Lovin' it in Lucknow

No, I haven't been to McDonald's yet. But I do really like the city -- at least as much of it as I've seen on my first day. Fantastic architecture: both old British stuff and old Mughal (help? Rebecca?) buildings as well. The streets are pretty walkable, at least by Indian standards (lots of obstacles on the curb/sidewalk, in the form of food carts, street barbers, piles of rubble, double-parked rickshaws, tend to force one into the street -- where you all already know about the traffic). No one seems to want to let me walk, of course -- the rickshaw drivers are nothing if not persistent -- but at least no one's trying to sell me anything.

Lucknow doesn't actually seem to be very touristed (witness my experience at two major or semi-major sites this morning), much to my surprise. Although, now that I think about it, it was the one city most people seemed surprised to hear on my itinerary. Everyone thinks that, having been to Delhi and Agra, I should now be in Jaipur. At my hotel, I was impressed that the new desk clerk (not the one who checked me in) knew my room number without my telling her -- then I realized I was probably the only western woman in the hotel. Actually, I may very well be the only woman, period, in the hotel: certainly, at breakfast this morning, I was the sole non-Indian non-male in the room. It seems to be a businessmen's hotel, judging by the number of laptop cases I saw.

I miss my laptop. I'm not particularly crazy about the internet cafe experience here -- especially since I can't hook up my camera. Although actually, maybe I'll go ask...