04/23/05: The deserts of Rajastan

Hi everyone -

I'm in Udaipur, India right now, being the last stop of our tour of Rajastan. It will be nice to get out of the desert, but everyone tells us that the rest of India is just as hot and much more humid. We'll see what happens.

When I last wrote, we were relaxing in Pushkar (the land of no eggs, meat, or alcohol and surprisingly great). From there, we journeyed west to Jaisalmer - famous for it's great fort which people actually still live within. We actually stayed in a guesthouse inside the fort which was really a neat experience. Looking directly out my window, I could see the outermost walls of the fort. Looking down however, I could see a giant garbage dump where cows and dogs and all manner of animals scavenged for food.

In Jaisalmer, we signed up for a camel trek into the desert with a night spent sleeping under the stars on a sand dune. Forgetting everything I learned from my last camel trek in Morocco, I signed up for a two-day/one-night trek. What I learned from the camel trek:
1. The desert is really, really hot and dry.
2. Oasis does not mean palm trees and a pool of water. It means 5 trees somewhat near to each other, a lot of camel dung, and moving every ten minutes to escape the blazing sun.
3. Any camel the guides call "Tiger" and then start laughing should really should be named "Pokey".
4. Good company and beer make any conditions bearable. Deanna, our long-lost friend Tim, and new "Britisher" friend Josie were a lot more fun than I was.
5. I can't go one day without drinking Pepsi. We walked into a village in the desert, completely parched and having only (by this point) hot water to drink. He offered us luke-warm Pepsi at a 400% markup and it was money well-spent.
6. Buying a cowboy hat doesn't make you a cowboy. In fact, it just made me look stupid. Deanna and Tim's actually look quite good. I had more of the "Jackie Chan in Shanghai Noon" look.
7. Riding a camel hurts.

From Jaisalmer, we took a bus to Jodphur...famous for...another fort. In Jodphur, the majority of the houses in the town are painted blue - which makes for a very impressive sight from the fort walls high above the city. There are so many forts in Rajastan that it begs the question of what they were actually protecting? Many of the forts (e.g. in Jaisalmer) were never taken over but mainly I think because it's completely in the middle of nowhere, protecting nothing strategic(the middle of the desert). Still, the Rajput people had a code of honor and chivalry in a similar vein to the more famous knights in Europe. In fact, there was a tradition that when the fort was certain to be taken, the men would don saffron (death color) robes and ride out for the final battle and certain death. Meanwhile the women would commit ritual suicide - leaving no survivors to be ruled by the victorious invaders. That's conviction.

From Jodphur, we moved on to Udaipur. Udaipur is famous for a beautiful lake and many palaces either around the lake or on islands in the middle of the lake. The city was immortalized in the James Bondfilm Octopussy, in which the villainess's base was filmed at the Lake Palace. Unfortunately it hasn't rained in this area for three years, so instead I can see a vast field of dirt, trash, and grazing cows surrounding this beautiful palace. Normally, you can only approach this palace (now a 5-star hotel) by boat. Today we just walked across the "lake" and asked if we could take a look around. The answer...only if you spend a minimum amount at the bar (equal to just more than two nights at our current hotel). I sensed that the employees of the hotel were sad that their lake which once kept the rifraff (ie. me) out no longer serves its noble purpose. Luckily, all the guest houses show Octopussy every single night - so we could get a sense of what it normally looks like).

Okay - from here we head into Gujarat and to the former Portugese island of Diu. It's a small beach island and happens to be the only place in Gujarat where you can buy alcohol...whew!

I hope everyone is doing well.