Rajasthan Part 2

We stopped at the dessert camp resort, Manvar, for tea(I can hear my sister groaning in the back of my head complaining about the number of times I stopped for chai) on our way to Jaisalmeer so it was not a scheduled stop. Very memorable tea indeed. We did not have a room in Jaisalmeer and were hoping to put up in the fort. Not sure if it was the thick stench of cow dung in the air, open gutters or the constant heckling of the traders that put us off but we had to settle for one of those ugly tourist monstrosity that was outside town. It was very comfortable night and they had decent tea. Initially we planned to stay in J for a few days but I am glad we cut it short as I must admit I was not completely enamoured by it. The fort itself is spectacular (from a distance) but the apathy of it occupants to its upkeep was quite depressing. Atimes you got the feeling that the goverment had forgotten about the place, this inspite of getting all this attention for being one of the top tourist destination. The old Havelis in Jaiselmeers are worth a vist inspite of being in various states of disrepair. The jain temples in the fort were quite but not as nice the ones we saw at Mount Abu. We were able to get guides in most places but I think the one in J was the most memorable for all the wrong reasons. Unable to keep his curiosity at bay he sheepishly asked what my relationship was to the 2 women with me? To which I promptly replied - I have to let you in on a little secret, I am actually a Maharaja and these two are my Maharanis. That shut him up for sometime. Jaisalmeer overall was 3 on a scale of 5. We took the night train to Jaipur to catch our flight to Goa. One of the coachsharers clearly needed to listen to 'Kabhi Kabhi' to go to sleep as he had it playing on repeat till his cellphone battery died. Railway food was not what I remembered it to be. A bit Kabhi-Khabhied, we reached Jaipur at 5:30 in the morning. I got hold of taxi driver who promised to take me to the best tea spot in town and feed us an unforgetable breafast. Tea was not bad and since our breakfast was still being 'made' we did a quick tour of the pink city. Pink city is also christened Stink city by the many who come through, thankfully at that time of the day the city was gracious to our nostrils. Every hue of pink was evident when we drove through however there were still parts that desired a coat of something. Eventually our breakfast seemed to have finished cooking (we made stop earlier to see if we could eat) and we went in. The place was the atypical mullah joint that I was accustomed to when I was studying replete with white tiles on the walls, soap stained washbasin and very efficent waiters. Looked like a famous joint as there were celebrity photgraphs mainly posing with the owner on the walls however I am sure noone from the sanitation department would care to be deified on the walls. The driver suggested we order 1.5 portion but I told first send half a portion and we order acordingly. The mystery dish, called 'Nari', came in a sizzling pot and was serverd with tandoori rotis. Half salivating and half praying we dipped our bread into the goey concotion, its also worth mentioning that it was just 7 in the morning when our stomach were not at its strongest. We did not stop with the first dip infact I asked for more roti (predictable). Nari, a beef dish, is cooked all night in spices and its fat. Prior to serving, ghee is heated with lots green chillies and poured into the dish resulting in a meal solely consisting of saturated fats peppered with meat. I must admit it was very good however not a meal for the weak stomached and would recommend it for lunch instead. It will be on my radar the next time I return to Jaipur. Of course we stopped for dessert on the way the airport, garam garam Jalebi. So a few things to remember if you are visiting.. 1. Udaipur is the best place to visit 2. Meharangarh Fort is not to be missed. 3. Stick with mutton when ordering food. 4. Try a Rajasthani Thali. 5. Book in advance if you want to eat in the Lake Palace. 6. Don't miss the chance to ride a camel 7. Stay at a desert camp 8. Stay in good hotels else your experince may not be as memorable

Rajasthan..

Good to be back in what should be subzero Munich but the weather gods have been kind!! Meant to put in a few more posts while we were thrifting through India but one too many chai stops and local samplers left me with very little time to forage for internet cafes. Also motivation to struggle with a pan smudged keyboard connected via snail line to www was probably at its lowest. Inspite of a hectic itinerary and the lack of planning, I assure you that our trip to India would make you envious. I would have liked to pen my musing about all the places that we went in more detail but I will have curtail my verbosity.. I had never been to Rajasthan and I have been constantly reminded that there are other places in the motherland other than Kerala. So to appease the domestic gods and in effort to be a well travelled indophile, we squeezed in 6 days of Rajasthan. Flew from Mumbai to Udaipur (aka Lake City), greeted on the tarmac by a burly but handsomely dressed Mewari complete with the handle bar moustache who sent my bumbling sister hysterically chuckling all the way to the baggage counter. The hotel was nice and as it turned out we were sharing quarters with Madonna who was also touring the desert state (great minds think alike). Our presence was further graced by part-time Harvard lecturer, fodder scammer and currently the Railway Minister of India, Lalu Prasad Yadav. Long live Hilton Honours points! I dearly wanted to have lunch/dinner at the Lake Palace but they were sold out so I guess we will just have to go back :) We did alot of the palaces, took a few boat rides in Lake Pichola and chowed on some amazing food. Worthy of mention was the Mutton Rana at Amarai restaurant overlooking the lake. The palaces are as grand as any I have seen in Western Europe albeit different in style and build. The Lake Palace is smaller than I imagined it to be. Most of these palaces are still owned by the Rajas who have maintained them well. The grandest Palace of the lot is Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, arguably one of the grandest pre-independence building I have seen in India. It is also well maintained and we were told that the current Raja takes an avid interest in taking care of it. Jodhpur as a city is quite filthy but like the rest of India it seems to be exploding at its seams. If you visit then you should not miss the Onion Kachoris and the chilli pakodas in most sweet shops in Jodhpur. We spent a memorable night in a desert tent. The tent experience was a luxurious affair complete with hot showers and heaters. We went on a jeep safari through the dunes and managed to see some wild life. The drivers also tried to keep it interesting by driving down 60 degree drops and 50km/h and then stopping halfway. We were entertained in the evening by some folk dancing and singing which we took in with healthy doses of Bacardi. Woke up nice and early to watch the sun rise for which we were transported on camel back. Camel riding turned out to be easier than my equestarian attempts. The dessert camp was an excellent experience. This was truly a unique experience. Worth mentioning that my -Kebab mai hadi- sister was with us for most of India except in Kerala. Have to stop here for now....