More Jodhpur

Well today was a very tiring day, my dad and I headed out at 8:30 to send a parcel, have breakfast and make train reservations. We took a rickshaw to the post office, weighed our parcel inside to make sure it was not over 20 kilos, (thanks Rey, it was only 8), then went to find a tailor to make a bag for our parcel. We found one quite quickly and sat in his shop for 30 minutes while he put the stuff in a box, covered the box with cloth and put wax on the seams. It was a nice wait, with an endless supply of chai and a good view of the street. From our seat, we could see 2 men bathing on the sidewalk, 3 cooks cooking breakfast, numerous people washing dishes, 3 guys peeling potatoes on red plastic chairs in the middle of the road, one kid squeegying the floor of a restaurant, then the benches, then the tables and 2 guys with a pile of re-bar breaking each one in half with a sledge hammer and a makeshift anvil. Back to the story, I forgot to mention that we had tried to ask the price, but the parcel packer had to mesure it in the box first. He never did give us a quote and by the time we noticed he was putting on the cloth and there was no going back. He charged 500 rupees, that's 12 dollars, or one night in a hotel room. There was little we could do and we didn't want a hassle so we just gave up and paid him, after all 12 bucks isn't exactly going to put us in debt. Dad was quite annoyed and using all sorts of words that may not be appropriate for some readers, I was hoping that no rickshaw drivers approached us because Dad may have strangled them. He said that 500 rupees didn't bother him he just didn't want to tell Mom. We went back to the post office, got a form to fill out and were then told to go down the street and get it photo-copied, anyways, long story short, we walked for a mile, eat breakfast, walked 500m more then found a photo-copy place, walked back, learnt that there was one across the street, made the post office guy accidentaly pull out his keyboard drawer and drop it on the floor looking for a sharpie, got a sharpie from some American behind us, and sent the parcel. We went to train station and then walked down an alley/garbage dump/toilet to the reservation office which was right beside the post office, waited in line for 30 minutes and got 4 wait list tickets to Jaipur.

Later that afternoon, we went to Vaswant Thada, a marble mauseleum for some Maharaja. The location was suberb and the views to Mehrangarh and the rest of the city were great. The building itself was cool and the gardens were very tranquil, in some places the sun was glowing through the marble walls and we had fun putting our hands on it and then the people inside could see our handprint in the wall.

That evening we had supper on the street. We started by going to the Omlette Man, a famous Jodhpur restaurant with a floor space of about 1.5 square metres. He cooks on a tiny kerosene stove and has a stack of eggs beside him. He has two benches and a table made out of an egg crate and there is always a line up of people. He has a stack of books full of testimonials and a newspaper article to boot. The masala cheese omlette was superb and I'm afraid I will never again be satisfied with an omlette. Because an omlette was not quite enough food for supper, we walked down the road to a cart with a guy cooking up a variety of different things. I told him we wanted something spicy for 20 rupees, he asked how spicy, so we decided just to have fun and go all the way. We told him to make “Indian Spicy”. While he was shaking the chili on I saw him turn to his friend and grin and then turn back and shake a bit more on before stopping. It turns out it was some sort of potato and deep fried spinach in sweet yoghurt, it was very spicy but due to the sweet yoghurt it was still edible, in fact we ordered another.

Camel Safari and Mehrangarh

In Jaisalmer, camel safaris are very popular. There are plenty of people trying to book one for you because they get a substantial cut or commission. We went to Trotters, a recommended agency, who pride themselves on taking you off the beaten path. We went to enquire at their office and it looked good. The owner, who the drivers called Del boy (he was given the nickname from a British fan of “Only Fools and Horses”), was very nice and didn't pressure us so we went for it. We booked a two night, three day trip that came with everything we would need: food, water, blankets, camels, guides/camel drivers/cooks and lots of toilets with a view.

We woke at 5:30 the next morning and got in a jeep for an hours ride before meeting our guides and our camels for breakfast. One of our guides, Rammis, had to leave after lunch to compete in the camel race at The Desert Festival. We were left in the good hands of our other guide, Punja. That night when we arrived at the sand dunes where we were to sleep, it started to rain! A very rare occurrence in The Great Thar Desert. Years can go by without rain. We got back on our camels and rode for another 30 minutes to a small stone hut with cow dung mortar. It stopped raining so we spent the night outside under stars that we could barely see because of the bright full moon. When Rammis returned late that night on camel, we learned that he had made it to the final but that his blanket had fallen during the race and he had had to stop.

The Great Thar Desert is not a sea of dunes like the Sahara. It is mostly flat and sandy with thorn bushes and the occasional tree where eat lunch and rested for a few hours during the midday heat.

Our guides were great cooks! They taught me how to make chapatis. Their masala chai with fresh spices was delicious.

On our second day we went to some very big sand dunes which were very fun to play on. Later, we met a shepherd, (the only human we met that day). In the evening, while we were sitting around a camp fire singing camp songs, Rammis joined in by playing Bollywood music on his cell phone. He explained that both he and Punja had been in a Bollywood movie a few years back. Apparently it wasn't a great one, but they were dressed in their Rajasthani outfits and had their camels while special effect colour bombs were set off and they were sprayed with red paint.

The following morning we woke at 5:30 to the sound and feel of falling rain. We got up in a hurry and headed off to a nearby hut where we had breakfast. As we arrived at the hut, the rain stopped. We ate a delicious breakfast of wheat porridge and headed out on our camels. We rode a lot that morning and had lunch at an oasis. Later we were picked up by a jeep and taken back to Jaisalmer.

On our last day in Jaisalmer, I bought a pair of pointy-toed leather Rajasthani shoes called jootis. In case you are wondering the handmade embroidered pair cost me 250 Indian rupees, about 6.00$ Canadian dollars or 3-4 British pounds. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

Our train ride to Jodhpur was very enjoyable because the guys sitting near us were very friendly. One was from Jodhpur, another from the Punjab and another from Kerala. They were all reading what our guidebook said about where they lived. In the next carriage, there was a group of foreign women who were smoking. The man from the Punjab was shocked and horrified by this. He said that he had never seen women smoke before. He said it was ugly. My mom tired to explain to him that in Canada it was no more ugly for a woman to smoke than a man. He didn't get it, but Vineeth from Kerala understood, I think.

I am sitting in our hotel room and it is 4 pm. We just got back from a morning and an afternoon in Jodhpur and I can't wait to see more. We started the day by climbing up to Mehrangarh, the spectacular fort whose tall, steep walls loom over the city. It really is a sight to behold. The fort seems to grow straight out of the rock and it has yet to be conquered. The fort, and palaces inside, are all very well preserved and they are still run by the descendants of the old Maharaja. Like in Jaisalmer it is very professionally run and as much as I hate to say it, the audio guide was actually really good. The palace was really neat, and I loved all of the stained glass, gilded rooves, tiled walls and the amazing collections of armour, artwork, miniatures and weapons. It was interesting to hear about “purdah” system in which the royal women were not allowed to be seen by any men other than their husbands and the eunuchs who guarded the women's courtyard. The audio guide talked about a royal visit to London, and said that the London tabloids were going crazy trying to get a photo of her majesty. They managed to get one of her ankles while she stepped out of the car. The royals were so outraged that they bought every copy of the newspaper before the picture found its way to India. All of the windows of the palace have carved screens that make it impossible to see in, but easy to look out. We looked around the palace shop before heading to walk around on the ramparts. The ramparts were lined with huge cannons from around the world and the sheer drop to the ground is breath-taking. From up there, you can see why Jodhpur is called the blue city; it really is blue! All of the Brahmins (top of the ladder in the Hindu caste system) in the town painted their houses light blue and the effect is immediate from up there. Jaisalmer was the golden city, Jodhpur is the blue city and are hoping to head to Jaipur, the pink city, next.

Later that afternoon, while Mom and Mhari were shopping, my Dad and I got terribly lost in the insane tangle of lanes and I discovered how amazing the city is, the alleys are endless and only once were we bothered by someone wanting to sell us something, batteries to be exact. Luckily, we actually had been looking for batteries so we went in to have a look. He showed us a pair of 2AA for 340 rupees (two batteries for 340 rupees!, That's around 7 dollars!) He assured us that they were superior quality and would take 150 pictures each on our camera! (150? Doesn't seem like a lot) I peeled off his price tag and saw that it said “For use in Brazil only” because we were desperate for batteries for our camera, we bought them for 300 and we hope they will work.

Another thing I noticed today was that while we were walking down a large road, we noticed that they had built wide clean sidewalks! Although the people here were smart enough to realise that it could be put to much better use if the let their shops spill out /dump their garbage/ put tables from their restaurant/sleep/sit/put a stall on them.

Rajasthan is very colourful, especially the womens' saris and the mens' turbans. It is World Cup time for Cricket and India has gone cricket crazy, especially since they are co-hosting. The India team is very strong and has a good chance at the title. The Cricket India jersey I bought in Kaniyakumari has gotten a lot of good vibes and it helps to soften people up when haggling.   

Gokarna to Jaisalmer

After 4 nights on Kudle Beach we moved to Gokarna town. It is a small town, but due to its importance on the Hindu pilgrim circuit it is bustling. There are cows everywhere and often traffic will be slowed to a halt because of a cow sleeping on the road. During our two or three days there we spent most of our time shopping, walking through town and along the beach and drinking sweet lassis and eating sheeras with curd. Sheera or shira is a semolina and pineapple cake that we discovered at the Pai Hotel. On the 9th of February we left Gokarna and went to Panaji or Panjim, the capital of Goa. On the train ride there we met Enriquez, from Spain who we first met in Kaniyakumari. We spent two nights in Panaji admiring the colonial buildings and the cathedrals of Old Goa. On the 11^th, we flew to Delhi. When we arrived, the 24 degree Celsius weather was incredibly refreshing. After we got our bags, we went to the prepaid taxi stand and booked a taxi to the Canadian high commission where we are staying with friends. We spent our first night playing with their kids and the following morning we went out to Old Delhi. We walked down Chandi Chowk, the jam-packed back-bone of Old Delhi, to the Red Fort. We were planning to go in, but the queue was so long that we thought better of it, we got lost in the bazaars instead. After being spun around a bit in the maze of streets we found ourselves at Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India. Mhari and Dad were tired and the man at the gate was hassling us about money because we had a camera, and all sorts of other reasons that I can't remember, so they stayed outside and held our bags while we went in. The mosque was made of red stone and had lots of intricate Islamic carvings. We bought tickets to climb up the minaret because I had read that it was a great view. The view did not disappoint, but the walk up was not for the claustrophobic. The tiny spiral staircase was dark and the stairs were not much wider than my fore-arm. Whenever someone was coming down you had to hug the wall to make room. The top of the minaret was also tiny, although it was bright and airy. When we left the mosque we wandered back through the insane smells, sights and sounds of the old bazaars. I stopped at a paratha (flatbread) place for lunch. When I was halfway through my first plate a cook came up and said something to me in Hindi, I sort of shrugged my shoulders and a minute later he came back with more food! I ate most of it but I had to pay double.

Today we started the day by going to Lodi Gardens, a landscaped garden with centuries old tombs scattered around. It is a very beautiful place and although the tombs aren't huge, they're still very beautiful. We also stopped at another, much bigger tomb called “Safardangs Tomb”on our way to the Metro stop. It was more impressive but we were starting to tire of ancient tomb's by then. We took the Metro to India Gate, an Indian Arc De Triomph. The Metro here is very modern, although it is the first time I've seen signs in a metro station cautioning you not to ride on the roof of the train, and there is as much security as in an airport. At a few major stations the train practically empties, and then fills up again in the 30 seconds that the train stops for. This should be easy, except it fills and empties at the same time creating a crush of people. The India Gate was very impressive but we didn't see much of it because we were being bombarded by hawkers and school children wanting a photo. In a desperate attempt to escape the hawkers, we started walking towards Connaught Place. It was a pleasant walk and we had a (long) break at the “Central Cottage Industries Emporium” the 6 storey government handicraft store. My mom and sister bought several things, I was tempted by the amazing marble inlay work but it was a bit too much money for me. We finished off our day at Connaught place, the commercial heart of Delhi. It looked a lot like the Parade in Leamington Spa (the name of a street, not an actual parade) except more Indian (more garbage, more traffic, more beggars, more hawkers etc.).

On our last day in Delhi me and my Dad went to the Lotus Temple. When we got off the Metro into the cold and rainy weather we spotted a street stall whipping up dahl with fresh chapati, we couldn't resist and it really hit the spot. With our stomachs full we started walking towards the Temple. The Lotus Temple is Baha'i, a religion whose philosophies revolve around peace and understanding (don't they all). The temple is very modern, pearl white and shaped like a lotus flower. Inside the temple there were people reading from the Bible, The Qur’an and various other holy books, and everyone was praying according to their own religion. We did not have much time but it was quite a cool place.

That evening we took the night train to Jaisalmer, way out near the Pakistani border in the westernmost reaches of India. After we found a hotel and a meal we went to Jaisalmer fort, because Jaisalmer is in the desert the fort is made with yellow sandstone making the fort appear to be a giant sandcastle. When you head through the main gates and start walking up to the looming fort it really is awe-inspiring. The Maharajas Palace is very good, not as amazing as the one in Mysore, but because it is so well organized, they have done a lot of restoration work and the audio tour was fantastic (for a change). It was a really good experience. The best parts were the views from up top and the intricately carved screens on the windows. Inside the fort, the streets are very winding and narrow and full of people who want to sell things to you. For lunch one day I had a special treat, Masala Dosa. I had been wondering what I would do without it now that we are in the north but I saw a street vendor making south Indian food so I went for it. Another special thing about Jaisalmer is that we came during the Desert Festival, They have got all sorts of things going on around town, some of the best things we have seen are, Rajasthani (we are in the state of Rajasthan) folk music (very energetic with a good beat), lots of Rajasthani dancing, including one little boy doing what seemed to be Rajasthani break dancing, camel dressing competition, air force drill team, water jug on head carrying competition and (only in Jaisalmer!) camel polo. After a few days in Jaisalmer and the desert festival coming to a draw we decided to tackle a camel safari.

Lodi Gardens - Delhi

Safardangs Tomb - Delhi

Sleeper compartment to Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer Fort

Jaisalmer - A room with a view

Shops in the Fort

View from the Fort

Desert Festival

Local Truck

Fancy Footwork from Air Force Drill Team

Camel Polo 

Fancy Camel

Fancy Masonry

Camel Safari - Coming up next time on Sam A  Away

Hampi and more

We took a train from Mysore to Bengaluru, and then transferred to go to Hospet on the sleeper train. We arrived in Hospet at 7:00 in the morning and took a rickshaw (10kms) from there to Hampi. It was the capital city for the Vijayanagar Empire from 1336 to 1565; at its peak it had over 500,000 inhabitants and ruled over much of southern India. The ruins are set in a dramatic landscape of rolling hills covered in precariously placed boulders and it's an incredible feeling when you crest the top of a boulder strewn hill to find another moss covered temple in a palm grove straight out of the Jungle Book. It really is a magical place. Hampi is split into two main areas, The Sacred Centre and The Royal Centre. The Sacred Centre is hillier with more boulders and the Royal Centre is flatter with less boulders (I guess that's a bit of a redundant sentence, never mind). In Hampi Bazaar, the main village, there are people living in the ruins, although archeologists want them to move out. When you look at it though, these ruins are no older than many of the houses that people inhabit in Europe. Because of the style of architecture the ruins look far older than they are. They are all supported by many pillars and are very square or rectangular in shape, there are no arches or tall buildings and they are all very simple to understand. The impressive things about Hampi were the ornate Hindu carvings, the sheer size of the stone blocks and the number of ruins. The city must have been huge at its peak.


The restaurants here are not great, but they work, the other day after supper I was still hungry so I bought something from a street vendor that appeared to be a deep fried potato. It was so disgusting that even the starving Indian-all in one stray dog I gave it to turned its nose up at it.

On our last day in Hampi we crossed the river to the side that our rickshaw driver said was full of Russians and Israelis doing bhang and charas (Indian drugs) - he said that because he receives more commission on the other side. We rented bicycles and biked through the rice and banana plantations to the base of a large hill, at the top of which is a Hindu temple which is said to be the birthplace of Hanuman (the monkey god). It was a 600 step climb with demanding monkeys all the way up. At the top, there were amazing views and I fed bananas to the monkeys.

That evening we got on a sleeper bus to Gokarna, unfortunately the “sleeper” part was not to be, even though it was a bus with beds in it. First of all we did not stop for supper until 11:00 pm and second of all even though we were told that we would be dropped off in Gokarna at 5:00 AM. We were instead dropped off at 2:00 AM in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere to wait for another bus that would take us the rest of the way there. At 2:30 a 20 year old 12 seater mini-bus pulled in and all 18 of us got in and were told we would have to pay an extra 50 rupees. We were taken to a bus station which we later learned was Gokarna but everyone else was getting off at Om Beach, 4 km away, so we decided that since we did not know how far from town the bus station was we should not get off all alone at 3:30 in the morning. We got off at Om Beach with everyone else and slept on the beach until the sun came up. At 7:00 AM we started walking the 4 kms towards Gokarna. Halfway we stopped at Kudle Beach for breakfast. Since it was so hot and we did not sleep last night we decided to stay there for the night. We found a beach hut made from palm leaves behind a restaurant that alternates between playing Trance music and Bob Marley, that is, when it's not being drowned out by the group of guys who sit around and play the same rhythm on their bongo drums all day long. Not that I'm complaining.

Mysore

Mysore

On Friday we took a six hour minibus ride from Ooty to Mysore, it was a good ride, but the Indian road authorities have invented a torture device that is 4 to 6 small speedbumps in a row. My bottom still hurts. That evening we went to the rail museum i Mysore, the star attraction was the saloon car used by the Mysore Maharajas. It was interesting to see how the Royals traveled. Later that evening, we went to the Devraja market where we watched someone making incense and bought some fruit. We learnt that a good incense maker will make 10 000 sticks a day! They earn 35 rupees for every thousand stricks. I also bought a box of delicous Indian sweets.

Today we started the day by visiting the Maharajas Palace, former seat of the Wodeyar Maharajas. The palace was rebuilt in 1912 by an Englishman named Henry Irwin at the price of 4.5 million Rupees after the old wooden palace was burnt down. The interior of the palace is completely over the top with stained glass roofs, cabinets made completeley out of mirrors, crystal thrones, silver thrones, and wooden carvings so realistic and 3-D it's like watching an I-max movie on pause. Its hard to describe how incredible the attention to detail is, and you have to see it to believe it. We returned to the palace in the evening to see it lit up, and not with led christmas light either. They use the same lightbulbs they've been using for decades. The have strings of bulbs on every crease and corner so you can see the outline of the palace very clearly.