Indian Road Trip and the Taj Mahal

traveling in style -luxury car with video monitor? like we need more Indian things going on

No matter how modern these guys tried to be with their pointy Italian leather shoes and the latest fashions, they still embraced tradition. We would oscillate between sexy Bollywood music videos, and traditional screechy wailing Indian. You can take the boy out of India, but you can't take India out of the boy. The culture is so strong, I don't think you could take it out of me, either. After only 3 weeks, I am forever changed. 

still a week after Holi, but these kids are still celebrating. They are drunk, have rocks in their hands and they want money. Problem is, they're the 20th batch of kids that had this idea from Udaipur to Mt. Abu. Luckily we had lots of 10 rupee notes (25 cents), or we could have been in serious trouble, as we saw some other motorist coming the other way who were stopped at a barricade with no small change and they weren't going anywhere. The virtues of good change management. 

a couple flat tires, but who's counting? Aryan our driver/friend is on task as a dust storm rolls through

Jain temple carved out of white marble. 

The Jains are a sect of Hindu that are so strictly vegetarian, that they wear face masks to prevent accidentally breathing in the smallest of  bugs, and they sweep every step they take to prevent stepping on anything living that might have been in their path.

Udaipur. 

Screenings of Octopussy nightly in guesthouses constantly remind you that yes, they filmed that here.

I was constantly asked to take people's picture. Kids, adults - they just wanted to be validated? and see themselves on the back of the digital camera. Adults would shake my hand or pat me on the back, and the kids would scamper off giggling. 

how could I come to India without visiting the Taj Mahal?

But it's surrounded by the congested city of Agra, a dust bowl traffic tout getto dump, which shrouds the beautiful monument to love with pollution so thick, it blocks the sunrise and sunset.

Since there were too many busloads of fat white tourists in shorts and tanktops at the Taj everyday, I hung out across the river and on top of my $10/night ghetto guesthouse.

my room had so much mold on one wall it looked like faux painting, but the view from the rooftop restaurant was priceless.

For more pics of India click on thiakonig.com/india