning I checked into flights to the island of Santorini but the cost was a lot for such a short time so we will have to come back during warmer weather to visit the islands. By 11 the next day I figured I would eat some food, no I didn't have to resort to starring in the movie "Terminal 2". Just before heading to the hostel I heard from Carrie that she was stuck in Syria but would be arriving late that night. I took the metro, very easy to use and clean, arriving at Athens backpackers in time to chill out. The people at the backpackers were pretty funny, an Aussie family who started it right before the Olympics. Oh, I even watched a movie in the lounge - Ordinary Decent Criminal with Kevin Spacey. That was a bit like being at home until I walked out to see all the signs in Greek when I headed to a local restaurant, Smile. Souvlaki meal was great as was the Greek beer, Mythos. The woman that owned the restaurant was so funny and warm. Carrie arrived late that night with some guy who also came from the airport in tow.

Wednesday, March 15 (Romain Agora & Plaka Market)
We had our toast and jam with tea/coffee breakfast at the hostel. Reminded us of our New Zealand backpacker experience. Walked to the Plaka area to check out the markets and saw Romain Agora nearby. Then we explored the market area and had a late lunch at Tepina Cafe - Carrie was craving a hamburger and she found a good one too! I tried the traditional Greek salad, yummy! We didn't realize that the bread and water they brought to the table was going to be charged to us even though we didn't ask for it. Evidently, that is the way in Europe. Back to the hostel to watch another movie, Piano, before heading to Smile again for dinner with some buddies we met here.

Thursday, March 16 (Akropolis and surrounding area)
We headed out for a full day at the sites, but found out the Akropolis sites closed at 2:30. Yikes! Luckily we made it out early that day and everything was fairly close together. It was really odd to walk around Athens and just see these historic sites right in the middle of the city. And, although most people told us to head out of Athens fast we thought it was pretty cute and clean. Maybe this perspective comes from having been in India and SE Asia most recently. We saw the Theater of Dionysus, Temple of Athena, and the Parthenon. Each was unique but to see the Parthenon was truly amazing. It is so big and you have some incredible views of the city from the Akropolis. Of course a number of things had scaffolding around areas where they were working. The Parthenon is massive and breathtaking.

Our final site visit was to walk through Ancient Agora, the ruins of an entire city site. It really sprawled around and had some interesting statues and a temple on the hill (they all seem to be on hills, guess they wanted to get as close to the Gods as possible!) After we did a little shopping for Carrie to get some boots so she wouldn't have to wear her hiking shoes or chaco sandals out at night in the cold weather. Then we had a yummy late lunch of pasta at a restaurant outside at Ydria where the guy serving us gave us a Rose liquer to finish off our meal. A strange but lovely end to our wonderful meal.

That night we met up with some guys we met through the hostel, Harry, Daniel and some of their friends Medusa, Angelos, and Miriam. Harry is a photographer so he got us in this interesting opening party for a Greek fashion show, no catwalk or designs to see but lots of very unique individuals including a few Fabio look-alikes, wanna-be top models destined to stay B level, rich socialites, and random drop-ins like ourselves. Very funny last night in Greece.

Left the next morning (late due to my traveling partner Caroline) for the airport on our way to Italy. Found out our travel agent put in a wrong ticket number so they canceled our reservation but luckily they had space on the flight so we made it!

Jordan Visit (March 10-12) & Last Day Israel

Jordan Day One (Friday, 3/10)
Off we went with the car packed with essential supplies like water, food, body pillow for Johnette, and music. Along our ride my favorite was the camel crossing sign, this one obviously was used as target practice. Our drive to Petra took us six hours, mostly uneventful although it took a bit getting through the Israeli customs stops as well as the Jordanian stops. Not many signs to help you on your way but we made it to the Movenpick hotel in Petra! YEAH! But, we were too late to head in to the Petra sight so instead we got a guide who took us to Little Petra as well as a good (but freezing) sunset point on the mountain.

Peter had us traveling in style staying at some lovely hotels for the weekend, I know he wanted to make sure Johnette was comfortable. Sweet husband! We all slept well after having a great dinner at the restaurant - ready to head to the Petra sight on Saturday.

Petra (Saturday, 3/11)
Breakfast to fortify us for our day visiting Petra (about 6 hours). We started to walk the path with locals trying to sell us rides to Al-Siq, but we knew it wasn't far so we headed on by foot. You enter through a narrow chasm or Siq. This walkway was said to be created by an earthquake and the rock on either side is so high it is overwhelming. Along the way there are a number of carvings in the rock.

"It is the legacy of the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled in southern Jordan more than 2000 years ago. Admired then for its refined culture, massive architecture and ingenious complex of dams and water channels, Petra is now a UNESCO world heritage site that enchants visitors from all corners of the globe." Petra was a flourishing town for about 400 years in the time of Rome and Christ. It was rediscovered in 1812 after being lost in the 16th century.

Finally, you come to an opening and see the Treasury (El-Khazneh), the facade intricately carved into the rock.

"The Petra basin boasts over 800 individual monuments, including buildings, tombs, baths, funerary halls, temples, arched gateways, and colonnaded streets, that were mostly carved from the kaleidoscopic sandstone by the technical and artistic genius of its inhabitants."

Up until 20 years ago, Bedouin people still lived in the caves of Petra. Now, the descendants of those people work in Petra as guides, giving donkey and horse rides, selling wares, etc.

The size of everything is so huge I couldn't even imagine people living here until you look at some of the homes cared out of the beautiful rock. It was gorgeous and amazing to think of people actually living here 20years ago. After our lunch we took burrows (donkeys) back to the Treasury, Johnette said I couldn't travel all over the world and not ride a donkey. Of course mine had quite a bit of spirit and started off on its own, but they gave me the rope to rein the dude in and stop from running over anyone. It was fun trying to keep my donkey on track and myself on the donkey at the same time.

We took awhile seeing all the sites although we didn't have time to head up the 900 steps to the monastery site. It was so worth the trip just to see all that we did but you could spend a couple days visiting everything. We have so many photos that it would take forever for me to load them all in here now.

Dead Sea - Jordan (March 11/12)
We arrived at the Movenpick Spa & Resort (Dead Sea) in time to hit the showers and catch some dinner. We even saw a short belly dancing performance in the bar afterwards. No photos, sorry guys! The resort here was also beautiful, thanks again to Pete & Johnette for letting me be the third!

Here is what Atlas Tours says about the Dead Sea: "It is the lowest body of water on earth, the lowest point on earth, and the world's richest source of natural salts, hiding wonderful treasures that accumulated throughout thousands of years." The Dead Sea has no life due to the high salt and mineral content which also give it curative and therapeutic powers as well as buoyancy. The salt content is four times that of the world's oceans, so you can literally sit back and read a book with no problem!

We each decided to do a spa treatment and I figured Dead Sea Body Mud Wrap was the way to go. Of course they had no female therapists but I decided, what the hell. First a steam, then cool shower, then slathered with mud (wearing only disposable undies they gave me). Next, I was wrapped up in a saran wrap type sheet, given a head and face massage, and left to soak up the mud! It was an experience worth trying. We also experienced the beautiful spa pools before heading to the beach. Here the staff who led us got some mud and slathered it on us, although I seemed to get more hands on attention then my married friends. Hmmm, he was very thorough.

So I'll share the photo of us all lathered up drying the mud and then hopping into the salty water to rinse off and sit in the sun for a bit. AHHHHH, this is relaxation. (Mike & Scott, there is a Marriott right next door. Maybe your next trip!).

Shalom from Israel! (Feb 26-March 9)

After a six-hour layover in Istanbul airport I arrived in Tel Aviv to be welcomed by Johnette and Peter. It felt a bit like coming home, seeing my friend who I've known since junior high and her husband waiting for me!

First Impressions
Let's see... so far here is what I've been doing in lovely Israel. First, Tel Aviv is a really nice city that is easy to get around. I've been running to the beach down the street a bit a few days since I've been here, only about four days total. Johnette has Hebrew school in the mornings so I do my own thing until she returns about 1pm. So, up around 8:30/9 am then some breakfast and hopefully out and about a bit. The weather has been really beautiful almost every day. A bit colder yesterday (8/9) and today but some much warmer too!

The beach here is pretty nice, really fine soft sand and pretty water. Not very crowded when I head there for my run. Twice I hung out there for maybe an hour before heading back, just relaxing and watching the few people and dogs on the beach. On March 1 we went out to a nice dinner at Brasserie to celebrate Pete's 40th birthday. Good food and drink! Johnette also took me to the markets in Jaffa, very close to Tel Aviv. Hope to maybe see Old Jaffa today if we have time. Jaffa is an old Arab town that used to be the gateway for Jewish immigrants from Europe. The market sellers are very insistent, reminding me a bit of the Indian shopkeeper as well.

Jerusalem
On Friday, March 1, Johnette took me to Jerusalem (only about 45 minutes drive) to see the Old City, markets, Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Christian Quarter), Western Wall (wailing wall), Dome of the Rock, etc. Because it was Shabbat a number of the shops were closed but it was interesting to walk through the winding narrow streets. The city is separated into five areas that overlap a bit: Armenian, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Quarters, and the Temple Mount/Haram esh-Sharif area. We entered through the Jaffa Gate, there are seven gates total.

We went to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre first and it was an interesting site to visit, generally considered to be the place where Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. It is a strange architectural phenomenon where Christians from all over each have their own portion for prayer. Some are as small and dingy as a duneon while others are bold and glittery. As you enter there is a rock that is supposed to be holy so many are seen to kneel and kiss it - yikes talk about germs!

After being stopped by a lovely carpet salesman I succumbed to my desire for a beautiful silk rug! The one I bought is actually from Iran and I LOVE IT! Sending it home before I leave Israel otherwise it would be a bit of a pain to carry with me for my month around Europe. Next, we went to the Zion Gate and walked by (it was closed for Shabbat) King David's tomb. An old man took me up the tower for a great view, he was a bit creepy and Johnette stayed behind because she was too tired for the steps. She said she almost started up to make sure I was okay. He was harmless just creepy in a too friendly sort of way. Then we walked on a wall with a great view of the Dome of the Rock, the Muslim Mosque of Omar and Haram esh-Sharif, holy esplanade is sacred to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Finally, we went to he Western Wall, known by non-Jews as the Wailing Wall because the Jews have traditionally come here to mourn the temple's destruction. In the Dome of the Rock there is a sacred rock upon which Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac, and from which Mohammed began his Night Journey.

Poleg Nature Reserve (North)
The next day all three of us took a drive a bit north of Tel Aviv to the Poleg Nature Reserve and beach. It was a pretty day although slightly cool. By the time we got there, with a stop in search of the missing jelly for our sandwiches, it was later afternoon. No swimming in this cold weather today, Pete found some Black Iris' while doing a little hike. The girls hung out on the beach and chilled out - all in all a lazy day. Oh, I did find their method of peeing in semi-public to be quite useful in this situation. I'll never look at a tennis ball can the same way!

Dinner & Concert (March 3)
Met up with group of Embassy people for dinner at Gilly's and a concert by the pier, both were fun experiences. But, the concert was unforgettable - Israeli music with Ethiopian influences and artists involved. They played for about three hours, definitely going to buy the CD's. There are a huge number of Ethiopian Jews that came to Israel to escape persecution and they are still coming. I wish I could tell you the name in English but I haven't gotten that info yet (perhaps Pete can update me later).

Gamla Nature Reserve (March 4)
Johnette & Peter sent me off with a group of Embassy staff on a "field trip" to Gamla Nature Reserve and Chateau Golan winery. Gamla is north of Tel Aviv near the Sea of Galilee, in the center of the Golan Heights. Gamla contains a waterfall (highest in Israel at 51 meters), archaeological sites (i.e., remnants of ancient Gamla), a field of dolmens, the biggest Griffon Vulture Nesting site in the country. We took the short walk on the Vulture Trail to a Gamla lookout point and vulture observatory where we saw a bunch flying around. The wingspan is pretty incredible, 2.7m and they fly on air currents without moving their wings. Thankfully they only feed on carcasses so unless we had a bad slip we were safe! :) There are only about 60 pairs left in Israel, 40 of which are at this reserve. One of the largest bird of prey in Israel and the world. My group joked that since I was the newcomer I would be the first to become the sacrifice if necessary. Thanks guys! Trivia Point: This vulture is also the most mentioned bird of prey in the Bible.

There is a Golan Heights Memorial commemorating the residents of the Golan Heights who were the victims of acts of terror. Syria and Israel fought over this area in the late 60's and early 70's. The international community considers the area Syrian territory under Israeli occupation, but Israel has more involved in their position. It is still basically an area of dispute. The heights are a plateau on the border of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. On the map there are even two areas shown to be a landmine and shooting area. Don't worry guys we didn't go over there! There were a lot of young soldiers having some lunch at the reserve, a bit strange to see so many young guys toting guns around like its nothing (and you do see them everywhere).

Ancient Gamla is a city on a steep hill, surrounded by cliffs and there is only one trail to reach the city. Gamla joined the revolt against the Romans in 66 CE with the Romans eventually destroying the city with the Jewish defenders taking many Roman lives in the process. The synagogue remains are considered the oldest synagogue ever discovered in Israel.

We had a great picnic lunch. It was a beautiful day, not too hot or cold with some great company, thanks to the crew for including me even without Johnette and Pete around. Thanks to Dad Pete for sending me off with some granola bars to contribute.

Wine Tasting (March 4)
Ah, now on to Chateau Golan winery for a tour and tasting! Our tour guide Itzhak Ribak, and director of the winery, gave us some new info and lots of stuff about this winery in particular. They had a table setup with cheese and goodies to go along with our wine tastings! Yummy, I really enjoyed the wine too! Since Johnette & Pete couldn't go I brought back some wine for a home tasting. Itzhak even led us to where the real vineyards are located which also happens to be along the Syria border, hey if the embassy staff thought it was okay...sounds good. It was a bit spooky to ride along a road where to one side there are at least three different barbed fences and signs for Mines. Itzhak also took us to the Peace Vista for a great view of the Sea of Galilee.

The harvest is done by hand and most of the wines are red and are held in French new oak barrels. Itzhak and his wife used to be farmers and together with another couple they began Chateau Golan in 1999. Great fun! (www.chateaugolan.com)

Miscellaneous
Besides chilling out with my lovely friends I have been going running to the beach, a bit of shopping to prepare for colder weather in Europe, rolling around the city with Johnette on the scooter (Weeeeee!), sitting at a cafe in the warm weather, and much more. Oh, I did visit the Tel Aviv Museum of Art one morning and had some Thai food that night (you would think I had enough of that for the 3 weeks I visited).

Bat Sheva Dance Company (March 9)
I tried to see Kombina dance company, my friend Meisha used to dance with them in Jerusalem. They weren't performing but I was able to get tickets to see Bat Sheva and it was just incredible! The dancers were just gorgeous and were beautiful as an ensemble (huge group too) as well as solos, duets, etc. The partnering was probably what I loved the most about the company,very different from DC partnering. Unique and clever work! ahh, okay now I'm missing dance again! I realized that before this trip I had not taken more then a two week break from dance since 1994.

My last weekend we are going to visit Jordan! More on that in my next installment.

India - Week Two (Feb 20-26)

Udaipur to Ranakpur (Feb 20)
At breakfast at Sunrise Cafe and spoke to the woman who runs the place. Turns out her husband was murdered by friends and the guy who did it only got one year in jail. She was very sweet but sounds like she has had a hard life. We attempted to then get our photo disks burned onto CD but found out the power was out (a planned outage of course) so there went our nice plans to pack everything in before leaving by 2pm today. Carrie had a mini-meltdown but we ended up getting our CD's, just no visit to the City Palace. Ah, you see one you see them all right?!

Drive on to Ranakpur and stopped at the most incredible temple yet,this one is totally a highlight of the trip. The main temple is the Chaumukha Mandir (Four-Faced Temple) and is India's most famous and biggest Jain temples. The carved columns (1444 in total and no two alike) and the entire design in milk-white marble was so intricate it was overwhelming in a beautiful way. I got stopped by a big Indian family to take their photo and I'm going to try to send to the address they gave me but I have my doubts when it says, "behind dangi factory" - I will try to do it though.

We really enjoyed the relaxed and out of the city feel of our next guesthouse suggested by Nand. Rapoom was spacious and open with beautiful plants and flowers everywhere. We also had probably our best meal ever here of Robodi maize and Kaju Curry, yummy!

Ranakpur to Jodphur (Blue City) - Feb 21
to Jaisalmer (Golden City)
Leaving Rankapur we once again heard our driver Nand's favorite saying, "Go to Jodphur, look see temple, leave." Look see basically means check it out but don't stay too long. :) We decided not to stay in Jodphur but to head on to Jaisalmer to arrive later. Once we arrived in Jodphur we went straight to the Fort of Meherangarh, definitely the most incredible of the forts so far. It also may have helped that it had a really interesting audio tour that we took. The views of the blue city below were gorgeous, and as you approached closer to the fort you began to realize the immensity of this structure and through the audio tour, the history and culture. Highlight for certain! We ended up taking longer then planned as Carrie really wanted to get an astrology reading.

We both ended up doing it, I figured why not right?! Very interesting and some parallels to the palm reader in Vietnam as well. I think I'll keep this reading to myself though!

Jaisalmer to Khuri - Camel Safari (Feb 22-23)
Took a walk through the city/fort walls where the inhabitants now are geared to the tourist industry but they used to work for the maharajas. The fort is an incredible site from afar as it rises 80m high and is carved out of the warm yellow sandstone rising as if it was a natural occurence coming straight out of the desert. Carrie had all sorts of errands to accomplish including getting her eyebrows done (threading in India is a pretty cool method instead of waxing that uses...you guessed it - thread) and a massage. I hung out with the woman's mother taking a picture of her god replica of Vishnu. She was a character! We attempted to do some Internet but again, the power went out on us.

Next we traveled about an hour or so to Khuri and booked a camel safari through the guesthouse. A bit of a rest and then on to meet our camel drivers Punama and Mohan and our respective camels, Soya for me and Lol for Carrie. They were pretty huge and not the prettiest of animals - later I found out not the most comfortable either! We thought according to our guesthouse host that each person including the guides would have their own camel but no...we shared the camels with our drivers for most of the time out in the desert. It certainly was an interesting perspective being so high up and also seeing the people living in the surrounding areas. Many children wanted rupees but we didn't have any change. They sometimes asked for pens as well so that might have been a good thing to bring along. I found the same thing in the Sapa hill tribes in Vietnam.

After just a couple hours we made it to our camp for the night, a beautiful sunset view on the dunes. The sand was so soft and silky, I'd never felt anything like it in my life. Punama told us when a baby is born they bring that sand back to make the baby a bed. It was interesting to watch them making our dinner but it took forever and we were already hungry. We spent the time flicking away the huge number of scarab's crawling out of the sand, black as coal against the light sand. Our dinner consisted of dahl (lentil dish) which was pretty spicy, rice with carrot, potatoes, and some chapati rolls cooked in the coals. They cleaned the pots using the sand as well, and we never got sick from this method. We rolled out the blanket from the camels and went to sleep under the most fantastic starry sky I could imagine. This safari was worth it even just to see the night sky.I didn't sleep wonderfully and Carrie was cold but I don't regret it one bit.

Breakfast was sweet parantha, basically an Indian bread with a sweet syrup in the middle. We also had a sweet paste type of food that was yummy but I can't remember the name. Then back on the camels and I was feeling a bit sore. My driver Mohan didn't speak much English so our riding was mostly silent but he let me steer the camel most of the time and I got the hang of doing it while going faster without holding on (except for my tightly clenched legs of course). We came upon the tiniest lamb all alone and looking very hungry and hot. Mohan got down and fed the lamb water directly from his mouth, it was too little to drink on its own. After looking for a sheep nearby or shepherd nearby Mohan picked up our lamb to bring him to the next shepherd. So, I was the driver as usual and we placed our little one with a number of other babies enclosed for protection by the shepherd.

Our lunch spot was in the shade of a tree and it was pretty hot out on the desert by now so it was nice to have some shade, I think I even took a baby nap after some lunch or basically the same thing as dinner. Then back on the camel (ouch) to head back to the guesthouse. Before we arrived there Punama invited us to his home for tea. He has 7 children but only 4 were there at the time. His wife was sweet but noone else spoke English so we just exchanged names. The women here have to cover their faces as a sign of respect when their husbands are there in public situations. It was such a bizarre thing for us to see, okay you married women don't tell your husbands about this one - they might try to adopt this tradition.

The guesthouse had a music and dance performance in the open circle of space in front of our huts that night. The poor dancer was not feeling well so she wasn't the most energetic although she was a trooper. The drummer and the castanet players were young men and they did an incredible job. The castanet player was so dynamic and obviously had an incredible talent. The castanet consisted of two pieces of rectangular wood and he had a set in each hand, I couldn't believe the sounds that came out of the instruments. And he was so fast, just amazing. Had a mediocre meal but slept well that night.

Leave Khuri for Rat Temple (Feb 24)
We had to leave early morning to head toward the Rat Temple, called Karni Mata in Deshnok. We were thinking of staying in Bikaner near the temple and Carrie really wanted to see this one. Having a pretty big aversion to rats I wasn't sure I would be going in there! The rats (kabas) inside the temple are considered to be holy and are incarnations of storytellers. This temple is an important place of pilgrimage; they feed the rats with holy food offerings and it is considered good luck if they run across your feet. So, I decided to just go in the main entrance and of course a rat ran across my feet. I figured I had enough good luck to go back outside the temple and just have a soda. :) After seeing the photos and video Carrie took I'm pretty happy about my decision. The guard out front told me at night there are so many rats you have to watch not to step on them. UGH!

We decided to forget staying in Bikaner and drive on to Delhi although it would be late when we arrived. So began our drive with some bad luck, so much for my rat drive by! We saw a motorcycle crash, got a tire puncture, drove by a car crash, got stuck in traffic, stopped for document check and later at train crossing. Just a few of our fun for the afternoon/evening. Finally, we arrived in Delhi almost midnight and just stayed at the place Nand took us even though it was 700 rupees a night (well that was after we bargained him down). Ah, we can sleep in the next day!

Last Day in Delhi (Feb 25-26)
So nice to sleep in but no hot shower as promised darn it! Met up with Carrie's friend Jaan for lunch. Turns out I had something bad that brought about a bad case of Delhi belly on my last freakin day in India. I lasted long enough to go pick out a Pashmina and buy the CD of the Bollywood movie soundtrack (Your Name) that Nand played for two weeks. It was the only music he had in the car. I headed back to get sick and crash while Carrie tried to figure out her travels for staying in India while I moved on to Israel. I couldn't leave the hotel at all once it started, UGH!

I had to leave for the airport by 2:30 a.m. for my early 4am flight. When I walked down to the lobby the couches and chairs were covered with hotel night staff sleeping. Nand was supposed to pick me up but he got the days wrong so luckily the hotel staff found me a driver.

So off I went to the airport with no other problems to plaue me - Bye India!