Rajasthan: Part 1

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So, after finally leaving Mumbai on the 9th of November after a little bus cancellation the day before, we've come up to the northern region of Rajasthan! It's a colourful vibrant region, filled with palaces, forts, lakes and mountains, the scenery here is stunning. We started in Udaipur, the white city, which has a magnificent city palace, over looking Pichola lake, which has the Lake Palace hotel within the middle of it, the scene for the James bond film Octopussy - which is screened in many of the cities restaurants daily! It's a city of small, winding streets, similar to those in the towns of Italy and Greece and its a lovely size to stroll around. I particularly enjoyed spending time in Jagdish temple which is a large Hindu temple in the centre, watching people coming in and out for darshan (worship) and performing puja (prayers). We also enjoyed doing some traditional Rajasthani painting on silk, I drew a tiger whilst Mj drew an elephant with the help of a friendly professional artist, as well as seeing some Rajasthani dancing and a puppet show - the town is filled with these traditional puppets, two of which now live in our backpacks! We spent two days here before returning again for another 3 days after we'd visited Pushkar as we liked the place so much! Whilst we were there the second time, the Muslim festival of Muharram was being celebrated, in which hundreds of people lined the streets, waiting to see dozens of pre-made replica mausoleums be speedily carried around the packed streets all in memory of Muhammad's grandsons death in the battle of Karbala one of the most famous battles in Muslim history. We then went on to Pushkar, where we found ourselves in the middle of the annual Pushkar camel fair! We enjoyed strolling round the surreal fair ground, taking lots of pictures of camels and eating at some of the many rooftop restaurant over looking the Pushkar lake and mountains. Hindu pilgrims congregate to the Pushkar lake at this time also, as to them the lake was formed by one of Krishna's tear drops, and is therefore very sacred to them! They come here to bathe in one of the many ghats which are situated around the lake. Photographs are prohibited , although we enjoyed watching the ceremonies. We also watched some of the entertainment put on at the town's show ground, including a theatrical performance of a Hindu story, and a bride and groom contest! After spending a few more nights in Udaipur we have just arrived in Jaipur, the pink city, complete with the magnificent Amber Fort and more importantly for me, a very old astrological observatory called Jantar Mantar, built in 1728 which houses various instruments and sculptures which helped calculate the position of stars, azimuth, altitude and eclipses. So I'm looking forward to that! Anyway, another update will follow once we've explored a bit more of the north - Jaipur, Jaiselmer and Jodhpur! Bye for now!

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