Making the most of it in Rajasthan...

Diwali Getaway  Rajasthan

We had five days off for Diwali and in the spirit of making the most of it booked ourselves a jam packed itinerary in Rajastan, famed for beautiful lakes, deserts, turbans and smelly camels. We left our soiree at Mallikas and headed home, to finish packing before getting the last metro and then the night bus from Delhi to Jaipur. We saw the more desolate side of Old Delhi at that time with street cleaners attempting to sweep away the 3ndless paper plates, cups, peelings, newspapers, there were homeless people tucked up and sleeping in any hidden corner, and a number of seemingly drunk auto drivers who we managed to narrowly avoid.
The sleeper bus was surprisingly comfortable........

We arrived at 6am, good time to drop our bags and head to the Lassiwalla. Apparently the best Lassi in India, and it all sells out if you don't get there before lunch time. Lassi is a yoghurt based drink served in a clay cup, and thought to be good for digestion. They can be served sweet or salted, with a variety of spices. We went for a traditional sweetened one, and it is definitely the best Lassi I have had in India so far!

We then met with our friend Pulkit, from Gurgaon. He had a busy Diwali schedule with family, but took the time out to treat us to a great breakfast at the LMB restaurant in the Old Pink City, and explained to us the itinerary we should follow. Taking his advice we set off into the markets for our first round of Jaipur shopping...

We spent a good few ours in the markets buying shoes, clothes, fabric and jewelry, but also highly a amused by the pictures hanging behindd the counters of the shops. Some of the shopkeepers families, some of local gurus and some of no one in particular...

We then took an auto to the Amber Fort. It over is about 11km outside of Jaipur in the hills and was the former residence of many Rajput Maharaja.  It was built in the 17th century in beautiful yellow and pink sand stone. There is quite q walk in the heat up the stone stairs, you could take an elephant ride to the entrance instead, but it was absolutely stunning....and expertly described by our guide Duli.

We then whizzed to the Nargargh Fort for sunset, and watching the Diwali fireworks over  Jaipur...

We had a hairy drive in an auto back to our hostel with children setting off fireworks in every street, regardless of what else was going on around us. At the hostel they were conducting a traditional Puja which werequires invited to join, followed by another round of iresponsibly unsafe and frightening fireworks!!

We wereawoken the next day by a lady incesently drumming, apparently she'd stop if yoi gave her money. If only I'd known that earlier! We started with brunch at the Indian coffee house, great south Indian food...

We spent the day with one rickshaw driver taking us round the some of the rest of thr sights of Jaipur. Rafik took us to Janter Manta, an old style observatory with all the instruments made from impressive looking sculptures...

Next stop Harwa Mahal, the wind palace...

...followed by a visit to a block printing factory, which actually just turned out to be a warehouse selling fabric, which 2as a little disappointing, but with a bit of a push we were shown some of the blocks, and they tried to explain the process, but I can't say it made it very clear. I did buy some nice fabric though!!

We then had a surreal experience at a place called Chowki Dani. It had been recommended to us by a couple of people in Gurgaon, the guys at the hostel, and a couple xof other people in Jaipur. Apparently the ultimate Rajasthan experience, with food, dancing, magic, elepants, what more could you want? We went, dropped of by slightly mad Rafik our tuk tuk tour guide for the day, and we were left fairly perplexed by the whole experience. We were having a great time in Jaipur, soaking up the history of forts and palaces, drinking Lassi,  bargaining to the last rupee in the bazaar, but Chowki Dani was so far removed from any of this it was quite hard to believe. It was like a polystyrene Disney version of Rajasthan, but without and charm or warmth.....but in the spirit of making the most of it (we had paid £6 to enter, which is pretty expensive by Indian standards) we toured round the polystyrene battle scene, paid our respects in the polystyrene temple, clapped when 3 doves came out of the snake charmers basket, and had mehendi applied to our hands. The Indian people there seemed to be really enjoying themselves, and it was an experience, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.......the food was fantastic though. Vegetarian thali served on a banana leaf platter, with as much as you can eat, finished off with photos taken wearing the waiters turban.

We had an earlyish start to get the bus to Pushkar. An easy 5 hours through the winding hills and we set about making the most of our 18 hours in pushkar. We met with Ed and Evie, two friends from the British Council, and started with a spot of lunch in a sleepy little cafe next to our hostel. The menu was more interesting than any of us had seen for weeks, offering  oue cheese pasta, mango and green bean salads, and a classic aubergine and pineapple sandwich. The food met expectations, but cut a massive chunk out of our time with some of the slowest service ever, still nice to relax for a while. We then hit the sights taking in the Brahman Temple, one of very few in the world, and possibly the only one in India. We possibly explored further than we should and found ourselves on the top level investigating a drop toilet with the finest views of Pushkar, sorry I don't have a picture. We moved on through the winding markets continuing our shopoing sree from Jaipur, and making our way down to the lake for a traditional blessing.

After searching out some camels who were preparing for the annual Camel fair the following day we bumoed into four artists whomwere styaing in our hostel. They were gathering quite a crowd as they painted a wall in the town centre, celebrating the camel fair. We watched for a while before taking advice from the guidebook and spent the rest of the night chilling in roof top bars ready for another early start, and train ride to Udaipur.

It''s a challenge to say just how much we enjoyed Udaipur,  it'stunning lake views, chilled out and relaxed pace of life, historic buildings, puppet shows and great food, so I am in fact going to stop rambling, as I'm sure most have you have stopped reading by now.......I'll leave you with a few photos and a few key words, if you need any more details message me!!
Shopping, beers at sunset, puppet show and dancing, dinner and cocktails, more beer on the roof, hungover city palace, bacon sarnies, boat ride, cancelled train, back to the bunk, all day bussing!

Diwali soiree

A Diwali Soiree

Diwali first began a couple of weeks ago. A bit like Christmas buildings are covered in twinkling lights, shops are full of sweets and chocolates, and a bit unlike Christmas as fireworks start going off everywhere, in the garden,  out of people’s garden gates, in the middle of the street, beneath the tuk-tuk you’re travelling in.....yes this did happen to me. It was pretty frightening, especially after years of watching Pre Guy Faulks adverts warning of all the evils of fireworks, watching a group of boys who were probably no older than 12, setting off Catherine wheels in a driveway and then trying to jump over them, barefoot, with sparks flying everywhere.

We spent one Sunday evening at a Diwali Mela, in one of the more upmarket housing estates  close to our apartment. The houses circle a swimming pool,  and large lawn. Set up around the edge of the pool were all the best local restaurants with stalls selling all kinds of delicious international cuisine. There was a bouncy castle and other fun activities for children. The lawn was covered in craft stalls, selling gift packs of beauty products, clothes, paintings, jewellery and endless amounts of other  beautiful trinkets. I’m trying to be restrained around things like this, keeping my luggage allowance in mind, and also remembering things I have bought in other countries thinking they were amazing in their current surroundings, and then just seeming a little out of place at home......must not fill my back pack with endless amounts of crap! (Although obviously some of it will turn into gifts on my home coming....)

We were recommended the Mela by Mallika,  the teacher from school Tom and I share a lift with each morning. She is our go to girl for information on the local area, and India in general. She is 22 and following the Teach for India Fellowship program, for any of my teaching friends reading this its a similar idea to Teach First, on the job teacher training. She lives at home with her parents, who were kind enough to invite us round the night before Diwali for tea and snacks. 

We were welcomed by her excited, slightly chubby Dachshund, Ash. She jumped around, yapping wildly as we came into the front yard of the three story white house, it makes a nice change to see a friendly and we’ll fed dog . The front door was decorated with garlands of flowers and a collection of candles, and little statues of the Hindu gods. Inside we met Gaiyterie, Mallika’s cousin, and her mother guided us through to the lounge where she as setting up a table full of all sorts or treats. We drank glasses of Limca lemonade as we all began discussing travel plans for the next few days, before going outside again to hang the garlands of flowers we had brought onto the front gate, an easy job for Anna, Paddy and Ben, the tall members of the party. Mallika brought out a stool to stand on, which they didn’t need, but we joked we probably wouldn’t be able to reach even if we were standing on it!

We then went back inside to eat......you’ll have to excuse my poor descriptions, and even worse attempts at naming the food, but when someone puts a new Indian treat in front of me the last thing on my mind is accuracy during blogging........we ate spicy potato cakes, little crunchy potato and chickpea bites, vegetable sandwiches, which were a bit like coleslaw sandwiches,  but nicer, French fries with Masala spice, and the highlight, I think was called Aloo Chaat. 

There were three different elements to the dish, plus sauce and spice. Concerned that we did not know how to handle this new delicacy Mallika’s mum carefully made up bowls of the food for us. Part one, crispy disks of pastry, like deep fried puff pastry, the thick delicious samosa pastry in rounds about double the size of a £2 coin. Next in was a spoonful of cold spiced chickpeas and potatoes. On top of that two round balls made of ground lentils. They had a very soft texture similar to a sort dumpling, and vaguely reminiscent of a good quality mozzarella. They were white in colour because they had been soaked in curd, also giving a slightly sour, but not unpleasant, after taste. With the main ingredients in the bowl, the finishing touches were added, a spoonful of sweet and spicy chilli sauce, a sprinkle of masala spice, some salt and a sprinkle of chilli powder. The finished dish is such a great mixture of sour, spicy, soft, crunchy, crisp, smooth and chunky I could have eaten numerous bowls of, but having spied the home made brownies on the table I managed to restrain myself and only have two helpings!

As we tucked into a selection of brownies and gateau with masala chain for dessert Mallika’s father, Aaditya came home. He is a very successful photographer, and also has a small farm. His photography has taken him around the world as he was telling us about some of the places he has been he showed us one of his books from the 90’s. It documented the story of the Nagas tribe, from a hill station in North East India. He spent several months with the tribe over a number of years and the book shows different rituals and festivals with them, from day to day life, to a tiger hunting festival, where Aaditya himself set tiger, mostly through fear of the reaction of the tribe leader if he refused. 

He is not only a photographer, but also a wealth of knowledge on the history of photography and an avid collector of vintage cameras. The collection began when he was left a large selection of old car, eras from a family friend who had no family to leave them too. The collection is now so big that they have a small museum in the basement of the house, featured as one of Trip Advisors top 10 things to see when visiting Gurgqon! It houses an incredible collection of photos of Ghandi and the independence movement, one of the original American Air Force cameras that took the picture of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, and a CIA camera the same as the one used to photograph Nixon during the Water gate scandal. 

All I can say is thank you for such a great evening!!

A lot for one body.....

This is India. Everything happens at a million miles an hour, unless you're in a traffic jam in which case your life won't  move quickly for hours. Life is busy, dusty and noisy, but there are tranquil pockets of calm and quiet. At the weekends I've been to visit some of the calm and quiet, during the daytime, although they are not without their crowds and hustle and bustle, but they give you moments of peace....

Anna and I spent Sunday afternoon at Humayan''s Tomb. Fabulous Mughal arcitecture, combined with large crowds in places and peaceful corners within the gardens. We managed to find this one first time, by getting two metro and a cycle rickshaw. It was a bit of a struggle, we'd been at a party the night before so were feeling less than fresh, but it was a worthwhile visit...

 It's the middle of October so the temperature is a cool 28 degrees, at least everyone kepps telling us its cool, and I guess in comparison to 45 it is cooler! The sun is shining but there is a haze in the sky (definitely from the levels of pollution) that gives everything an ethereal glow. It is a Mughal tomb that houses the body of Emperor Humayan. His wife, Bega Begum, comissioned the building in 1569 and now house the bodies of numerous family members,  some within the tomb, and others in other monuments within the gardens. I'm starting to wonder if the Dibley family could do with a family tomb on a grand scale like this......?