Indian Desert Country

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Geo: 26.9118, 70.9127

Those last three weeks in India were a whirlwind; we travelled to more places, cities in particular, than we normally would in this short space of time. Indeed, it was too much, too fast for us aging travellers. To make it a little easier on us, we hired a car a couple of times so, with door to door delivery, it reduced some of the wear and tear on us.

From Udaipur we visited Kumbhalagarh Fort and Ranakpur, the Jain temple with its stunning artistry including 1444 marble pillars - none of which are the same. Both of these remote sites are stunning sights.

There are so many forts, palaces and temples in this state that they eventually lost their magic for us. By the time we visited the Amber Fort at our last stop of Jaipur, 20 minutes was it. To be fair, Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur was spectacular with its humongous stone structure atop a hill, the palatial rooms decorated in gold and jewels, and artifacts from the 1400s. It was our state of mind: India fatigue overlayed with next stage anticipation.

Mount Abu was our next stop where Donna visited the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual University and its Shantivan Center as well as their fascinating 'India One' at the base of Mt Abu - a huge solar thermal power plant with 770 golden solar disks soaking up that hot Indian sunshine. Jim didn't join Donna as he needed time to ease back into walking in the cooler air of the hills while he nursed his sore knee and continued to prepare for his upcoming Everest Base Camp trek.

Arriving in Jaisalmer, with that sweet combination of a colourful, desert-themed room, an open air rooftop restaurant in our hotel and a quieter town, we felt we had found our place. We stayed at the service-oriented Helsinki House on the edge of town for 4 nights, an agreeable one kilometre walk to the Jaisalmer Fort where the town tourist action was buzzing.

We relaxed, wrote/processed photos, wandered and spent most afternoons inviting the hot, arid breeze to caress us as we drank lassies and lounged on the cushion-covered 'window seats' on the rooftop. Or, as we sometimes felt the necessity to do, sat in our air-conditioned room with its large windows overlooking the desert (where I would watch the sunrise from our cushy bed as Jim slogged his 16-km morning walk).

Our safari trip into the Thar desert with Trotters Tours - Jim on camel-back and I in a jeep (I am allergic to camels) - was pleasant. Pleasant seems like a benign word, however, it describes the day. We met a variety of travellers, climbed a couple of sand dunes, sweated in the heat, and ate good campfire food.

The one exciting event was, after the sun had set and the light was waning, while many of us were sitting on a large tarp attempting to keep the sizeable yet harmless dune beetles off, a couple of the women in the group who were sitting on a camp cot adjacent to us started swearing. No screams, just a few select and powerful swear words.

They had heard a 'sssssssss' under their cot and, yes, it was a substantial (maybe one meter long and 4 cm thick) snake! Well, that put the group and leaders in a tizzy. Thankfully, Jim and I had decided not to purchase the overnight option; I would not have slept a wink!

We travelled on one last night train, a 12-hour journey, to the big city of Jaipur. I caught a cold that went into my chest and took all the steam out of whatever little I had left for India. I used our final days here to rest and recover.


I was very nervous about my tight flight connection between Jaipur and New Delhi on our discount tickets so bought an additional flight leaving earlier in the morning. That rested my mind at 'peaceful ease' (my theme for 2017). To further ease my journey, I rented a sleeping pod in the middle of the Milan airport with ZZZleepandGo and had a somewhat restful 8 hours of sleep, arriving in Naples as fresh as could be expected after 26+ hours of travel with a cold. My 'discount' flight was looking less and less like a good deal...oh well.

My sister-in-law, Brenda, and I are off on our 27-day Italy adventure promising springtime, wine, pasta and opera. Jim, his brother Jack and Jack and Brenda's two daughters Krista and Jessica are off on their Nepal expedition promising stunning views of the Himalayas, adjustment to altitude and days of trekking. Which trip would you choose?

To see more of Jim's photos and in higher resolution, visit his Flickr site.

We will post our photos of Nepal and Italy in May so don't forget to revisit our blog!

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Comments

[Susan Walker]

Welcome HOME it looks and sounds like youth had a fabulous trip. I look forward to hearing about your separate trips . I hope you are readjusting to Canadian Living xo

[Elisse Kennedy]

beautiful architecture, shading and photography