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Published: February 2nd 2007
Jaisalmer Holy Man!!!!
You'd see these every now and then but i'd never braved a photo before!!! turned out to cost me 20 rupees though!!!..I had trouble tearing myself away from Pushker!!!! It had been my home for the last week and I’d loved the unpacking and settling in vibe of the place!!!! But next stop was to be Udaipur which the guide books and fellow travelers rave about…. I arrived after a fairly easy 10 hour bus into the water city.. Known mainly for the James Bond movie Octopussy, which was filmed in the Lake Palace and the Hill Palace… And boy did they milk it!!!!!! I hadn’t seen the film since probably Christmas afternoon 1995.. but in the space of 3 nights I’d watched it in segments about 6 times!!!!!!!!! Every restaurant plays it EVERY NIGHT!!!!!!!! There’s no getting away!!!!!!!! It does however save you the trip up the hill to the palace!!!... I didn’t warm to this place much, its beautiful but just feels a little bit like India Venice and not very warm to the heart, as in a bit for the tourist… So after 2 nights it was of to Jodphur….
Now I was only staying here to break up the journey to Jaisalmer and planned just the single night!!!!... But as ever I was charmed by Jodphur and
Jodphur Fort...
The stunning mystical Fort... my new traveling friend Betty & Serena from Italy (Hello Guys!!!!)… We met on the bus journey and had similar views on both Pushker and Udaipur, the trip blossomed into a 7 day journey in which the three of us would become good friends and have great fun times!!!!!!! (Miss You Both!!!)….
So Jodhpur, Its known as the blue city and has a fort, that’s all the book plugs but as we found out it is a bustling place with small streets that would appear intimidating to the first timer but if you embraced them you really got a look at local life and not the tourist shop front hassle that puts me off so much about a lot of places… Stayed here for 3 nights with the highlights being the view from the fort walls over the sprawling city, the blues of the housing in the morning sun were just mesmerizing…. But for me the night we (Serena and I) went back street walking and got invited into a local family home….
We’d come of the track quite abit and it was night so small dark winding corridor streets into the heart of the Old City, there we
were freely chatting and greeting the locals we came across and generally just being nosey, sneaking peeks into doorways and windows that kind of stuff… We came across a group of about 5 kids, one girl particular was a gorgeous little thing!!! I swear if I’ve no family by the time I’m 38 I’ll be back over to India to adopt!!!! The children of India are stunning and extremely cute, don’t get me wrong UK kids are nice too but your talking 1 in 20ish but here every 4 little girl or boy has this scruffy big eyed innocence that bowls you over (hence all the pictures!!!)… I digress the kids wanted us to go into the home and see both the family and the house (room by room!!!)… They were obviously quite well of and the house seemed to be for about 8 to 10 people… As we went in we were offered chai which we declined!!! Until we saw the amount of pictures we had to look through!!!!! So on the second offer realizing were here for a while we excepted with thanks… After the wedding of the year pictures we had a little dance show from the
The End!!!!!!!
The final all together group shot!!!!!!! Great trip thanks "All!!"...x kids in which I took part to their great amusement!!!! (I can now do the Indian changing a light bulb dance quite well!!!...lol).. As always the they were fascinated by me taking pictures and showing the results, for them pictures are history and a sort of thing to worship both friends family and god for that matter when they may not be close by (as you can see from the picture of the older brother on the wall of one of my photo’s from the house!!!)… After about an hour or so we said our goodbyes and left, I have the address and will be sending my pictures on for them to add to the collect they have and I’m sure we’ll take pride of place on the wall somewhere…..
From here the 3 of us traveled to Jaisalmer which again the guide books promote as a cant miss and also the gateway to the Thar Desert and your camel safari!!! The journey there was the worst bus journey so far for me in India!!!!! Crap roads!! Crap Bus!!!!! 12 Crap Hours!!!!... But the sight of the city approaching is pretty wonderful in all its sandstone glory… We settled
Me & Serena
Check Out The Hair!!!! Kinda Growing On Me Know (No Pun Intended!!!)... Think I'll Probably Keep It!!! into a touted hotel by lure of a pool!!! Hadn’t swan in a pool for far too long!!!! And when we got there to find it only 100rps (118p) per night we were pretty pleased with ourselves!!!! We were also pleased to get the cost of our hotel booked 3 day desert safari down from 15,000 to 9,000 for the 3 of us!!!! That is until Serena went on a wonder and was told of the biggest scam around in the booking of hotel trips were they give you a cheap room as they are actually charging an extra 3 to 5,000 for your trip!!!!!!! I’ve been so chilled the past 8 months I cant ever remember raising my voice or getting heated in the slightest!!! But I had to turn it on as I was getting my (our) money back regardless!!!! You don’t mind making the wrong choices or or paying for a quicker service at times but I certainly begrudge being ripped off!!!! It only happened twice so far and that is enough (Rio & La Paz)… After a 20 minute confrontation and threats to go to the police we got our money!! But we also got thrown
Jodphur Fort...
Bit of a tourist stunt by the musical dad but great little character.. funny video footage of him playing some music??... out!!!! Mainly so we couldn’t tell the other guests of the scam!!!!!... We managed to find new rooms and a trip for the next day as per original plan!!!!!
By this time we were gelling well and the banter was flowing, Betty is the funniest girl ive met in ages and her pigeon English and local Italian dialect was a joy for both me and Serena (who has perfect English, French, German, Italian…)… Betty would kill me with her pronunciation (or non) of the English “H”, as in “Ray Do You Wanna Arf Of This??”… she also got the blame for anything that went wrong!!!!! Which it did often!!!!! And of course the “Mama Mia” which to my delight was used at least 5 times a day!!!!!
So off to the desert…. I was bad the day before so was unsure I would make 2 nights as needed to be close to my toilet!!!! And also my neck had tightened up from the bus trip from hell!!!!!... My fears were confirmed the next morning when the 5 am wakeup call was met with a dash to the loo and my aching neck??? So I didn’t leave with the
Udiapur.. Street Kids...
How Cute Are Those Smiles????? She got my coke and some biscuits as i awaited my bus for Jodphur... girls just went to the chemist and then for a 2 hour massage with a view to catching them up on the second night….
This did however mean that I (now feeling 100% better!!!) was to be in a new group for the day until we got to camp.. I again was very lucky and had a wonderful mix of people to get to know and we all gelled very quickly.. It was Me, dean (wales), Rodger (Nott), Steve (Oz Mel) and Danielle and Barbara from Austria…. “Hello Gang!!!!!!”
On these kinds of things I always seem to get the half dead or crazy wild animal!!! But I got lucky and after a get to know you half hour me and my camel Clarence were doing great… Not too sore either!!!!! But I’d not of liked to do the extra day I missed!!!! As was sore enough!!!... The highlight of this trip was the evening and the food and the guys!!!!! We had a fire and singsong on the open dunes where we slept under the stars with just our blankets and each other to keep warm (out of the wind thankfully!!!! Ha!! Ha!!)… Having missed the first
Jodphur....
We went to the park gardens for a relaxing day while there and this little angel came over to me with a bunch of flowers she'd picked just for me... super sweet... she shayed and chatted untill the park guards shooood her away in Hindi!!!! night when it would of just been us 3 I wanted that feeling so went of for a wonder around the dunes during the night which was fantastic, the place was bright enough from the moon but dark enough for the starry sky and to see 2 shooting stars… Loved the desert and if it wasn’t for the camel sores would happily of stayed more nights!!!! It was a sad time when it came to leaving…
It was also a sad time the following afternoon when the team had to be split up!!!!! Betty was off back to Pushker and Serena to Varanasi via Jodhpur (see you there!!!)…
I however am now in Delhi after my 22 hour train ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Delhi was just a quick stop to do some official stuff.. Including altering my final flight which is to be on 11th April… I also booked myself flights to the Andaman Islands where I will spend my last month (beach, snorkeling, fishing & getting fit???) before I meet up with my sister in Bangkok for my “Integration Back Into Society Course!!”…lol
So for me now a night train to Varanasi for maybe a week then Kolkata for
Udiapur By Night...
Sunset from the restaurant here... Very beautiful... a few day before a week trip to Nepal to see Katmandu… then fly to the island on the 22nd Feb…
Quite a fast connection here so lots of pictures!! See page 2 too...
Love To You All…..
Ray…
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Gareth
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Hotel City Palace
Nice blog and pics, i was in Jaisalmer a few months ago and i stayed at the hotel with a pool, which i reckon is probably the same one as you, the hotel city palace. Total rip-off on the camel safari, and a very shifty looking owner... but i enjoyed the pool to much, so we stayed. I also took a photo of that sign onthe train - harrassment includes the singing of songs - classic!