Archive for May, 2008
100 of the World’s Most Endangered Monuments
By Tony on May 16, 2008 | No Comments »
The 900-year-old Jaisalmer Fort is a stunning piece of Indian desert architecture. As I mentioned in the pictorial, it is THE desert dream – almost a cliche – a medieval sandstone masterpiece of narrow, twisting alleyways, havelis, palaces and temples surrounded by massive walls with 99 bastions. What’s more, it’s India’s last living fort, a quarter of Jaisalmer’s population lives within the fort itself. I’ve never seen anything like it in Asia, the Middle East or North Africa. But this magnificent piece of history is in serious danger of collapse » Continue reading this post »
Blasts in Jaipur
By Tony on May 14, 2008 | No Comments »
Our email inboxes were filling up with “Are you Ok?” emails after the bomb blasts in Jaipur. We are both fine, we were nowhere near Jaipur. Although it is rather eerie to see the debris in areas that we were walking through just a few weeks ago.
The old city of Jaipur is filled with people selling things and going about their business – it’s constantly crowded, so the idea of blasts going off there is horrible. Evidently, the Hanuman Temple complex was also targeted, which adds enormously to the ever present tensions between Muslims and Hindus.
Scrambled Eggs and Cobra
By Thomas on May 14, 2008 | No Comments »
If you’re still hungry after your breakfast of scrambled eggs and cobra, I suggest a vegetadrian send witch… » Continue reading this post »
Jaisalmer – The Golden City
By Tony on May 12, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The fortified city of Jaisalmer is the quintessential desert dream. Massive, ancient, and spectacular, the thousand year old fort, built to defend its residents from marauding invaders, is now being defended Read the rest of this entry and view pictorial»
7.8 Earthquake in Western Sichuan
By Tony on May 12, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I was sitting here in Rajasthan watching “Desperate Housewives” repeats on television when the news cut in and announced that there had been a 7.8 earthquake in western Sichuan in the very area we traveled through last September. This is an area that means a great deal to us, and we made many friends during our time there.
After the traumatic conflicts between the ethnic Tibetans and the government, the area is now being challenged by this catastrophic natural event. We hope that our friends in Sichuan are safe. To help our readers better understand this area and its people, we have linked into a small collection of postings on the region. Just click on the thumbnails above, to read the posting.
