Monkey Crumbs and Little Boy Bums

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Alright, so more decent internet means another bloggy blog. It's currently our last night in Rajasthan in northwestern India so I'll fill in on the last 10 days.

We left Kochi and jumped a plane to Mumbai, then a quick connection to Udaipur. Landing in Mumbai was interesting just to see all of the slums around the airport. It put real images in my mind to match the fictional ones I had from movies like Slumdog Millionaire. And from my brief glimpses, I feel I can vouche for the validity of it all. The flights went as smooth as I could have hoped for and connecting in Mumbai was easy. Upon landing in Udaipur the announcment went, "Ladies and Gentlmen, welcome to Udaipur where the current time is 6:30 p.m and the current temperature is 40 degrees".

Our first thought was, "40 degrees at 6:30? How hot was it during the day?" We stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac. Coming from the wet, soggy heat of Kerala, it was a welcome change to suddenly be in a desert oven. No humidity. Only face peeling, skin melting dry heat. It instantly reminded me of Arizona (which still rides near the top of my list of all time favorite places) and the type of heat which I truly enjoy. We grabbed a taxi and made our way into town.

Udaipur is listed as one of the most "romantic" cities in India and I will agree with it being fancy and enchanting at places, but deep down it's still India. It's still noisy, it still has unexplainable smells, it has the chaos and it has the cows. Rajasthan is in the Hindi part of India, and cows are considered holy, so they are free to roam the city and move as they please. It makes for some strange encounters when you're walking down a narrow alley and have to pass multiple cows coming the opposite way. The cows almost seem to know they are holy, and they run the show. They aren't scared of people and won't even blink when you walk past, let alone move for you. Much different than the cows and bulls I am accustomed to at home. I guess ours are just a little more fired up because they know they are on a one way street to the barbecue.

The important site in Udaipur is the city palace which was built by various rulers called maharajas. It served as a home to the elite and was a shining spectacle to all others about the wealth and power of the rulers in the area. From the palace, which looks out over Lake Pichola, one can see Jagniwas Island which is home the the lake palace, which was built in 1754 as a summer retreat for royalty. Today the palace is the prototypical "luxury" hotel. The entire island is a palace that sits in the middle of the lake. The only problem though, is that it has been 4 years of less than superb rainfall, which has left the lake a mere fraction of what it could be. The island is no longer an island, and one could reach it by walking from the other side of town. Regardless, the palace still pulls off a magical look and almost seems out of place amidst its surroundings.

Another landmark in Udaipur is the Jagdish Temple which was built by a maharja in 1651 and enshrines Vishnu as Lord of the Universe. We were given a 15 minute history lesson by a greasy, yet well informed man named Disco (?), who I can only assume waits at the temple for tourists, then appoints himself as tour guide, thus ensuring himself some type of payment for his services. I am getting quite used to brushing these guys off but I gave Disco the benefit of the doubt and listened to his history. The percentage of truth in his words I am not totally sure of, but he was entertaining, and eager to show the small carvings of various kama sutra positions that are on the temple. All in all, his time was worth the 2 dollars I payed him. Our 3 days in Udaipur were good for the sights we saw, and let us transition fully into the 45-50 degree weather which we have experienced everyday to this point.

From Udaipur we grabbed a taxi to Jodhpur, stopping at the Kumbalgarh Fort which dates to the 15th century and has the worlds second loggest wall at 36km (China's Great Wall is 2500km, but hey a silver is a silver). After the fort we continued on through small villages where we got our first glimpses of camels being used as work animals, and even an elephant in one village. The next stop was impromptu, when we spotted monkeys sitting on the side of the road. Our driver, amazed by the fact that we don't have them any in Canada, gladly stopped the car so we could get out for pictures. Being the humanitarian that I am, I took it upon myself, to help the monkeys stay healthy and gave out some goodwill digestive cookies. Their long slender fingers reaching out to take the cookies was the slightest bit creepy, but yet another life moment I won't forget. The 3 lucky monkeys (out of a group of 30) who got cookies, looked content, with crumbs in their beards. Multiple smiles later, we were back in the car to see Ranakpur an important Jain Temple with 1440 individual pillars, all carved differently than the other. Highlights were the craftsmanship and symmetry found in the temple, while lowlights were seeing a tour group from France, who could not understand the fact that they were in a holy place, and repeatedly did things that made me cringe and roll my eyes. It made it easier to see why locals may have a poor reception of foreigners in their country.

Arriving in Jodhpur, we knew that once again the main site was the massive fort. We spent a morning looking through the fort and it's museum before heading to a memorial for a maharaja nearby which was carved out of marble. It was yet another marvelous site that almost didn't seem to fit within it's surroundings. After the fort and memorial it was to the market, to look at a spice shop. Jodhpur is well known in Rajasthan for it's spices, and we spent nearly an hour in one particular shop, where we were given a crash course in teas and curries. Smelling each one from a huge jar, and letting our sense of smell be overwhelmed by sweet, tangy and sometimes harsh natural aromas. A nice change from the other "natural" aromas, that are all to present on the streets in India. To make clear the point I am making, Jodhpur was also the first place we saw clear evidence of what we knew happened regularly. Riding in a rickshaw down a street, we saw a small boy no older than 3, crouching on the sidewalk with his bare bum hanging into the gutter (which serves as a sewer), and in the middle of his business. Granted he was young and thus able to show no shame, it was a real and honest moment that for me was a part of the India I expected. Just basic necessity with no room for awkward feelings. That little guy knew he had to poop and he knew exactly where he could get the job done. Back to the spice shop, and after many smells and a hard push from the seller for us to buy a lot, we left with a bag of rice curry and chai tea mix. 3 nights in Jodhpur and it was onward again, deeper into the desert and the city of Jaisalmer.

Driving to Jaisalmer it became evident we were going more into the desert landscape that I had pictured when I thought of this area. Much more traditional clothing, based both on beliefs and also on needs. The people living in the desert live in the desert and make their keep there, and thus are well adapted to meeting the harsh conditions head on. Riding in an air conditioned car and still feeling hot, it was hard to imagine walking a camel loaded with wood or water down the highway for what must have been kilometers of emptiness. Yet, this was a common site as the locals went about their day, and we passed by only getting a tiny glimpse of the world they know.

Arrival in Jaisalmer, is stunning for one main reason. The fort that is here rises up out of the emptiness like a giant announcing that it controls the area. This was the reason that for hundreds of years the fort was considered a stronghold, and an important trading area on the route from India to what is now present day Pakistan, roughly 100km away. Unlike the forts in the other cities we have been to, people still live in the fort at Jaisalmer, and roughly one quarter of the 57000 people here call it their home. Walking through the fort, one forgets that they are standing high above the surrounding desert until you reach an outter edge and can peer over the wall. Looking out from the fort I tried to imagine what it must have looked like a thousand years ago when Jaisalmer was founded. We walked the narrow alleys, passing ladies drying colored silks, boys playing badminton and numerous more cows who call the fort home. It was the most unique of the forts that we have seen, just for the fact that people still live within its walls and give the fort life.

Today we went for an early morning desert tour out to a wind swept area where there are groomed sand dunes. It was an extremely windy day and the sand was really blowing, and can count as the closest I have been to being in a sandstorm. We watched the sunrise through the blur of blowing sand in the distance, and it looked more like the moon until it reached a level higher than the sand. Climbing the sand dunes I thought of the day that maybe I'll be in a desert where the dunes don't stop, and just go on forever, but for now I accepted this "river" of sand flowing down a valley between scraggy desert steppes. Back to Jaisalmer to plan for the next day and that gets me to now.

We have booked train tickets to New Delhi from Jaisalmer, which will cover a distance of 1000km and take 18 hours, leaving at 4 in the afternoon and arriving at 11 the next morning. I feel like we have experienced India, and are ready for the chaos that is New Delhi, but then again I'm not sure if it is something someone is truly ever ready for. We will spend 4 nights in Delhi, making a trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and of course the many sites in Delhi. Our next flight is scheduled for 3 in the morning on June 3 which will take us from Delhi to Beijing and a whole new world to see.

As a side note, we have started building some ideas for where we can divert to instead of following our original plan and going to South Korea. I have been following the news daily on that subject and we will make a change if it at all seems necessary. Early candidates for new destinations are Taiwan, Guam or Japan (which I have been to already, but may be the best option). For now we'll wait and see how things turn out.

Sorry for this running a bit long, but not writing as often means I always have a lot to catch up on. Maybe soon I will be able to add a bit en francais for the Quebecois who follow along 😉

Off to Delhi and the chaos that it is.....

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Photos

Kumbalgarh Fort
View from top

Jodhpur Fort
View from fort

Jaisalmer Fort
City view from top

Jaisalmer Fort
Scary characters down this alley

Comments

[Melissa]

Nice pics!
I was thinking the same thing... Audree you should blog the next one! Good luck with the destination change:)