Dave's Travel Pics of India

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		W e l c o m e t o INDIA
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		Here is a surburb of Delhi. This guy is selling mangoes and tiny pumpkins or something. You can see he is wearing a lunghi.
It was really strange how I ended up in this guy's apartment. I arrived at New Delhi International Airport from Tiawan, via Honk Kong, late at night. I was kind of nervous, 'cause I didn't really know where I was going and I was on my own. I didn't even have a guide book. I decided to leave the vicinity of the airport and hail a cab on the airport outskirts. I was chased by airport taxi hawkers, but I kept walking. Once out of the gate, I hailed a cab and a burly mustached man picked me up right away. I told him I wanted to go Pahar Ganj - I knew that was the backpacker district. I had only heard that name spoken, so I was hoping I was pronouncing it right. He drove me to a travel agent instead. Why? I thought. I told the guy at the travel desk that I wanted to go to Pahar Ganj, but he said that all the hotels there were full. I didn't believe it. He said there was some kind of summer competition going on. I still didn't believe him. He said he would call some hotels. He called, talked, and said everything was full. I said let me talk. He gave me the phone and I talked to a sleepy guy who said that they were full. I said call one more hotel. He did and another sleepy guy said they were full too. It seemed like it was the same sleepy guy. I didn't know what to do and the taxi driver was still waiting there. I decided to take a bus out of Delhi. Why not Srinigar in Kashmir? I paid him $100 and he said there was a bus the next morning. He said I could sleep at an apartment until the bus was ready. The taxi driver left after charging me and I went with him in his car for about 20 minutes to another neighborhood. I went into a building and walked up three floors. It was an apartment. He rang a bell and a tall, skinny guy in pajamas answered. He invited me in and showed me a mattress on the floor. There was a small bathroom nearby. Young men were sleeping on other mattresses. I put down my bag, went to the washroom, drank water, and slept. When I woke up and walked into the next room, this guy was sitting on the couch. This was the view from the balconey. This guy was selling fruit down below.
		Rickshaws. Dominique Lapierre'sThe City of Joy is about a Rickshaw puller in Anandnagar, Kolkata. This last pic is of Dal Lake in Srinigar, Kashmir. It was a retreat for British colonialists, where they lived in beautifully carved wooden houseboats.
		These please boats ply the lake all day taking tourists here and there. It really is very pleasent.
		More of Dal Lake. In the left picture, I got some decoration from my hosts.
		The hectic, hurly burly city streets of Jammu. It's a real cacophony of sound and signs. I would have liked to have gone on to Amritsar, which is near by.
		Here is the lovely hilltown of Dharamsala. Lots of monkeys and Tibetan budhists. A real different feel than Hindu Dehli, Islamic Kashmir, and Sikh Jammu..
		This is the Buddhist temple outside the residence of the Dali Lama. He was persecuted from Tibet and now makes his home in Dharamsala.
		This is a view from McLeod Ganj. I stayed at a dormitory popular with Japanese backpackers.
		Here is a dog that came looking for treats in the dormitory. I was torn between enjoying his company and kicking him out for sanitary reasons. High school girls waiting for the bus, and a city square of a town on the way back to Manali

		Boys playing cricket, the national sport of India. Roadside fruit stand
		Here is a man getting his haircut in the beautiful mountain town of Manali. This wooden house is famous for some reason.
		Cows are eveywhere.
		Here is a school, a big house and sort of a barn / house mixture, all in Manali.
		More cows and a the Kullu Valley. Back in Dehli, the wall surrounding Red Fort.
		Jama Masjid, the national mosque in Delhi. More pictures of cows in India.
		The entrance to the Red Fort. Paharganj, the backpackers ghetto in Delhi, taken from a hotel roof top, and the classic photo of the Taj Mahal.
		Here is the entrance to the Taj Mahal. This is the most beautiful structure I have ever laid eyes on. It's just perfect - the ivory walls, the symmetry, the design...
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		Arabic writing adorns the walls of the Taj. With the four minarets, I felt like I was walking in the middle of a chess game. Everything is aligned so perfectly.
		View of the Taj Mahal from my hotel restaurant. Ladies with bottles on their heads. This is a palace in Rajastan - the desert province.
		Jaipur, the pink city. The capital of Rajastan. The building on top of the mountain is Nahargarh Fort.
		View of Jaipur from Nahargarh Fort. A city gate. This is Hawa Mahal - the red sandstone palace of the winds built in 1799.
		Here is a camel, and some guys enjoying some tea. Next is Jodhpur - the blue city. Most of the city's houses are painted blue.
		IIt makes for a lovely and picturesque town. That is Mehrangarh Fort in the background.
		Inside the fort. Jodhpur is also a really friendly town. People will always give you directions when you inevitably lose your way in the maze of blue streets.
		Next in Rajastan, is Jaisalmer - A real quiet desert town near the Pakistan border. All the buildings are made of yellow sandstone.
		It is such a dry place. Built in 1156, this is Jaisalmer Fort, also made of sandstone.
		These girls asked me to take their picture, and then they charged me for it. This is what's left of Bada Bagh Fort.
		This place is seriously out of Star Wars.
		Camels. They are really ornery beasts. Here is a pic of the desert, and of a dung beetle pushing some dung.
		Here is a hut where I was offered room and board, and here are the house owners.
		This is a fort on the way to Mumbai. This gate is in Mumbai.
		Entrance to a Bollywood studio This in me in Bollywood. For a soap opera, I was an orderly in a hospital. This last picture is a church in Goa town.
		A Christian church in Goa. In July, many places are closed for the season. This is near Goa's Vagator Beach.
		Near Palolem Beach in Goa. A flooded soccer field. Rocky coast.
		Here is a beautiful road in Goa. Here people are trawling for fish from the beach.
		Some cows are relaxing in the cool, muddy water. Here is a starfish I found at low tide.
		These dogs are fed by a humaine service. They really liked that rice. The last photo is Hampi.
		Here are some old statues in Hampi. A cow, Ganesha, and Vishnu in the form of the Monkey king.
		These are photos of Hampi.
		This is Hyderabad gate. This is a big fort in Hyderabad.
		These are the mysterious UNESCO Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad.





		Here is a serious pollution problem. Riding in the sleeper cars.
		These kids were protesting the unfair dismissal of a favourite teacher. These some great carvings in the prairie town of Khajuraho.
		One of my favourite places in India, Varanasi, situated on the Ganges River.
		This lady is chasing monkies with a broom. There are ghats up and down the Ganges
		Here is some sort of a ceremony next to the holy river.
		Here is a real snake charmer. I asked to take a photo, but before I could do anything, he put it around my neck. I was so scared, I prayed that it wouldn't bite me. Instead, it shat all over my shirt, so I had to go home. I

		These cows are cooling off. Some Japanese friends and I are enjoying a canoe ride. A ghat on the Ganges.
		I stayed a great Japanese dormitory called Kumiko House. Here is the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, under which Sidhartha Ghatama reached enlightenment.
	A huge budhist statue in Bodh Gaya.
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