This is a pleasant place to stay for a few days and relax. My room has it's own balcony which gets the sun up to about 3 pm each day and from there I can do up onto the roof to continue with the sun until 6pm. But it's not all been loafing about and sunning myself.
I booked a trek in the countryside which turned out well. They picked me up from my guesthouse and took me to a beautiful house in the countryside. It's a hotel run by an English guy and looks expensive. They gave me a guide and we set off on paths across fields, through woods and tracks to small villages. The hills around the town are fertile and contain hidden lakes and streams even at this dry time of year. I came across my first holy man who lived in a tent next to a cave. I wanted to ask him if I could take his picture but he was too busy talking on his mobile so I missed my chance. The walk lasted about four hours and ended back at the house for delicious lunch of mushroom soup, salad and toasted sandwiches. These people eat vast amounts but this food was delicious so I ate it all. Finally they took me home on the back of a motorbike.
I took a boat ride cross the lake to one of the fancy island hotels. Once there I realised their attraction. They are quiet and free from the ever present tang of urine which has come to characterise India to me. The great smell of Cow shit and urine. The hotel had laid out tables in the sun for lunch. I didn't get to see the menu. Every menu I have seen consists almost entirely of potatoes. Potatoes with cheese, potatoes with tomatoes, potatoes with mixed veg. It doesn't seem to matter what the menu says, you get potatoes.
These are my last few hours in the city. I have a sleeper bus leaving at 4:30 for Agra and from there on to Delhi and the plane home. I am pining for a bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup and a menu that has no potatoes on it.
13 Feb 2012
8 Feb 2012
By car to Udiapur
Sometimes a bit of luxury is called for. The bus ride back to Johdpur was cramped, dirty and slow and it was great to be back in the Yogi guesthouse where the owner had arranged a lovely room for the night and a car to take me to Udaipur the next day. The Yogi guesthouse is the nicest place I've stayed on this trip. Hot water, soft beds and pretty antiques.
My driver, Ganesh, and I left Johdpur at nine the next day and headed for Udaipur via the temple complex of Ranapur midway between the two cities. I'd heard a lot of bad things about Indian roads and Indian drivers but they have proved to be untrue so far. Ganesh seamed to enjoy overtaking everything in his path but he did it safely and the little Indian designed and manufactured car was fine. When will we see them on British roads I wonder? They have one that costs £2000. I've seen a few, they look ok.
It took two hours or so to get to the temples. They are Jain temples and as far as I can understand the Jains are the Indian equivalent of the Free Masons in that they have a lot of business interests and a lot of money. A lot of that money went on the beautifully carved temple complex. It's a bit like a small version of Ankor in Cambodia. The same carving style has been used but this time in white marble rather than the brown sandstone of Ankor.
The rest of the drive went smoothly and Ganesh delivered me to my hotel in Udaipur, another pretty one but sadly only room for me for one night. The next day my flirtation with luxury came to an end and I found myself a budget place but I have a private balcony overlooking part of Udaipur's famous lake and a TV so it's not all hardship.
My driver, Ganesh, and I left Johdpur at nine the next day and headed for Udaipur via the temple complex of Ranapur midway between the two cities. I'd heard a lot of bad things about Indian roads and Indian drivers but they have proved to be untrue so far. Ganesh seamed to enjoy overtaking everything in his path but he did it safely and the little Indian designed and manufactured car was fine. When will we see them on British roads I wonder? They have one that costs £2000. I've seen a few, they look ok.
It took two hours or so to get to the temples. They are Jain temples and as far as I can understand the Jains are the Indian equivalent of the Free Masons in that they have a lot of business interests and a lot of money. A lot of that money went on the beautifully carved temple complex. It's a bit like a small version of Ankor in Cambodia. The same carving style has been used but this time in white marble rather than the brown sandstone of Ankor.
The rest of the drive went smoothly and Ganesh delivered me to my hotel in Udaipur, another pretty one but sadly only room for me for one night. The next day my flirtation with luxury came to an end and I found myself a budget place but I have a private balcony overlooking part of Udaipur's famous lake and a TV so it's not all hardship.
6 Feb 2012
Camel Safaris
The safari is over but the pain continues.
I finally achieved my goal of going on a proper camel safari. Three days balancing precariously on top of a camel just in front of its hump and bouncing across the desert. It was an experience not to be missed and probably not to be repeated.
The trip started with a jeep ride out into the desert to meet the camels and the camel men. I joined a group of two Danes, two Frenchmen and two Dutch people for the adventure. We rode through the day and slept under the stars at night. The days were burning hot and the nights cold but, with enough blankets over me and my wooly hat clamped firmly on my head I survived. At night after the moon disappeared the stars shone so brightly. The trip was worth it just for that.
Camels are strange creatures. They have long articulated legs that fold completely flat. You climb on their backs and they launch you ten feet into the air as they unfold first their back legs and then their front. You are thrown forwards then backwards before being perched above the rocky desert with nothing much to hang onto as they set off. hours. They regurgitate their food and chew it over and over again all day and smell bad. My inner thighs are still sore with the stretching that they recvieved but on the plus side I can now sit cross legged for hours.
The desert was harshly beautiful. A fragile landscape of tough bushes and clumps of indestructible grass. Somehow birds, foxes and antelopes live wild out there surviving on the leathery foliage and the little water that falls during the monsoon season. Farmers make some sort of living off goats and sheep but fewer do now than before. The camel men said that it rains less and less these days and that wells have to be sunk 600 meters into the ground before water can be found. In the hot season the temperature rises above 40 degrees, no tourists venture out then.
Our camel men fed us well on chapattis and vegetables and eggs and we chatted amongst ourselves swapping traveller stories whilst not being bounced about on top of a camel. It was nice to back amongst Europeans after so long.
After three days we returned to Jaisalmer tired but happy and for me at least with a resolve not to go near another camel again. Well not for a while anyway.
I finally achieved my goal of going on a proper camel safari. Three days balancing precariously on top of a camel just in front of its hump and bouncing across the desert. It was an experience not to be missed and probably not to be repeated.
The trip started with a jeep ride out into the desert to meet the camels and the camel men. I joined a group of two Danes, two Frenchmen and two Dutch people for the adventure. We rode through the day and slept under the stars at night. The days were burning hot and the nights cold but, with enough blankets over me and my wooly hat clamped firmly on my head I survived. At night after the moon disappeared the stars shone so brightly. The trip was worth it just for that.
Camels are strange creatures. They have long articulated legs that fold completely flat. You climb on their backs and they launch you ten feet into the air as they unfold first their back legs and then their front. You are thrown forwards then backwards before being perched above the rocky desert with nothing much to hang onto as they set off. hours. They regurgitate their food and chew it over and over again all day and smell bad. My inner thighs are still sore with the stretching that they recvieved but on the plus side I can now sit cross legged for hours.
The desert was harshly beautiful. A fragile landscape of tough bushes and clumps of indestructible grass. Somehow birds, foxes and antelopes live wild out there surviving on the leathery foliage and the little water that falls during the monsoon season. Farmers make some sort of living off goats and sheep but fewer do now than before. The camel men said that it rains less and less these days and that wells have to be sunk 600 meters into the ground before water can be found. In the hot season the temperature rises above 40 degrees, no tourists venture out then.
Our camel men fed us well on chapattis and vegetables and eggs and we chatted amongst ourselves swapping traveller stories whilst not being bounced about on top of a camel. It was nice to back amongst Europeans after so long.
After three days we returned to Jaisalmer tired but happy and for me at least with a resolve not to go near another camel again. Well not for a while anyway.
1 Feb 2012
Jaisalmer
I hate getting up in the morning but the trains around here are infrequent and early so I dragged myself out of my bed at 4am to meet the train. I'd been wait listed by the super efficient Indian train service and my confirmation had come through. The train arrived on time and I crawled into the recently vacated and still warm sleeper berth and started towards my new destination, the desert city of Jaisalmer. That's the best thing about sleeper trains. You can lie there and watch the world go by in great comfort.
I and a Japanses girl were met by a driver at the station and taken to the Hotel Tokyo, modern, functional but a little away from the main sites.
Ive booked the canal safari and the evenings are beginning to get a little warmer so hopefully it will work out well and I'll have a great time. I've done too much site seeing and need some activity.
Today I'm doing the city. The fort is impressive, it's almost the only thing here. People live in it still and it has a beautiful palace, a labyrinth of tiny rooms designed to keep cool and catch any available breeze. It would have been the place to stay and I will after my safari is complete. The lanes are narrow, just wide enough for a motorbike or a cow and the walls and windows are delicately carved from the local yellow stone. There is an old bit of town too which I'll explore after sipping a lemon juice on the roof of one of the many fort restaurants. Oh yes, and I found the Bhang shop.
I and a Japanses girl were met by a driver at the station and taken to the Hotel Tokyo, modern, functional but a little away from the main sites.
Ive booked the canal safari and the evenings are beginning to get a little warmer so hopefully it will work out well and I'll have a great time. I've done too much site seeing and need some activity.
Today I'm doing the city. The fort is impressive, it's almost the only thing here. People live in it still and it has a beautiful palace, a labyrinth of tiny rooms designed to keep cool and catch any available breeze. It would have been the place to stay and I will after my safari is complete. The lanes are narrow, just wide enough for a motorbike or a cow and the walls and windows are delicately carved from the local yellow stone. There is an old bit of town too which I'll explore after sipping a lemon juice on the roof of one of the many fort restaurants. Oh yes, and I found the Bhang shop.
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