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Published: December 12th 2012
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Okay so blog writing is not my thing, specially when the internet is scarce and the time it takes to sit down and think about what to write is too much to handle. I know just excuses so here we go since November 6th and the disastrous birthday dinner...
Dad and I have recovered nicely since our food poisoning ordeal although to be honest it hasn't been our last experience but by far the worst 😉 Moving on from those gory details we loved Darjeeling, the tea estate hills in North East. Cold still but beautiful sights to behold and such an amazing culture. we ventured into the small town of Mirik for two days which is a cozy hill town surrounding a beautiful lake. All in all we did a lot of hiking around this area as there are no tuk tuks, my calves are looking good and feeling strong, From here we flew to Jaipur to meet a friend of mine Amy and her mother for a two week car trip through Rajistan. I know what your thinking private driver, our own care, luxury living well yes indeed it was but yet all still staying in my budget range
(cheap).
Rajistan - The first thing you notice about Rajistan is the colors it's overwelhming, it's not just the city's known for their colors (ie. Johdpur the blue City, Jaipur the Pink City or Jaislamer the Gold city) it's the people, the life here in rajistan. Driving around the desert you see brilliantly clad groups of ladies in the fields or under trees their saris bright fuscia, tangerines and crimson. Down further you notice old men with impressive moustaches gossiping while decked out in fluorescent yellow green and pink turbans. Behind each color their is a story, holy orange for the Sadhus, electric blue for the Brahmin, Saffron turbans represent the Rajput warrior for chivalry and the nomads in black. White saris indicate a widow while a combination of red and yellow can only be worn by women whom have borne a son.
There is so much I want to write about Rajistan but i've got a whole month to catch up on so I will give you the briefest of highlights. >My favorite city was Udaipur know as the artists capital, here dad and I took a cooking course from which we learned our favorite 12 dishes. It's seven
interconnecting lakes, little islands and lush greenery made it stand out amongst the rest. In the middle of Lake Pichola sits the Lake Palace ice white in the deep blue water. >Rajistan is known as the "Land of the Kings" which I understand why, there is still a Mahrajahs living in each palace in each city. Each displays a massive fort that can't be missed along with many many temples. To say the least I have left Rajistan content to never set foot in a temple or fort for the rest of the trip. That being said the Jain Temple in Ranakpur is by far the most impressive building I have ever set foot in. It took 63 years to build, has 24 marble halls and has 1,444 pillars each uniquely carved. >Jaislamer Rajistans most westerly city is where I convinced our crew to do a Camel Safari in the Thar desert. Dad whined about it but once he got on bubo the camel he was in awe at the views, plus we got some killer videos for my nephews. >Rajistan was vastly different from the rest of India, parts of it seemed stuck in the past. In terms of
culture and gender roles Rajistan is far more traditional then the rest of India. Our driver, Ali was great he helped explain the culture diifferences, the significance of all the temples and sights we saw as well as just emersing us into the local foods. We ended our Rajistan tour with the famous Camel Festival in Pushkar, which would have been amazing had Hari Krishna not woken us up every morning at 4am with chanting. In all Rajistan was amazingly colorful and traditional. It was neat to be sharing the roads with elephants, camels, cows and peacocks at every turn luckily Ali dodge every obstacle and we were dropped off in Jaipur without a scratch. From here we said goodbye to Amy, Sunny and Ali and we hopped on a plane heading south to Goa.
Goa was all beach all the time. Ten days in Paradise was enough for Dad and I to recover from the past 5 weeks of mayhem. Our days consisted of sleeping, eating, reading, body surfing, daily walks into town, lounging under the coco covers and ending our tough days with some drinks in the various beach lined restaurants. I told dad I would stay as
long as he wanted but he insisted we head further south to Fort Cochi to emerse ourselves once again in culture before we spend the remaing months bathing on various beaches across Asia. Oh and I just booked us flights to Malaysia for the 3rd of January in case any of you are having a hard time following our planned itinerary i'll make it easy for you we don't have one!
Happy Holidays,Hali
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Wendy Berg
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Way to Wow.
I was thrilled to hear about your adventures again. an't wait to see you both. Merry Christmas from Wendy & Ed