Playing Catch-up: Rajasthan Edition

Ok guys, I'm back. I'm really sorry about being incommunicado for the last week, but things have been a little crazy here. Where did we leave off? Oh yeah, Jaipur. From Jaipur we went to...

Ajmer/Pushkar
Altogether we wound up spending 6 nights in Jaipur. We were going to leave after 5, but in the end we elected to take our time and spend an extra night so we weren't rushed for the bus trip to the next stop on our list, which consisted of the towns of Ajmer & Pushkar. They're pretty close together, only a short local bus ride apart (kind of like Lower Dharamsala to Upper), so we figured we'd check them both out at the same time.

The trip from Jaipur was a short one, only about 4 hours. Pushkar is a holy city of sorts, and they have a list of rules that are to be followed when one is in public. Our hotel had thoughtfully posted them beside the front door so everyone was reminded each time they left to go outside (remember, photos can be clicked to enlarge):

The city is known for this big lake with bathing "ghats" all around it. Pushkar is small and quaint, the roads are extremely narrow, and there are more dogs than normal roaming around outside. This was also the first time I'd seen pigs since arriving in India.

Seeing as how Diwali was going to be happening on Sunday and we had gotten ourselves some fashionable traditional clothes to wear for the occasion, I also wanted to hit up a salon and get a haircut, pedicure, and some mehndi. We roamed town until we found a place that advertised all of these services; it was closed, but there was a phone number on the sign. Brij called the guy -- whose name is Hanuman Sen, look him up if you're ever in Pushkar -- and within ten minutes he was there to open the place up, just for us. After a short discussion in Hindi that involved an explanation that generally in India, men provide services like haircuts and such to men, and women to women. He offered to take me to his house on his motorbike so his wife could work on me (if I didn't want to, she could come to the salon, he said). I figured this was a good opportunity to do something un-touristy and adventurous, so I agreed to the bike ride and trip to the house.

I was there around 3 hours altogether, I think, during which time I got to know Hanuman Sen, his wife Indu, and their son. They were all super sweet and told me to look them up if I'm ever back in the area, and to tell my friends as well. As with most Indians I've met here, they were extremely hospitable -- not only providing what I paid for (haircut, etc), but also tea and a snack, and good conversation. I got to practice my Hindi a little and she her English.

Yay mehndi! Total cost of a haircut, pedicure, and mehndi: about $20.

I'm not sure what it was, but I really enjoyed Pushkar. It had good vibes. After realizing that the Camel Festival wouldn't REALLY get started for another week, we made the decision to move on and come back. The first step was deciding where to go next, and to book a bus to get us there. We decided on Jaisalmer.

Jaisalmer
Five hours after deciding to go, we were on a bus to Jaisalmer, which is wayyyyyyy out west in the Rajasthani desert. The only tickets available were for a double bed on the sleeper bus. That in and of itself was no problem: we'd rather have a bed to chill on than try to sleep in bus seats. This was important, seeing as how it was going to be a 10+ hour ride. At the travel agency where we waited to board the bus we met Yune, a girl from South Korea who is traveling in India. She confided to me that she was a little apprehensive about taking this overnight bus by herself, so I told her not to worry -- I've never had any problems and besides, Brij (who speaks Hindi and is regularly mistaken for a local) and I would be close by and we'd watch out for her. She seemed visibly relieved.

When we got on the bus, we found out why ours were the last tickets to sell... the glass that provides a bit of privacy from the other passengers and keeps you from falling out into the aisle was nonexistent in this particular bunk. The window to the outside rattled, there was no handle on it, and in general it was just sort of a small, only moderately clean little box with a crummy mattress, but hey, it was still better than walking all the way to Jaisalmer. We managed to rig up a blanket in place of the missing glass and put down a sleeping bag to provide a little extra comfort.

That's ours on the left.

Let me point out to you that even though we are no longer in the mountains, we are still in India. The roads still suck. That bus bounced all over the place -- Brij and I were each almost thrown out into the aisle and onto everyone sleeping in it at least once throughout the trip -- and we spent the entire first hour laughing hysterically because really, what else was there to do anyway? It was an absolutely ridiculous situation. It was also the most awesome bus ride ever, and I doubt any other will be able to live up to it.

Awesome or not, it still wasn't all that comfortable. Bathroom breaks meant stopping off along the desert road and hopping out to do your thing behind a cactus; in order to get on and off the bus we had to basically Donkey Kong our way using the ladders over the dozens of people lying in the aisle. Adding to the authentic Indian experience, there was Indian music playing in the background the whole time.

Before leaving Pushkar we had gotten contact info for a guest house in Jaisalmer. The guys came to pick us up at the bus stop and we made our way through the desert city to the fort, which is where we were going to be staying. A real fort. Like, from centuries back.

The view from our balcony. :D

Feedback book full of reviews of the hotel patrons who had gone on the camel safari.

We are in the (fucking) desert!!

The city of Jaisalmer itself didn't really do much for me, at least not the first couple of days. The inside of the fort was very, very quiet -- only a few tourists here and there, and not much available in the way of shopping or sightseeing. (That all changed over the following few days, when for whatever reason there was a huge influx of Caucasian and Gujarati tourists.)

Regardless, we spent the first day resting, since the hotel had real beds, and the next day we went out and explored out of the fort, in the actual town where most of the people live and work. We got the rest of our stuff for Sunday, because Sunday was...

Diwali
Diwali is basically the Indian new year. It's a festival of lights, it's a big deal, and we wanted to celebrate in style. Sunday morning we went out into town to take care of our last few items on the list: a bindi for me, a shave for Brij, and scoping out a good place to go that evening. 

There are tons of rooftop restaurants in Rajasthan. We ate breakfast in this one.

Hanuman himself was out to celebrate Diwali!

After returning for showers and a bit of chilling, we busted out our new outfits and set out to show off in town.

Wrapping a sari is tougher than it looks. :/ But! There are sparkles in it!

We wound up going to the Nachana Haveli because it seemed appropriate -- Nachana is Hindi for "dance" -- and sat on the rooftop there, where we ordered the equivalent of a "chef's special" (we were feeling adventurous) as we enjoyed the live music and fireworks that exploded in the sky all evening long. It was an absolute blast.

Fireworks citywide from 6pm to 2am. Loved it.

Camel Safari
We had to get up early the next morning to be ready to take the jeep to the desert where we would meet the guys who would take us out on a camel safari for the next few days.

It wound up being Brij, me, and two of the three Israeli girls who actually went out into the desert with the "camel guys." The third girl decided once she got up on the huge, funny-looking animal that she was too scared to continue, and she went back to town in the jeep. Another of the girls decided a few hours in that she was too uncomfortable, and that she and her friend would only stay one night instead of the two they had planned. 

I'm continually surprised by the number of people I talk to here who make a fuss over the lack of comforts available to us. I guess I have just taken the "When in Rome..." approach: in deciding to come to India, I accepted that life would likely be dirty and more or less difficult. I chose to see it as an adventure. No one forced me to come here; I've embraced the simplicity and the crudeness, the fact that so much of life here is unrefined. I think it's this shared mindset that has led to Brij and me having such a good time traveling together -- we don't mind slumming it in cheap hotels, we prefer to eat at hole-in-the-wall dhabas (they have the best food anyway), and neither of us is too concerned with sticking to a set schedule or strict itinerary. It's working out well.

Babu Bhai with a couple of the camels.

Some kids from one of the desert villages we visited.

Me with a couple of the Israeli girls, Avichail and Shani, where we stopped to have lunch the first day.

Camel imitation.

Babu Bhai giving my camel a haircut.

Whenever we'd ask if something could be done, the response was "We are camel guys! Everything is possible!" Babu Bhai and Salim Bhai took great care of us ("bhai" is a term of respect that means "brother" in Hindi). They cooked and served our meals and tea, they set up and tore down camp, they kept us safe and made sure we had fun while we were out in the desert. We slept on bedrolls under the stars; since there was no roof and very little light pollution we could see hundreds of them. We even saw a handful of shooting stars, or something that looked an awful lot like them. I got practice eating with my hands (I'm turning into a real Indian girl, lol), and we sang songs while on the camels and around the campfire at night. It was delightful. I could have stayed out another day or two.

The last day in the desert we told the guys we wanted to ride a little faster. They were thrilled -- "Camels love to run" -- and so we galloped across the Rajasthani desert for a couple of hours before meeting back up with the jeep that was going to return us to Jaisalmer. The hotel let us stick around long enough to shower and chill for a bit before catching our bus to the next destination, Jodhpur....

More Manali

One more way India differs from the US: if you want a cup of coffee in the morning – at least one that isn't the instant powdered kind – you're going to have to wait. You know how most cafes, Starbuckses, etc are open by 5 or 6 in the morning? Yeah, here they chill until 9. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the locals all drink tea.... I suppose it's a really nice thing if you work in one of these cafes, but if you are a visitor looking for that morning caffeine fix, you might want to seek alternatives.

So, dear readers, while I am waiting for 9am to roll around I will be a good little blogger and tell you about the last couple of days, since as you may have noticed I was slacking a little bit on that front.

We've arrived in Manali on Tuesday evening. The first couple of days were spent exploring, sightseeing, and generally wandering around.

Yep, real life snake charmer.

We did fun things like visit one of the old local Hindu temples.

There is some really intricate wood carving on some of the old buildings in Manali, unlike I've seen in other places. Oh, and skulls.

Gill and I sat on a yak. It was very soft, but not quite as big as I expected. Maybe smaller yaks are easier to maintain here at relatively low altitudes (around 2000 meters).

We took some photos..

This is a Tata Nano. I see more cars like this here than any other... doesn't it kinda look like my Yaris at home?

The marigolds (and roses, and everything else) get really tall here, presumably from all the monsoon rain.

It's apple season in Himachal Pradesh.

If you look closely you can see both English and Tibetan writing on this wall under the painting. I found it to be a nice change from English overtaking everything it contacts; here the English has been covered up by Buddhist art.

Oh yeah, the hotels have cool names. Ours is called "The Dragon."

Yesterday for breakfast we decided to check out a little place we'd passed earlier called “Dylan's.” It, like the few other cafes that carry the stuff, advertises that you can get real brewed coffee there.

It was pretty darn good.

Verity finally found a good soy cappuccino!

What's that, you say? Fresh pineapple mint juice? Don't mind if I do...

There was a cast & crew running around Manali all day shooting some film, so we watched that for a while. They did not ask us to be extras (inconsiderate jerks).

After our nice relaxing morning we wandered down toward New Manali to purchase some gifts (and maybe a couple of things for ourselves, too).

Not the greenest city park I've ever seen...

No, I did not try one.

Later, Marie, Verity, and I took a detour through the woods near the river:

and found this cool tree:

and then on the way back into town we wandered down a side street filled with dhabas. They were impressed that I could decipher this sign:

In case you're wondering, it's: Chai - Coffee - Omelet in the red, and the blue reads: Veg momo, Chicken momo, Fried momo... (I'm actually not sure what the first word on the second line of blue says), then Soup, Chowmein, Dal, Chavel (which means rice). Cool, eh?

The three of us decided to try some dessert at the little place across the main road from our hotel, The Bee's Knees. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but in Dharamsala most of the businesses that provide wi-fi to their customers have passwords that reflect the spiritual, heavily Tibetan makeup of the town: “compassion,” “thankyousomuch,” “ilovemandala,” or sometimes more food-oriented ones like “bananacake” or “mochaccino.” It's cute. You get used to expecting a sweet, New-Age-y answer when you ask for the password after ordering your ginger lemon honey tea. That being said, you may be able to imagine our reaction when we asked for the password at The Bee's Knees and was told...

are you ready for this?...

“1nightstand69.”

Bahahahahaha.... well played, Bee's Knees cafe.

As I was telling my sister last night, I'd be alright with coming home any time now. I like it here, and I have actually been feeling a surprisingly low level of homesickness (maybe it's because I know I'll be back soon), but what I have been feeling lately is a sense that I have things to do – and I have to be home to do them. I miss my job and the paycheck it brings. Money certainly isn't everything, not by a long shot, but when you've spent two straight months spending your savings and not making much back, if any, then it gets a little tiring. Life in India is cheap, but it isn't free.

In closing, I leave you with photos of some of the local doggies: