Jodhpur

The trip to Jodhpur was relatively uneventful other than our driver getting lost again but eventually we did find our hotel and our guide. We immediately headed out for the market and a textile cooperative for more shopping. David will be happy to know that it was not me who bought the silk table cloth or cashmere bedspread. Some of the ladies are starting to FedEx packages home as there may be overweight charges on the luggage. The fabrics were beautiful though. We finished the evening with a Tuk tuk ride and dinner.

Pushkar Fair

Pushkar is the home of the only Brahmin Temple in India, one of only two in the world. Every November, thousands of pilgrims visit for the full moon. At the same time there is a camel, horse and cattle market. The result is fantastic. We were there for the closing ceremonies complete with speeches, prize giving, camel races, riding competitions, marching bands and dancers in traditional costumes. There was a midway and we saw snake charmers, contortionists and tightrope walkers. It was just wonderful. It made me think of the Ottawa Ex done Indian style. We finished our day by taking a camel cart back to our tent. I have lots of pictures including some of our tent in the desert camp and I think I will pop one in here. The next morning we were able to visit the temple after we checked out when it was not so busy.

Haggling

I bought a long Indian skirt on our lunch break en route to Pushkar and had my first experience with haggling. Unlike my friend Jane who never gives an inch, I am terrible at it. The shopkeeper gave me a break out of mercy and I jumped at it immediately. I'm sure I heard him laughing as we left the store. But I really like the skirt.

Udaiur to Pushkar

Leaving Udaipur, we passed marble factories. There were stockyards filled with marble and granite slabs of many sizes and colours. We saw people loading them into trucks by hand and also camel carts filled worth chunks of marble. The two lane road wound through the mountains and was full of trucks and buses. Our driver calmly passed them, hopping from lane to lane on the blind curves with cows to the left of us and motor bikes to the right. I sprouted a few more grey hairs for sure.
Road closures and a lost driver made the trip a few hours longer than expected and I had some trouble explaining to the driver that I needed a bathroom stop. Shrieking "toilet stop NOW" finally did the trick and we reached Pushkar safely.

2 interesting facts about Udaiur

The old city is used in many Bollywood movies and also in the James Bond film Octopussy.

Miniature paintings are full size pictures but full of tiny details that tell a story

Udaipur

We arrived at the city of lakes and palaces yesterday and had a sunset boat ride on Lake Pichola. It's is so beautiful and today we visited the palace and a Hindi temple. At the temple we were invited to sit and clap along with the chanting. The palace also had a display of English crystal and the most gorgeous marble bathroom. This is a tourist area and the shopping is great. In the stores you sip a cup of chai while being shown the merchandise. We have seen some beautiful gardens too. Our hotel is delightful with marble floors and Victorian style fixtures. I will post a picture of the bathroom at the palace (which we used!) and the door to our room.
This afternoon we rode camels. Hope and I went together and were terrified. It was so much fun!
Tomorrow we drive to Pushkar for the camel fair and stay in a tent hotel.
Weather is getting cooler, especially at night.

Aurangabad Nov 23 and 24

We visited the Ellora caves the first day and the Ajanta caves the second. Both are carved into the rock face so they are warm and feature intricately carved temples. Ellora has Hindu, Jain and Budhist temples and is smaller. Ajanta is only Budhist and much larger and busier. It was forgotten and buried for 800 years so the paintings have survived and we had to take off our shoes to go in. We saw groups of Budhist monks in saffron robes and one had a pretty fancy digital camera. There were not many westerners. It is not a well known tourist area which is a shame. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and very impressive. One cave was full of bats Emma!

Reasons to drive rather than fly

1. Passing through towns and villages.
2. Fields of cotton,rice and sugar cane.
3. Straw huts and tepees.
4. People loading sugar cane on trucks.
5. Caravans of gypsies.
6. Man riding camel.
7. Calf riding in back of tuk tuk.
8. Bicycle on back of motorcycle

Interesting Fact

After Breakfast we will be driving to Aurangabad.  This is where Skoda cars are now manufactured.  In the early 1980s I owned one of the first Skodas in Canada.  It cost me $3,000.00 brand new.

Pune sightseeing tour

Once again Rubina, our travel agent came through with a wonderful guide.
Today's stops were the 18 century Peshwa Palaces at Shanivar Wada, the Pataleshwar Cave Temple,  the Raja Denkar Kelkar Museum and the Agha Khan Palace where Mahatma Gandhi's ashes rest.  The museum was my favourite and I wish we had more time because it deserves a day on its own.  I particular liked the kitchen implements, lamps and musical instruments.  I like to see what people actually use in their daily lives.  There was also a wonderful display of chain mail and armour that Malcolm would like.  I hadn't paid the extra fee to take pictures so unfortunately couldn't take any.
Our guide was a very engaging speaker and gave us lots of background on the history and culture of India.  I learned that castes and classes are different.  Our guide is a Jain, a minority sect of Hindu and she talked about the difference between Jain and Hindu.  What I remember is that they are completely non-violent, follow gurus more than gods and have some interesting dietary restrictions.  She also talked a lot about women's issues in India.  Lots more interesting discussions today.
For lunch, we had a traditional maharashtra meal which we had to eat entirely with our fingers.  Mary is left handed and was firmly told off for eating with her left hand.  The food was wonderful as is everything I have eaten in India.  I think I will be talking a lot about food while I am here and I already have some recipes to try.
Before we headed home, we attempted a short visit to the Osho International Meditation Resort.  Unfortunately the Ashram was closed to visitors because the meditation had begun.  This is a place with a very interesting history.  Osho is known as the Guru of Sex and HIV tests are required if you stay there.
This is probably a good time to talk about our driver who will be with us until we leave Aurangabad.  It is wonderful to have a driver.  He takes us everywhere, drops us off and sits in the car until we leave, usually right in from of the place we are visiting.  He sleeps in his bus in the parking lot at Sangam and I'm really not sure what he does about meals.  He has been incredible patient with us and we plan to tip him well.  He also negotiates the traffic with complete serenity which leaves me speechless.

November 21st - Birding south of Pune

Jane came to India to see birds and on this day we certainly did.  Our two very knowledgable guides arrived a bit after 6:30 and off we went.  The trip to the Mayureshwar Sanctuary is 76 km and should take one and a half hours plus a stop for breakfast and lunch.  With all the stops into various byways where there were interesting birds to watch, we arrived at 3:30.  Jane estimates that she saw 76 separate species.  I must have too but not being a real birder remember maybe 4.  I really liked the painted stork, the flamingos and a rather lovely irredescent blue kingfisher.  I'm teasing a bit here but I enjoyed the day very much. 
The nature preserve while small had a very interesting landscape, looking more like an african savanna than India.  We saw a number of Indian gazelles and climbed a watch tower at the highest point.  Very peaceful and beautiful.
The restaurants we stopped at for breakfast, lunch and tea were very enjoyable with different foods at each - all vegetarian.  Over the meals, we chatted with the guides.  One of them has just opened an Italian restaurant in Pune.  He talked a lot about India and the need for education and hygiene to improve the standard of living.  I think the money being spent on airports and medical tourism while people were struggling to survive bothered him a lot and it was a very interesting discussion.

Nov 20 - Pune

In the morning we went shopping!  Hope and I bought punjabi suits after much trying on.  They came complete with a lesson on wearing the scarf.  The shopkeeper readily agreed to deliver them to Sangam and wait for payment until we had tried them on after the alterations which were completed by lunchtime. We had to fill out a label with our names for delivery and my name caused a lot of consternation. It was funny to be the person with the strange foreign name.  Did me good.  We also had to cross the street, twice.  The most terrifying experience of my whole life and it is not getting any better.
More shopping after lunch at Fab India which had the most fabulous cottons.
The big event of the day was our cooking class at the home of two local ladies with close ties to Sangam.  It was wonderful.  They did most of the cooking but we got to chop lots of things and try our hand at making chappatis.  Before the meal we went for a walk to see the mill where they have their flour ground (cheaper than buying it ready ground) the spice shop and took some of the food waste to feed the cows.  Dinner was wonderful and I have discovered a taste for Chai tea. It was a truly magical evening with two new friends.  We signed the visitor book and were presented with candles as a Diwali gift.

Mumbai - Pune November 19

Mumbai was still shut down because of the concern about possible political unrest which didn't seem to actually occur.  This meant our tour was cancelled but we had to drive through Mumbai to get to Pune so we actually got to see a lot of the city with traffic much lighter than usual.  The shops were starting to open but offices were still closed.  The drive to Pune gave us our first real experience of driving in India which really has to be experienced to be understood.  It seems total chaos with traffic weaving in and out totally ignoring lanes and traffic rules.  There are huge numbers of motor cycles and scooters.  They go everywhere, not overly concerned about whether they are going the same direction as everyone else.  Some of the drivers wear helmets but their passengers (wearing saris and riding side saddle, sometimes carrying babies do not.  The cars don't go as fast as ours which is a good thing and I am told that there are not a lot of fatalities but we did pass 2 or 3 overturned trucks by the side of the road.
Also had my first experience with a squat toilet!
In the afternoon, we checked into the Sangam World Guiding Centre and had a tour after a late lunch.  We will be there until the morning of the 23rd.  The facility is lovely and I took lots of pictures.  I can't post right now because my internet connection is not good.  Sangam is staffed by a mix of paid and unpaid staff from all around the world in addition to its local staff.  We share our meals with women from England, Australia, the U.S and Ireland, India and more.  Everyone  is friendly and include us in everything.

Leaving Mombai

Driving to Pune after breakfast to spend next few days staying at Samgam, one of the four international guiding centres.

London

Flight to London Friday night went very smoothly. Since we had the 12 hour layover we took the express train into the city and visited the UK Guide centre and Pax Lodge where we had Tea.
The underground was under construction but Mary guided us around and we made it back for our connecting flight.

Mumbai

The flight from London to Mombai is 9 hours and I still haven't slept . Jet Airways was great. The staff were friendly and professional and the Indian dinner was the best airline food I've had.
Really enjoyed the descent over Mombai. What a fantastic city. I didn't realize there were mountains around it. The plane kept interrupting its descent to go over them. Our driver picked us up and helped get checked into the hotel but we had to postpone our tour til tomorrow. A major political figure died today and the city is shut down. People are gathering to watch the body being taken for cremation.
So we are sitting by the pool and an early night is planned.

The Viking

Yes, there is a story behind these pictures.  For (?) years, my branch at work has owned a life size cardboard cut out of a viking, exactly why I am not sure.  However, whenever staff members travelled anywhere interesting, the viking would be dressed up suitably to wish them bon voyage.  I remember him very vividly as Queen Elizabeth.  For the last few years, the viking had apparently retired to the Carp Branch but made his way back to us to wish me a happy trip.  He is beautifully decked out in sari, sandals, flowers and much jewellry and was there to greet me when I arrived at work on Tuesday.  What a wonderful surprise!  It doesn't show in the photos but he is wishing me bon voyage in english and hindi.  I visited the staff room many times this week for a visit and smile.
This will be my last post from Canada.  I'm saying lots of goodbyes and feeling quite teary while I do so.  My suitcase is packed and all I have left to do is pack my carry-on & purse.  Hopefully I won't be done too early or else I will spend 4 hours reviewing lists.

The to-do list

With one week left before travelling, I am frantically ticking off items on my to-do list.  Panic is setting in - what seemed like lots of time is disappearing fast.  The interesting thing about my list is that most of the entries have nothing to do with preparing for my trip.  They involve leaving the house and family in good shape to get along without me for almost a month.  I am buying extra canned and frozen food; stocking up on shampoo, toothpaste etc; doing all of the 'once and a while' chores like changing smoke detector batteries and washing the kitty litter tray.  So far this week I have changed the vaccuum cleaner bag, serviced the car and will be taking Brinks to have his claws clipped at the vet's as well as pick up a month's supply of cat food.  I plan to top up the rinse aid dispenser in the dishwasher the day before I leave and make sure there is enough hand soap and toilet paper.  I find myself shouting out reminders to family members about toaster crumb trays and dryer lint. I've even written Christmas cards.
This is going to be an interesting learning experience for all of us!
Oh yes, somewhere in there I need to find time to get my haircut and pack.

Doctors & shots & pill, oh my!

With two weeks until departure, I am now vaccinated against Hepatitus A, Hepatitus B, Typhoid, Cholera, Tetanus, Diptheria, Polio, Smallpox and the flu.  In addition, I have protection against Malaria and first aid supplies for various infections and unpleasant sundries.  Oh, and protection against the sun and mosquitos.
Did I forget anything?  At this rate, there won't be room for anything else in my suitcase!