I know I know, it's hot! But have you ever tried living in western Sydney in January with no A/C at home and neither in the car? 45 degrees and 90% humidity... now THAT's tough!
I still don't know how we managed.
Anyway, seems almost like a done deal, the tour looks amazing on paper, I always wanted to go to Rajasthan especially after my first short visit to India a couple of years ago, when I was mesmerised by the beauty of it all. Went yesterday to buy a remote for Steve's camera and a couple of guidebooks on the area. Disappointed at Lonely Planet again for not updating the Rajasthan guide since 2008, maybe I should work for them ;) ended up buying the Footprint and the Thomas Cook... yep, that's right, the Thomas Cook! Who would have thought? Truth be told it's very good! It's got plenty of photos (useful to let the reader decide whether they might want to go to one place instead of another, and then again let's be honest, a guidebook has got to have photos for goodness sake!!!!), walking tours (for your spare time) and clever maps (yes, you DO need maps when you travel, even if you travel with a tour guide). Granted, it's got nigh to nil info on the places you visit and the ratings and prices of the hotels and restaurants are not reliable, but it's way cheaper than LP and it does the job! Plus it's very compact and you can actually carry it around with you together with your camera gear and water bottle. It won't be glamorous but we're going to travel into scorching hot Rajasthan in summer, I think we're going to leave glamour at home for a couple of weeks.
Obviously the Footprint is the most updated one, the last edition only came out a couple of months ago and even though I would still not rely on prices to be correct 100%, you won't end up taking 3 different buses to arrive in front of a temple closed to the public since 2009.
Our reading is proceeding as well, although a bit bumpy since Steve is still finishing the book on Tibet, but he will have time to catch up eventually and as he pointed out, there's no restrictions on literature in India, even though I'm not the kind of person who wants to be caught reading books like "Holy Cow!" in Delhi. I AM reading it of course, I just want to finish it BEFORE we get there. Why? It would be like reading "Eat pray love" in... well, Italy, India or Bali.... would you go strolling along the streets in Ubud with Eat Pray Love under your arm? NO! First of all because the locals would think you're looking for your own Pedro, and secondly because you want to deal with your own emotions, discoveries, disappointments and surprises when travelling, what someone else has seen or done before you is part of their experience, not yours. I don't know if I make my point clear, but it would be like asking a photographer to stop taking photos of the Taj Mahal because someone else has taken them already. You want to see your own angle, for the first time, you! Otherwise I'd like to know how we could still find anything original in a world that has seen pretty much everything at least a million times.
Well, time to feed the cats!
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