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Published: August 10th 2007
Rajastani Man
Weaver Caste - Wicked MoustacheWe stepped off the plane in Udaipur, Rajastan and into what seemed like an oven. With the daily average temperature around 43 degrees this is the hottest place I had ever been to.
We were tempted with the aircon in the taxi but as it was going to cost us 2 quid we wound down our windows and enjoyed the boiling breeze. We checked into Dream Heaven hotel and got an air con room that overlooked the infamous lake.
Udaipur (known as the City of the Lakes) was breathtaking and sums up what India is all about: beautiful palaces, windy old streets and fantastic old architecture. On our first night we watched kids fly their kites in the warm air currents from the rooftops of the buildings - magic!
We thought our first day was going to be a disaster as there was a strike so everything was closed (it was because of a fake encounter where a policeman had taken the law into his owns hands and shot a terrorist and the strike was to support the policeman), anyway we went forth and found the secret entrance to all the sights that were in fact open, lucky
Jodphur Fort and the Blue Town
The Brahims paint their houses blue for good luck (I think) and to repel insects, maybe I should paint myself blue! we never believe anything anybody tells us.
We took in the Old City where the Maharaja's lived in the grand old days, a boat trip on the river to an island where a run-down palace sat, and a look around an exhibition of a crystal collection that was undiscovered for over 100 years and never seen by the owner - he snuffed it before it arrived!
In the evening we settled into a shabby cafe to watch Octopussy as it was filmed in Udaipur and some of the palaces we had visited, it was quite comical to see one of the major fight scenes in the movie being part of an auto rickshaw chase around the windy streets.
We also had a fab meal in a rather swanky restaurant with views over the lit up fort as we did not fancy the shabby cafe again where there was a pet mouse and they fed a cow when he came-a-looking for food at the door.
We stayed in a very cool Haveli (old building with lots of charm and antique doors to you and me) in our next stop - Pushkar. The town is ultra-religious, there was
a sign at the town's entrance that said you were not allowed to hold hands (or commit any other acts of vulgarity), eat eggs, meat or drink alcohol otherwise you would be condemmed. As we did not fancy a night in an Indian Jail Nick and I refrained from our usual PDA.
We did not do much here except wander around the town and get hassled upteen times by 'priests' wishing to bless you. The scam was they gave you a flower, asked you how many people were in your family and charge you accordingly for the number of blessings they needed to give to you for your family - if we had been gullible we would have left with a massive bouquet.
Alot of Hindus visit Pushkar because of the Braham temple which we felt was a bit grotty considering it was one of the most holiest places to worship. Oh, I did get attacked by one of the many street cows on one night, I was trying to make my way between 2 cows and one walked into me with her horn, my knight in shining army reacted by running away, his reason "I did not
want to get attacked too".
We took a train onto Jodphur where we stayed in an enormous room. It was still sweaty hot but we loved it here. There are tens of winding narrow streets bustling with sellers, smells, people and the odd cow. We visited the fort which was the most beautiful fort we had seen (we had seen a few) and were lucky enough to get one of the fort's guards to unwrap his 9 metre turban. It was pretty amazing how quickly he could wrap it up again too.
We also spent a day on a Village Safari which we thought would be interesting, would we actually get to see some villagers? Do they bite? It was quite a laugh as we were with a bunch of other travellers and our first stop was to take Opium tea at a villagers' home, we were only allowed a small bit each so we were not seeing blue elephants. Opium is legal in Rajastan and used in 'welcoming' ceremonies in people's home, I am sure it makes everybody feel welcome.
The rest of the village safari was spent at craft demos where I got to make
Kite Flying - Udaipur
Anyone read the book "Kite Runner"? a clay pot on the wheel (worth 50 Rupees City Palace Dining RoomUdaipurby the time I had finished it!) and we got to view block printing and rug making.
From Jodphur we made our way to Jaisalmer where there was another fort, this one was quite impressive as is more than 1000 years old and still standing! Our main reason for going there though was to partake in a camel safari. We travelled out into the desert with a group of 8 people that we had met in Jodphur. We trotted into the sunset on our first day on our camels and rested at The Royal Sand dunes (that was why we paid double). It was brilliant fun going fast on the camels and they seemed to be quite up for it too. We spent the night on a block of concrete in the desert under the stars and grotty blankets drinking cold beer, listening to an ipod (travelling is luxury now) and having a laugh. It got quite chilly in the night and we were up early to mount our camels again for a 2 hour ride back to the jeep.
On our way back into Jaisalmer
we stopped at a random village for no reason except for the kids 100 Year Old Camera and cameramanwhose job it was to convince us to part with our money to take photos of them - unfortunately one caniving lad ran off with a pair of Ray Bans from our group and would not give them back for a good half an hour, cheeky swine - he was crying by the end of it. After a much needed shower and some lurvely Italian food we went shopping and then caught the train to our last stop in Rajastan in the hope of seeing some tigers, all will be revealed in our next blog - I bet you are all on tenderhooks! Hope you are all really well, if you have got this far, well done and please leave us a message as its good getting all the news from home when you are far far away. Cheers - Sal and Nick
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Betts
non-member comment
Thought this was going to be an update on how you had ended up with severe sunburn ;-) Glad to hear you are still having fun travelling for less than a packet of crisps, eating at the same places the wildlife do and sleeping under the stars. Seriously I give you guys credit am not sure I could do what you are doing but am loving the truthful updates...it's like been there with you! Sal we never met up with your friends at Coachella which was a shame. We did meets a few other Aussies as we were in line for 5.5hrs to get in...tell you that story when you get home. Festival was fab and hope to go back for '08 Keep on truckin' - Bettsx