To become more familiar with Indian History, Dan and I visited the Red Fort in Delhi. Here we went through the museum to find out more about India's fight for independence from British rule. Entering the fort's main entrance, we walked straight towards a machine gun aimed at the entrance. Dan, who is not shy about walking up to anyone, approached the soldier guarding the gate and started a conversation. The solider explained that he was there to protect the entrance from terrorists. As we toured the museum and the once-grand grounds of the palace inside the fort, we learned about Mahatma Gandi's efforts to free India from British rule. He went to war against one of the most powerful countries in the world at the time with what is referred to as active-passive resistance. Without a gun, without lifting a fist, he told people to confront the British by refusing to work for them, refusing to buy cloth produced in England, refusing to even buy salt from the British. It is one of most famous examples of winning a war by standing up for what you believe with even your life, but refusing to lift a hand against the forces of the occupying soliders.

As Dan and I prepared to leave for Bikaner, we decided to change our US money into Indian money called rupees. This will be the money we use to buy camels. Rather than go to a bank, we met with a black market money changer. These exchangers will give you more rupees for each dollar than you can get in a bank. But you must be very careful. We were carrying a large sum of money to exchange and sometimes these transactions can be dangerous or you can be cheated. While 230-pound Dan stood guard at the door, I carefully counted out our money. In return, we were given a large sack filled with rupees -- there are 46 rupees to the dollar. It took me 20 minutes to count all the rupees and check that they weren't counterfeit.

Now that we have our money, we are ready to leave for Bikaner. From Bikaner, we will enter the Thar Desert in search of camels to buy. In our next entry, follow us into a restricted area where few foreigners have been. We will be looking for camel herds of the Raika tribes. Jim also has to deal with one of his fears when buying camels.