The Rajasthani Rumble

Up until this point we had really decided our own itinerary and decided where we wanted to go next, usually the day or two before we headed there.  Lonely Planet described a two week route through the state of Rajasthan which covered the highlights of this north Indian state.  We had just about two weeks left of our time in India so we decided to follow their recommendation as closely as we could and it would set us up to be back in Delhi in the perfect amount of time to catch our flight to Nepal.  


Our first bump in plans came almost immediately upon arrival in Jaipur.  We arrived late at night, found a hotel, and the next morning we explored the old city of Jaipur which is still surrounded by stone fort walls.  We had a nice cup of tea with a local man outside a Hindu temple and he gave us a few suggestions on what sights to see, as we were having a difficult time deciding which forts we wanted to see.  Afterall, there were about a half dozen of them and not only did we not have the time, we also didn't have the budget to see them all.  So, we got some good advice and had a plan for the next day.  

Well, as things go in India, I woke up at about 1am and darted for the bathroom.  Something I ate didn't sit well with me.  I puked and puked until I had nothing left to puke and then I was still going through the motions.  Then, the morning after all my food started coming up, Aaron's food started coming up too.  Needless to say, we didn't do anything that day but watch TV and try to keep some water down.  The next day we headed for the small, holy Hindu town of Pushkar.  


In Pushkar we wandered and searched for the reason that we were there.  It was supposed to be a city surrounding a lake, which it was, but the lake was completely dried up.  Ghandi's ashes are said to have been scattered here and there is a fairly large temple here too.  But, other than that the town was a mess of typical tourist shops, tourist restaurants and packaged bus tour groups.  We had dinner one night and started chatting with an older American couple who were traveling around the world for about 10 months.  They were travelling the opposite direction of us and couldn't believe that we had started our trip in India.  They assured us that things get decidedly less hectic and infinitely cleaner from here on out.  We were relieved to hear that.  After only a two day stay in Pushkar we headed out and decided to see Udiapur.  

Udiapur is famed as the 'Venice of India.'  Now, I'm not sure really how to compare India with Italy, but I suppose I could see the slight resemblence – having been to both.  There were no canals, but there were plenty of narrow winding alleyways in which to get lost and a big lake with two islands that were both occupied by huge five star resorts.  We stayed on the quieter side of the lake which meant that we had a great view of the city, overlooked the lake and we also were afforded some peace and quiet – a rarity in India.  (Still no hot water though!)  

We were lucky enough to be here during their wedding season and Bollywood stars and the richest of the rich flock here to rent out the Royal Palace and the fancy resort hotels to get hitched on the lake.  Well, at first this was not to our advantage because the day that we wanted to go to the Royal Palace, it was closed to the public as they were setting up for a huge wedding.  But, despite this little inconvenience we also got a spectacular fireworks show that night.  It was pretty awesome to be in our little budget room, overlooking a lake and watching a fireworks show that rivaled any 4th of July display in the USA.  We went into the Royal Palace the next day.  We also managed to find a great lakeside restaurant on 'our' side of the lake that wasn't too pricy and had great food.  From here we moved on to Jaislmer.  (The Lonely Planet itinerary called for a stop in Jodphur, but with time not on our side, we decided to cut that part out of the trip.)

Jaislmer was a great time.  We arrived early in the morning after a long overnight bus trip from Udaipur.  After settling in and showering, and walking through the fort, we headed out and grabbed a delicious thali plate at a local restaurant and then had to find a place to book our camel safari.  We were exhausted, but we managed to get one booked and were to set off at 6:30am the next morning.  


Our camel safari was amazing.  We were scheduled to go out with three other Europeans, but when we arrived in the morning we were told that one in their group was sick so they had cancelled.  Aaron and I got our own private guide and safari without paying the private price!  We spent three nights and two days in the Great Thar Desert.  Our guide cooked us breakfast, lunch and dinner and we each had our own camel to ride.  The first afternoon we came to an ancient deserted town which had been reduced to mostly brick rubble but still had a well preserved Hindu temple in the middle of the rubble.  

It was easy to see where the buildings were as most of their walls were still in tact, but their thatched/mud roofs had long since disappeared.  Above the deserted town was yet another fort from a bygone era.  It was small in comparison to the living fort in Jaislmer, but had no one around except for one other lone tourist and the fee collector.  While we were checking out this town and fort, our camel driver and guide, a 20 year old named Aman, had gone into a neighboring village and bought us a liter of homemade 'desert whiskey.'  It was more like desert wine than whiskey, but it was tasty nonetheless.  We drank it that night after we'd eaten dinner as the boys sung songs around the campfire.  (I spared them the pain of listening to me sing!)  On day two the landscape got much more 'deserty.'  We roamed through scrub brush desert and into big dunes.  

We ate lunch under a big tree which is normally on the banks of  an oasis, but the monsoons haven't brought much rain in the past 3 seasons, so it was completely dried up.  We spent a few hours cooking lunch, reading a book and napping away the heat of the midday afternoon under the tree.  We had a fellow American (of Algerian descent) join us from the afternoon on to where we would camp that night – on a giant sand dune.  As we played around on the dunes we saw a lone Indian man approaching – when he arrived with a sac full of cold beers from what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, we just had to buy a few.  How could you not?!  Again, we had dinner around the fire and shared stories.  We slept under the stars on the giant dune.  

On our third day we were on our camels for about 5 more hours and crossed through the most barren, dusty, empty desert that I've ever seen.  Then we were finished and a jeep was waiting to take us back to Jaislmer.  It was a wonderful way to spend a few days in India and quite strange to sleep in complete silence – something that we'd given up on in India!  


We returned to Jaislmer, showered, explored the fort, and then headed for Delhi.  It was a long overnight train ride to get there and when we did, we were right back in the loud and bustling India that we'd grown so accustomed to.  We'd heard horror stories from other travellers about how much they hated Delhi and how loud and obnoxious it is.  But we both really enjoyed it.  It had this true realism to it, and yes it was loud and busy, but what place in India hadn't been?  The food was good, the city was under a huge amount of construction for the upcoming 2010 Commonwealth Games, and I got hit with a water balloon from an unsuspected sniper above us one night on the way to dinner.  It wasn't funny then, but looking back, it was pretty good aim.  Seek out the only white tourist girl and peg her with a water balloon.  It's genius really.  

We didn't do much in Delhi but seek out the good food and wander around the main square – or should I say circle, because that's really what it was.  A central park surrounded by roads that form concentric circles outward.  We also saw the largest mosque in India which holds up to 25,000 people during prayer.  It was huge!  Oh, we also ate KFC too!  Aaron had been craving fried chicken and I hadn't eaten meat in two months, so we indulged ourselves.  Then, before we knew it the Rajastani rumble was over and we were headed to the airport (on a major highway in a rickshaw, nonetheless!) to board our plane to Kathmandu!  Time for some mountain adventures!!