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"India makes me feel like we're cash cows and everyone's just trying to milk us" - Daniel George Matthews, 18th May 2010,
I felt compelled to share this quote with you as it was when Daniel had reached his absolute limit with rickshaw drivers and was so irate he shouted it in the street accompanied with aggressive cow milking hand gestures. Nothing compares with having seen this first hand though I'm afraid. In fact, he had an all in all very stressful time in our next city, Jodhpur, also known as "The Blue City". The old quarter is made up of extremely narrow streets, a lot of traffic and no pavements and he broke out in cold sweats every time we had to venture out onto them. Traffic in India generally consists of cars, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, bicycles, motorbikes, vans, pedestrians, camels and cows. Cows/bulls are sacred so are free to roam wherever they please and they do so in great numbers in every city. The cow pats however are not so sacred. One afternoon I had not noticed a bullock (sorry couldn't resist getting that in!) ambling behind me, stopping to check something in the guidebook, I got
promptly butted in the arse.
We had a bit of luck when we arrived in Jodhpur with our hotel. As it is low season we have been able to stay in nice places at a lower cost than usual. In this particular guesthouse, combined with some accomplished haggling from Daniel, we managed to bag ourselves the "Queen Palace" room for under a tenner! I've included the photo. As "The Blue City" suggests, most of the buildings are painted blue which from a distance looks amazing. The best views were to be had from the Mehrangarh fort we visited. It's one of the largest forts in India and sits atop a hill overlooking the old city. We spent a few days wandering around the city and had some great food here also but were looking forward to a less hectic time in Pushkar.
A little story worth mentioning before I continue is...during one of our long journey's on an overnight sleeper bus, we had stopped early in the morning for a break. Daniel got out of our fish tank cubicle to get some air, I pulled the glass screen shut on myself and pulled the curtain across to change
out of my pyjamas in order to follow him. I was half way through changing when I noticed I had left a gap in the curtain and there was a man watching me through it!!! He looked at me as if this were the most normal thing he could possibly be doing. I, in a fit of rage, flung open the screen and gave him a few choice words and he continued to look totally bewildered as to the source of my anger. He soon got the message.
Pushkar is quite a religious town set around a sacred lake, you have to take your shoes off 30ft before reaching it. However, the lake has not withstood the 45 degree heat and there was no water when we were there. It's a really nice, relaxed town but I'm afraid it will always be remembered for the amount of power cuts we suffered. Power cuts are the order of the day in India but in Pushkar it was particularly bad. This is not what you need when it's the hottest part of the day and not even a fan will work, Daniel spent a lot of his time just standing in
the shower. In all seriousness though, it has been absolutely sweltering everywhere we've been. I don't know if you have seen on the news (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/india-heatwave-deaths) but it's their hottest summer since records began! Many people have died and they are predicting that in the coming weeks it will hit 50, probably best we will have left by then.
Jaipur was our next stop and is the capital of Rajasthan. There's a lot to see here and we visited the City Palace, the amazing Amber Fort, Hawa Mahal and Nahargarh Fort. In the City Palace there are two huge silver urns on display that can each carry 4000 litres of water. These were used by a highly religious Hindu ruler, Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II, who filled them with water from the Ganges and took them with him on a trip to England. He used the water to bathe in after any contact with non Hindus. Fortunately, it was probably a lot cleaner in 1901 as now the Ganges is 100 times dirtier than what is deemed safe to even bathe in! That doesn't stop millions of people bathing in the holy waters each year.
Not far from Jaipur
is the Ranthambore National Park which is one of the best places in India to spot tigers. Poaching is a problem in this park and there are a lot less tigers there than there once was but we decided to take the 2 hour journey anyway and try our luck. We did 2 safaris and I wish I could tell you that we saw one but we didn't. This would have been fine if in the park there were other animals of interest but we kept having to stop to look at deer. Also, I'm not sure how likely it is that a tiger will casually stroll past your canter when you have an Indian family behind you munching their way noisily through packets of crisps. All was not lost though our guide did show us a paw print and some tiger faeces.
We went from here to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. Our hotel was practically next door to it, however not as majestic, contender in fact for worst accommodation in India. Whilst here we visited Agra Fort and also made a trip across the river for a view of the Taj at sunset. The day we
actually visited it we got there at 5:50am in the hope of being one of the first to arrive but people were already there! Despite this and it being a bit hazy we still managed to get some decent pictures and I even managed to get the Princess Diana shot! Sort of. It is pretty special when you see it and the story goes that the emperor, in 1631, was so upset by the death of his 3rd wife that he promised to build her the greatest mausoleum to symbolise their love, her tomb is inside. One myth surrounding it is that after completion he cut off the hand of the chief mason so another like it could never be built. Anyway, it is easily one of the most impressive things we've seen on the trip.
Finally, we made our way to our last stop, Delhi. Our first day here was also my birthday so we went to Old Delhi and after visiting the largest mosque in India (where we got well and truly rinsed of cash) we did a trip on a bicycle rickshaw round all the bazaars. It was really good fun and our cyclist was really
informative and friendly. He took us to the wedding market, sari market, jewellery market and spice market. Daniel asked him if he could take us somewhere for me to try some paan, he has tried it before in Leicester but thought that on my special day I ought to. I didn't find it very special. Paan, is something that many Indians chew as a sort of palate cleanser and I couldn't even begin to tell you what is in it so I have lifted this straight from wikipedia..."betel leaf with areca nut and slaked lime paste. Paan makers may use mukhwas or tobacco in paan fillings. Other types include what is called sweet paan, where sugar, candied fruit and multi-colored, sweetened, candy-like fennel seeds are used". Generally, it would be chewed for about half an hour, I lasted about 2 minutes before it met its end on the side of the road. That evening we treated ourselves to a nice restaurant and it turned out to be the nicest establishment we have set foot in some time. The following days we went around New Delhi and visited the Ghandi museum, which is also where he was assassinated, India Gate, temples,
Connaught place and a few more markets. And that's it! Today is our last day and after 9 months and 17 countries it's all over and we will be back in the UK tomorrow 😞
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Heather
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I loved your post and photos from Jodphur! I haven't been there yet but I can't wait to go. I like the quote you shared too. My blog has some fun quotes as well, and we're always looking for travel tips, photos, etc, to share. If you have the time, check it out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com, or email us at dirtyhippiesblog@gmail.com. Continued fun on your travels! Heather :)