India 4 - Jodpur and Jaiselmer, Rajasthan

Jodpur, Rajasthan, India - 21^st Oct 2011

Jodpur Fort

Our next adventure began with an overnight sleeper train journey from Delhi to Jodhpur in Rajasthan. We arrived at a relatively calm Old Delhi station at 8pm and quickly found our platform, train and berth with ease – our names were even displayed at the entrance to the carriage. Unable to obtain 1^st class tickets – very difficult to get hold of – we had to settle for 2^nd class booking of Two Tier A/C. This means curtained areas of 4 bunks per section of a coach – John had to take the top bunk (natch). You are issued with 2 very clean sheets and pillow slip – blankets a little more dubious. The beds are seats in the day and are slightly padded and fairly comfortable. Everyone settles down – eating food, reading, chatting and the AC is blasting out so no mosquito bites – excellent. However, I did see cockroaches, but not the huge sort and so slept fairly well, just waking when the train stopped to pick up and drop off and the Chai seller was at the ready with his familiar cry “Chai Chai!”.

Inside Jaisalmer Fort

We were met at the station by the son of the Homestay in Jodhpur and whisked off to their house to a kind welcome from Chandra Shekar Singh and Mrs Bhavana Singh. Gorgeous room – perfect décor and furnishings and one of those Rajasthani beds that you need a ladder to get up to. We showered and were given a delicious breakfast of fruit, bread, eggs, cereal, fruit juice, toast, jams, chapatis and Indian breakfast to choose from and of course great tea. Then it was off to see Jodhpur Palace and the Fort – magnificent and beautifully maintained by the trust that is run by the present Maharajah, who is held in great esteem by everyone we met there. Can't adequately describe the immensity and grandeur of this place and how it dominates the landscape of the city.

Returned to our homestay for a late lunch and a rest. Our host asked us to join him for a sundowner at around 7pm and we duly attended to be given first rate gin and tonics or whatever we wished in copious amounts before dinner with great conversations on all sorts of topics. This family are related to the maharajah and had lots of family photos and portraits going way back in their very formal front room – that didn't seem to get used much. The house is traditional in style with a large interior courtyard set out with comfortable chairs and whitewashed with rooms leading off and upstairs to a further sitting area and our room. Dinner was delicious – of course.

Osian Temple + Sacred Cow 

Osian Temple Carvings

Osian - 22 Oct 

Went on a day trip to Osian and looked at 10^th century Jain temples – very beautiful. Travelled through rural landscapes of oxen ploughing fields and women harvesting crops, boys herding goats and sheep and of course the wandering cows and water buffalo, birds of prey and peacocks and plenty of birds we couldn't identify. Back at Indrashan Homestay for more sundowners and dinner with our lovely hosts.

Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India - 23^rd - 24^th Oct 2011

Jaisalmer Fort

Drive to Jaisalmer, a 5 hour journey to this city that sits on the edge of the Thar desert towards the Pakistan border. Here is a living fort which is completely inhabited and functions as a village within the walled city itself. It is magnificent and very old with a warren of streets that are not wide enough for cars in many places. There is plenty of tourist tat but the setting makes up for it. We stayed in Nachna Haveli, a traditional rich merchants house in a courtyard setting, full of ornately carved doorways, heavy wooden doors and pictures of old rajahs – the owners are relatives of the royal house of Jaisalmer. This place was on the main trade routes for camel trains until Bombay was developed as a port and the railways took over. There are still lots of camels here – John very happy as he loves camels, having worked with them as a young man on a safari park back in the day.

Desert  Bartering

Late afternoon we drove out to the sand dunes at Sam about 40k west out of town. Here you are beleaguered by touts wanting you take a camel ride – see the tourists get tick bites and so on! We just drove a bit further away and took a 

walk on the dunes and watched the sunset which was spectacular. However, it is slightly surreal as there are tented tourist camps dotted all around here for people to have that desert experience.

" . . . they're very naughty boys"

Detail of the Day: watching dung beetles rolling camel dung up the dunes made John very happy – he loves a bug.Next day we toured the fort with a guide and drove to the cenotaphs on a hill overlooking the town to see the sunset. Back for dinner on the rooftop terrace of the Haveli with musicians entertaining us, looking up at the fort and looking down on the street life below – which is endlessly fascinating.

25 Oct – Return to Jodhpur

Jodpur Dusk

Went to the old city around the clock tower for a market place experience at dusk. The old and the new collide here with families cramming themselves and their shopping into the traditional two wheeled, covered, brightly painted, horse drawn tongas and cycle rickshaws, alongside the auto rickshaws, cars, buses and the huge two wheeled camel carts transporting goods. Then the streetsellers with their four wheeled hand carts selling all manner of food stuffs. Plus the scooters and motorbikes carrying whole families – five is the maximum we've seen – that is Mum, Dad, 2 children and a baby. The women all ride side saddle and sit gracefully on the pinion and don't even appear to be holding on. The noise, dust and pollution can be a little overwhelming until you get used to it. Returned to the homestay where cooking lessons were being given by Bhavana to Dominic and Siobhan – on honeymoon from the UK. It was the night before Diwali – big Hindu festival – and the gin and tonic was flowing to a background of sporadic fireworks and drumming. A very merry evening.

With Chandra, Yash & Bhavana

Can't emphasise how fantastic these homestays are. Cleanliness is outstanding as is the finish of the interiors, especially when compared to even high class hotels, where nothing quite fits or has been bodged or put in upside down or very sloppily. The reason for this excellent standard must be that women are involved in the running and organisation of homestays, whereas you never see a woman in any hotels and it really shows from the service and setting to standards of cleanliness, and of course the food.