On the road again to Jaisalmer via Pokran Fort which only required a 30 minute walk around to stretch our legs.  On arrival in Jaisalmer Santosh dropped us a little way from the entrance which gave us a short uphill walk into the Fort. The fort dominates the town and is quite stunning as it stands out in contrast to the flat desert surroundings.  It’s the golden city as most buildings are made of carved honey coloured sandstone.  The narrow streets within the fort are quite charming and atmospheric especially at night. 

Our accommodation was inside the fort itself, which houses a small community and is dotted with hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and shops mainly aimed at tourists. After an initial confusion as the place we booked had changed location, we eventually found the new ‘Desert Boys’ guesthouse and were pleased to find we had another very stylish room.

We all had rooms close together with a little outside seating area and after visiting the nearby English Wine Shop, we enjoyed basking in the afternoon sunshine sipping chilled Sauvignon Blanc and beers. For dinner we took the others to the original Desert Boys, which is now a hostel, but still retained a rooftop restaurant with a fabulous view across to the desert beyond the fort.

Overnight we discovered that our room was over the access road into the fort so once again we were blighted by the noise of honking vehicles entering the fort and the barking dogs during the night.  Hey, this is India! 

Our stay in Jaisalmer included a one night camel safari in the desert. Unfortunately, it was John and Suz’s turn to be ill so they missed the experience and stayed in bed.  Brenda also had one of those ‘I can’t do this’ moments when she first got on her camel but she stayed calm, gathered herself and made it….well done Brenda, you are a star! 

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We rode across the scrubby desert for a couple of hours before stopping for a long lunch under the shade of a large tree.  The saddles came off the camels, they were hobbled to make sure they didn’t run off and were allowed to wander off to nibble at the trees and have a rest. Our camel men, Mr Khan and his two helpers quickly lit a small fire, made us some chai and then started preparing lunch.  Pakoras and finger chips were dished up while we watched them make veg curry and chappatis.  It was delicious and there was enough to share with two young goat herders who also appeared with their long eared goats.   

We rode again for another couple of hours and finally got to the dunes where we played like kids in the sand before watching the sunset.  The two largest camels had been making the strangest noises throwing out their tongues, blowing raspberries and foaming at the mouth.  Mr Khan explained it was getting towards the end of mating season and these two were getting horny if they could sniff any females nearby.  Neil noticed that they peed backwards so asked the camel men how they were able to shag whilst thrusting his hips forward to demonstrate.  They giggled like girls at his question and his mime! He was then taken to a camel by the eldest one who explained by pointing closely and touching, they had a lot of dangling skin which directed the pee backwards but when they got excited they would be able to thrust forward.  He then grinned and rushed off quiclkly to wash his hands. 

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We had another tasty dinner, accompanied by a few beers and had a large campfire to sit around while we sang silly songs.  It was also surprising just how cold it got and how quickly the temperature dropped but we were snug under our thick blankets just gazing up at the stars sipping whisky and chatting and laughing.  We had also forgotten just how uncomfortable riding a camel can be and we were all walking like John Wayne next day.

One last night back at the fort and we flew on to Delhi for us to take our flight home and for the other guys to head back to the warmth of Goa.  The last evening in Delhi was spent in a restaurant called Heaven & Hell, with one white room, Heaven, and one dark room, Hell.  It was a great laugh as the waiter Prem, AKA Manuel, was great value and had us laughing at his attempts to master our orders.  He took it all in his stride and laughed along with us. 

Thanks Brenda, Tony, John & Suz. We had a lot of laughs and really enjoyed our adventures in Rajasthan.

Now London awaits with temperatures at night close to zero……yuk!

Let’s dangle from wires over a sheer drop onto rocks below! What a ——- (insert word of your choice) idea.

This was the ‘fun’ activity we had planned to end our short stay in Jodhpur, the Blue City.

We had 2 nights in Jodhpur, at a very stylish hotel also with a rooftop restaurant and great views of the fort. 

Unfortunately, we had forgotten how shitty ‘old town’ was so the filth and noise of India was quite depressing. You are fortunate that we cannot share the smells of India with you!!

However, on the positive side it was only a 15 minute walk to the fort, side stepping the bikes, dogs, rotting garbage, cows and piles of poo.  The audio tour was excellent and the sheer size of the fort takes your breath away. 

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We returned to our hotel for a lazy lunch then back to the fort for the Flying Fox sunset tour.  This was a zip wire experience taking in 6 wires around the fort the longest of which is 310m.  We have done zip wires before but for the others it was a first time so there were some moments of ‘I can’t do this’ but pretty quickly everyone wanted to go first!

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Leaving Goa behind we set off for a short tour of Rajasthan with John, Suz, Tony and Brenda.  We flew in to Udaipur for the first 3 nights taking in the sights of the City of lakes.  Our time was spent gazing at Lake Pichola from rooftop restaurants, touring The Royal Palace, and taking in the views from the cable car.

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The weather during the daytime was perfect sightseeing weather, about 23C, but we were glad that our hotel had an enclosed rooftop restaurant as the nights dropped down to around 7/8C. 

We then met up with our driver Santosh for the next few days and he drove us on to Jodhpur via Ranakpur, a beautiful white marble Jain temple.

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After a quick lunch stop we travelled on through the Rajasthani countryside and arrived in Jodhpur late afternoon. We planned to stay in the old city where the streets are too narrow for cars so for the last part of the journey we transferred into two rickshaws. There was a bit of confusion over exactly where we were heading but we finally made it in time for a few beers before dinner.

We needed a good nights sleep as we had special plans for the next day……….which will be revealed in the next diary entry.

It was time to say goodbye to Goa and head off for a short tour of Rajasthan with John & Suz.

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On January 31^st, the night before we left, we went to the beach to witness the Super Blue Blood Moon.  This is something which only happens around every 150 years.  There are one or two super moons each year (that’s when it appears very large due to its proximity to Earth), Blue moons occur every 2.5 years (that’s when you get two full moons in a month) and a Blood moon (where it appears red due to the earth eclipsing the moon) happens every 2.5 years or so.  To get all three together is very rare.  We were all very excited to see the phenomenon but sadly we were also quite disappointed.  The pictures are OK but what we saw was a vague outline of the moon which at its peak of ‘bloodness’ was very low in the sky having just risen above the horizon.  But, hey, this is nature and we did see it and we’re pretty sure we won’t be around next time it happens!

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Next day we flew to Delhi for a week-long tour.  Last year John and Suz said they would like to visit Rajasthan so we jumped at the chance to revisit some of the places we visited during our two month tour in 2012.  It was also a chance for Neil to see Jaipur City as he was ill last time.  We spent some time last summer putting an itinerary together with plans to hire a car and driver to pick us up at the airport and drive us Agra, Jaipur, Mahansar and then back to Delhi where we to go our separate ways.

We arrived in Delhi and we were met by our driver Keshav.  We set off straight away for Agra and our first stop was the Taj Mahal with just 15 minutes to spare before they stopped selling tickets for the day.  Pankaj, the tour operator who had provided our driver Keshav, had arranged for a tour guide to give us some details about the Taj.  It is stunningly beautiful and as we had arrived quite late in the day the light was extremely good for photographs.  

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Next morning it was off to Agra Fort before the drive to Jaipur stopping on the way at the deserted city of Fatepur Sikri.  

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Unknown to us Kashev had an extra stop planned before we got to Jaipur which was one of the deepest and well preserved step wells that we had ever seen…….stunning. 

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Next morning our tour operator had arranged for another guide to give us the low down on all the sights in Jaipur which was excellent. 

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That afternoon we had some time off from sightseeing and Cheryl and Neil set about finding a place to eat whilst John and Suz set off for retail therapy.  They were looking for some textiles and were treated to a tour of a factory to see how the fabrics were made and dyed. 

Next morning it was back on the tour trail again to spend the morning at the Amber Fort.

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We then took the long drive to Mahansar Fort.  It was here that 5 years ago Cheryl and Neil became friends with Bhagwati and Seema and their family at their historical home.  Bhagwati is the ‘Thakkur’ the head of what was the ruling family in Mahansar and he has made his share of the fort into a heritage hotel.  It’s an incredibly atmospheric place in a tiny village which was once a very wealthy place on a major trading route.

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There was to be another surprise, this time in the form of a ‘royal’ wedding in the extended family and whilst we were to leave before the main event there was enough going on to ensure that sleep was in short supply.  The bridegroom arrived spectacularly in a helicopter which we watched from the rooftop of the fort.  There was constant drumming and traditional pipes played during the day and we were able to see the final preparations being made to several venues being used for the event. 

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Cheryl & Suz were dressed up in Saris by Seema and participated in the traditional dancing by the women on the night before the wedding.  The ladies take turns to dance to incredibly loud music and as they dance the other ladies donate money to the poor as good luck, waving the rupee notes over the head of the dancers.  Although they had no idea how to dance properly Cheryl & Suz had a go and were delighted when a huge number of the other ladies decided to donate as they were dancing.  The dancing went on into the small hours but we left just after midnight.  The quote of the trip has to go to Suz who said to Neil ‘Don’t go, I want to show you my underwear’!!!!!!

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Our last morning was spent on a sightseeing tour of Mahansar. It was once on the silk route and the wealthy merchants decorated the inside of their houses and shops lavishly.

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Sightseeing and partying over, we took the long drive to Delhi for our final night in India before flying to Australia.  Thanks John & Suz for a great trip with a lot of laughs and some unforgettable experiences.