Since it's the holiday season in the western world, certainly in the UK, and turkey (the food not the country) is losing its appeal right about now, we thought we could slot in another quick blog entry that some may find the time and inclination to peruse. We are now half way through our trip so this time, something a little different...

In order to try and make this blog interesting and (hopefully) somewhat pleasant to read, it is necessary to put a little bit of a spin on the place. As some of you may suspect, there is more to India than what we have let on so far. Some of you who take photographs will also know that it is often that which is just out of shot that tells the real story. Perhaps there is a power station right next to that temple and we go out of our way to ensure it does not appear in shot. Steve has always been intrigued by the way travel books, guides and photos always try and put places in the best light possible. So, for a change, following is a collection of photos of the things we generally try not to show - you will see why.

Of note here is that all these street scenes were taken within about 200m of our accommodation in Jodhpur. However that does not detract from the place we stayed in and what you see here is common to all streets, towns and cities we have been to. Generally, we try and ignore all this as you will understand but Steve went out for about half an hour and took these snaps out of interest.

In some senses, what you will see here is exactly what we expected and certainly did not come as a surprise or shock. There are areas in Central and South America like this, but they do seem to be restricted. The sheer scale of the mess here and its ubiquitousness did come as a bit of a surprise. In common with South America (and China when we were there), public micturation and expectoration are de rigeur. If one is unable to ignore this, then the flesh can start to crawl after extended "immersion". It is quite warm here and the wish to wear open shoes must be balanced against the overwhelming urge to wear galoshes! This is exacerbated by the ever present cows and stray dogs which, of course, express their natural urges at their convenience. We deliberately timed our trip to coincide with the Rajasthani winter so that we avoided the very hot period (40-50°C) and the monsoon period. Whether this was the right move is anyone's guess. It is hard to know whether constant torrential rain would improve the situation or simply raise it to about knee level!

What these shots don't show, of course, is the noise and the smells that accompany all of this. In some respects, this pungency is part of the heady mix that is Indian life and a large part of why we wanted to come here. It is a good thing (and probably no accident) that the food is strong and spicy and that the markets and temples add their own rather more pleasant odours to the mix.

Having to watch where you step every inch of the way is psychologically tiring in addition to eroding the pleasantness of the experience somewhat. It is easy to criticise people for throwing their trash (and bodily waste) in the street, but that is an indulgence on our part. Presumably the lack of public services does not help. Nevertheless, it is surprising people don't make any attempt to mitigate the situation. Presumably when you live on the bread line, such niceties seem an unnecessary western affectation. It seems an entire industry has sprung up salvaging from the trash, but most of it seems of no interest even to the scavengers. For all that the cows are considered sacred, everyone walks by as they chew on plastic bags.

That is probably enough on this subject and, if you are still with us after this, we thank you! Please stick with us, there will be no more on this subject. Happy New Year to everyone.