Woman paying tribute to a Maharana's many widows
Traditional Rajasthani Desert Dance
A wandering baba
Check out this guy's moustache
A happy fruit-wala in Udaipur
Sunset over Lake Pichola
City Palace (featured in James Bond)
Jodhpur's massive fort
This Lassi tasted like India
The Blue City - Jodhpur
When Jen and I had finally finished clearing away the fine desert sand from behind our ears and between our toes, we were both skeptical that we would find anything half as awesome as a camel ride in the Thar desert. We were pleasantly surprised.
Leaving behind Jaisalmer and its golden castle, we took a bus eastward to the Blue City. An apt name for Jodhpur, which is covered by indigo buildings crammed haphazardly together behind an ancient sandstone wall. Perched above the busy lanes and spicy bazaars is Mehrangarh fort, an impregnable fortress standing vigil over a city and people that haven't quite accepted the modern era. Cows still brush elbows (hooves?) with rickshaw-walas and skirt through colonial era alleyways made claustrophobic by the incessant clamor of horns, bells and shouting urchins.
We spent only a day in Jodhpur, touring the massive fortress and sipping makhaniya lassis that imbibe all the aromas and flavors of India. The fort itself was founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha and in over five hundred years its walls have never been breached. Walking through the main gate it is easy to see why. The structure sits atop a hill over 300 feet tall and the thick sandstone walls climb another 100 feet higher. We wandered through the palace, letting ourselves become lost in history and fantasy. Like Jaisalmer, the Maharajas of Jodhpur lived lives of decadence, ruling from behind thick walls amid ornate halls filled with riches. We decided that the Rajput kings must have had the coolest royal life of any royalty in the world.
The next day we arrived by bus to Udaipur, the so-called "Venice of the East". I've never been to Venice, but certainly Udaipur is the most European of any Indian city I have yet to visit. Centered around a massive man made lake nestled in a valley of rolling mountains, Udaipur is the home to three magical palaces that once housed the fearsome Maharanas of Mewar. Of all the Rajput kingdoms, only Udaipur savagely fought to maintain its independence for 76 long, bloody generations. More recently, Udaipur made its world debut in the James Bond flick "Octopussy". As politically incorrect as its name is crass, the movie features all of the palaces and alleyways of the beautiful lake city. Guilty as charged, we succumbed to the lure of Hollywood and spent an evening sipping beers and gazing at the sparkling lake as Bond casually blew up palaces on TV (after 3 months of travel, beer and TV felt like paradise).
Seeking a little more adventure (or, perhaps inspired by Bond's shenanigans), we decided after a couple of days it was time to get our own wheels. Now, for anyone who has been to India knows, or can probably imagine, driving on Indian roads is not for the faint of heart. Roadrules are an afterthought and defensive driving a humorless joke. You compete with bicycles, cows, pedestrians, dogs, rickshaws (bike and auto), trucks, cars, more cows and everything else that is spilling into the street (and that means everything). Not surprisingly, we spent a good deal of time debating whether we wanted to drive there, on a scooter nonetheless. Eventually, I summoned my courage and headed to the rental shop next door to our hotel.
We rented the best bike on two wheels we could find (...for 300 rupees/six dollars) and hopped on a 25 year old, rusted scooter that drifted to the left when I wasn't paying attention. After checking out the machine, we hopped on the bike (with helmets of course) and I timidly creeped into the street. Immediately forced to jump into the fray, I was soon dodging and weaving simply to stay alive. I managed to make it to the petrol station to fill up and then take off again out of town for some serious cruising. We headed to the mountains and lost ourselves in our new found freedom.
In the afternoon we made our way to a government sponsered tourist trap called Shilpgram. Designed to expose tourists to "traditional village life" there were several replicas of villages from western India. We hired a guide named Dinesh who enthusiastically droned on about everything Indian. Perhaps impressed by our Hindi, or maybe because we were the only visitors that day, Dinesh invited us to have dinner with his family that night. We happily accepted. He picked us up at 8 pm on his silver motorcycle and took us to a new neighborhood just outside the Old City. Upon our arrival we were greeted by his entire family: aunts, uncles, cousins, daughters and sons, grandparents and neighbors. The women cooked our food while we were entertained by the children in Dinesh's room. When dinner came out, we happily dug into the heaps of home cooked dal, bathi (Rajasthani balls made of wheat and lentils), corn chapati, bhindi, butter lassi, and vegetable pakora with as much gusto as we could muster. What a feast! We ate and ate and ate, sticking to the golden rule of traveling that the more you eat, the happier your host will be. It worked.
The next couple of days were spent meandering the streets and bazaars of the Old City. We saw silver shops full of women clad in dazzling saris and duppatas haggling over jewelry. Old men drinking chay on dirty doorsteps trying to look important. Fruit-walas chasing away flies. Basket weavers slicing bamboo. Tea merchants counting rupees. Young children shouting. Vats of old gulab-jaman soaking in sun-heated syrup. A painted elephant carrying two foreign children. Rickshaw-walas selling joints. Cows grazing. Old women carrying pots and bags on their heads. And two white foreigners taking photos and gawking at it all.
We left Udaipur happy and exhausted, ready to venture forth to Jaipur and then the one and only, Taj Mahal.
PS. Again, we apologize for no photos. The only internet cafe we have found doesn't have anti-virus software and we are afraid to upload pictures after our near-total loss of all our photos in Jodhpur (we got a virus). So, check back soon, we promise to get some up asap! Much love to everyone.
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