Day 1 of the Rajasthan Excursion

I'm back and online once again after a 10 day hiatus and a fabulous trip through Rajasthan, India's western desert state. We had a great experience; every day was full of adventure and entertainment. I'll start w/ Day 1 today, as I filled a third of a journal on the trip...too much to post at once.

We left Delhi early Sat., Nov. 8, nagivating through tons of trucks transporting stuff (I've yet to see a semi, though -- is that just a North American thing?), vehicles teeming w/ people headed to work.

You know those HOV lanes we have? No need to encourage people to car pool here -- it's a given. Had no idea you could fit so many people in a tiny car, bus, auto (these are jobbies w/ one wheel in the front, 2 in the back and seem to run on a scooter motor -- I'm really not in a good spot to judge, knowing next to nothing about what's under the hood, other than having a bad experience w/ a plastic bag and Honda Pilot engine, but that's another story), rickshaw, you get the idea.

No doubt our traffic safety bureau would throw in the towel if they saw some of the buses w/ people hanging off of them (top and sides) during rush hour traffic. That's merely one example of Indian vehicle overload.

Anyway, en route to Manvar, our first destination on the Rajasthan experience, I'd say we saw a little bit of everything. Urban changed to slightly less urban as we got out of Gurgaon. The road worsened as we got further from Delhi (to the point of being dirt with immense washboards/holes in the middle). Mom and Dad, the impossible has been achieved: it really was worse than the Birch Creek road.

Before long we were passing camels laden w/ packs or pulling carts, many burgeoning with goods (to the point where you'd see the big wagon from the back but couldn't see a driver, camel or cart -- if you looked hard you might spot feet). They (the camels) have a slow, gawky gait, with big two-toed hooves doing the clop.

I have to say it was nice to see some green space as Delhi is so populous, and Gurgaon is so under-construction. Mustard and wheat, sugarcane and rice are grown in various parts of the state; we saw some of the first two en route to Manvar, a village of 35,000, known for its haevelis (18th century homes with courtyards, painted with beautiful frescoes).

We passed through a number of markets on our way: carts and carts of bananas (trucked/delivered via train from Mumbai), mangoes, vegetables, nuts, what looked like homemade sweets, etc. We saw men playing cards, groups of men and women chatting, oxen getting baths, people taking baths (in fact at times it felt like we were traversing through someone's front room -- as people ate breakfast, smoked, brushed teeth and a whole lot more up close and personal next to the road).

I had to laugh -- I got up early to bike (stationary) for 30 minutes, later saw a man with what must have been 30 pounds of linens on the back of his bike. And I though my 1/2 hour on the bike worked up a sweat...

Also remarkable were the items carried on women's heads -- all shapes, sizes and weight. Half a tree walked by on top of one woman's head. These must be some incredibly strong necks.

One item of interest was a colorfully dressed woman (well ok, all these women are colorfully dressed) carrying a basket of dried cow dung on her head.

We saw goats, cows, donkey, a horse and as noted, plenty of camels (by the end of our Rajasthani tour Claire's camel count was 200+ -- that was just the figure of those she spied from the road), pigs, sheep, all kinds of stuff in a whirl of activity.

Back to the road (I use the term road loosely). It started out as a two-laner (going one direction, evolving to a paved stretch without lines but w/ enough room for cars in both directions -- and bikes, walkers, rickshaws, donkey carts, camel carts, etc.

At one point it was big stones and small stones (a number of poeple were, by hand, working on this stretch of roadway). Then it narrowed to alley-size, still supporting afore-mentioned stream of traffic, with a few added speed bumps (+ those engulfing potholes).

All this did little for Claire's stomach -- poor kid lost her breakfast and naturally where we pulled over there was no bathroom or gas station -- just an old man watching as we three adults tried to clean her up with wipes. Her socks were a lost cause so I stripped them off. We drove off after leaving all our trash and her socks on the side of the road. (Don't worry, the trash had plenty of company.)

We found a bathroom, cleaned her up, changed her, Sprited her up (kids' teeth will fall out after this trip; we went through plenty of Sprite) and moved on.

After all the sensory overload and morning vomit we were quite thrilled to get to the hotel, an old havaeli that now serves as a hotel.

Non-descript from the outside, the havaeli (home w/ 3 courtyards), was a delightful place; our room was up a narrow, steep flight of stairs, featuring a big bed with handmade Rajasthani quilt, sporting little mirrors throughout for decor (we saw a whole lot of these over the next few days, all lovely). A chair rail went around the room, the lower part had lovely flowers in the fresco style. A picture of the Hindi elephant god adorned one wall (that's apparently a given in Hindi homes as it's the god of prosperity). The walls still had original fresco paintings and notches for oil lamps. It was the prettiest, most historic hotel of our trip.

Our English speaking guide caught up w/ us at the hotel, turns out he was nephew of the owner of the hotel, who is a friend of a colleague of Joe's. He took us to a rooftop restaurant (in another haveli, this one restored to its original splendour by a local art school) for a great Indian cottage cheese/vegetable dish for me, fried chicken and chips for the kids.

(Note: what they refer to as cottage cheese here isn't what I get in the round carton from Teeter at home; it's firmer chunks of white cheese. No doubt Archana could tell me how it's made.)

We then went into several havelis featuring frescoes in varies states of non-restoration/restoration, depicting scenes of fighting, kings, harems, Hindi gods, elephants and more on walls, ceilings, shrine areas, etc. Because of the smoke from cooking, one home's frescoes had a dark film over it, in other areas of the homes the paint was worn or missing but the effect was still lovely; where sun/weather/use hadn't affected them, they were spellbinding.

The 3 courtyards had different uses, 1st was for "gents" to do business and be entertained, 2nd for ladies/kids, 3rd for servants/stables. We climbed up narrow steps for a view from the top of one -- spied Moslem and Hindi temples (first w/ green flags, 2nd w/ red), dozens more havelis and the city fort).

In the havelis the caretakers (owners -- wealthy merchants who'd fled to cities when their lifestyles were threatened by changes in leadership; most havelis are still owned by these original families and visited occasionally by same) were busy doing laundry, dishes, selling souvenirs, etc.

The havelis had drainage systems -- little canals carrying water to courtyards -- which featured grass, gardens or patios. (In drier areas the drainage systems collected water for use throughout drought periods.)

From the havelis we wandered to the fort, built in the late 1700's. Half of it was pristine (restored and used as a hotel), the other half privately owned and decrepit.

The lobby was spectacular, every inch of wall and ceiling vibrant fresco painting that had been restored to original bright colors. Men in turbans staffed the property (these were the first of a great number of turbaned men we'd see on our trip).

The grounds were fabulous with flowers, pool, cupolas (is that the right word for small round structures you can take great pix in?).

From the fort we went to the market and a government controlled silk shop where we got a formal demonstration (serious sales pitch) on handcrafted tablecloths, place settings, wall hangings, bed spreads, etc. They were all lovely; he pulled 10 or 15 out, told us how they were made and by whom (area tribeswomen). Kids loved touching them but I passed on purchasing. (it was, afterall, day 1 -- no idea what awaited! Had it been up to Claire and Ava, we'd have a house adorned w/ elephant-related furnishings.)

Back at the hotel we met the owner and his friend Simon from Belgium, joined them for a lager followed by dinner. Well into the evening I realized the former thought I worked for the American embassy (Bank of America/American embassy confusion). It got us all kinds of attention so that's all good, until of course the guy calls the embassy to collect a favor.

Anyway, we had a lovely evening, they're both well traveled (as seems to be the case w/ many people we've encountered from NZ, Australia, Europe) -- the haveli owner seemed to be a jack of all trades -- ran a major hotel for several years, published a tour book of the area, studied English literature and Judaism, read the Koran, etc. His niece was getting married the next day so we heard fireworks half the night. The kids had fun w/ Simon, enjoyed tandoori chicken and Ava ate most of the pistachio/milk desserts.

Shortly after dinner we collapsed into bed, though were supposed to help select art for each room. That was looking to be a lengthy experience so we opted to extricate ourselves.