First stop today, another red structure, but this was the former palace of a rather liberal-minded ruler. Aaaand, a cobra was discovered in a wall right next to where people take photos, so the cobra catchers were called. Excitement!

After that, there was a four-hour train from Bharatpur to Sawai Madhopur (“chai walla, chai walla, chai, chai, chai!”), where a luxurious retreat in the jungle awaited. So quiet and peaceful after the hubbub of the cities. Add the scent of night-blooming jasmine filling the air; sublime.

Regarding roads in India, imagine seeing, all at once, camels; cows; boars, sows, and piglets; piglets nursing from cows!; donkeys; horses; dogs; pedestrians with huge sacks on their heads; mopeds; cars; trucks; buses; rickshaws; tractors (blaring Indian music); bicycles; and once a body, lovingly covered and adorned, being carried on the shoulders of several men; all flowing along, chaotic yet somehow working. A sight to behold, to be sure.

Furthermore, life is lived in public: along the road, inches from the the traffic, people are cooking and eating; sleeping; being shaved or getting their hair cut; having their toenails sliced off with a long blade; showering; pooping; doing laundry; repairing of all sorts of things; anything you can imagine, really, right there, for all the world to see.

There’s a lot of construction activity, much of it being down by hand, as in a woman, in a sari, on the ground, tossing homemade bricks up one flight to a man, who then throws them up to the next floor, and so on and so on.

I keep muttering, “This place is amazing . . .”

Anyway, here are some photos for you.