Food (by Michael)

I've been eating a lot in India.  Eating accounts for easily a third of our day, which is a combination of three sit-down meals a day, a large group to serve, and the leisurely pace of food service in Rajasthan.  The food here is delicious and plentiful.  That's a problem.  A typical meal is some naan bread, a pile of rice, and a large bowl of curry or dal or paneer (Indian cheese which is in half the items on any menu).  It's delicious, in the way that poutine is delicious.  Actually with the carbs, cheese curds, and sauce it's surprisingly similar to poutine.  The effects of this diet are becoming quite obvious.  I'm looking forward to Australia where I can eat some fruit and veggies without worrying about the water it's been washed in.  I'm also looking forward to tonight, when I can fill my belly with delicious dal again.

In between eating we've been doing a bit of sightseeing by foot, and a whole lot of traveling by train, bus, or tuktuk.  I was thinking today how normal it now feels to be weaving through traffic in a tuktuk, leaning on the horn as we squeeze past trucks and driving on the opposite side when convenient.  It's crazy, and many of the vehicles have damage, but it takes quite a bit more skill to drive here than at home.  

Passed this truck on the highway.  From the front, you could clearly see the driver's feet.

On the drive from Pushkar to Jaipur, the bus driver wanted to stop at a pullout on the opposite side of the divided highway.  So about a kilometer ahead of the pullout we found a break in the meridian, pulled onto the opposite side of the highway, and rode up the right side of the road.  This is such a common occurrence that normally it isn't an issue.  This time though we seemed to confuse an oncoming bus with whom we did of a bit of a mirror dance before settling on passing on the right.  It sounds a little more intense than it was -- I've been here long enough to not have any worries that they'd figure it out.