Jaipur is the capital city of Rajasthan state situated on the edge of the Thar desert. It has a population of about 2.4 million with the roughly the same ethnic/religious make-up of the rest of northern India. That is to say Hindus comprise about 80% of the population. There are 53% males and 47% females….now there’s an odd statistic. Much of the city was actually planned by one of the many Singhs in the line of Singh Maharaja rulers, Sawai Jai Singh. It, unlike all other ancient Indian cities, is layed out on a rectangular block basis with streets running perpendicular to one another. Inside of the old city all buildings are painted pink (hence...
The Delhi Belly, known in other parts as Montezuma’s Revenge and several other names, is what keeps most Americans at home. We’re so afraid of the food, and our stomachs have become so homoginized that we’d rather stay in Des Moines and eat Big Macs than venture out of our own shadow. Unfortunately, it’s more or less with good reason. There’s the odd thing is it doesn’t just effect tourists. Jonathon, the manager of the Aman I Khas said that they had to put in a water purification system in the nearby village where most of his workers lived to keep them healthy and coming to work. I took a “walkabout” with Jonathon through the grounds of his hotel to see...
For some reason that I can’t recollect, I’d arranged a car and driver for the trip from Agra to Ranthambore. Our only other option was train, and I’d always heard that Indian trains are in ill repair, never on time, crowded, and generally nasty. As it turns out, I was right about the trains, but since I had no point of reference, I had no assumptions about traveling three hundred kilometers by car. Remembering my blog When Yes Means No, I should have been more than a little suspicious about responses I got when I tried to get some specific information about the trip. Estimates ranged from four to eight hours for the journey, road conditions from good to not...
The reason people come here is to see the bengal tigers in the Ranthambore National Park which is also a game preserve and one of the few remaining places on the planet where there are active efforts to protect, preserve and increase the number of bengal tigers in the wild. At one time it is estimated that there was a population of over 3000 of these creatures in an area of only 300 sq km. Until relatively recently it served as a hunting preserve for the princely majarajas and other dignitaries. Even after official hunting was outlawed, poachers ran rampant eventually almost decimating the tiger population in order to serve the chinese market for tigers...
The reason people come here is to see the bengal tigers in the Ranthambore National Park which is also a game preserve and one of the few remaining places on the planet where there are active efforts to protect, preserve and increase the number of bengal tigers in the wild. At one time it is estimated that there was a population of over 3000 of these creatures in an area of only 300 sq km. Until relatively recently it served as a hunting preserve for princely majarajas and other dignitaries. Even after official hunting was outlawed, poachers ran rampant eventually almost decimating the tiger population in order to serve the chinese market for tigers paws...
There’s no particular reason for headlining this picture other than I took it yesterday at a bird sanctuary. Not exactly what we’d see around Lyday Farms. I’m writing this in the aftermath of listening to Dubya’s speech escalating the war in Iraq, so I’m a little morose. I’m determined to put it aside for awhile and continue to enjoy our experiences here, but it’s hard to put aside the thoughts of the men and women who are fighting and dying (soldiers and civilians alike). There are many countries in the world in which the words “yes or no” have various shades of meaning. In Japan, for example, most of us know that “Hai, hai” could mean anything from...
After 30 years in the world of big business, Gary “retired” to pursue long ignored interests. While continuing his involvement in the corporate world by serving as a director of several public companies, he has, among other things, traveled the world in pursuit of the perfect bird photograph, served national and local charities as a director and donor, developed a personal web site as a platform for his writing on subjects of personal interest, and, occasionally, taken time to smell the roses.
Gary and his wife Sandra, shuttle between their condo in Dallas and their farm in Fannin county, Texas where they indulge themselves in organic gardening, long walks and entertaining friends and family.
