Tuesday, suffering from a bit of traveler's flu and a bit of tiredness, we opted to hang out at the hotel in Udaipur rather than travel to a couple of (undoubtedly tourist centered) markets the group was visiting. We walked around the grounds a couple of times, discovering a number of unusual plants and birds in the process. In the evening, we found a small wildlife preserve, built next door to the hotel on what was once the principality's hunting lodge and estate.

Wednesday has been quite an adventure, more than making up for our Tuesday respite. Traffic in India ranges between anarchy and chaos, and today we experienced both extremes as our bus navigated numerous winding, narrow roads. In New Delhi, we witnessed streets lined for six lanes carrying nine or ten; in the countryside, the only road rule seems to be "Stay left" (thanks to the British), except for when staying right is more expedient. For one brief moment, we were on a four lane, divided highway, but that didn't stop cars from driving against traffic on the wrong side of the highway. We drove on shoulders; oncoming traffic passed us on both right and left; we negotiated numerous cows, pedestrians, and motorbikes; and in one small town we spent 30 minutes maneuvering a particularly tight corner between buildings (aided by numerous local citizens, offering undoubtedly helpful (though often conflicting) advice).

The villages we pass along the way are sad to our eyes. We try to dial back our middle class, western sensibilities, but what we encounter here is sadder than the communist era apartment blocks we've seen in Romania, more distressing than the harsh rural farming techniques we saw in China. What we encounter here in Rajasthan is a culture which lacks any sense of civic pride, of community ownership. As our guide put it, India is a technologically advanced, 21st Century country in which 95% of the population still functions in 16th century ways. Litter abounds; buildings deteriorate; the occasional building with new paint stands out with its vibrancy.

We made two stops, first at Kumbhalgarh, a 15th century Mewar fort (later expanded), a World Heritage Site. The massive fort, built impressively atop one of the higher points in the Aravilli Hills, is notable for the 22 mile long wall which encircles it, reportedly the second longest wall of its type (after the Great Wall of China, of course). The wall, constructed wide enough and strong enough to transport men, wagons, and horses along the top, withstood many repeated attacks.

Later, we stopped at Ranakpur, a Jain temple. Carved entirely of marble, the temple has over 1400 columns, no two exactly alike. According to our guide, both the Jain and the Sikhs faith began because of corruption among the Hindu, and the Jain have attempted to counter corruption by extoling a virtue free of earthly impedances (so much so that the religion's monks are "sky clothed," depending totally on the generosity of the community for food and shelter (luckily, we encountered no sky-clothed monks at the temple, every one we saw being appropriately attired)). Religion, as previously noted, plays a major role in the culture, so much so that our guide told us "In the west, people die of heart disease and cancer; in Africa, people die of drought and famine; in India, people die of religion."

This evening, we are staying at an old palace converted into a hotel. The place is a hodge-podge of weird hallways and stairs, and the room we have is…unique? (Never before have we encountered a hotel room with two hot water bottles packed away in a bureau drawer). But we're all exhausted, and it's only for one night, and this is all part of a grand adventure.