Udaipur, Pushkar, & Jaipur
- Comments: 2
I think the last time we wrote anything was from Jodhpur… from there we took the most uncomfortable train ride I’ve ever been on through ever changing scenery (from desert, to vallies, hills, and miles and miles of marble quarries) to Udaipur – the city of the water palaces.
The only problem with Udaipur is that India is suffering a significant drought, so the water palaces are actualy field palaces, surrounded by muddy ponds that little children bike across the mud flats to go swimming in, side by side with the water buffalo. If you have supper on a roof-top restaurant at night, you can imagine the palaces are floating in the “lake”, as you look out at it’s floodlit white marble walls.
We did sign up for a thoroughly enjoyable Indian cooking class in Udaipur, and are now better versed in the spices, terminology and techniques of making curries (which are the same as massalas – just a different language for the same word – who knew?)
Jodhpur –
- Comments: 2
Hi –
I can’t remeber the last thing we wrote, but we’re sitting in Mehrangarh Fort, in an air conditioned room inside the fort gate. The fort is enormous, and it’s built with a wall system around it much like the Great Wall of China. It’s built on a 125m high rocky outcrop above the city, and it’s the only place you want to be here – the rest of the city is a cesspool.
From Delhi to Jaisalmer
- Comments: 4
Hi – We’re 60 km from the Pakistan border in the Thar desert, in a town called Jaisalmer, which may be the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. This Golden fort town is carved entirely from yellow sandstone, and every surface of every building is intricately carved in the most ornately detailed patterns and flowers. Every balcony is screened in stone screens (so the ladies of the court could look at the people outside without themsleves being observed). This is a former royal city, and the royal Rajestanis still own and occupy several of the Palace buildings within the fort walls.
There are several Jain temples here – a religion that is a mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism. The temple are amazing – they’re like sandcastles taken to an insane level.
I can’t trust this connection not to conk out on me, so I’ll leave it here – but so far, so good. We’re drinking 8 liters of water a day each, it’s so hot. We wake up in the middle of the night to hydrate the same way a junkie would look for a crack pipe. Other than the heat, India is far better than we were led to believe it would be… don’t drink the water from the tap, but the food is great, and the hassels have been minimal.
We miss our friends and our doggie –
Noel & George
