Jaipur and Jaisalmer

Well, it's been almost a week since my last proper post. A lot has happened since then, with many photos to boot, so this is going to be a pretty long post! I'll break them up into accounts of each city.

Jaipur

Click here to see the photos of Jaipur

The first day in Jaipur, Matt and I checked into Stephel's Guest House, recommended by the owners of the Shah Jahan Hotel in Agra. It seems everyone knows a brother or uncle or friend who runs a hostel, restaurant, shop, or auto rickshaw somewhere in India! Headed up to Nahargarh, an old, abandoned fort resting atop a hill just north of the 'Pink City', the old walled district in Jaipur so named for it's pink buildings. They're not really pink. More like a light red-brick colour. There was a long winding path leading up to the old fort, from which we had some amazing views of the city. It was much larger than I had expected, literally sprawling to the edge of the horizon. You could really feel that Jaipur was a large place, even down amongst the streets. It's slightly quieter, in the sense of traffic, than Delhi, but still pretty mad. We walked around the old fort, before heading back down into the Pink City area to wander around, getting our bearings, and also visited the Samode Haveli where my sister had stayed last year, a lovely hotel set in a lush walled area, and even sneaked a look at some of the rooms. Unfortunately, this was the day my camera really decided to pack in, so I don't have any photos unfortunately! We walked a few backstreets where I came across a bunch of Indian kids playing cricket, and they threw me the ball so I could deliver a few bowls. They insisted I keep the ball afterwards, but it was bright pink ad plastic. What would I want with a pink plastic ball for a whole year? Plus it have landed in the grotty gutter at the side of the street after a kid smacked it there. Maybe they tried to offload it to me!
That night, we chilled out in the lovely courtyard of Stephel's, and met Alan, an English man who had come into India after visiting Nepal. I think he fell in love with my Electric Tennis Racket of Mosquito Death after I showed it to him when he complained about all the mozzies!
The next day, I spied a Sony shop round the corner from my hotel and bought myself a new digital camera. Happy with the purchase, but it set me back 250 quid! Matt was still asleep in his room, so I ventured out for a bit. Found that rickshaw drivers tend to hassle you much les when you're on your own for some reason! Jaipur is pretty full on as well with the number of people trying to sell you things. That afternoon, we headed to one of the hospitals so that Matt could be looked at by a doctor, as he had had severe pains in his stomach for 4 days and was quite worried by it. Normally the 'Delhi Belly' only lasts 3 days. We were taken there by a 13 year old kid riding a cycle rickshaw (we found them much cheaper than the auto-rickshaws). So far, we've been driven by a 70 year old man blind in one eye, a 13 year old kid, and some other odd characters!
We pretty much took it easy the rest of the day so Matt could recover. We went back up to the old fort, Nahargarh, so he could take some sunset shots over the city, which turned out we couldn't do. We were in time, but you couldn't see the sun due to the smog covering the city. He also literally got mobbed by a group of kids on the way up, begging for change, and smacking us with wooden sticks!
After a short drink in the cafe inside the fort, we explored some backstreets in a slum-like area at the foot of the hill. We received a lot of stares from people as I guess not many tourists head that way. We were literally mobbed again, this time by about 20 kids, following us demanding money, in response to our 'No', they replied in repeated chorus 'YES, YES, YES!' for about 10 minutes before some adults chased them away. We had walked aimlessly and were desparate to find a rickshaw amongst the backstreets lest we got mobbed again. And we did, for a third time, as we mounted the rickshaw, the driver could not pull away due to the number of kids surrounding us asking us for a photo, money, pens, etc. The driver had to drag them away before he could ride off.
We went back to the hostel and he headed to bed early, and just as I was about to go to bed, Alan knocked on my door with an offer of a beer, so I headed out ito the courtyard and had a nice long chat about travelling, our relationships, and life in general. Real backpacker style.
The next, and final day in Jaipur, we headed back into the Pink City to visit the City Palace and an old observatory dating back a couple of hundred years, built by one of the Moghuls of Jaipur. The City Palace itself was not so interesting, although a snake charmer and a private audience with some Rajasthani musicians and puppeteers to one side of the courtyard peaked our interests.
The obervatory was pretty run down, it really need a good lick of paint and renovation! IT's dominated by a huge sundial, which is apparently accurate to two seconds, even though it was built hundreds of years ago. The are miniature versions along side it, allocated to the zodiac signs.
As we left the compound by the East Gate, I spied the top of a Hindu temple and asked Matt if he wanted to find a way to it. It was obviously off the main street and down some small back roads. I'm glad he agreed. The temple was nice, but what was even nicer was the priest and temple keeper, and old man perhaps in his 60's, with his grand-daughter riding his shoulders everywhere he went. He gladly showed us around, opening up locked portions of the temple (dedicated to Brahma), and even blessed us and adorned us with a garland. I felt such an upwelling of happiness that someone could be so nice and friendly without wanting anything in return for once.
We then took a bus (our first one in India!) to venture out of town to see the Amber Fort, an imposing structure built 40km to the north-east of Jaipur. On the way, we spied the Lake Palace (although not as grand as the oe in Udaipur we'll visit next week). Amber Fort is also totally abandoned, but it's intricate maze-like structure traps unsuspecting tourists, and every turn, corridor and room may contain a befuddled Westerner trying to find his way out. Matt and I loved exploring it, looking into every nook an cranny, up and down every staircase, and even 'found' two little havelis in the far corner which no other tourist seemed to find.
So back to the hostel where we packed our bags, ready for our overnight sleeper train to Jaisalmer, 12 hours away. We ended up talking to the owner's son at Stephel's, who was a surprisingly nice and open guy despite his persistent scowl. He gave me a huge compliment by saying I was the most 'smiling', and happy person he had met out of thousands of guests who had stayed over the 9 years at the hostel. Needless to say, I was very touched. He genuinely seemed to like talking to me, and even gave Matt and I a parting present, a semi-precious stone wrapped in some paper. That wasn't the only present we received that night, on the way to an internet shop, Matt and I were approached by a tout, who seemed to want to sell us some marionettes. We tried to dismiss him, but he followed us and asked us where we can from and what languages we spoke. I told him that I spoke English (obviously!), Cantonese and French, and to my surprise, he spoke back to me in perfect French! It turns out he used to live there, and studied performing arts in Toulouse for 3 years. He was so overjoyed at being able to practise his French he decided to give me and Matt a marionette each for free.
The overnight sleeper train was pretty cool. We had a whole sectio to ourselves (6 berths, 3 stacked on top of each other). Slept very well through the night, although the temperatures dropped to near freezing the last 6 hours as we passed through the fringes of the Great Thar Desert. I was nicely woken up by 3 Indian ladies singing Hindu prayers on a berth at the end of our section. They must have got on at Jodhpur, on the way to Jaisalmer.
On the way from Jodphur to Jaisalmer, we also stopped at Pokaran, the site where India set off its nuclear bombs a few years ago. The place was crawling with soldiers as it's the site of a major military base, keeping an eye on the Pakistan border.


Jaisalmer

Click here to see the photos from Jaisalmer

Now this place is nice. The first thing I noticed about Jaisalmer is the relative calm and peacefulness of the large town (population around 20,000). No incessant beeping of horns, no mad traffic, and very few touts at the exit of the station. I knew we had come somwhere more remote and less touristy than the other places we had visited. The most stricking feature, much like the other cities, was the old sandstone fort sitting on a single hill rising out of the sands of the Thar Desert.
We were picked up for free at the station by our guest house, The Ratan Palace, which had an amazing view of the fort from the rooftop restaurant, plus being able to look out over all the sandstone rooftops of people's houses. On arrival, we booked ourselves a 3 day trip into the desert on a camel safari, then headed up to take a look at the fort.
On the way, we passed a magnificent haveli, with a local Rajasthai woman and her child standing outside. Her brother was outside selling CDs of his music, and even local instruments. She tried to invite us to dinner inside the haveli and she lived in it, but we declined. I kind of regret it. It's so hard to decide if someone is being sincere or not. I think if her brother had not been trying to sell us his CDs whilst she invited us, I might have accepted. It's just after all the touts, possible scams etc, that we have encountered, we didn't want to accept their hospitality only to find we were 'coerced' into buying something from them.
The fort is still very much inhabited, unlike the others. The walled 'city' is crammed with beautifully sculpted havelis, temples and shops. Cows, bicycles, Indian kids and families walk ad pay in the narrow passages. The only drawback is the abundance of electricity cables and poles , and due to increasing tourism, signs for hotels and restaurants and shops that block some fantastic views of the intricately carved balconies and house fronts. In one courtyard, after being asked by some kids where I came from (England, I said. Sometimes I say Hong Kong), they pulled me into a brief game of cricket, where I did some bowling and batting. One of the deliveries from a kid went wide, bounced of a wall and straight ito a bowl of collected cow-pat with a resounding 'thuck' noise. Lovely. I walked away after that! Many of the houses have an image of Ganesh, the son of Shiva, an elephant god with multiple arms painted by the main door. This is accompanied with writing, two names and a date. This signifies the last marriage in the household and will stay there until another marriage occurs in which case the new names and date is painted over the old one. They are everywhere in Jaisalmer, and seems to be a custom local to the town.
The first night there, we just chilled out under the overcast sky looking at the lit up fort. There was an amazing display of sheet lightening with the occasional fork lightening that lit up the skies over the desert. Unfortunately, as we later experienced, a big rainstorm enveloped the town. That night, I woke up at 2am with a severe fever and a bad case of the runs. I had to go to the loo every 30 minutes, practically unable to sleep the entire night. When we woke the next morning at 6:30am for the desert trip, I told Matt that I couldn't go, and we had to delay it till the next day. I went to a pharmacy and stocked up on some anti-biotics, before sleeping most of the afternoon. Luckily, the following day, I was fine, except with a little stomach cramp.

The Great Thar Desert

Woke up at 6:30am, breakfast, then a jeep ride out of town, via Bara Bagh, the old Royal cemetary for the rulers of Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer used to be a thriving overland trade route before the ports of Bombay (now Mumbai) opened up. The legacy of Jaisalmer can be seen at Bara Bagh with ornate tombs, and the sheer number of them dating from the eleventh to twentieth century. A short ride later, and we met up with our camels and our guide.
In our group, we had 5 travellers. A young Dutch couple, Michel and Florence, a german lady in her forties, Michaela, and Matt and me. We introduced ourselves the guide, Del-boy (aka Dalpat, and yes, Del-boy as in from Only Fools and Horses on TV! Obviously given to him by an English traveller!). Del-boy turned out to be a real character! His exclamations of 'Hey man, YOU the MAN!', and 'No worry, no hurry, no chicken, no curry' brought great laughs from us. He wore these huge bling ruby earrings too. Lurvely. As we set off on the camels (mine was called Ratta, but I switched to Raju after Ratta ledt on the second day with the Dutch couple) with our small rucksacks attached (plus a sleeping bag for me), I realised how much my asrse was going to hurt after 3 days of riding. Not 5 minutes ito the ride, and my legs were already sore, especially the inside of the thighs! I don't know how women can stay in the missionary position for so long!
The desert is a fantastic place. The Thar Desert isn't like the deserts you think of. Yes, there's plety of sand, but it's also rocky in many places, with lots of thorny shrubs, and the occasional tree. And yes, there is tumbleweed and skeletons of animals! Luckily the rain had subsided from the night and day before, although there was still the odd cloud cover. At least we wouldn't burn the first day!
The first day riding was pretty tough, as I said, due to pain. We tried to keep our minds off it by chatting and getting to kow one another. I have to say, that Michel got quite annoying. He was very loud, and pretty obnoxious, especially about the camels and Del-boy (and his assistant). That was further compounded when we reached out campsite for the night, amongst some fine sand dunes. After a nicely cooked dinner of dahl, instant noodles and freshly made chapatis (round flat bread cooked on a hotplate over the campfire), Del-boy launched into fantastic song, singing a Rajasthani song to Shiva whilst tapping on a plastic petrol can (holdig water), whilst his assistant clapped along. Michel insisted on joining in shaking a water bottle totally out of time and yelling 'Holland!' in between everyline until we all told him to shut up. It kind of ruined the moment as the sun set over the dunes.
The first night was awful. It had spattered with rain for a few minutes before we went to bed under the open sky. It wasn't wet on the ground, and we weren't soaked by the rain, but during the night, wrapped up warm in my sleeping bag, I woke up drenched to the skin, freezing, not from rain, but from the condensation that have formed on my sleeping bag and soaked it through in the freezing temperatures of the nght. Plus, I had a dug beetle crawl onto my face later on in the night which was a nice surprise. Maybe I smelt bad after a whole day on a camel and no shower!
The following morning, we were pleasantly woken by Del-boy giving us each a nice warm cup of chai. We kitted up and headed into an old abandoned village called Ludvali, which used to be occupied by Brahmins who had suddenly evacuated over night due to the Moghul of Jaisalmer threatening to kill them if they did not allow a love interest of his to marry him. Because of Brahmin law, they cannot drink alcohol or eat meat, and the thought of one of their women marrying a Moghul who could revolted them, they fled before the Moghul could attack them.
We had lunch aferwards under some shade from the glaring sun. Not a cloud in the sky that day. Michel and Florence had only booked a 2 day trip, so they thankfully left, leaving Matt, me and Michaela left. Matt and I were dreading the second day due to pain, but it turned out to be the best afternoon of riding we had, as we slowly got used to the position on the camels, and the fantastic scenery the further into the desert we rode. Most travellers only sign up for the one day or two day safari, but going for the three day is definitely the best option as you head further into the desert and really start to see it in all its glory.
You'd be amazed how much life you see in the desert. Everything from dung beetles, to goat and sheep herds, ants, camel ticks, vultures, scorpions. The place is teeming with life despite the extreme conditions. Every hour or so we'd come across someone tending a herd or just walking from one village to the next, and you realise no matter how big the desert is, everyone seems to kow one another. Del-boy would always greet them warmly, and chat to them on end. He knew every single person out there.
The second night, we camped amongst some even nicer sand dunes, with an amazing sunset as Del-boy and his assistant cooked us some more dahl, rice, chapatis and chai. Again, he regailed us with some fantastic singing, this time without the annoyance of Michel. I was in heaven there, under the bright moon and stars, relaxing, totally away from any civilisation. I felt like I never wanted to go back to Jaisalmer. I have recordings of Del-boy's singing as a movie file. But they're huge, so I'll have to edit them first before I can upload them for you to hear.
That night's sleep was sensational. As it hadn't rained that day, there was no condensation. I only woke up once, to go the the loo, and the range of stars, the milky way arm, the moon disappearing behind the horizon was one of the most beautiful scenes you can imagine. The silence was almost defeaning in the absence of noise, so pronounced and in such sharp contrast to the hustle and bustle of daily life.
The final day, we headed back towards Jaisalmer, passing through a natural oasis and an inhabited village, with warm, friendly people greeting us as we walked through taking photos (as true tourists do). It was sad to say goodbye to Del-boy. He was such a nice guy, confiding in us a lot of detail about his own life, how much he earns a month (only 700 rupees, about 10 quid), and how he feels about life over the campfire. The guy even rode at full pace one hour to a village and back after I ran out of cigarettes. Talk about service! I didn't even know he did it until he came back with them and told me!
So back to Jaisalmer, and you know what? I felt good. REAL good. The first time I think I've really accepted India for what it is. I smiled at everyone, wiggling and waggling my head at them at every opportunity. It's a form of greeting, agreement, and general communication that can be very entertaining if you're bored! Just waggle your head at someone, and since you're a foreigner, they love it, and will furiously waggle and smile their bright white teeth smile right back at you!
I don't know if it's the whole 3 days of being with my own thoughts, having to go to the loo 'au naturelle', not being able to take a shower for 3 days, the charm of Del-boy and his genuine Indian personality, the smells, farts, burps of the camels which are worse than cows, but it seemed so easy to accept India for what it is once I got back. I read somewhere that you can only be comfortable in India if you surrender yourself to it. You cannot keep your own way of thinking and experience all it has to offer. You have to give yourself to India, and I think I've finally done that. I feel good here, and I'm really beginning to enjoy myself now. Something clicked in me whilst I was out in the desert. Something in me changed. I realised you cannot win India, it can only win you. You start not to notice the poverty, the scores of people sh*tting beside the rail tracks in plain view, the smog, the dirt, the cow sh*t everywhere, the insane traffic, the beggars, the touts, the squalid living conditions. You accept it as they have accepted it, and you begin to see the nice things that live beneath the dirty layer. Here, you just have to plunge yourself in headfirst through the muck to see what is beyond the surface. And I feel I have finally done that.

So here I am in Jodhpur. I've spent my first bit of time here letting you all catch up with my story so far. I hope you're all still enjoying it! It's Holi tomorrow, a mad India-wide celebration, a party of colour, quite literally. Everyone joins in throwing coloured dye over each other. I've heard it can be quite difficult to get out of your clothes, so I might go out and buy a cheap T-shirt and pair of shorts today! I'll let you all know the latest after my stay here.