I'm still having problems uploading my pictures- maybe some problem with yahoo at the moment-

I think I may have started a small riot on the way to work today.

I had a bag full of candy, pens and paper which I took to the squatter kids.

I walk by them everyday- usually theres tons of kids just hanging out playing in the dirt.

Today there was only one little girl and a baby. I walked up to her and gave her some candy- immediatly there were 20 kids yelling for more candy.

I gave them each two pieces of candy- taking care to open some for the babies so they could pop in their mouths- those older kids were vultures for candy- I was afraid the babies wouldn't get anything.

Then I gave them pens and pencils- they loved the pens and pencils, but were stragely not interested in the paper. I was thinking they go together but what do I know?

By the time I was down to just paper and candy I gave up trying to be fair. I threw the candy up in the air - handed the bag of paper to and older kid and walked away.

Two of the older boys who were there were not squatters, but just wanted some free stuff (and got some) decided to be my new best friends and walked me all the way to work- then I told them the guards wouldn't let them any further they turned around and went home.

Time for the lice shampoo now.

Anwar- my auto driver/tour guide took me all around Udaipur- palaces, gardens, monuments- blah-blah. But before all that there was Laxmi. The streets of Udaipur, like the streets of so many old cities are narrow and dangerous. Especially dangerous if there is an uncooperative Elephant blocking the way. Anwar turned to me and said, “That’s Laxmi” like Laxmi was an old friend.

I looked around Anwar’s head out the front window of the auto rickshaw and saw Laxmi- Laxmi it seemed wanted to go up the hill- Laxmi’s rider wanted him to go down- it was a battle of the wills. Apparently Elephants- or maybe just Laxmi don’t/didn’t have much of a will; and after a short discussion involving a stick with a hook on it- down the hill they went.

An angry elephant is not what you want 20 feet in front on you when your in no more than an over grown tricycle. I was glad Laxmi was kinda laid back that day.

After Laxmi my next animal kingdom encounter was even smaller, fuzzier and scarier. Anwar took me to this place where the Maharajas went to be buried. There were more than 200 enormous markers- and by marker I mean 2 to 3 story marble, dome topped gazebo looking things. Each Maharaja had his own and size had to do with importance and wealth- a few were massive- bigger than some houses others were more gazebo size.

As I was walking around I felt all alone in the world- obviously not a popular tourist destination- you aren’t really allowed to take pictures there- but for a mere 20 rupees the guard can be convinced. I was walking around taking pictures when I saw white people.

We chatted a bit and they pointed out the oldest and biggest dome- they said, “There’s a monkey in there- but he’s a black faced one so don’t worry.”
I said, “Oh he won’t bother me?”
They said, “No- the black faced monkeys are pretty tame- but the red faced ones are fascists.”
I said, “Oh- well over to the monkey I go then.”
I walked over toward the monkey/dome and the monkey poked his head around a column and looked at me.
Maybe I looked at him too long- but I wanted to be sure he wasn’t going to do anything crazy. I climbed the stairs slowly- the monkey kept his eye on me. I kept my eye on the monkey.

Once I got to the top he decided he didn’t like me and he bared his teeth and made a frightening monkey noise. I thought that was pretty fascist even if he was a black faced monkey.

I started backing up- then realized just in time that I was about 10 feet above the marble base of the structure and if I took one more step back I was sure to break my melon- then the monkey would probably eat my brain before Anwar got around to looking for me.

I took one more look at the fascist monkey and as calmly as I could walked down the stairs and away from the structure. I looked back once and the monkey was following me!

I started walking faster anywhere but where I was seemed good to me- unfortunately I was walking in the wrong direction. When I dared look back after a minute or so I realized the monkey wasn’t tailing me any more; but after wandering the entire parameter of the burial ground I realized I had to go back past the monkey spot.

Needless to say that was a quick exit- but no monkey sighting on the way out.

I told Anwar to take me back to the hotel and my new friend the bathtub.

I had seen enough of Udaipur.

Udaipur- the city of . . . why did I go to Udaipur again?

Udaipur the city of lakes and . . . elephants.

I wanted to go to Udaipur because I had seen these amazing- beautiful pictures of the Lake Palace. It is- as it sounds a palace built in the middle of a lake. It takes up the entire island, so it looks like a palace just floating on the water. It’s a nice effect- when there’s not a drought- which of course there was when I was there so it was more like the foundation of a palace floating in the lake- it was still really nice- no really it was nice.

But the elephants make a more interesting story. I had a cab from the train station to the hotel. It was my first overnight train experience and although it was better than I thought it might be- I still hadn’t slept much. I was all blurry eyed and dazzled by the heat.

We came to the foot of a hill where we ran into what seemed to be a mob/traffic jam. There was a big temple, a big elephant, a lot of white people and a classic car. It’s always some kind of weird holiday or festival in India so I asked if it was a celebration.
My driver said no, they were filming for Bollywood. Awesome- I got out my camera.

As we inched closer to the center of the scene the white people started dispersing and the classic car drove away- the elephant stood and waited. I looked at the elephant- he was close enough for me to reach out the window of the tiny car I was sitting in and touch him. I decided against it- but I could have. The elephant looked at me. They have surprisingly small eyes for such large animals.
I looked at him.
He looked at me.
I took his picture.
He stuck the end of his trunk in my window.
I squealed.
The remaining white people looked at me and giggled.
The elephant giggled.
I giggled.
The driver shook his head and put it in first.

At the hotel I had a short love affair with the bathtub.

In the afternoon I went out sightseeing- “There’s the lake- there’s the palace in the lake.”
I was quite possibly the worst tourist ever- the guide was so disappointed with me.
He said, “Oh- you’ll want to walk through the spice market.”
I said, “No- I don’t want to- I’ve seen a spice market before.”
He said, “Do you want to go to the City Palace (different from the Lake Palace) and see the museum?”
I said, “No- I’ve seen palaces and museums before.”

He was a good guide he told me all about the intrigue regarding the rulers the Hindus against the Muslims- Sons against fathers- it was all over my head. Maharaja blah-blah-blah- Mogul Shah-blah-blah-blah 300 years old blah-blah-blah- who can keep up?

Next time- on the monkey who chased me through the ginormous graveyard- and mention of Laxmi the friendly neighborhood elephant.

Come back tomorrow for inserted pictures in this and following stories- I haven't quite got them uploaded yet-