Rajastan (more) and the Golden Triangle with Harriet's parents

Here are a few more pics from our travels round Rajasthan... we went faster than usual, saw a lot, but didn't get much time for sitting around. So we're off for another holiday now!


In Jaisalmer we got a bit closer to the camels we'd been seeing around - they're larger than you might think and do a lot of ruminating. On our way back to Jaipur we saw loads running around on the edge of the Thar desert, these three looked more like giraffes.

The Jaisalmer fort is very beautiful, rising out of the desert and with 'proper' fort-like fortifications. We found a roof top restaurant facing the fort and spent every evening marvelling at the stars (you can see sooo many there!) and eating delicious Rajasthan food.

In Jaipur, searching for nice hotels for Mum and Dad, we saw what it might be like to be here in the monsoon... the road turned into a river within about 15 minutes of the rains starting and we'd have waded all the way home if the lovely woman in the internet cafe hadn't taken pity on us and given us a lift. So nice!

Mum and Dad's luxury tour in India strated in style with Emirates fancy pick-up at the airport... and continued in slightly less comfort in three wheelers! We got the train to Jaipur though and visited the sights...

The Palace of the Winds... with the audio guide.

The Jantar Mantar observatory..

with a massive sundial that told the time to within 2 seconds!

We were woken by peacocks crying and met up with Barbara, my friend from LSE days for a lovely meal in the garden.

And visited a little workshop making traditional Jaipur blue pottery - beautifully painted, if we could have carried more, we'd have really treated ourselves!

Amber Fort was enormous, perched on the top of a hill with chains of elephants marching up and down carrying tourists perched on their backs. We were able to get lost in the corridors of the palace, saw the beautiful glass palace and gardens.

The old town of Amber was studded with temples - this one was empty but for the priest and his son and peaceful.

From Jaipur to Agra, again on the train..and stretching our legs in the nature garden down the road from the Taj Mahal.

Seeing the Taj from the riverside at sunset was lovely and the bells and chants of the temple there added to the 'oh we're in India' feeling. The temple also 'discarded' some broken statues of gods on the river bank, giving quite a unique photo opportunity of thye Taj.

We got up early the next day and made the most of the rising sun and relatively empty gardens. We could hear birds as we walked up to look more closely at the Taj, surprisingly big and small at the same time as there's nothing around it to give you an idea of size.

Once we'd taken enough pictures of the building, we admired the other tourists and took pictures of them!

There was a lot of 'holding the top of the Taj', a bit like the holding up the tower of Pisa.

From Agra we travelled to the intense heat of Orchha for a brief visit. It is a beautiful little village on the Betwa river - full of temples and with the old fort and palace on a green hilly island. The palaces are full of paintings and the remains of stunning decorative tiles in blues and greens. Here's a taste, we can bore you with more on request!

Then it was back to Delhi for the museums, rickshaws and relative cool before Mum and Dad left to return to the pristine, rickshaw and cow-free, wind-chilled highways of Wimbledon! Sniff....

Rajasthan

Back in India!

We arrived on the 19th of August in Mumbai, landing in the centre of India's Swine Flu outbreak! We got quite scared by the number of people wearing masks at the airport and train stations and a nice man took pity on us, giving us some masks which we felt rather obliged to wear on the spot. Looking lovely, attracting even more attention than usual..


From Mumbai we took a night train to Bundi, a quite little town in Rajasthan, to allow us to plan our trip round the North, experience yet another upset stomach for Sylv and adapt again to the humid heat of India.

Rajasthan is much more touristy than the South of India. And there are a lot of French tourists, many teachers.. giving the reasthouse a sort of 'salle des profs' atmosphere!

The landscape is very different too: drier, more uniform, flat. No more coconut trees. But flat little white houses. And women in bright colourful saris, their head covered with their shawl. And men dressed in white with big moustaches (think Salvador Dali), gold earings and huge bright turbans.

In Bundi we met Daniel, a french traveller who has been travelling the world on his bike for over 2 years (his blog: http://www.mondancyclo.canalblog.com/). It was a lovely and lucky encounter that was meant to be (that's India for you) and came as we started to think about how we were going to cycle SE Asia. Daniel very kindly showed us his bike and equipment and we're both dreaming of being on the bike...

Next stop Udaipur, the white city, city of lakes and palaces. Nice guesthouse with a view on the palace and a resident tortoise on our terrace.

Udaipur has an amazing City Palace on the lake shores and a palace (now a luxury hotel) set as an island on the lake. In the evening women bathe on the ghats of the lake, a colourful spectacle and by the night a thunderstorm struck, a wet but welcome breath of cool air!

Here are some pictures from the City Palace - stunning decorations in a palace hugging the top of a hill

Next was Jodhpur, the blue city, so called as a lot of its houses are blue.

An imposing fort dominates the city which has a palace and temples within its fortified walls. It's a real change to be wandering around plush palaces and noisy bazaars - a welcome change, a comfortable tourist chanage... but a great chance to learn about the history of this part of India and admire the beauty of Moghul decorations!

Ganesh's birthday

Last Sunday was Ganesha's birthday... and time for a parade in Bundi! The floats were numerous and amazing and the music too. My night photography hasn't improved though, so many words..

Bright bright float after float drawn through town,

Near-missing dog paws, electric cables pushed aside to make way

Families huddled on the roadside, hot

People appear on balconies of apparently abandonned buildings

Tractors, generators and dancers add to the August evening swelter

Electric light and max volume speakers drown out

Bagpipes, drums and turban-ed men twirling their balloon decorated umbrellas

Following camels, elephants and dressed up horses

Child Ganesha hidden by a red trunked mask - alone on a vast float

Star Ganesha statue brightly lit and surrounded by fluttering plastic flowers

Organ players and singers lead bands of drums, trumpets and bells

Blue painted Krishna on a borrowed bull adjusts his leopard print loincloth

Grey men push pull generators, top up bubbling fuel

Avoiding bumping dancers in front

Setting the pace for the lamp bearers accompanying all

Wires held by hand, strip lights on metal... bang, fire waiting to happen, doesn't!

Laughing monster float stuck 100m up the road

Endless laughter like a film vilain - (ha ha ha ho ho ho)

Lone dancer fills the space, Edna Everage meets turban-ed tribesman

Half an hour prancing and he and the laughter move on!

Last float squeezes by

Balloon sellers and rolling sweet stands take their place

The night is still hot, but quiet

Not quite sure how everyone made it down our narrow lane.

Moments from Sri Lanka...and finally a picture of us!

Before we leave Sri Lanka next week and head back to India, here a few pictures of moments, flowers, etc of Sri lanka.

These orchids are called the Kandyian dancers (they look like the traditional outfit with big shoulder pads that the kandyian men wear). And a lotus flower...they are everywhere here, because of the Buddha of course.

A tuc-tuc with a sense of humour....

A blessing ceremony for the 'cutting of the ground' at Mali's house. Before work is started on a house, there is a ceremony to bring good luck to the construction. It involves cooking sweet (very sweet - I think 1kg of sugar went in the pot) milk rice and sharing it. Making offering in a small homemade shrine, some prayers and making cones made of banana leaves stuffed with the rice and incense, oil, etc. for the spirits.

And a picture of us with Mali after nearly 7 months of travel (and lots of curries ;-)