Jaisalmer and Jodphur

Me, Nikki and Amanda at the spice shop located outside of the vegetable market, Jodphur
On the rooftop of the apartment that we stayed in at Jodphur - the entire roof was covered with chili peppers - this is where the "spice girls" lie all of their spices for drying, and then later they grind them, mix them and package them for selling at the shops

Usha and I at the Spice Shop in the vegetable market, Jodphur
At the fort in Jodphur - in front of a demonstration on how to smoke opium (no joke)Inside the Mehrangarh fort in Jodphur - you can see the blue houses in the old city behind me which are one of the things that Jodphur is well-known for
Our first lunch break on the desert safari - we celebrated by cracking open a lukewarm beer called Godfather 10,000+
A typical street scene in India - there are city cows (a.k.a Holy cows in India) EVERYWHERE
Standing inside the fort in Jaisalmer, overlooking the city of sandstone houses
Chilling out with an Indian buddy after a very strange yet memorable Ayurvedic massage - the woman who gave me a massage put that sticker on my head - looking really Indian, aren't I?


Me drinking a GIGANTIC beer in the desert - very thirst quenching!!!!
Our desert guides, Mohan and Swai
Fun desert pictures

The head camel, Buddha
Amanda on her camel, Rocket - and me and my main man, Raj
My buddy, Raj - at the sand dunes on night #1 in the Thar desert
On camel safari in the Thar desert, Rajasthan (outside of Jaisalmer)
Amanda and I at a rooftop restaurant in Jaisalmer
The final results of the cooking class - sweet and spicy success!
The Spice Girls - at our Indian cooking class in Udaipur

Well, since we left Udaipur, we've traveled north to Jaisalmer - on our first Indian bus ride. We decided to take an overnight bus to Jaisalmer and opted for the sleeper coach - which is a bed that sits above the seats - sounds good in theory but we quickly realized that it was not a wise choice. The driving was insane, as expected and when you are on the top, it feels even more insane and when we realized that we were basically like sardines in a tin can and if the bus flipped, we'd be history, we decided to move down to the seats - where we'd have a better chance of surviving. Sleep came intermittently throughout the night - even with a good dose of Xanex. It's the first time that Xanex didn't knock me out completely. At one point during the ride, I went up and asked the bus driver if he would please slow down and surprisingly, he did. So, you can gather from my travels so far that the bus rides are my least favorite but a part of the experience nonetheless. We made it to Jaisalmer safe and sound and after a good gorging on a thali (Indian meal), we took a much needed nap in our rooms. We spent the first day exploring and booked ourselves a 2 1/2 day camel safari and hit the town to get some warm weather gear. Unbeknownst to me, it's actually cold here at this time of the year and I came completely unprepared. Guess I should do my research next time. We found a great place that had piles of second-hand clothes which looked to be from the United States and gathered pants, hats, scarves, and a few more long sleeve shirts for our desert adventure. We had heard from other travelers that it got extremely cold at night and to be prepared. The clothes were sold by weight and I walked out with all of my gear for less than $5.00 - not bad. Had a good dose of some delicious street food, packed the bags for the adventure and hit the hay. The next morning, we awoke early to meet our camel guides - there were just 3 of us on the camel safari - with the addition of our two guides - Mohan and Swai. We drove out to the desert where we met our camels, who were already loaded up with gear - camel food, our food, lots of blankets, and water. We had four camels in all - one for each of us and one for the guides to ride on. The camels names were Buddha, Raj (my camel), Johnnie Walker, and Rocket (Amanda's camel). It was a bit intimidating getting on them for the first time - I've never ridden on an animal that tall. After a bit, I got used to the stride and the height and felt relaxed. We took off into the Thar desert, which is very flat and full of scrub brush. After the hustle and bustle of the cities and towns, it was a welcomed delight to be in the quiet of the desert. We didn't see any other tourists for the entire trip - the only people that we saw were the scattered shepherds herding their sheep or cattle. On night #1, we arrived at some magnificent sand dunes, which is where we set up camp for the night. It was a spectacular scene to see the high dunes in the distant as we approached on our camels. We worked as a team collecting kindling and firewood and Swai - our desert chef - went quickly to work preparing chai, handmade chapatis and deliciously spicy Rajasthani vegetables. We were entertained by our guide, Mohan, as he tried to recite english songs such as Paul Simon's "Cecilia", Jingle Bells (except he said Jingle Wells), The Doors "Hello, I love you......", and a few others that I can't remember. In addition, he serenaded us with traditional Indian love and marriage songs - wonder what he was thinking about when he was out in the desert with 3 blonde girls? It was all in good fun. We spent our night lying on the sand under the desert sky and gazing at the millions of stars. It was extremely cold and I was very thankful for all of the warm gear and the several wool blankets that they provided. Day #2, we visited an abandoned village which was very interesting and made our lunch stop - which consisted of Swai preparing a delicious lunch while the girls napped in the sun. Ah yes, and I can't forget to talk about the camels. It was very interesting to spend so much intimate time with camels - a creature that I didn't know much about before this trip. What can I say? They are amazingly strong and have an exceptional endurance - and an indescribable smell that I do not miss at all - and full of an enormous amount of gas. The sounds that came out of those camels was unbelievable. An added factor to our safari was that the camels were in heat. All of the camels that we were riding were males and as you trekked through the desert, you'd occasionally come upon a few females. The lead camel, Buddha, was crazy for the females and it got a bit tense when we approached them. When we would arrive at camp, they had to tie the camels front legs together so that they could walk around to eat, but not run away in search of females. Probably not the most ideal time to be on a camel safari - but all part of the experience. On night #2, we again, camped at some different sand dunes, under the stars. The second night wasn't as cold and we got a great nights sleep. There was one scary camel moment for me and that was when Rocket (Amanda's camel) bit Raj (my camel) in the rear end and my camel starting running which I wasn't prepared for. The guides were able to control him and we had to do a little re-arranging of the camel order - Raj and I decided to be in the back of the line. Much to my surprise, I wasn't too sore after 2 1/2 days of riding a camel - just walked a little bow-legged for a few hours afterwards. It was an incredible experience which I highly recommend to anyone who visits Rajasthan.

Coming back to the city was a rude awakening as you dodge the honking cars, motorcylces and rickshaws but this is India. India is an absolute ASSAULT to every sense on your body. Whether it be the incessant, and often unnecessary, honking of horns, the permeating smell of urine in the streets, women adorned in the most vibrant colored saris, dodging piles of cow dung - along with cows, the constant hastle of street touts asking you your name and where you are from, the temples and shrines, smell of incense and spices in the air and lastly but not least, the delicious taste of Indian food, of which I will never tire. Everyone should experience this at least once in their lifetime. There's no place else like India, at least not that I have seen. Much to my surprise, the people have been extremely friendly and non-threatening. I say to that this is to my surprise because before arriving, I heard a lot of stories of women being groped and the hassle that you would get from men as a woman traveler. So far, it hasn't been that bad - I've gotten used to being stared at excessively and have learned the technique of staring ahead into dead space and acting like I don't see them - it works well.

Before leaving Jaisalmer, we spent our last day visiting the fort which sits above the entire city like an enchanted sandstone castle. Sadly, the fort is on the World Monuments Watch list of 100 endangered sites worldwide, due to the fact that 25% of the old city's population is living within the fort and it has turned into quite a tourist trap - with loads of guest houses, restaurants and shops. Due to the pressure of the people living and visiting it and the amount of wastewater running throughout the fort, it is slowly falling apart. So, it was a neat place to see but we didn't spend too much time in there because it just felt like a big tourist attraction and we didn't want to support any business inside of there. We did visit a haveli - which is a luxurious house that was habitated by rich families - many of these families are still living within them but this one was turned into a museum. It was called the Patwa Ki Haveli and it was built in the 1800's. The intricate sandstone carving was impressive, as was the elaborate and decorative rooms inside. There are so many temples, havelis and forts to visit in India that it becomes a bit overwhelming. We had some extra time after all of the sight-seeing and before we caught our night train to Jodphur, so we decided to get an Ayurvedic massage from a woman who was advertising on the street. It was quite the experience. Ayurvedic massage is very popular here and I wasn't very familiar with the technique - it involves a lot of oil and rubbing and not much deep tissue work. It was quite hilarious because we basically went upstairs into the woman's living room where she called her friend to come so that we could both get massaged at the same time. We later found out that it was her friends first massage. It was the least relaxing massage that i've ever had and a bit awkward, as they pulled our clothes off and the room was freezing cold and the woman kept stopping to yell out to someone on the street, in between asking us every 2 0r 3 minutes if the massage was good and if we liked it. They also made jokes about our fat thighs and the camel rash that had formed on our bums. Very awkward, yet funny at the same time. That night, we took an overnight train to Jodphur - another bustling city in Rajasthan.

Before departing Homer, I met with a friend (those of you Homerites know Zen) who started a Chai business in Homer many years back (Zen Chai). He and his wife, Jen, traveled to India many years back and during his travels, he came in contact with a man named, Mohanlal Verhomal, who had a very well-known and respected spice shop in Jodphur. It is from this spice shop that Zen later started importing the spices that he used to create his chai - and to this day, the spices for Zen chai still come from this shop. (If you're reading this Zen, I hope that I am doing your story some sort of justice because I don't know all of the nitty gritty details). I met with Zen before leaving Homer and he suggested that if I were in Jodphur, that I should visit this family and gave me their email address. I wasn't quite sure about going to Jodphur but we were craving an intimate Indian experience so we decided to go for it. I emailed Usha, the oldest daughter of Mohanlal, and she emailed me back very quickly to let us know that we were welcome. We arrived at Jodphur very early in the morning and made our way to a restaurant to wait for the vegetable market to open so that we could go to her spice shop. It ended up that someone knew Usha and called her for us and she sent her sister, Nikki, to pick us up. From the very moment that I started emailing with Usha, the hospitality that she extended to such complete strangers was remarkable. I am consistently blown away by the people that I meet traveling. Her sister picked us up and we made our way to their house in a rickshaw - which she refused to let us pay for - and we were welcomed like old friends into their home where they served us chai and cooked us a delicious Indian meal. The family consits of 7 children - all girls. Their father started the spice shop many years back and it became very well known - they said that he made spices famous in Jodphur. The business became very successful and 3 or 4 years back, their father died suddenly of a heart attack. In India, it is extremely difficult for women - the men do most of the working and bringing in the money. So, when their father died - they had to figure out how they could continue to bring in money for the household. The family pulled together to keep the spice shop going and continue their father's legacy. They are unbelievable women - with the 3 oldest girls ( ages 24, 21, and 19) running the 2 shops in town and doing all of the accounting work. They work all day, every day - 365 days a year. And it is obvious that they are very successful and strong-willed, respectable women. They took us in like we were their sisters and treated us like royalty. We stayed in our own apartment while there - it was a house that their father had bought before he passed away and his dream was to open it up as a guest house. We were the very first guests to ever spend the night there and therefore, a small Hindu blessing was performed at the doorway before we entered - to bless the space and for good luck. We spent most of the day there exploring the Mehrangarh fort, which was quite impressive. This fort, as opposed to the fort in Jaisalmer, is well taken care of and serves only as a tourist attraction and museum. The elaborate sandstone carvings and the majestic rooms inside were absolutely stunning. You can't help but think about what it must have looked like and been like back in the day when the maharaja ("king") lived there with his numerous wives. We spent the other part of our day there hanging out in the spice shop with Nikki while she explained, in detail, each of the most popular spices available. I couldn't resist stocking up on some authentic Indian spices and look forward to cooking some delicious meals when I get home. This is something that I've been missing quite a bit - cooking, that is. I envision a huge potluck Indian dinner when I get home - so get ready, fellow Homerites. We departed Jodphur the following morning after a delightful sleep and headed on to the holy city of Pushkar. Details and pictures coming to a theatre near you soon.