Jodhpur for Diwali
Evelyn's mom was in town visiting so she went with me, Evelyn and Emily to jodhpur. We left Mumbai at 11:30 am on sat for the short 1.5 hour flight to jodhpur. I sat next to an American couple who work at the embassy and just got here two months ago. They live near where I do and I got their information so hopefully I will see them again. We took a rickshaw to the guesthouse - the ricks look different than they do in Mumbai.
We stayed at Hems guesthouse which is owned by a wonderful family. We climbed up a flight of stairs to the kitchen where the women were cooking and making sweets for the Diwali celebrations. We went up another flight of stairs to our rooms that each had a balcony. We put our stuff away then went up another flight to the rooftop restaurant that had had stunning views of the fort. We had a lovely homemade lunch then took a rickshaw up to the fort and explored it.
On our way back the driver took us to a tea shop and the other woman listened to his spiel and perused the tea while I rested outside. I sat on a stoop and the driver told me to move because people lived above there and it was a celebration and they were using candles and would periodically just throw the hot wax out the window onto the street. Are you kidding me??? The streets in the old city are so narrow and crowded. No cars are allowed. Indian chaos at its best - motorbikes, ricks. The beds in the guesthouse were very comfortable - almost as hard as my bed in Mumbai which is basically a pad laying on a slab of wood. I could set a glass of water on one side of the bed and roll around all night and the water wouldn't spill! So the beds were comfy but it was loud! Indians love their fire works. Love them. They are not pretty pop pop firecrackers with pretty colors - they are basically bombs or cannon fire. It scares the crap out of me. And makes it impossible to sleep.
Sunday.
We had a lovely breakfast of fruit salad and toasted cheese and tomato sandwhich. Yea! No Indian breakfast! We walked around jodhpur a a little then got a car to take us 2.5 hours to the Manvar camel camp and resort in the Thar dessert. The resort is absolutely beautiful - a little oasis in the desert. We chose to stay in the tents which were about a 15 minute jeep ride from the resort. They were canvas tents for two. And there were about 30 of them in a circle. This was definitely more " glamping" than camping. The tents were beautiful and had nice beds and a gorgeous bathroom. The camp is only open from the very end of October to mid April due to heat and monsoon. Since it is the first week of November it was hot during the day but chilly at night. In a few weeks, it will be COLD at night. Lunches were served at the resort, but breakfast and dinner served at the camp.
We arrived early afternoon, had lunch, settled in huge tents and then went on a sunset camel ride. I have been on a camel in Israel but we used a step ladder to get on a standing camel. This was the first time I was on one while it got up and down. Scary!! Far scarier than rappelling down the 220 ft waterfall I did a few weeks ago! We were on the camels 30-40 min and saw an amazing sunset. Every night they have a cultural performance with singers and dancers attaché camp. They set up these mats and tables with candles and pass out appetizers. It got quite chilly so thankfully the dining tent was warm.
One of the great thing about India is the food- people love eating food from all the different regions. People ask me about it all the time and look at me with horror when I tell them I don't eat Indian food. I avoid it like the plague. But in instances like this I have to eat it because there is no other option. I spent the first night in the tent bathroom puking. And it isn't the food - no one else was sick. My doctor thinks I have an intolerance to some oils and spices that are used -the problem is every region uses something different so I have no way of knowing what ts in the food or what makes me ill. Last year I went to a village for ganpati and the women made food. On the floor. In their house. In the middle of nowhere. I had to eat it and my friend was convinced I was going to die. I was fine. Then I stay at super nice restaurants and barf. It's a crapshoot so my general rule is Don't eat Indian food!!
My friends went on a jeep safari and a worker drove me to the resort where thy let me use a room with AC for a few hours. Even though the tents have fans it gets really hot during the day. My friends wanted to go on another camel ride(2 hours) - not me! So I went with a guy on a village walk and got to learn a lot.
Emily and I watched the the cultural performance from my tent and had a long chat with one of the workers. He was very interested in life in our countries (Emily is Australian) He was shocked we don't give all our money to our families! and that we don't have arranged marriages. His daughter is 7 and he is already saving up her dowry for her wedding. He is making that more of a priority than her education.
On tuesday we left the camp early in the morning to drive to Jodhpur. We had some time before the plane so we visited the Jodhpur Palace and a huge antique warehouse. I got some great boxes for my nieces to save their postcards in.
