Here's a shot
of the
gate as
we were
leaving.
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Closer shot of the moat as we were
crossing
it
. The guys in
the bottom corner were rebricking it. Maybe they plan to restore it
to it's orginal
fierceness.
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After the
sightseeing, we stopped at some shops. This was the marble
shop where they make all kinds of stuff with the
semiprecious stone inlays. If you go shopping in India, only go
to the government sponsored shops. They you are guaranteed the best
no haggling price. Though don't expect to not be harassed. Like
the dirtballs in the streets, the guys in ties in these shops will
pester you till you buy something or
maybe I just look
like the kind of sorry sap that needs
pestering.
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Back on the road and headed home. I did get to
see an elephant hauling something, but was not able to get my camera
out in time. This was another common sight. That's an auto rickshaw
carrying what looks like (knowing the seating configuration of these
things) 14 people. Basically it has a bench in the front
and a bench in the back. It would hold 4 maybe 5 Americans
comfortably (three in the front and 2 in the back). They probably
have 3 in the front, 3 more behind them facing backwards sitting on
the backrest of the front seat, 3 in the backseat facing forward,
the 4 on the back sitting on a tailgate, and of course the
single guy up top. Good news is the rickshaws run on natural gas, so
they're really doing the environment a favor by carpooling this way.
Kind of makes me feel like an ass riding by myself (except for
my driver) in a car. Maybe next time
I'll get a bike rickshaw to haul my ass
around.
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Another intersection with a little town along
the
way.
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A
Dromedary doing what it does best (on the highway of
course). I'm not sure what cargo it was hauling. I also saw tractors
pulling similar
trailers.
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More roadside town
shots.
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Road construction makes an already sketchy
travel situation a lot worse. In one town where they were
widening the road I could see where they were digging (by hand) down
for the new roadbed. At every depth in the dirt (went down about
3ft.) there was trash co-mingled with the soil. The soil was
also very dark from any organic matter that may have been thrown
away. This particular construction was between the
lanes. There doesn't appear to be a whole lot of trash in
that dirt.
I don't mean to point out all the negatives.
It's just things that I notice and am drawn too. I have a great
curiosity for things I've never seen or experienced
even if they seem negative to
others.
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Jen
calls them FrankenTrucks. They sort of are. As I described before,
they're constantly "operated" on by the side of the road, so who
knows what they're really made of. They have an enormous amount of
character. The owners/drivers practically live (I think) out of
these things, so they decorate them to their personal tastes. They
use lots of color, chrome and tassles in some cases to personally
identify their truck. The insides are decorated too. I saw one the
other day that had plastic flowers attached all inside the
roof.There's usually at least two people associated with each truck.
I think they're big enough to hold hundreds (kidding) of Indians
inside. They're probably big enough to hold 6 - 8 Americans. I'm not
sure what that translates into for Indians. The doors open in
reverse and the passenger will open his on hot days to blow air into
the cab while rolling down the road. I've got a friend that collects
trucks. I'm going to see if I can't convince him that he needs one
of
these.
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