India... so far!

I'm currently in an internet cafe in Udaipur, India.  It's Christmas Eve and it's weird not having the traditional family celebration at home.  I thought I'd give you a little update on our trip so far... pictures will have to wait until after I get back to Saigon.

Delhi

After connecting through Bangkok and hanging out at the airport with our friend Amrita who was also on our flight, we made it to Delhi.  Mr. Gopal, our driver for 16 days, was waiting for us.  I've always wanted someone to show up at the airport waiting for me with a sign with my name on it!  We arrived at night, so we checked in to our hotel straight away.  It was in a ghetto-ish area of the city... glad we were out of there the next morning!

Mandawa

Mr. Gopal picked us up at our hotel in Delhi, but things didn't go so smoothly.  Since the hotel was in a narrow street, it was hard for taxis to come down and there was some miscommunication about where to meet.  Luckily, he helped me get a sim card for my cell phone, so now I'm officially on the grid in India.  Crazy!  It cost $4 to set up, including airtime.

The drive to Mandawa was a bit long and bumpy.  The road was good in some places but in others, it was bumpy and unpaved.  There are cows EVERYWHERE in India.  They just wander the roads.  It really is crazy but I'm getting used to it now.  Mandawa is a small town that has winding, narrow alley ways and rooftop restaurants.  We stayed in a painted "haveli" which is an old Indian heritage home.  The walls were painted with murals.  It was pretty cool and the rooftop had a restaurant with great views of the city.  We could see kids flying kites and cows wandering.

Bikaner

We left Mandawa the next morning to travel to Bikaner, a larger city.  We had lunch in the old town where there was chaotic traffic... think cars, autorickshaws, motorbikes, pedestrians, cows, and camels.  It was also very polluted so it was hard to walk around for long breathing that stuff in!  I had my first "lassi" drink in India there... it was a delicious yogurt drink flavoured with rose water.  In the afternoon, Mr. Gopal took us to the Karni Mata temple, known by backpackers as the "rat temple."  This temple was created to honour a woman named Karni Mata who people in the area worship.  There are sacred rats everywhere.  Why rats?  Apparently they were chosen to be in the temple because Karni Mata loved all creatures, even those at the bottom of society.  This place is not for the squeamish.  Rats were running around all over the temple grounds, and some were drinking from large pots of milk.  If you spot the white rat, it is considered good luck... but we didn't.  John had a rat run over his feet which is apparently also good luck.  I'm glad none of them touched me!!!

On the way back from the temple, we also stopped at the camel breeding farm.  Camels are huge in this part of India.  There is a camel festival every year in Bikaner, along with other Indian cities.  I never knew that camels made such loud, strange noises!  We tried some tea which was made from camel's milk.  It was tasty but didn't taste any different from normal milk.

Before leaving Bikaner, we spent a morning at Junagarh, the huge fort in the middle of the city.  There was a free English tour and John and I were the only "foreigners" on it.  The tour guide seemed really happy we were there visiting the fort.  Many of the rooms inside were intricately carved.  It is definitely a lot more grand than Fort Henry, ha ha!

Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is known as a desert town... and it was from this place that we made our way into the great Thar desert on a camel safari.  We booked our tour through a great company called Trotters.  We were driven by jeep before sunrise to the middle of the desert, and dropped off to meet our desert guides.  They quickly made a fire and cooked up some toast and delicious chai tea.  We watched the sun rise and then saddled up on our camels.  Mine was named Johnnie Walker.  John's was called Lucky.  Lucky was kind of a bully and always tried to fight with the other camels.  Johnnie Walker just happily trotted along, following the other camels.  We rode for several hours before breaking for lunch.  Camels are very tall, but they walk slowly so I never felt scared.  We felt really sore after getting off them though!  Lunch consisted of rice, cooked veggies Indian-style, chai tea, and chapati bread.  We took a nap for a few hours while the camels ate and rested, and then set off again for a few more hours of riding until we reached the big dunes.  It was cool to see the sun set in the desert.  We set up camp near the dunes, and spent the evening eating, drinking chai, tending to the fire, and then sleeping under the stars.  It was fairly cold in the desert, and we were given some thick blankets to sleep under.  It was amazing to see the stars so clearly at night!  The next morning, we had breakfast and rode our camels to the point where we were picked up by the jeep and taken back to town.  I will never forget my camel safari experience... I'm still sore days after it, but it was worth it.  Now I can say that I've been through the desert on a camel named Johnnie Walker!

Johnnie Walker

Jodhpur

After leaving Jaisalmer, we made our way to Jodhpur.  We stayed in the old town centre, near the famous old clock tower.  There were interesting markets around, but sadly a lot of beggars who were getting a bit aggressive.  We walked up to the huge fort Mehrangarh which is situated high above the city.  The fort had great views of Jodhpur, the "blue city."  Many of the buildings in town are painted blue, hence the name. 

The Blue City - Jodhpur

In the afternoon we hunted down the famous makhania lassi (flavoured with saffron and other spices) at some hole in the wall place near the clock tower gate.  You know a place is good when the locals are there, and we were the only tourists in the place!  It was packed with Indian people.  There is only one kind of lassi there, and not really even a menu.  We walked in and sat down, and the guy said "lassi?" and we had lassis within 20 seconds of entering the place.  It was delicious, but very rich and not something you'd eat every day!  We also spent some time hunting down the famous samosa place nearby which had delicious spicy samosas fried up right in front of our eyes.

Unfortunately, I got sick before leaving Jodhpur.  Thankfully it didn't last long.  Despite some disgusting moments, I made it through the day in one piece.  I even felt well enough to check out the beautiful Jain temple Ranakpur en route to Udaipur.  It was a stunning marble temple in the middle of a peaceful forest full of monkeys.  We've been to a lot of temples before, but this one was truly amazing and probably the most beautiful I've ever seen.  The carvings were so intricate!

That leads us now to Udaipur... where the adventure continues!  We'll be here for the next 3 nights, spending the Christmas holiday here.  More about Udaipur later.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!