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Published: February 28th 2007
Last entry we were heading up to the gateway of the himalayas to do yoga and meditation (and get in touch with our spiritual side......) at a place called rishikesh, 7hours north of delhi.
The ashram we were staying in was a little on the mediocre side of things as we shivered our way through 4 blankets on the first night due to an undiagnosed rising damp in the corner of our room. The meals were also very interesting, being served on boarding school/prison trays serving same-same but different thalis every morning.noon and night. The yoga was great though, 7am starts as we all assembled into the main yoga hall for asana yoga. Clare and i (you wouldnt believe i am an ex-gymnast) struggled our way through the moves as our brick-like hamstrings prevented us from being able to gracefully conquer anything. Some men in the class were able to pull there legs further towards their head than we could....and when the instructor personally approached clare to see if she was in fact foxing and her leg may actually go further that its current position, clare was unable to breath and told the teacher that her hamstring was about to
give way!
Rishikesh was beautiful, although a little spoilt by tourism (and one too many yoga-obsessed euros and sleazy Sadus).
Another mammoth train journey (with many-a indian with sinus congestion) lead us to jaipur, Rajisthan's Capital. Staying in Evergreen hotel, a well-earned escape from the busy streets we rested our weary heads and headed for the sights. After being approached by our tuk-tuk driver mohammed, we were easily persuaded into getting him to be our tour guide of jaipur for the day. Quick stops to the fort, monkey temple (as my monket facination grows), the pink palace, the observatory and a quick samosa from a street stall, clare and i were somehow roped into going to his mohammeds mates textile factory, where we swore to everyone, 'we are just looking, no buying today, but thankyou'....before we knew it we had a cup of masala chai in one hand and a tape measure around our bust getting our measurements taken for two handmade sari tops.
if this wasnt our weakest point of the day, Mohammed somehow persuaded us to go and see 'the guru' who wanted to read our chakra (....and sell us gem stones). Clare was a
little freaked out by how accurate the guru was in reading her chakra, so before we knew it we had made a second date with tuk-tuk mohammed to pick us up at 9;30am and take us to amber fort.......oh.......and then back to the textile shop to pick up and pay for our sari tops.....and see the guru again to buy some gems!
...haha, the morahan sisters were sucked in to the stock-standard tourist formular : get-them-in-the-shop-and-you'll-have-them-feeding-out-of-your-little-persuasive-hand!
Have found a real appreciation for paneer/cheese curd (or 'chicken of the cow') as we have not had a slice of meat since london (and i wouldnt even call that real meat). Now in laid-back Pushkar (with 101 other tourists/israelis) as we have unwound from city life around a pool eating momos (tibetan dumplings) like they are going out of style.
Still no dodgy-guts....Clare and i really do feel that we may be the only two who actually put on weight in india (along with our small minority group of genetic iron guts)
Next stop jasailmer where we might even become aqauinted with a camel or two 😊
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Frannie
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Iron Guts Girls!
The adventures of the Morarhan sisters is fascinating! Can you do me a favour - whilst in India, please locate the little man who rings me every night at 7.30 and please tell him No I don't want to buy. I may be related to the "sucked in sisters" but I'm not buying!. The older version of yourselves - your mum and I are planning Italy trip2. Won't be the same without you two. Have fun