Into the Desert

Kieran:

We left Delhi this morning at 8.00am and arrived in Bikaner at 8.00pm. Yes, we spent the whole day making our way across the hot desert in a small car. We made some stops along the way. We saw a giant monkey temple on a hill, walked round some old Haveli's (rich, hand painted houses) and nick got bullied into buying a miniature painting of two elephants fighting (he did get a good price for it though).

The journey was definitely eye opening, we saw so many things and got our first glimpse of rural life in India. Leading away from Delhi the roads slowly deteriorate and the landscape becomes more arid. We went through loads of villages and passed herd after herd of cows, goats and sheep being guided along the roads, by herders with sticks. We saw peacocks, wild pigs, camels and donkeys (many pulling trailers behind them, on which was usually sitting a person and their possessions). We passed village women, dressed in colourful sari's, carrying all sorts of bundles and pots on their heads. It seemed as though we would be in the middle of nowhere but then you'd spot a person sitting on the crest of a sand dune in the distance.

Today was a nice contrast from the hectic hustle and bustle of Delhi. I feel I'm a little more settled in the Indian swing of things and looking forward to the rest of Rajasthan. Tomorrow we will see whats in Bikaner and hopeful go to the temple of Rats (which is as the name suggests, full of worshipped rats). By the evening tomorrow, we should find ourselves in Jaisalmer, and from there we embark on our camel safari. A lot more driving to be done to get us there though!

(So far drunk a lot of Chai Tea and eaten a lot of rice and naan)

Nick:

Drive is amazing, so much to see all at once! Driving into the desert area now. Hope to e-mail this evening.

We're all eaten and in our hotel, after about 12 hours on the road! The hotel here is reaaally nice, far nicer than our hotel in Delhi, we barely feel like backpackers! Again overwhelmed completely today. The road trip was quite amazing, as the greenery slowly turned to desert sand as we got nearer to our destination. On our way we stopped in Mundawar (think that's the correct spelling!) and got shown round some Haveli's completely covered in miniature paintings. It was also oddly quiet for India! We've seen plenty of wild peacocks, huge herds of cows, goats, camels, boar, sheep, you name it! On the bird front, green parakeets, a lone black bird which looked somewhat like an ibis. More groups of black, kite tailed birds! I asked our driver what they were, but he didn't know, I don't think he's much good for wildlife... I've just looked it up now, and I'm pretty sure that they are Black Tailed Kites. The only bird I could identify in my book was the red wattled lapwing, plenty of those around.

So all is well, my only concern right now is funding! There are little hidden costs in everything we do, guides, hundred/two hundred rupees entrance fees here and there, and then tips galore on everything! Our driver has also offered to be our city guide for the next ten days at an extra 25 pounds for each of us... It's not bad, but a little annoyed at more costs and people rarely take no for an answer here easily! We're going to discuss it tomorrow, because presumably he will still drive us and drop us places, without guiding us round them, we hope. Everyone sure wants to do everything for you here, takes a while to get used to, my drink got topped up with every other sip this evening. Crave some Independence and peace, but I'm sure we'll get used to it.

We're assured Goa will be very cheap as it's off season, probably will spend a good while there. It would be a load off my mind if you could check my bank account though, make sure this road trip came through right (should be about 360pounds), and let me know how much I have/will have left? Thanks!

Jaisalmer: We are in Jaisalmer, it's awesome. Great view of fort from our hotel. No internet here today, or tomorrow. Texting seems to work everywhere though.

Today not so bad for money, we managed to half our guide costs; seems like a good deal. Sun just setting on fort.

Great sunset. Can't wait to share photos. And yes, hot, with camel safari tomorrow evening! Most excited for it. I'll keep you posted.

More birds to add to the list: can't work out what they are though, yet. Also a couple of deer. Just ate on cushion on roof.

So this is India

OK, I haven't done this in a long time so bear with me.

Its now coming to the end of our first day in India. The plane journey wasn't bad and getting from the airport to our Guest House turned out to be unexpectedly hassle free.

OK, so we arrived at half six in the morning. The great thing about Delhi is that it has truly fulfilled all the expectations I had of it. It's intense, hot, steamy and smelly, especially in the slum that is Paharanj where were staying. The roads are a mishmash of dirt and concrete, muddy pot-holed and very busy. Crowding the streets are a range of interesting looking characters, backpackers (though few in number compared to the locals) sellers, rickshaw drivers, cows (that seem to roam the city on their own accord, strutting their stuff on the city roads with the mass of traffic), dogs, beggars and touts. It's funny how it all brings back memories of Bangkok... but Delhi seems poorer and dirtier but also less polluted and smaller with few buildings over 3 stories. Everything seems to taker place on the streets and life moves at an alarmingly fast pace but strangely nothing seems to get done... One thing is for certain, were definitely not in England anymore.

We spoke to several locals about our plans to head north, but each was followed up by a disconcerting shaking of the head, advising us against it because the monsoon had come late and the Himalayas at this time would be very wet and not much fun. So we decided to make a last minute change to our itinerary, Spending a good 2 tedious hours of the morning in a tourism office, sipping chai tea, we decided to forgo the north and booked everything we needed to head straight off to Rajasthan. It was impossible to book any trains we wanted at the last minute because they were all full, so the only option left was to get a chauffeur to drive us around the desert in a car. At first this seemed a pretty unusual option (and not very "backpacker") but it seems it's a quite popular way of seeing the area and turned out to be pretty good value too. plus we will be able to see much more this way and be far more flexible. We've also managed to get our 2 day camel safari in Jaisalmer sorted along with an elephant safari at Jodhpur. So a lot to look forward too! We leave at 7.30 am for Bikaner tomorrow morning.

Finally, the rain stopped and so we spent the afternoon viewing the sights of the city including Huyaman's Tomb, The Ghandi Museum, The Parliament Buildings, and the big Arch.
We also had our first taste of dahl for lunch. Spicy!

The hotel is far from smiley, more like a prison cell with a noisy ceiling fan. But it has two beds, so I'm satisfied.

Nick:

Hey guys, finally back at our Hostel, absolutely shattered.

We didn't get your e-mails in time to investigate further, it would have been nice to try Moheed, a little annoyed that we didn't, but we're booked. We took a break and discussed it and asked all the questions we possible could we were in there quite a while! We took Jo's advice about asking lots of people, not just one, and they all said the same thing this morning, North not much point, very wet, and mud slides! And also that we'd be lucky to meet our itinerary and get out of Bangalore. It was easy to believe when we showed up and the place was misty stormy and muddy, wet, but the day turned quite hot and dry later on. So hard to tell whether we're being duped or helped! But we feel pretty confident it's a good plan, our driver showed us the sights around Delhi today, and was very friendly and helpful.

We arrived off the airplane to rain, and saw egrets on the runway. and also geckos outside! We pulled in to our hotel after swerving Cows, and whatnot, our street is very busy, muddy and though full of backpackers, not the cleanest area of Delhi... This place is fairly tough so far! A beggar girl climbed on to our auto rickshaw as it was pulling away and clung on until she had to let go. It's pretty heart breaking to take it all in!

After discussing plans at the travel agency, we took a cab round to Hamayut's Tomb, which was very beautiful, and being circled by possibly vultures, but looked more like black kites/buzzards? Will have to look up. We also got dropped at the Gandhi museum which was interesting, but we were waaaaay to hot and tired for. Chipmunk like things everywhere...(turned out to be Indian palm squirrels.)