Ranthambore National Park

Monday 17th November, 2008 (Al)
Ranthambore National Park is a 400sqm national park in Rajasthan. It is the only place in Rajasthan where you can see wild Bengal Tigers. We had two nights booked in accommodation in two different places a few km outside of the park. The first place we stayed was Vatika Lodge, a small ‘resort’ consisting of 8 bungalows set in a beautifully maintained garden, a rare site in Rajasthan unless you’re staying in expensive hotels. It cost about 2000 rupees a night (25 pounds) and it was the first place we have been where we could say we stayed where it was completely peaceful. The owner was a lovely man called Vishnu who was also a guide in the park. Unfortunately we had already prebooked our safaris with our next accommodation down the road. We just spent the day chilling, reading our books on the balcony overlooking the garden and relaxing.

Jaipur

Friday 14th November (Wendy)
After arriving quite late we headed up to the roof top restaurant in the Pearl Palace. It was quite busy and Allan noticed a girl waiting for a table on her own. I asked her if she wanted to join us and she did. Hannah was travelling and doing some volunteering. She had just qualified as a vet and was volunteering with “Help in Suffering“, a charitable organisation similar to the one we visited in Udaipur. We arranged to meet up the next evening.
Saturday 15th November
Our first day in Jaipur and we had booked a rickshaw driver for the day. Yusef arrived at 10.30am to pick us up and we headed to the Central museum. We were getting tired of museums, palaces and forts so we were less than enthusiastic. Walked around quickly and headed to the Hawa Manal. This was built inside the old city walls using the famous pink sandstone. It was constructed in 1799 for the royal ladies to observe life in the city through the small windows. We also visited the City Palace and the Royal Gaitor. The Royal Gaitor is the site of the royal cenotaphs. Its located outside the city walls and was very quiet considering we are in the busiest town in Rajasthan. After visiting a few textile shops and tailors we went home empty handed. We certainly were not in the mood for shopping and bartering. We headed back had 20 min sleep before heading out to see our first Bollywood movie. We met Hannah and her friend Helen (also a vet), had noodles off the street and headed to the famous Raj Mandir Cinema. It cost 70 rupees (less than a pound) for a 3 hour movie. Bargain!!! The cinema was decorated so distastefully is was actually quite cool. It had a certain wow factor. The movie was quite good and we pretty much understood what was happening. People cheered, clapped and the babies cried whilst parents used their mobile phone. It was a great experience but we decided to head home during the half time interval. An hour and a half of Hindi tunes is plenty.

Sunday 16th November.
We had a slow morning, having a leisurely breakfast and reading our books. We headed into the old city for Allan to have some shirts made. After shopping we headed to the Sun Temple which is high on a hill overlooking the city or should I say smog!! This area has around 6,000 monkeys so we armed ourselves with some peanuts and started the climb. The Monkey temple was on the other side of the hill nestled in the valley. The sheer volume of Monkeys was quite intimidating however they would take a peanut quite politely from your hand. Near the Monkey Temple there were 2 swimming pools. The male one was ok but the female one was full of rubbish and the surface was a breeding ground for mosquitoes and looked rancid!
We collected Allan’s clothes and ate at the hotel. Tomorrow we head to Ranthambore National Park for some fresh air and some peace.

Pushkar

Wednesday, 12th November, 2008 (Al)
A 5 hr journey by train from Udaipur has us arriving in Ajmer, 11km from our destination of Pushkar for the annual Camel Fair/Festival. Each year 200 000 Hindu pilgrims descend upon Pushkar, a town which normally has 14 000 people to buy and sell camels/horses and bathe in the sacred Pushkar lake. Its one of the most spiritual places in India and where some of Gandhi’s ashes were spread.
Our accommodation was a small guesthouse where due to the sheer number of bookings we could only manage to secure a tent for 2 nights at 800 rupees each night (10 pounds/ $25). One look at the share bathroom (an outdoor drop hole toilet that stunk right next to where you shower). The tent wasn’t a tent but rather space surrounded by sheets to separate you from the next person. The beds weren’t beds but rather lattice stretched over wood. The tent was filled with mosquitoes. Good thing we stopped taking those nauseating malaria tablets a while ago. To put it in perspective, such tent/rooms would normal cost about 100 rupees (1.25 pounds/ $3) if the camel fair wasn’t on. The owners were a nice young English woman and her Indian husband. She was travelling through India, fell in love and ended up staying in Pushkar. Brave girl.
We ventured off to the showgrounds but were a little disappointed to find that most of the camels and owners had finished their business and returned home. All the buying/selling is done in the first week, and then the festival part is the second week. We were there for the last 2 nights. We met an Australian couple (Otto and Taryn) who told me to check out one of the shows at the showground. It was like Mad Max’s terror dome minus any safety regulations. We gave it a try and were blown away. There were guys in this dodgy wooden dome riding motorcycles around taking money out of people’s hands, not only taking their hands off the handlebars but sitting sideways , leaning backwards and riding inches away from the top where people were watching. They were then joined by two cars all at the same time going around with the drivers climbing out of the cars. Visions of a mass collapse/accident came to me and although thoroughly impressed with their daredevil skills I was happy to return to ground level. Check out the film footage on our flickr.com photos in the Pushkar set (Pushkar 012).
We were walking and talking to the Aus couple when we came across one of the temples near a ghat. Before I knew it, I was repeating a prayer for good luck from the words of a so called priest who then asked me to donate money for the well being of my family. I clued on to what was going on, having read the guide book about how these guys bully westerners into donating large amounts as they say things like ‘ 100 rupees?…is that all your family is worth to you?’. ‘They are worth at least 1000 rupees!’. Sorry Mum, Dad, Andrew and Dan, you were only worth 100 rupees this time. I’ll make up for it with Xmas presents. A donation to the needy - no problem, but I don’t believe prayers for your family cost a lot of money.
We returned to our accom and after avoiding a shower we headed back out to see the festival by night. Bad mistake. Our night was to be ruined. We steered off the beaten track and passed many Sadhus and pilgrims sleeping on the streets, camping by open fires. We seemed to be the only westerners about and Wend the only female and with the relentless staring we headed back towards the crowds. However the crowds by now had become rather smothering and we noticed it seemed to be mostly young men, many of them stoned from the bhang or drunk. I could sense it wasn’t a good situation when they started crowding around us and laughing at every possible opportunity, wanting to get as close as possible and the staring was incessant. Within 20 min Wendy had been groped about 3 times. It was so crowded and confusing at times I was unaware of who was doing what. We pulled up into some space to take a break but there was no other option to get back to our accom but face the crowds again. Wend was a little shaken and I was fuming inside. A local told us to be careful as he said the young desert men from out of town are off their faces and with it being the last night before the cleansing tomorrow , thought they could get away with targeting western women, as once they have bathed in the lake the next day, their sins will be washed away. Cowardice little men. I have to point out that in no other town, nor during the day did we feel this would happen. It was just due to the circumstances and environment. The following night another young man tried the same thing on Wend, but this time I was standing behind her and saw it. As he walked past I accidently raised my elbow and accidently smashed him across the chest to take the wind out of him. His friends stopped to remonstrate with me but they were embarrassed when I told them what he did. He ran off and I followed him shouting that he was a bad man who touched women. Another man next to me saw it as well and had a go at the man and before you knew it, all the store owners were shouting at him. He quickly ran off into the crowds. I think the locals were well aware of this problem and are not happy with the type of people that are coming to Pushkar for the festival. It’s a shame because it put a real dampener on what otherwise is a nice spiritual little town.

Thursday, 13th November, 2008
After a terrible night’s sleep at our accom due to the constant music/chanting and next door neighbour shouting at his wife, and mozzie bites, we checked out in the morning. I informed the owner, who charged me another 200 rupees for cancellation and checking out an hour later. 1000 rupees for a craphole and no sleep basically. I told her I wasn’t happy with the extra charge and that I’ll be writing a poor review on the net. It was obviously a bad 2 weeks for her as she started to cry and threw the money back at me telling me she didn’t want it. Everyone was looking at me and somehow after having to pay 10 times what the place was worth, an over emotional young English woman turns me into the bad guy. I paid the full amount and left feeling the size of a pea. Note for next time, don’t argue with a young mother who has had no sleep for a few weeks. No matter what the problem, a few tears in front of an unaware audience and it will become your fault.
We checked into a hotel down the road. Clean, own bathroom and only 500 rupees. Mmm…a little better than the last place. We had breakfast at a place called Babas which actually had vegemite on toast. I didn’t miss out. After breaky we headed back into the festival and met a young Dutch woman (Maria) who recognised us from the train journey from Udaipur. She was travelling alone and had felt very intimidated by the constant staring and threat of being groped that she did not venture out at night. Wise choice. Had lunch with Maria and she told us of an Ashram down south we might look into.
In our hotel (Sai Baba) there was a full moon party. A veg buffet dinner with a local Pushkar band. Fantastic music and atmosphere and a nice way to end our second and last night in Pushkar. Day 2 was considerably better than day one.

Friday, 14th November
A great night’s sleep and once up, we headed up the hill to the Pop Mohit temple. A steep climb but worth the walk as the views over Pushkar were worth it. Peace is such a hard thing to get in India, so it was nice to enjoy the serenity for a little while before heading back down. Just as we were about to leave a young Indian family arriving at the top and we were asked to have photots taken with them. We have been here just over a couple of weeks, and I would say we now feature on about a dozen family mantle pieces in homes in India. Wend’s 15 min of fame have not finished as I thought, and I am now being asked to also appear in photos with random strangers. I’m also called ‘Full Moon’ a lot. I don’t get it.

Udaipur

Tuesday, 11 November 2008 (Al)
Checked out of our hotel Mewar Haveli and into another down the road so we could stay a 4th night in Udaipur. We really like it here. Its a little more relaxed than the other cities and we've enjoyed chilling out for a few days, not feeling the need to do any siteseeing. Nevertheless, if we were to do any, it would be today, so we hired a rickshaw driver for the day and headed out. First the City Palace. Frankly I'm a little palaced, forted, and templed out. Its like the endless number of cathedrals in Europe. They're all pretty but they start to blend into one another. Just watching and talking to the locals is far more interesting.

After the palace we headed to 'Animal Aid' - a hospital for all animals that are injured by cars or humans and in need of emergency care. Seeing the way they drive over here and the way they treat animals is very different to back home. Cows roam as they want and are often hit by cars. Dogs are viewed as being bad animals that all have rabies, therefore should have rocks thrown at them to keep them away. It couldn't be further from the truth. Of all the dogs we saw at the sanctuary there wasn't a vicious one amongst them. They were paralysed, had missing legs and tails or covered in sores and ticks, but all seemed content they were getting some love and attention in this place. We listened to stories from the manager Julie, who came for a 2 week stint and was still there 2 yrs later. The place was owned by 2 Americans who gave up and sold their two houses in the US to keep it running each year on top of the small contributions they get from the public. These guys do an amazing job. I honestly thought it would be depressing but rather it was pretty uplifting to see the animals being cared for and seemingly happy with it. We took a couple of the dogs for a walk and spent some time patting the others. Don't worry Mum, I know what you're thinking....they all had their rabies shots. After a few hours we gave a contribution and left.

Our rickshaw driver then took us to a local cultural village (near Shilpi). It was a govt setup to show Mewar history, culture, art, music and housing. Our driver was close to finishing his guide tour exams so he came in and acted as our guide. His uncle was an artist specialising in minature paintings and after proving his skills on Wendy's nail, we bought one of his paintings. I've got to stop this habit of buying paintings/pictures wherever I go. I'm rubbish at bartering still, even after all these years. We headed off and enjoyed a nice early dinner with our driver until we returned back at the hotel for another sunset over the lake. They call Udaipur 'The Venice of the East' and it deserves the title as it really is beautiful during both day and particularly at night. The photos will never do it justice. You just have to see it for yourself.

Jodphur

Thursday 6th November 2008 (Wendy)

Had a lazy morning, packed and chatted with the group from the camel trek the previous night. We visited Maharaja’s Palace inside Jaisalmer Fort. The views from the palace were stunning across the town. A flying visit but worthwhile still. Allan had booked a train from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur. We left at 4pm and shared a sleeping booth with a Slovenian couple. I didn’t like them too much as he sat on my bunk the whole journey (they had booked the 2 top bunks). On the side bunks sat an old Israeli couple. We started to chat to them about all their travelling experiences. I think they had travelled almost everywhere in the world. When I asked her their secret she told me she ate lots of fruit and veg (all colours) and no junk food or alcohol!!! Not sure I can cut those out. They were in their seventies and travelling happily. He even got onto the top bunk for a sleep. Me and Allan want to be like that when we’re 70+. What an inspiring couple. Arrived at 10pm in Jodhpur. Headed out to Priya Restaurant which was really busy and had 2 thalis for 100 INR=1 pound 30.

Friday 7th November 2008 (Wendy)

Headed to Jaswant Thada, a white marble memorial with a fantastic view over the city. A wonderful place to have a tomb. Next we headed to the Meherangarh (magestic fort). It sits on top of a sheer cliff peering over the indigo colour houses below. Truly stunning building which even has Christmas balls on the ceiling in the Raj bedroom (a gift from the British empire). I had my palm read inside the fort. Very impressive!! Headed back to Priya for a late lunch and walked through the markets home. Absolutely teeming with life, a definite overload for the senses.

Saturday 8th November 2008 (Wendy)

We knew this might be an epic day and we were right. There is no train from Jodhpur to Udaipur. We hired a car with air con and a driver to take us for 3200 rupees (45 pound!!) Its quite usual for Indian drivers to overtake at anytime anywhere. Blind corners seem to be quite popular too. Leaving the city was ok as we had a road that was wide enough for 2 vehicles. 1 hour into the trip we then used a single road for the remaining 4 hours. Any oncoming vehicles (usually big trucks) play chicken and just pull onto the side at the last minute. This is all done at high speed!! A little crazy but it seems the norm. The scenery was amazing though travelling through the Aravalli hills. We stopped at Ranakpur Temple which is one of India’s most important temples and the finest in Rajasthan. The temple is carved beautifully out of milk white marble. It has a total of 29 halls supported by 1444 pillars. Certainly worth the drive through the mountains to get there even though there were many tourists. We then drove to Kumbalgarth fort. The fort was very simple but the sheer size was overwhelming. The fort walls are 36Km long enclosing 360 temples all at 1100m high in the Aravelli hills. It was so peaceful, no tourists and no honking horns and the air was clean. That’s a first in India. We finally arrived after many close calls on the road. Had dinner overlooking the Lake Palace island hotel. Just stunning.

Udaipur II

Sunday, 9th November 2008 (Al)

AM: Slept like a baby last night. The fatigue from little sleep the night before followed by the mental torment of thinking we were going to crash into a truck or human or animal every 5 min for a 6 hr taxi journey from the day before had taken its toll. Flisk on the TV and its time for the cricket...ah, my kind of day. once Wend was up, we headed to a place called Sunrise for a western breakfast of french toast, fruit salad (peeled) and mint tea. The paratha, curd and pickles breakfast is great... but not every day. A walk down our street and we book ourselves in for an afternoon avuyredic full body massage, head massage and facial (1 hr 10 min for about 12 pounds). This travelling is hard work and I need it. I tried saving money and getting Wend to give me a head and neck massage yesterday but she was having none of it (a tad inconsiderate I thought), so now I have to pay for it.

PM: After lunch we head to the massage clinic. I had thoughts of a Bollywood actress surrounded by incense and meditative tunes in the background. Instead, Wend gets a female masseur and I get this short fat swaety man who may have been a masseur on the weekends, but judging from the condition of his hands, worked as a bricklayer during the week. He gave me a facial that I thought was going to leave me with 3rd degree burns. Instead of lovely Indian sitar music, there was just an open window with the constant tooting of car horns. So relaxing. Nevertheless the fumes from the oil that he used still managed to knock me about and I ended up dribbling half asleep by the end.

An afternoon read of our books in the open air hotel resturant overlooking the lake and then a nice dinner at the Whistling Teal restaurant later in the night made for an easy day.

Jaisalmer

Monday, 3rd November, 2008

After a breakfast of deep fried chillie and vegetable pakora with sweet coffee (it'll kick start
anyone's day), we arrived in Jaisalmer and were taken to the Fifu guesthouse. A beautiful room and a fantastic roof top terrace with our own balcony terrace one level down overloooking the magnificent Jaisalmer Fortress. An impressive sight at night to say the least.

We headed to the fort (a 15 min walk) and were intercepted by a young man trying to entice us into his store. He asked our names and then intrduced himself as 'Al Pacino'. We chatted for about 15 min and he started talking cricket...Indians' favourite topic. I thought I knew my stuff but he just looked at me and said 'I know all about cricket Allan, more than you ever will'. His ability to bring us series that happened 10-12 yrs ago and know who was commentating and who scored double centuries and who was Australia's vice captain, opening batsmen, and no.4 was incredible. I thought of entering him on 'Mastermind' with the specialisation of Australian cricket tours. We could just skip the general knowledge part of the show.

A casual stroll into the fort and we discovered some impressive architeture. Beautiful and intricate when the afteroon sun shone on it. You just had to watch the huge cow paddies when backtracking to take a photo. As Wend was sitting on some stone waiting for me to finish window shopping a group of Indian families on holiday revoloved around her to say hello. It was a very bizarre experience. They treated her like some celebrity, taking group photos, throwing their kids on her, and generally wanted to chat. That's her 15 min of fame up.

We stumbled across an artist's store by the name of Kamal Swami. He specialised in minature paintings where the level of detail was incredible. We were fortunate enough to purchase a couple of originals off him which he signed for us. When asked why he doesn't advertise his work, he said he'd been asked that question many times but he normally chooses not to sign them as once the painting leaves his room he does not know it anymore. He doesn't have a website either but admits there is a swiss woman who buys anything he creates (which she never questions) and sells on in Zurich to wealthy bankers. I have no doubt she makes a killing as his work but worth a lot more than the amount he asked from us. We must have spent over an hr in his small shop talking to him and chatting about his art which he was so passionate about, yet incredibly humble. There were two pieces he showed us which were incredible and ridiculously detailed. He said they were not for sale as even he could not believe he was capable of producing them. He said when he could reproduce that quality on every painting, he would then advertise his work. I would love to have bought more as not only was his work brilliant, but he was a genuinely nice person. Hard to forget people like that.

Tuesday, 4th November, 2008 (Al)

My turn for a good bout of the runs. I was up all night and it wasn't pleasant. Its expected at some point but when it hits you start to ponder how you are going to maintain a similar diet over the next 5 and a half weeks. Decided to just relax as I needed to be close to amenities at all times. Lucky for us, the terrace at the Fifu guesthouse and the book 'Shantaram' by Gregory Roberts (if you haven't read it, make it the next book you buy) and the odd man and his camel, or roaming cow wandering by, makes for a chilled afternoon. In the night I felt sufficiently well enough for us to head back to the outskirts of the fort for a wander. We were enticed by a well spoken young man to a haveli which sold emboidery and patchwork by widows in the desert. At least that was the story he gave us. The sales pitch was very good showing us some of the best views of the fort at night from a stunning haveli and we ended up buying a sparkly quilt/wall rug that looks amazing under the lamplight in a beautiful traditional haveli in India, but may look ridiculous on the wall of a home rental in Perth. Nevertheless it matched the paintings we bought off Karim and we loved it.

There's something about Jaisalmer thats hard to pinpoint which makes it so nice. Its near the desert so most things are desert colour, yet every now and then a woman with the most strikingly colourful sari or a shopfront doorway of turqoise/blue/greens will contrast against the desert colour and really stand out. The shopping around the fort is full of life and everyone wants to chat and converse. We like the place.

Wednesday, 5th November 2008 (Wendy)

After waking up at 7am with horrendous acid heart burn (2 curries in one day) I vomited for a while and had horrendous stomach cramps. So i decided that i couldn't go on a camel trek today as planned, Allan had done one in Morocco so he was happy with my decision. While sitting in our usual spot reading one of the guys who works here came and chatted with us. He said there were other options today if we fancied it. He said I needed to be strong, take pain killers and armed with toilet roll the driver would stop at any time if needed (or bring me home if i was really unwell). I hate the thought that i may be missing out on some thing so I downed some paracetamol and a banana lassi (natural yoghurt shake) and we were off.

There were 7 of us in total on the tour from Fifu guest house, a German couple, a Canadian couple and a single guy from Birmingham. He could speak fluent Hindi which was really helpful. The first stop was Bada Bagh which was a stunning Hindu monument and temple. It was amazing intricately carved arches and roofs with a lush green garden in the middle of the desert and about 20 wind generators around it (that would never happen in the UK). Back in the Jeep we see a Mahah Raj temple and royal garden. Pretty cool as he had a swimming pool for when he had parties!!!

We finally arrived at the Desert National Park we stopped at a small village and greeted by loads of children and the wonderful smell of camel poo. Had a little walk around the village and looked in one house that was made of camel dung. Absolutely fantastic. The walls were smooth and clean and really funky. We returned to find out one camel had a strop and ran off so we had to wait while the children went to find it!

My camel had a baby attached to her which was quite cute except for the open weeping sore on its neck which was a perfect height to rub against my shoe or leg. My camel led the group and Allan was behind me. Apparently my camel farted most of the trek but i was oblivious to this. I had no nasty smells as i was up front. I feel sorry for the German couple at the back. We walked along a valley which had many trees and shrubs and the sand dunes were the both sides. The sun was just starting to set when we arrived at the camp. The sun set was the best we've seen. So clear with amazing vivid colours. We chilled around the camp fire with Chai and exchanged travel stories and recommendations for the rest of our trip. Dinner was served and it was really tasty, chapatti, poppadoms, rice, dal, raita, potato and aubergine in cumin and some spicy chutney. After dinner one of the leaders son's sang to us using a water barrel as a drum. Really cool! Us and the German couple headed back in the jeep to Fifu.