4th Asia Update

Greetings, friends and family!

I see from the previous update that it has only been just under a week since I last reported on our happenings, though once again, it seems like so much longer. We have again been in pretty constant motion, with internet access very intermittent, and rarely available at the few times I had time to do anything other than keep up with day-to-day activities.

Which is to say, we are busy, and almost constantly engaged. I'm currently with the high school group, and we've just arrived in Bikaner, after quite another odyssey, from Varanasi to here. The college group arrived in Agra this morning, and is currently touring the Taj, with plans to visit Agra Fort later today. They will move on to Delhi tomorrow and catch a night train to Amritsar, arriving there the next morning. They had a few days to explore Varanasi after their time in the village and Sarnath, working with Dr. Jain.

Our group went directly from Sarnath to a night train (after a fabulous group dinner at an upscale hotel restaurant near the train station - much appreciated after days of all-veg food), and arrived in Agra the morning of Feb 22. We spent that first day resting, enjoying the view of the Taj from our rooftop restaurant, enjoying a (very expensive) Pizza Hut dinner, and working on restoring health to our ones still affected with one bug or another (there have been a few, in both groups, but all have been rebounding after a couple of days). Early in the morning yesterday the group went to the Taj at sunrise, then packed and got on an 18-passenger coach to Jaipur later in the morning. We had a pleasant but extended trip to Jaipur, arriving in enough time for just one more group dinner before boarding the night train to Bikaner.

That's it to date in a nutshell, and I'm afraid I don't have time to include more details. I msut get back to our "castle" hotel for lunch and check in with the group again. We are taking it easy today, with a 7 AM departure for our camel safari tomorrow morning. Rajasthan is quite different - DRY, cool at night and hot in the day, clean air, and plenty of camels here and there, giving us all pause as we contemplate getting on top of one in the morning!

John reports that all is well with the college group. I know they enjoyed their time in Varanasi, and are now enjoying Agra, hoping to stop in Madhura (Krishna's birthplace) on the way to Delhi tomorrow.

Must go - if not before, there will be a significant update coming, once we have arrived in Dharamsala (Feb 27 for the college group; March 1 for the high school group).

As always, we are grateful for your support!

Namaste,
Peg