Vinny & Dogs Epic Trek Part 9: Rajistan and the Camel Fair

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In Agra, I decided to continue to a nice quaint area known as Rajistan and start in the city of Jaipur. I found out it is the beginning of the typical tourist route of Rajistan, which includes Jaipur, Pushkar, Udaipur and Jodhpur. I hit 3 of the four places....damn, I am a tourist! As I said, I started out in Jaipur which was and interesting ride from Agra. I got on the bus and we barreled down the 'highway' dodging everything I mentioned before.....animals, cars, bikes, most of which didn't have any lights.....I am so shocked we didn't hit anything looking back on it. As I said before....it seems they just make it work (I know their traffic habits would NEVER work in any part of the Western World, but somehow most of SE Asia makes it work for them!) I get to Jaipur and I have no clue where my hotel is. I dont even have a phone number, just a name. Around every bus stop is a bunch of tuk tuk drivers preying on people without a ride, i.e. me! Well I go to a guy and tell him I need a ride to this hotel. He tells me he has no idea where it is or ever heard of it. He then tells me his credentials of driving a tuk tuk for 25+ years and growing up here in Jaipur. I tell him he should know it and as we continue to 'discuss' our solution to the problem at hand, we draw a crowd, where I am the only guy without a tan and it is well past the time when the street lights are on. He tells me it doesn’t' exist and I tell him he is an idiot (I know.....winning hearts and minds) and then turn around and walk off. Another guy proceeds to tell me he knows of a place close by. I tell him lets go as long as they have internet. Along the route, he keeps telling me about how corrupt people are in the area and they have hotels which are fake on the internet to get money, when there really isn't a hotel at all......blah....blah...blah...well we get to his buddies hotel. Much to both their dismay, I go in to find the internet and find a number for the original place I had. Well I call and find out they have rooms and get the address. I come outside and tell the tuk tuk guy to take me there and he says he has no idea where it is and won't take me there. I tell him he has some issues (not in those words) and he gets on the phone and has the hotel come pick me up. While we are waiting.....being a nice guy he waits with me so he can have a drink and chat with whitey, he continues to tell me the hotel is run by mafia and they are bad people. I laugh at him, tell him he is drunk and deny every accusation he makes. When the hotel driver arrives, he starts berating him and yelling at him. I find out later, the hotel I am staying at doesn’t' pay tuk tuk drivers to drop people off, which is the main reason he wouldn't take me to the place I wanted to go. Despite this drunken Indian nutjob, I make it to the hotel and check in.

The next day I do a site seeing tour of the city. It was nice to explore and see the Pink City. (Almost all the buildings in the city are pink in color). The next day I take a tour of places outside the city. We went to a few forts and the Royal Palace to name a few places. The guide was very knowledgeable and helpful. Towards the end of the day he lost his flair though and was putzing out on me....I kept asking him hard questions to keep him in the game, such as who is going to win the World Series.....he hadn't a clue what I was talking about. Or who his favorite Football team (soccer to you Americans!) was in Europe. All sorts of stuff!

The following day I was to hire a taxi to head to Pushkar. I had no problems getting there (unfortunately along the way we saw a motorcycle accident) and checked into the hotel. Upon getting to Pushkar I found out the 'World Renowned' Camel Fair. I explored the city, making a sacrifice to the holy lake in Pushkar, and getting the blessing for the family and I, all of which you have to pay a 'donation' for. Sort of an interesting experience when he told me my 'donation' wasn't enough. I told him it was a donation and he said yeah, but for family members it cost more. I essentially told him that he was lucky to be getting whatever I was giving him. The days seem to melt away as I wandered around and saw what the Camel Fair had to offer. Picture this....an outdoor festival with too many camels to count, along with booths, selling various camel attire, and accessories all in this huge dirt field with dust flying everywhere. I was getting a bit hungry and decided to have some lunch there at the fair. I figured if I can make it through this meal without getting sick, I would be ok for the rest of the trip! Also I figure if it is good enough for the locals, then it good enough for me, right??? It turned out to be pretty good. It consisted of mixed vegetables in something like a stew on top of baked flat bread. I was the only Westerner in the place and all the Indians kept watching me eat. Nothing like being the center of attention, right?

After Pushkar, I made my way to Udaipur, the City of Lakes. My hotel overlooked a few palaces on the lake, and the roof proved to be a high vantage point to see much of the surrounding valley. A number of temples and buildings with some amazing old architecture are scattered throughout the area which all begged to be explored. I ended up seeing a few of them, among other things, in a day tour when I hired a tuk tuk for the day. The driver took me to the Royal Cemetery, which had a pad lock on the gate and a security guard just inside. The funny thing is we moved it out of the way, as it wasn't actually locked, and went inside, pausing for a moment for the driver to say hello to the guard. It was funny to see a number of other people inside doing the same, investigating and taking photos of the mausoleum-like buildings. The sun was shining and cast some amazing shadows, providing some decent photo opportunities. Upon leaving, I had to take care of the guard with a 20 spot! AHHHHHH......corruption......makes third world countries go round! I spent a few days in and around Udaipur and met some Americans along the way. We all agreed came to the same conclusion it was nice to be able to speak English for a change and chat about things from home. Upon my time in Udaipur, I opted for the flight back to Delhi in lieu of a time consuming bus or train. I spent a few hours in the Delhi airport, and then boarded my flight to Germany where I am spending a few days here visiting some friends. It is definitely nice seeing Germany again, however when I arrived it was about 28 degrees and I showed up in shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops! I should be heading out on Monday (09NOV) and will be making my way to Chile. I will definitely keep you posted!

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