Camel Safari Near Pakistan

Today I slept out in the desert with a camel. On the far west side of Rajasthan is a city named Jaisalmer, and about 20 miles from there is a small desert with sand dunes. On camel back on the way to the dunes I saw these woman collecting water from the local well.

Once out on the dunes there were children begging for money, they would do tricks in the sand if you gave them some money. Clearly one of these kids is more into it then the other!

After awhile the sun started to set.

Ranthambore National Park Tiger Safari

No tigers were seen! But I did see lots of people.

And birds:

So we drove around for about two hours and the closest thing we got to a tiger was a footprint. I did manage to see a nice sun rise though.

Taj Mahal

It is one of those places you have to go in India. I did go very early in the morning so there were not many people around, and the place was covered in fog, which I really liked.

This place is supposed to be really romantic beacuse a king built it for his dead wife... however, I learned that after the construction he gathered all 6,000 workers and had their right hand cut off so that another one could not be built.

Jama Masjid - Old Delhi

Commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal, in the year 1644 CE and completed in the year 1658 AD, it is the largest and best-known mosque in India. It lies at the origin of a very busy central street of Old Delhi, the Chawri Bazar Road.

This is the front gate which is at the end of a very long and crowded market.

Here is a view looking back from the gate. They are playing cricket over to the right. The Red Fort is off in the distance to the left.

Once inside the walls you can see the main building.

It cost 100rp to clime up to the top of one of the spires, 50rp more to take a photo!

Paharganj

Also known as the backpackers ghetto. This place is more touristy then others, but it is close to the train station.

On the way to the hotel I saw a little tea store. They did not have a large selection of tea, but some of the packaging was nice. You would only buy tea here for a gift. The boy selling the tea was smiling the whole time until I took the picture. I dont think he knew he was going to be in it, but the other guy did.

This morning I woke up to see the sun rise on the roof. Beacuse of the mist and pollution there was really not much to see... however I did take this picture out of the bathroom window.

I thought it was interesting that once I got on the roof, I saw the same colors on the buildings surrounding the hotel. 

And then all of a sudden a Hawk landed next to me. I am including this picture for James my son, since he likes birds so much.