Episode 3: Sand in My Desert Saddle

[Narrator voiceover] “Previously on Episode 1, Jen was in the clutches of near purchase with the textile merchants. Who would be the most desperate?”


Jen: How much for these three wall hangings?
Rakesh: 600 Rupees ma’am.
Jen: 600 Rupees? Come on!
Rakesh: We are fixed price ma’am. (Pointing to cheesy foam elephant sign on wall saying ‘Fixed Price’)
Jen: 300
Rakesh: No ma’am. We are fixed price. We cannot go any lower.
Jen: 300. Look, if I’m buying three, what kind of deal can you give me?
Rakesh: Let me ask my manager ma’am.
(He walks over to manager, chats in Hindi, and walks back.)
Rakesh: He says 550 is the lowest we can go ma’am.
Jen: 300
Rakesh: Ma’am we are making only 10 Rupees a piece on these. We cannot go lower.
Jen: 300 or I’ll go somewhere else.
Rakesh: Ma’am, 550 is our best price.
Jen: Never mind then. Thanks for showing me your things.
(Jen slowly walks out door while silently counting to herself…)
Jen: 1…2…3...4…5…6…7…
Rakesh: OK MA’AM! 500!
Jen: 400
Rakesh: (starting to bag her purchase smilingly) Ok ma’am. 400
Jen: You got change for a thousand?

We’ve learned that whatever price they first quote, divide it in half and start the haggling with that. The patented ‘Jennifer-walk-out-move” is a guaranteed deal clincher 90% of the time. I don’t recommend trying it at Target though.

[Narrator voiceover ] “Did Episode 2 of our exciting South Asian melodrama end in disaster or did Jen evade the careening Staypuff Tractor in time?”



Yeah, she slept all the way through it.

From The Blue City (Jodhpur), our quest for adventure took us to The Golden City (Jaisalmer), located on the edge of the Great Thar Desert separating India and Pakistan.


Marvel over the magical golden fort of Jaisalmer at night...


...the magical cow greeting us outside our door in the morning...


...and the magical beanstalk - neither magical nor beanstalkish.


The fort was complete with labyrinthine streets and castle watchtowers, giving it a mythical, storybook feel.


This city used to be a major strategic position on the camel-train routes. Now it’s mostly known for its tourism and the military base.


A gazbo on the Gadi Sagar. Once providing the water supply for the city, the lake now provides a paddleboat locale for tourists.


Two saddle sore westerners after a brief 5 minute ride up the dune. Stirrups or a 6 inch thick gel saddle would’ve been nice…


We were fortunate enough to catch the intimate sunset over the Thar Desert with about 200 other people, 73 other camels and 19 sand beetles.

After Jaisalmer, we headed to the only hill station in Rajasthan, Mt. Abu. The visions that we conjured in our minds of a peaceful, isolated mountain getaway after the beautiful drive up the winding road (resembling a combination of Chuckanut Drive and the road to Mt. Erie), instantly vanished when arrived in the packed village of Mt. Abu. A gazillion families were vacationing here during the post-Diwali holidays and had come to see the famous Jain Temples. It was more overwhelming than Delhi, so we saw a few quick sites and jetted to Udaipur.


Before leaving, we summited the highest point in Rajasthan, Guru Shikhar at a stately 5646 ft, and saw the Atri Rishi Temple on top.


Though we could have gotten a ride like this woman, we opted to simply walk up the sidewalk.


Recognize this little piece of James Bond cinematic history? That’s right folks, it’s the Lake Palace in Udaipur used as the setting to house that gaggle of scantily-clad female bodyguards for “Octopussy” in the Bond film. Built in 1754, the Lake Palace is now a luxury hotel.


Though we saw no mercenaries in bikinis, we did enjoy watching traditional folk dancers with some dangerous looking fire pots on their heads.


And a traditional Rajasthani puppet with a dangerous looking removable head too.


By day, this lakeside area is a community bathing and laundry facility.


By night, it’s a popular place to light floating prayer candles.


As the sun set in the west, the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of our Rajasthani adventures set deep in our hearts. Preserved and protected as memories in our minds, we could rest secure that, unless something drastic happened, we would always remember...


Uh...remember what?

THE END - Hope you enjoyed the episodes.
Jimmy

Giving Thanks

We interrupt the regularly scheduled Rajasthan updates to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. While we're definitely sad to not be with family and friends on this day (and missing coconut-pecan crusted sweet potato casserole), we managed to enjoy our holiday all the same. Our friends Tim and Becky invited us over for dinner. She'd made corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad, and PUMPKIN pie. We supplied the turkey . . . sandwiches.

It seems the only place in Chandigarh to buy turkey is at the Subway. Here I am carving up the bird, as it were. (No endorsement implied.)


Our hosts, Tim and Becky.


Who knew mashed potatoes could be so beautiful . . .


mmmmmmmmmm . . . . . .


We miss and love you all! Happy Holidays!

Jen

Episode 2: Push Car to Pushkar?

After waking up in The Pink City and packing our backpacks into our compact taxi, the car wouldn't start. Yuganesh, our driver, then proceeded to perform an operation that would be repeated multiple times daily throughout the trip. Open hood, manically shake fuel pump until car rocks, close hood, turn key, turn key again, mutter curses under breath, turn key again and punch gas. Thankfully it worked like a charm, saving us from hitching a ride on a passing camel.


Most camels actually were heading in our direction for the annual Pushkar Camel Fair. Unfortunately we were a week early and missed out on all the fun of seeing dromedaries traded and Jen possibly having a severe allergic reaction to those humped horses. There's always next year...


We did get to see Hindus pilgrims at the only Brahma Temple in India looking for good luck by giving some flowers and food to the idol, ringing a bell, banging a drum, bowing to a shrine, and, of course, making a nice donation.


A pilgrim bathes in the "holy water" at one of the many ghats around the lake.

We then headed to Jodhpur - THE BLUE CITY.

Along with signifying the house of a Brahmin (of the caste of learned men), blue paint is thought to keep homes cooler and even repel mosquitoes.

The forboding Meherangarh (The Majestic Fort) was probably our most favorite tourist experience. One word - AUDIOGUIDES. Simply type the number and hear the pre-recorded history for each display. "I really love technology..."

Spikes on the 7th and final gate are less for aesthetic toughness and more for poking elephants in the eyes when they try to ram it. Ouch.


Kids, DON'T SMOKE OPIUM or else you may grow erratic facial hair like this poor man.



Rajasthan is famous for miniature paintings depicting scenes from history, mythology and, seen above, a little "Foggy Mountain Breakdown."

This flutist filled the ancient astrologists' courtyard with enchanting music.

A 4 year old boy with his father singing for the crowds of wooed tourists like us.

Two worlds apart. The Umaid Bhawan Palace with over 350 bedrooms looms behind the shanties. The palace was actually built in 1929 as a way to create jobs for over 3000 workers during a drought.

One guard picks out the headlines . . .

. . . as another guard picks out something else.

The dizzying view from the bottom of Meharangarh.

The dizzying view from the top of our heads.

And finally, Jen counts sheep and falls asleep. Will she wake up in time to see the Staypuff tractor careening towards the taxi? Do you even care? Tune in to the next somewhat exciting Episode 3: Sand in My Desert Saddle. Until then, I hope all is well with your adventuring too.

Jimmy

The Travel Bug Bites - Rajasthani Style

If only EVERY restaurant we frequented in Rajasthan had this type of helpful sign, then maybe Jen wouldn't have gotten sick. "Mmmmm! Pass me more of those digestive lentils!"

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm really glad Jen shared her very graphic 925 words instead of actual pictures of the worst part of her recent illness. . . (shudder).

Since I've been given the glorious privilege of catching our blog-reading friends up to date with our 10 day sojourn in Rajasthan, I've decided to break it into a few cliff hanging episodes instead of subjecting you to a story of Ben-Hur-esque proportions.

EPISODE 1: Super Sized Adventure

To aid this episode, you'll need to use your Indiana-Jones-influenced-imagination to picture a tattered-edge map of India with a red line moving jaggedly southwest from Chandigarh to Jaipur on it as a faint picture of a crowded night bus drives across the scene for 11 hours.

Our rambling took us first to Jaipur, the pink capital of Rajasthan. It was there where we first connected with our friendly taxi driver Yuganesh and blazed around the city dodging elephants, camels, canines, bovines, pigs, and aggressive merchants. It was amusing that each historic site seemed to claim "the biggest something" in this city.


We first visited Amer - a massive amber fort once inhabited by Sawai Madho Singh I. At over 7 feet tall, 4 feet wide and 550 pounds heavy, the Raj had to be wheeled around his big fort in his big royal wheel chair up the cleverly designed ramps. His palace was complete with water-cooled screens for a/c, a perfumed fountain, a covered courtyard guarded by eunuchs for his 12 wives, and an arena for tiger and elephant fights overlooked by his concubines' quarters. The Raj was truly livin' large.


The BIG fort surrounded by a 10km long wall on surrounding ridgelines.


The BIG chair with 4 manpower engine.


Some American tourist with a BIG smile.


Jaivana - supposedly the world's BIGGEST cannon at 50 tons and 22 mile range. Only fired once. BIG waste.


One (of the pair) of the world's BIGGEST silver urns. Used by a Maharaja to carry water from the Ganges River to England so he could daily bathe in holy water for his 2 month visit.


The BIG Hawa Mahal - aka "Palace of the Winds" a 5 storey building used by royal ladies to keep tabs on the city.


Jantar Mantar - built in 1728, its the BIGGEST observatory built by Jai Singh in all of India complete with a 88.5 ft high sundial.


BIG turban-wearing dork taming toothless cobras.


BIG deserted palace on a BIG lake of which I don't remember the name and don't really care.


The BIG decision. Will Jen get scammed or will she haggle the merchants to get the BIG deal? Tune in to the next exciting blog episode to find out . . .

Jimmy