Rajasthani pt.3

Lauren puked in the car. Mostly on herself, but a bit got on the seats. Mahaveer said it wasn't a problem, it happens most trips... I guess that explains the seat covers. When Lauren got back in the car he asked "feeling better?"
"yes"
"enjoying your dream vacation?"

I'm going to warn any of you that might be treating this as some light reading with a meal, or perhaps are thinking that you'll zip through it quickly on your way out that this is another epic entry.

We believe that the meal with the eight ???brothers may have been a touch contaminated (I was fine, but I've been having a bit of a better run of things than Lauren since then, so maybe my system's better equipped). That morning we left the hotel a little bit late so Lauren could get some more sleep. I had a dish called Upma for breakfast, which is couscous and veggies. Mahaveer was happy to leave a little later, turns out that a lot of his close buddies were driving the same loop with us and it was their last night all together. Needless to say he was a little bit haggard that morning...

The end of the pukey drive was Jodhpur. I bought some incense, then we went to the hotel and Lauren crashed. I sat on the rooftop patio and enjoyed another great fort view before strolling through the twisting lanes and alleys to the market and back.  The Jodhpur fort is the tallest and biggest (there's a lot of one-upmanship in fort building) in Rajasthan. We never made it up to the fort, but I had a great night drinking with some swedes that were on a temporarily parallel run through the area. We'd seen them before, but never really worked ourselves up to introduce ourselves. Seems like swedes are like canadians in that respect, don't want to impose. They were from the same area that Lauren spent time traveling in, they found this funny because it's a tiny spot.

After Jodhpur we headed to Udaipur, and finally left the desert. The drive into the mountains was great but I forgot to charge my camera before we left. So, if you'd like an in-depth description you'll have to get me to read it to you from my book. I'm quite proud of my writings, some verge on prose if I say so myself. Mostly I'm just amazed that I've managed to record every day (I'm writing this in Nainital, and I've filled over 27 pages, and I don't think I missed a day). Regardless, the road took us through a bunch of small villages and farms on top of the mountains, and finally joined with a large four lane highway that runs out of Gujarat, which is the state that Gandi's from. The highway was neat. They kind of punched it through the hills, with little regard for geography. As a result, the the road changes each year as the monsoons cause different parts to be buried or swept away. We were passing through at a safe time, but Mahaveer mentioned that it can be a really risky ride at times.

Udaipur was lovely. It was a place for homesickness, realizations, dissapointment, and joy. The lakes are straight out of James Bond fame. Man-made, filled with stunning sunsets, and oozing wealth and garbage. This last one became a constant theme for our trip. But really, a feel of old money put to the purpose of lasting beauty.
So that's the joy taken care of, on to the disappointment: this was our first bad hotel. First off, mosquitoes. I guess we should of expected that in a lake city... However, you would think that the hotel owners would've thought of it too. No screens, and the windows didn't shut tight (In hindsight it was a great room, but we were naive). Also the restaurant made us both feel a little off in the belly region. We've learned to avoid smoky kitchens with black walls (no, really?).
Next up, realizations: I think it was here we realized that India wasn't living up to our expectations. Not in a bad way, but just that it was a far cry from the images we'd created. More on that in the final post. I feel we'll end up doing an "observations on India" post at the end. We also realized that we were really getting sick of sightseeing, it's not something that either of us do for fun on a regular basis, so it was hard for us to replace our usual pastimes with it.
Finally, homesickness: we missed North American food. We are both eaters. I feel most people reading this will know that, but for those who don't,  there it is: we are lovers of food. Rajasthan (and we would find the rest of India as well) suffers from an excess of potatoes, fried foods and veggies cooked beyond all recognition. I am saddened to tell everyone that on average we ate potatoes for two and a half out of three meals a day. Lauren would like to point out that vegetable prices are at a record high in the country and our findings were north indian specific. Regardless, all that combined with our inability to trust the uncooked greens, made for hard times. The result was that we found a German bakery called Edelweiss, full of European feel and foods, and moved in. They had espresso coffee and fresh baked, whole grain, breads. In comparison India offers white flour breads and instant coffee (usually made as "milk coffee" a sweet, creamy beverage that serves more as a version of hot chocolate than the elixer that I was pining for). We loved it.
We did do a bit of touring around in Udaipur, but in a lower key fashion. No guide and we only did what we felt like doing.  Again, there's some pictures and a better description if you want more.

I seem to be making good time with this entry, so I'm gonna try and push on through to the end of Rajasthan.

Next up: Pushkar.
This was to be our "expensive" night, a night to be Maharaja and Maharani, to revel in the lifestyle of the rich. Turns out that means more space and cleaner walls. An interesting side note on the indian hotel industry: When you pay more, you get EITHER a softer bed OR more space, rarely both. So, armed with this new understanding, we headed into town. We ate at a place called Sixth Sense, which is in the hotel Seventh Heaven. I'll be honest, I wish we'd stayed there, apparently you need to book well in advance, and I can understand why. It was a thing of beauty. Haveli style, rooms surrounding a courtyard, but modern enough to be clean, not drafty and bug proof. The top floor housed the restaurant and some plants that streamed over the railings and fell almost the full four floors to the ground. The kitchen was on the ground floor, so, other than your drinks, your order was thrown down in a bag on a rope and then your meal arrived by a clever pulley and box system. Just an extra touch onto an already fantastic spot. The food was really awesome, there where local organic farms paired with local cafes, which is relatively unheard of in Northern India.
The rest of Pushkar was intriguing. It's the home of the only Brahman temple. As a result it is an extremely holy spot. Which oddly enough seems to have resulted in the development of a strong resident white population. You can kind of see the evolution of the hippie as you walk the streets. From the older folks, who really gave me the vibe that they'd found what they were looking for, to the new age. All told a dirth of dreds. Also, if any of you have been to the Black Market in Halifax, you'd recognize a lot of their wares in Pushkar. At the same time as being a magnet for the hippie population of the western world, it's also a strong pilgrimage site for Hindus, although we didn't see much because we weren't there during any holy days. Lauren was still sick and I needed a break from people trying to sell me things, so we didn't go into town much.

Next up: Jaipur
This is the capital of Rajasthan. Not as clogged or as massive as Delhi, it still has that sprawling feel that you get from the non-religious cities. We had a great hotel, good breakfast and a fun time wandering the streets. We also went out to Amber fort, I did some snake charming, and we climbed a mountain instead of touring the fort. It was funny, I kinda felt like we were breaking the rules...
We also went to a spot that makes clothing, the famous "any colour, any cut" kinda thing. Some of you have the results of this trip, and I hope they fit.
Our next drive was to Ranthambore. The famous tiger reserve. On our way we came across (or rather they crossed our path, really slowing us down) an interesting creation called Johgards. Typically, but definitely not restricted to, jeep wheels, chassis and brakes combined with the steering, engine and gearbox from large trucks, these mongrels require no license, registration or insurance. As a result they are restricted to farms. Unsurprisingly I saw them passing as taxis, freight haulers and runabouts. It's a bit chaotic driving in that part of India. Fortunately the road was a strip of asphalt approximately the width of a car that dissolved on either side into the dirt, so no one was driving particularly fast.

Ranthambore. Tigers. Leopards. Deer. Peacocks in trees.
We saw them all.
There's not much going on in the town, really just the reserve and the tourist houses. Mahaveer was on vacation, rocking the sweatpants, sleeping in and not washing the car. It was great! His cousin Vinod was also at the resort, so we stayed up both nights with them, learning about Indian whiskey and laughing fit to burst. They're a funny duo.

That is the end of Rajasthan, but I guess I'll give you guys a little bit more info on the big cats.
First of all, tigers a really big, it's hard to consider what that means, but next time you're near a house cat (except Zoe, she won't really give the right mental image) imagine it's the size of the couch it's probably sleeping on. Consider if you will, the weight of an animal that size. Next, I invite you to remember that tigers, despite their size, retain all of the feline grace, speed and power. We never saw the tiger mover much, but when it did you could see what it was capable of. Truly dumbfounding. To add to the majesty that was strolling through the undergrowth, a leopard was sitting in a tree above the tiger (and as a result, above us). Now, I'll admit, I was in awe of the tiger, so I didn't really give the leopard it's full due at the time. It was further away though, and with the tiger there it wasn't going to climb down anytime soon. Apparently the leopards rule the cliffs, and the tigers rule everything else. Every now and then a leopard will push it's luck and come down into the tiger's domain. We were fortunate enough to be there for it. The stalemate would last until the sun went down, so we didn't stick around. As for the peacocks, there was one poor guy stuck in the tree with the leopard. Talk about a rough day. I don't think he could get down while the cats were aggressively pretending not to care about each other. As we continued on our merry way we saw some deer; large jungle deer, and smaller spotted deer. One looking like the offspring of the other. We also saw some Kingfishers. Not the blue ones that grace the labels of India's oh so refreshing beer, but a larger darker variety with bronze heads. We had opted for the morning tour, so it was cold. By the time we got back we were ready for a hot shower and some food. Then, our last night in Rajasthan.