Day 15

This morning's sightseeing took us to the Amber Fort outside Jaipur. More interesting to me than the fort itself was the extended perimeter wall that follows the crests of the surrounding hills for miles. That looked like it would have been a fun hike. The tour guide we had was kind of funny, he repeatedly talked in broken English about prices and distances and elephants, and I always assumed he was talking about how much it cost to build the fort, and how far the elephants had to haul the materials, but all he was really talking about was how much it costs for a modern-day elephant ride through the fort. Yeah, thanks for that historical information.

Upon leaving the fort it was time to say goodbye to most of our group. Tony, Gloria, and Robin would be heading back to Pune and then home in the next day or so. Swati and her mother were going back to Pune, and, due to gastrointestinal issues, Dennis decided it would make more sense to join them rather than take the more strenuous trip to Varanasi with me and Arjan as originally planned. For a group of eight people travelling together for over a week, I think we did amazingly well, so it was sad to see everyone go.

But at the same time, it was exciting to start a new phase of the trip, where we would see how we would do out on our own, and with a much more "lightweight" travelling configuration. We made it to the Jaipur railway station with a couple hours to spare, so I took the opportunity to use the Internet service at the station and upload some more journal pages. In classic Indian fashion, after I paid my 20 rupees (50 cents), I then had to write down my name and address on a slip of paper, which the clerk proceeded to copy in triplicate into his little book of reciepts along with a bunch of other information, and then dig up a big old stamp from another office and give it the official seal of approval. I'm curious where the other two copies go to..

At 3:30 we boarded the train to Varanasi that would arrive around 8:00 the next morning. We were easing into it, so we travelling int 2-Tier A/C, which is the second-highest class of service available. The trip was quiet and calm, but the dark tinted and sealed windows made it feel pretty isolated from the world. My sleeping berth, while not especially comfortable, was nice and cocoon-like, and I slept really well. Every time the train stopped I would wake up, but as soon as it would start again, the rocking motion would have me asleep in seconds.