day 3 Udaipur and day 4 Jaipur
i took a bus last night to Jaipur which is farther north
and east of Udaipur, still in the Rajasthan state. it's way more touristy than any of the
previous cities and as such, quite a bit of the town is dedicated to bazaars or
open air shopping markets. just about
everything bought and sold in India is from these strip mall storefronts that
hang out into the street. it's a pretty
bizarre experience…so many people, so many goods for sale…it's just in your
face 24/7. bikes, scooters, buses, cars,
pedestrians, cows, elephants, camels, horses, horse drawn carts,
motorcycles…anything and everything is in the street going every which
way. anything and everything is for
sale, i asked my driver in Mumbai about
drugs he said yes…they are a problem…they are easy to get and everyone is doing
them. that's not awesome…and some random
guy in Udaipur confirmed that by offering to sell me a joint lol. i suppose that part is pretty much where
we're at in Washington and Colorado now…that's a bit breakthrough. i'm still in disbelief that they'll be
selling mary j in liquor stores or whatever to anyone over 21.
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| Festive Diwali Colors in Udaipur |
so yesterday i was a huge mess. i spent the morning walking
around Udaipur….checking out the awesome shops and sampling food on the way up
to their famous temples and the grand palace (i'll have to look up the formal
name for it later). it was actually quite
a hike through narrow alleys with motorcycles and scooters zooming by all the
time. they are known for their miniature
paintings in Udaipur so i went to one of the artist schools and got the full
rundown of how they make them, what goes into making each of the colors and the
whole bit. it was pretty interesting…and
almost makes me wish i was more into collecting/buying/whatever art. its just not my thing i guess…
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| Delicious Fried Street Food in Udaipur |
i really felt like i connected with the
people of India in that town. i can't
put my finger on anything specific, but it was nice. the palace was amazing and huge…the best part
was that Udaipur has another smaller palace out in the lake that you can see
from the main palace. it felt like it
was just a royal city. i'm more into
looking at the outside of the palaces and capturing the symmetry and beauty of
the form so looking from the main palace out a tiny window to see another
palace that looks to be floating on the lake was just awesome. there was even a very Arabian (or at least my
personal definition of Arabian) boat out in the lake that i captured. it was fantastic. lots of great shots, good
food and stuff. the downside of Updaipur
on the hill is that i was zonked out after that…around 2 or something which
made for an interesting wait for my 9 pm bus to Jaipur.
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| Udaipur Palace Entry...Looking Out |
after the palace, i went back the to agency where i bought
my bus tickets and sat on their bench for a few hours and just zoned out. i knew i wanted to get some food before my
bus and maybe take a taxi up to the palace area to see the area all lit up with
the Diwali lights but wasn't sure how much energy i could muster to pull that
off. i ended up grabbing a nice meal
(for something like $3), sitting more, reading a bit of my book and just
feeling miserably tired. i was like
"i'm in India and all i want to do is shower and sleep but i can't do
either." i considered going to ask a
hotel or hostel if i could rent a room for a few hours but figured the
awkwardness of that request + the language barrier would have put me over the
edge. and i'm cheap.
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| Painting on an interior wall of the Udaipur Palace |
i finally boarded the bus at 9 pm and as i was
getting settled, this Indian guy came up to me and started making small talk. where are you from. america. oh, Obama. yeah,
that america…and the usual…then he was like "are you Christianese?" i laughed a bit and said yes, i'm
christian. over the next hour or two, we
talked about how he was also a christian, his whole testimony, my whole
testimony, how he's working with campus crusade for Christ in India….working
with 6 of 30 villages they are working with…his family, my family…what i do at
church how long I've been there, denominations, ministry in India (because WTF)…i can't imagine translating what we do as ministry in the us into a
functioning ministry in India. in the
US, the only other religions that constitute any significant percentage of the
population are different variations of Christianity - Catholicism, Mormons,
church of Christ scientist…and on and on…so it's not too much of a stretch to
step out and learn about them building tangent knowledge onto a core of
christian understanding.
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| Udaipur "Floating" Palace with awesome boats :) |
in India, there are TONS of religions. i talked to a Hindu priest today and he said
he has been a priest for 20 years and he still doesn't know all the gods in the Hindu religion. that just doesn't
compute for me. what? you don't know all
the gods and you're a priest? it's not
just another religion, it's a TOTALLY different type of religion. there's also Zoroastrianism, Parsi, Muslim, Buddhitst, Jain and i'm sure many others, on top of the ones we have here. he said that part of the reason Christianity
takes off when someone in a town is converted is that it really pulls together
the community…instead of having 4 different religions that nobody in town is
fully committed to, they just get on fire for god and it blows up. not sure if
that's translating here as well as he shared it in his broken English…but it
feels like a huge mission field out here.
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| Don't forget to Open Your Shoes!! |
i also realized how limited i am in my current ministry
abilities. i have a decent idea as to
what needs to go into a successful high school ministry but still haven't' put
all of the pieces together in a full, working ministry that really does what i
know it can do for our youth and leaders. I feel good that we are headed down
the right track but don't have any successes under my belt to lean on. building on that, i don't yet have any
ability to translate ministry for high school age youth to an adults
ministry. i think i have enough
kid-savvy to translate to children's ministry and that's always been a passion
area of mine…but scaling up to adults…whoa.
maybe it's the extra pressure of preaching to peers vs teaching from my
experience as an older kid….maybe it's the money bit…dunno for sure. the bar is definitely higher.
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| Stand Selling Diwali Decor |
so money. let's
tangent for a bit. we should not give
out of obligation, but in response and as an act of worship. my personal giving strategy has historically
been to give a lower % directly to the church through auto-deduction…then flex
the rest to adapt to needs of the moment (united way giving, high school
ministry, fundraisers, missions giving, etc) I have never been one to keep
tight books but every once in awhile i do go back and mentally add things up
and see how i'm doing. it's worked well
for me so far and i like that it gives me the flexibility to respond to God's
calling. it allows me…forces me…to keep
the door open to giving in the moment.
we need to be stable givers to our church and i highly encourage people
to use the auto-bill pay or whatever function to tithe. but on top of that…i think it's super
important to give as an act of worship.
think about it…pray about it…or just leave the door open in your head to
giving when you feel something tugging on your heart. one of my core interactions with the bible
and one of the more powerful is that when i feel something tugging on my heart
to respond and i actually do. as a
general rule, i don't give money to panhandlers…which has been a challenge here
in India with missing limbs, 6 kids hanging off their arms, medical needs and
the like. panhandlers, especially when it's routine, just don't make me feel
like i should give. i don't believe
them, i'm just not moved to respond to 99.9% of their "give me money"
things. but every once in a great while,
i will. when it feels right. whatever…that's me.
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| One of the Gates at the Udaipur Palace |
i suppose i mention that because the guy i met said he only
gets 2500 rupees per month from his mission team. that's like $50. he has a wife and a child and was actually
going to Jaipur with 4 other guys to a ministry conference. that tugged on my heart so i get to go look
up Suresh in Udaipur with Campus Crusade when i get home. its not going to be easy…might not even be possible
but whatever. challenge the
impossible. stick it to the man :)
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| Lake Out Front of the Amber Palace, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India |
so yeah, another night of pseudo sleep on the bus last
night. landed in Jaipur with help from my (yet again) one English speaking guy
on the bus :). they don't call out the
stops in English…and i never know exactly which stop i need to get off on…so
without them, i would've been hosed. anyway, so it worked out and i landed in
jaipur. i just started walking, determined to find out where i was based on the
map from my guidebook and i did :) that
felt great. nothing was open at 7 or
whatever am so i went and grabbed a chai and chilled around the main circle in
town for a bit.
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| Interior Gate of the Amber Palace |
i resolved to find out
how to take the city bus so asked which bus went to the "amber
palace" (the big destination in Jaipur, 12 km outside of town proper). i
received a positive response in some other language and hopped on. the bus would cost 10 rupees or just less than
20 cents. fantastic. i rode it out, the bus packed out and the
drivers (they have a main driver and another guy that recruits people to ride
and collects payment) made fun of me for something that they thought was
funny. they asked for my payment and
asked for 20. i was like no, its
10. i gave them 10 and they jokingly
pressed me for more. to respond
jokingly, i gave them some of the change i was given at the Korean airport. i was like, there, that's 100. :D they were fascinated by the money and i
showed them a few more coins. it was fun
to break down the language barrier without really verbally communicating. i gave them 5 more rupees to make light of it
and hopped off the bus.
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| Starting the hike up to the Amber Palace |
the amber fort is huge and not what i was expecting. it reminded me of one of those Tibetan
monolithic monasteries up on the hill.
the amber palace has a lake and gardens down below and what looked like
the great wall of chine (India?) running out from it in many directions. I went and toured, and took to humming a deep
bass note which resonated differently in each of the rooms…fun. i had a great time hiking up to (and what a
hike!!) and touring the grounds. one of
the big attractions there is to pay for an elephant take you to the top. i
think it was only like $18 but the line was seriously a football field long
with tourists. they get bused in an
out…living out their packaged experience as happy as can be. it's probably a
safer way to consume India as a tourist but seems so fake looking at them in
their tourist buses, eating together being ushered around….whatevs. after running down most of the stairs from
the palace, i hit the little town at the bottom, just past the palace. i was
shocked that NONE of the tourists were there.
well…at least not outside of their vehicles. i had some nice friend pea/lentil balls, a
samosa and a deep fried, breaded sandwich thing. tasty :)
while i was ordering, a beefy turbaned guy (i think he was in Indiana Jones) asked me where i was from (america. oh, Obama?) and helped me understand
what i was about to eat. it was great to
be on the receiving end of some local insight :) i sat back and snacked on it, picked up a
water and waited for the local bus to come through again. i went back into town, saw more local sights
and shopped a bit.
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| Looking out the back of the Amber Palace |
i ended up in what turned out to be a fundraising gift shop
for one of the local temples. after
viewing some silver and other wares from one of the local vendors, (and
complaining all the while how tired and thirsty i was) he took me up to this
shop (which was empty at the time) and said here, just relax here and drink
your water. it was fantastic and
peaceful. there were rugs, carvings,
pottery, statues and the usual touristy stuff but i just loved the feel of the
place. i loved that he literally said
here…make yourself at home, really. he
told the guy running the shop to leave me alone and chastised him multiple
times for talking to me. it was a nice
change from the earlier part of the day filled with "hello sir, come
here" "look at this" "great deal, just for you" . i relaxed there for a bit and bought a little Ganesha statue (the Hindu elephant god) and talked with the priest a bit.
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| Hallway inside the Amber Palace |
i walked (way further than i expected) to the main bus
station in town, bought a ticket to Delhi at 4 pm and settled in for 1.5 hrs
before it left. i had some fun
discussion with a few local shop owners who, after buying a soda, invited me to
sit in their seats behind the counter to enjoy it. i love that hospitality and
trust. it's like immediate friend/family
status is granted. i'm convinced it's
not just the customer factor either.
it's genuine…fantastic. India.
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| Looking out the front of the Amber Palace |
capping that off, i'm on the bus to Delhi now. i should be there ~9 pm where i can go on the
hunt for my hostel and see if they actually held my reservation. but whatever…it's just 1 more night :) if everything works out, i should be going on
a Taj Mahal tour tomorrow from Delhi, all showered and cleaned up, ready to
roll. i even bought a shaving razor and
might take a dent out of this beard tonight.
on that…a random guy called out to me today as i walked by "hey
ginger beard! i had a ginger beard professor at university" I was like
cool and kept walking. i get sooooo many
random hellos and even Hindi words yelled my way…i just smile, keep walking and
throw a shakra (hang loose) or thumbs up or whatever. i'm feeling good about this thing…(probably
shouldn't say that…with my luck the bus will crash or hit a camel on the way to Delhi)
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| The Famous Pink Palace in Jaipur |
cheers!
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