Rajasthani Pt. 1

Well, here goes. This is going to be a bit of a point form exercise.
There's a lot to write. At lease I'm on a good keyboard this time.

Starting off:
We left Delhi at 8:15am, so rush hour, which is a whole new beast here in India. It's two-way for one and it's got a density that you just can't find in North America. Imagine if you will a 6 Lane highway at a standstill. Now fill any leftover space with motorcycles. That's how this place does mornings...

All of the major industries are outside of Delhi, so many factory workers live inside and commute out. All of the offices are in Delhi, but most of those guys live on the outskirts (about a 25min drive without traffic). You can see now what's going on. The pollution gets worse before it gets better, and it was beyond hazy as we left the city. We started to see camels though, that was neat. They're big animals, really big. Our driver Mahaveer Singh told us that the new buses and all of the TukTuks run on natural gas in Delhi, neato.
We were in for a long drive on our first day, but it was good to get away from Delhi. Once we got out of rush hour traffic, the driving was much nicer. Along with the traffic there had been construction, so really a lot of sitting. Almost as soon as we got really going we saw a jeep that had a broken load. Interesting techniques here, the jeeps are a sort of truck hybrid, they stick four poles out of each
corner of the back, then cloth is used like a giant bag to hold in the grains. Big mess when it fails. Shortly after that there was a truck that seemed to have lost its front wheels while going rather quickly...
There's more cows now too, they just wander through the road, not a care in the world. We saw one that looked like a miniature pony :)

Mandawa:
This was our first stop, and it's a lovely one. Only just big enough to be called a town instead of a village. It was a stop for the caravans during the silk trade. As a result there are big Havelis (literally windy houses). These are the classic rooms off of a courtyard design and a trademark of Rajesthan. We had our first run in with the collaborative duping that is a well practiced skill here. Our hotel owner told us that we shouldn't eat until 6:30-7, so we should go on a tour instead.
They've got some kids at the front gate that'll take you around to some Havelis. A large percentage of the Havelis are owned by people that live in Colcutta and Mumbai and are looked after by locals that live in them. Our guide was a member of a family in one. He took us on a great tour of the town, then he took us to "his Father's" shop (no resemblance at all). There we were invited in and asked to sit
while we were shown lots of patchworks (another trademark of Rajesthan). At first we were hesitant, then, as they started telling us about how hard life was and that they relied on the tourism solely for income, we realized that we were getting a bit of a shakedown. They were guilting us into buying! Outrageous! Then he put down a runner that floored us, it was too beautiful for words. They are handmade out of old saris. We ended up getting two different ones. feeling a little worked-over we headed back for supper. Later we would go to a factory where these are made in bulk (still by hand, just lots of ladies working) and the prices we were told would be less. There we discovered that we had gotten an unmatchable deal! We had a great
(if a little pricey) meal then went to bed. This was our first night under the mosquito net, and we felt like royalty. I guess the room helped too, it was a beautiful spot. Next morning it was an early breakfast then on the road.

Bikaner:
Beers, music, candlelight, writing, and reading. Later that list would include Gatte Masala for me and some Naan, I don't remember what Lauren had.

Sounds pretty good eh?

That was our evening on top of our Haveli in Bikaner. We had visited the fort earlier and it was a really amazing example of opulence, everything was painted. The guy we bought the patchworks from in Mandawa was a silk painter, really impressive stuff. The whole fort was better. Our Haveli's got the same kind of thing going on. Lauren and I spent the whole evening grinning at each other like we were
getting away with something.
Bikaner's a big spot, but it really reminded me of St. John's I felt safe in the streets and everyone was friendly without being pushy. In the fort the guards kept letting us into restricted areas. That picture of the stained glass is from an area that they never let Indians into. We've even got a picture of us on the Maharani's throne! The Maharanis had a rough life, they weren't allowed to be seen, so their
apartments have lattice over all the windows and they never went outside. We also went to the market, standard kinda thing. Except that the train runs right through the middle of town, we had to stop and wait while it went by. Afterward Mahaveer picked us up and took us back to the hotel. Next night: Camels!

Camels!
They smell bad, and they fart a lot. Those are separate, so you can imagine the final result...
On our way to the "safari" we passed some trucks carrying a windmill. Three parts. They were huge. The landscape at this end of the desert is littered with windmills. I've got some pictures, but they don't really show how many there were.

The safari was in a small town that's sole income was the safaris and the tourists they brought. This was kinda sad, but we knew we'd have to get over it because that's the case for the majority of Rajesthan. The safari itself was kind lame, we were led by a camel man and his son at what can only be described as a stroll out along a well-worn path to a picturesque village, where they stopped for us to take pictures. Then they took us up onto the dunes. I should make a quick note here. Desert in Rajesthan isn't sandy dunes, it's a sort of cruddy scrubland. There were a few dunes near the village that get populated by tourists, partying locals and kids selling cold beer every night. Our camel man was nice enough to lead us away from the party to a quieter section and we sat and waited for the sunset. It was beautiful. The picture of us that we posted is from that evening. I bought that scarf in Bikaner, and it's camel wool (only neck wool, which I discovered is the least smelly part of a camel).
That night we were treated to a local dinner and got to watch/try some local dancing. Next day we had a short jaunt into Jaisalmer.

I'm afraid that I'm pretty tired of typing, there's so much to say. I'm leaving lots out and it's obviously still going to be a massive post. More tomorrow I think.