No, sadly not our train, but in fact the 'Palace on Wheels', that provides a full-on 5 star service of accom, dining and sight seeing stops en-route. This reminded us of Hazel and Rob's honeymoon train journey across Africa...
Mmmm, yep ours is defo the one on the right, we were travelling sleeper class on an 14 hour overnighter.
The open windows in the carriage afforded us some interesting views across the desert...
There were lots of goat herders roaming in what looked like the middle of nowhere.
Every now and then there was a small village, or an even smaller community of people living in what looked like benders covered in hay.
We saw a huge military camp with literally hundreds of tanks, tents and men out in the desert. There is a huge military presence in this western corner of Rajasthan due to its proximity to the Pakistan border. The pic taken below was further on, when we were travelling at a higher speed. I didn't fancy getting ourselves into trouble by taking pics of them watching us while we went trundling by, lol.
Wiji had made friends with Amit, a fluent English speaker, who was taking the full journey back to Delhi (some 17 hours), he was very chatty and humorous. He and the two other male passengers in our carriage all whipped out their stainless steel tiffin tins and had food that some of their wives had prepared. We were invited to eat with them, (how kind!) but politely declined, they weren't offended. Poor Wiji was drooling!
Amit pointed out that Pokaran was infamous for being a site of India's nuclear testing in the desert in the early nineties. We had read about this, and weren't aware that we would be making a stop there before backtracking and continuing on our way. Nice, unfortunately we hadn't packed the geiger counter, lol.
It has been quite horrifying to watch how the news is reported on Indian T.V. Its totally hyped to the max and sensationalised with the most extreme tabloid spin. Indian news readers are usually referring to 'Pak', (Pakistan) with outrage and anger. Its very worrying to think that both countries are nuclear enabled. But then how worrying was it when Bush was in power?!
Amit was an interesting guy, he assured us that when I covered my head with my pashmina it would be seen as a mark of respect, but that people would always be staring at us anyway because we were different. Blatant staring and involving yourself in other peoples business was perfectly acceptable to most Indian's, he said. We had already worked that one out! He did answer my question about why khol is applied to outline the eyes of babies and toddlers. He said it was an Ayervurdic prevention for eye infections...Mmmm, but he also said that it just made their eyes look bigger too, lol. It certainly was striking.
Our overnighter turned out to be the most peaceful to date with our chilled out Indian companions, who all whipped out their cotton sheets and went to sleep when we requested to put the bunk seats down, gone 12pm. At 5am as we arrived in Jaipur, Wiji shook Amit's hand and said thanks and goodbye.
We had first booked into the Atithi Guest House, but on arrival it was overpriced and the service was sullen and poor, so we resolved ourselves to a move the following day when we had the energy and opportunity. Our kindly rickshaw driver showed us a card from a shop in Bridgwater no less, called 'Atmosphere'. Apparently the women who ran it was his adopted Mum. It was way too early and too random to continue a big conversation with him, but the gist of it was that he hadn't heard from her for a while, and asked if we could pop in and see her when we got back.
A bit of a kip and later, we were on a Wiji walking tour, except that our rickshaw driver dropped us in totally the wrong place. We started at the Statue Circle, before a long walk took us up to where we were supposed to begin.
In the middle of a roundabout, one of the biggest so far in India, we were a bit lost as to which direction to go in, some help later and we were on our way breathing in the carbon-monoxide as we strolled along. Oh but we do love a city!
The statue of Maharaja Jai Singh II, in the centre of the roundabout garden and two heron-like birds on the lawn by the hose pipe (lawn?!).
The Raj Mandir Cinema, famous for being the number 1 Hindi cinema in India. It first opened its doors in 1976, and even now takes bookings a week in advance!
This was the first place where we saw significant numbers of cycle rickshaws. There were so many gnarly old men in Jaipur, who really did live in their rickshaws.
Part of our walking tour in the old city accidentally took us through the motorbike repair street of Jaipur...it was interesting for all concerned! Lol.
A gorgeous display of carrots and what looked like spinach. How I would have loved a juice, but I was on a happy break from diarrhoea, and wanted to stay that way! Bygones!
Aaah, Jaipur....busy, busy, BUSY! Lol, some road chaos. Who gives a shit about road safety or right of way?
We liked the pigeon poo monument, and according to Wiji, some Indian passers by got the joke and laughed at me taking a pic of it.
The back lanes of the pink city were full of interesting sights...
And beautiful old buildings.
We were hunting out the Marble carvers section on Khajane Walon Ka Rasta. When we found it we were not disappointed, there was some quality work in progress.
'Mmmm, yes you can take my photo if you like lady, I don't care'.
Walking further along the Chandpol Bizarre we watched the man below make a paper cone for the contents of the ceramic vessel in front of him, to be ladled into. It was some kind of balls in syrup. When one person wanted more syrup in his portion, then all his customers did!
The view of the Iswari Minar Swarga Sal from the street view.
We were loving the hustle and bustle of Jaipur's market places.
Whilst taking it all in a man in a hardware store told us to get a sky view from around the corner. He seemed pretty harmless, lol, so off we popped. As it turned out there was a huge, huge perforated metal spiral staircase, that I could in no way go up, so Wiji went and snapped some great views...naturally, at the top, a man was pissing...
Can you see me down below? I would have needed Kirstie to shoot me with a tranquilliser gun to get me down if I had attempted the staircase!
'Mmmm, what shall I have?' asked the Wiji. Actually nothing, on this occasion because you have already admitted to having 'a tummy like a drum'. Love you.xx
Wiji does love a nice old fashioned coal heated iron. 'Get one Hun, but you carry it, yes?'
The Tripolia Gate is the three arched main entrance to the city palace, though only the Maharaja's family is permitted to enter this way.
Oh hi!
Lmao, gosh we hadn't come cross this before! A huge basket of (as Kelston would say), pompodoms! Lol, love your display technique, not convinced by the food hygiene standard personally, but the spajjers were loving a quick peck!
Yeah, just next door this man wanted me to take a pic of his tray on a bucket of hand patted down ricey affair.' Me! Me!' He was saying! Lol, he then wanted to charge us 20 rupees (30 pence-ish) for both the pics. 'Oh go on then, I cried!' Wiji was only prepared to give 15, so I handed the pompodoms man 10 rupees for his great display, and then five rupees to rice man. As we walked away rice man was arguing with the pompodoms man over the divvying, we thanked them and left them to it. Both snacks in total would not have come to that price! They would have been much, much less. 'Men!"
Just around the corner from the Jantar Mantar Observatory, on the street we spotted two snake charmers! They were calling me in for a sit down snap between them. I like snakes, but I never want to see the inside of an Indian hospital. We knew that the cobras most likely had their fangs removed. Wiji is afraid of snakes so I went in for the close up, cash in hand...
Socks? Who would have thought it? That thought totally interrupted the experience for me. I have developed a hideous compulsion to look at peoples toes (the whole world over). Men mostly seem to have great big, peeling, black, fossilised looking toenails as a result of a fungal nail infections. They remind me of the 'devils toenail' fossil that can be found on Minehead beach. God, I wish I could only stop looking at feet!
Thank you for your sock coverage.
Offerings of grain to the pigeons, and an opportunity for this poor ox.
'Whaaaat the fuck?! LMAO. We were in hysterics!!! Until goaty-peg actually came over to us and then we were all 'aaaaah, shame, a wooly-pully in 38 degrees C?' It reminded us of 'poor silly poodle' in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. He had a dirty pink, satin child's body warmer on over his dirty white fur, until I saw him wearing it at our hotel and nearly wet myself laughing so much that the owner heard me and later took it off hims. Oh, LOL and LOL!
However funny (and tragic) we were in an area where it wasn't really safe to hang about. Sorry goaty peg, why not eat your way out of this humiliation?
The Jalebi Chowk exit.
On the long road of the Johari Bazaar, there was tourist shop, after shop, after shop! 'Sorry, no mirrored skirts for me or the Wiji, K Thanx Bai.'
Aaah, our first look at The Palace of the Winds...we were leaving a visit for the following day...
Parched, hungry and slightly hysterical still we caught a rickshaw to the long established Lakshmi Misthan Bandar (LMB) for some quality food and a much needed fresh lime soda. The décor was 80's mirrored madness, although its been open since 1954. The atmosphere was noisier than outside, with massive tables of middle class multi-generational Indian families dining and chatting away.
Oooooh Machanwala deluxe with peas pilau and an onion kulche. The waiters seemed so cheerful and full-on we thought they might be on coke! The place was also known for its Indian sweets, sold in the adjoining hall. With the help of a shop assistant we chose a selection and they boxed them up for later.
Back at our hotel the view from the balcony was of a rubbish dump over the road that various street children scavenged through all day long for plastics and metals.
Below two women collect some fire wood and bundle it up, the younger women carries it off on her head. They seemed to be living on the site of the rubbish dump.
The next day we moved to the Krishna Palace Haveli, an Indian home stay, where the people were so lovely. We were much happier in our smaller, more run down, cheaper room. The building was super, but judging by the date of the lonely planet the completion of the building work was long overdue. The two stairways that lead to the rooftop restaurant had no hand rails or bannisters. This was a bit of a problem for me, but I have really done well on this trip to overcome most of the irrational (and sometimes logical), fear of heights...even if I say so myself!
Later in our stay, out of friendliness and pride, the owner showed us some of the new huge rooms with four poster beds and very big bathrooms. They looked lovely and had coloured glass balcony windows. We really enjoyed our time there. We had dinner and breakfast on the roof that was cooked by a young man who had a Van Gogh bandage over one ear, but we didn't ask questions about that. The food was good.
In one of the many times that all the staff seemed to be sat in the outdoor reception, a bit bored looking, I showed them some of our pics on the laptop with the intention of asking what things were or why things happened? The owner, lovely wife and other man behind the counter all had a bit of a quick chin wag then gave me the answers. They didn't mind at all, and were quite amused at the everyday things I had taken pics of and wanted to know about. He even said 'these are good questions!' Lol. It made it all the more interesting and fun to stay with them because they were so willing to be forthcoming.
While out and about we'd asked the directions from a rickshaw driver, who we then opted to travel with. He introduced himself as 'Super Salim', and assured us that he was on the internet, lol. Because he gave us such a fair price, and we wanted to visit a whole range of textile shops across Jaipur city, we negotiated a price to hire him for the day as our driver. It was good news all round! He was speedy, didn't lean on the horn, or try to kill us all, and best of all he promised not to take us to any 'emporiums' for the big sell and even bigger prices.
He told us that he liked to park in the shade and have a nap. lol. First up was the shop Soma. We had already visited a branch in Mumbai and loved it. Knowing that Jaipur was the HQ, we could hardly give it a miss. The hand block printing was super and we had previously chosen some bedding together. Soma used all the trad techniques, printing on thick cotton, and were reputed to be a very good employer too. It was a great start to the day and we picked out some more fabrics. Salim was true to his word and was asleep where we had left him. Next up was Rattan, a screen printing company. Here we chose a lovely summer dress for lovely Lyra.
Rattan's out door racks of screens for printing, big styleee.
And a pusskin!
Our last stop was the posh Anokhi hand block printing store. It didn't really appeal to either of us, but we read about their textile museum in Amber and made a mental note to visit it. They also had some great explanations of the processes. Wiji fell in love with a carved fish design wooden block and I brought a wooden bangle. When we left Anokhi Salim asked us which shop we liked the most and we still had to agree that it was Soma, hands down for great designs, beautifully printed fabric, in a hand crafted way that wasn't too rigid. Based on our compatibility, Salims chilled manner and the overall success of the day, we booked Salim for the following day to take us to Amber to visit Anokhi's textile museum.
Pure genius.
Just for Dave's...alright!
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