"City of Sunrise"

We are currently in Udaipur, supposedly the most romantic city in the state of Rajasthan and the place where parts of Octopussy were filmed many years ago. It IS quite beautiful, but romance is most definitely not in the air for yours' truly. (Deep, deep sigh . . .)

Went out for a FANTASTIC dinner last night . . . top restaurant in city, with candleight and views of the palaces in the lake and fab service and delicious food and . . . drool. The best meal of the trip so far. Today we did the ubiquitous City Palace, temple and tour operator-mandated shop masquerading as art school today, then I had to haggle over beer and pop prices (known as "softies" here) in order to stock the Truck Bar. Yes, I am the new Bar Manager for the next leg. Erg. Have to front the funds, keep the fridge stocked to the brim, find shops that will negotiate good prices, lug huge cartons around, keep a running tally of who drinks what , then collect the funds and start all over. There is already dissension (spelling?) in the ranks, as I did not restock the tonic water that only two people drink. Erg. Still Security Manager as well, as no one is ponying up for the "shared" responsibilities. Did I already say ERG?!?

We head out tomorrow for three super long driving days capped off by three "bush camping" nights. That should be a lot of fun as long as the stomach bug that has been running rampant on the truck for the last few days burns out. Otherwise, there are only three shovels and not enough bushes in the world to cover all of the collective asses (both literal and figurative).

Miss you all and will write more in a few days when we're arrived in Mumbai.