Rajasthan & Kashmir
Leaving Jodphur (where I got a tailored black suit made for 80euro - polyster/wool) we went to Jaisalmer, a desert town not far from the Pakistani border. When atracted us to here was the annual Desert man festival that was taking place over the three days we were there. As with most (actually all..) town in Rajasthan, the main feature of the town was it's central fort, but what made Jasilalmer different was that 4,000 people still live inside the fort, which again is perched high atop a rocky outpost.
Inside lay a maze of winding streets, all made of sandstone (obviously...we're in the desert!). Interestingly however, the fort is lited in the top 100 most endangered forts in the world as it is sinking. They say it is unethical to stay in the hotels there as the place is sinking, so we didn't. I kind of wish we had of stayed in the fort - much cooler! The fort did remind me of Stonetown, Zanzibar and I must admit, I think this fort had nicer winding streets. I actually just realised I did not take any pics of the fort from the outside... but here is one of a cow (as per usual) sticking it's nose inside someones shop withing the fort.
The desert festival istelf was a bit of a let down, we missed the mustache competition and the Mr Desert finale as that was held the night we arrived. We did get to see some camel racing and camel polo and a tug-o-war competition. I have some photos on a dvd from the event, but since this computer does not have a dvd driver, I cannot upload them...grr!
Jaiselmer is also famous for its desert camel safaris - so when in Rome!! We decided to do a 2 day 1 night safari in the desert and sleep on the sand dunes. People normally do 3-4 days in the desert, but who really wants to spent that long trudging through the heat of the desert, bent over a camel with a sore groin... not me! The desert itself was alot of fun, actually once you got over the smell of the camel (bad smell is a common feature of India!). Camel riding is much like a horse, but more comfortable and slower. We each had a camel each (there was a group of 6 of us). The first day passed pretty peacefully and we stopped under a tree where our guide cooked up a curry and chapatis. Not bad for the middle of no-where!! We eventually reached the sand-dunes which was stunning! As far as the eye could see was dunes, it was very hard to appreciate how grand it all really was. Below is a pic og Emma thinking she's cool...
One night was enough, I don't think we would have got to do anything new (but bruise my ass) if we had have stayed more nights. So overall a very enjoyable excursion.
From here we pressed on back to Delhi, via Bikaner - home of the famous "Rat Temple". Supposedly, Krishna granted all these "holy rats" to this site (there is a long story to it, not going to get into it) and the temple is over ridden with rats. Bikaner itself is the biggest kip known to mankind and the rat temple was not much better. I was expecting the place to be swarmed with rats but realistically, we slept beside more in Delhi railway station a few weeks before! Bowls of milk is left out for the rats and people feed the, corn balls. We spent 10 minutes there and left. Below, a pic from the temple...
It actually felt good to be back in Delhi, and the hatred I once felt towards it had faded. The weather had picked up and we found a nice part of town to hang out in. From here, we finally organised our skiing trip to Gulmarg, Kashmir. We decided to fly up with Spicejet, Indias best budget airline. Arriving in Srinigar (the capital of Kashmir) airport was an experience. The airport is an amry base and there is soldiers and fighter jets everywhere. As you know, Kashmir is a disputed region between India and Pakistan, the conflict dating back to partition in 1947. In 2000, Bill Clinton described Kashmir as the most dangerous place on earth - George Bush has changed that. Cheers George, now I can go skiing!
Gulmarg is situated around 70km from Srinigar into the Himilayas. We got a taxi there and on the way your made very aware of the huge military presence in the region. There was lots of soldiers, AK 47's, armered vehicles everwhere. Every 50 meters on the road was a soldier, crazy. Reminded me somewhat of Northern Ireland when I was young but with more guns in your face. We eventually arrived in Gulmarg to 6/7 feet of snow. The Guardian newspaper has written a few articles on Gulmarg and .
Gulmarg is one of the highest ski resorts in the world and has the highest gondola in the world. The ski lift can bring you up to 4000meters and from here you can ski down. It is essentially the same as jumping from a helicopter and skiing down but without the helicopter. Therefore, Gulmarg attracts some hardcore skiiers and boarders from all over the world. People were suprised that we had come to learn how to ski there, little hardcore. However, Gulmarg has some good learner slopes and cheap ski gear to hire. The first day we hired an instructor who was overpaid but at the end of the day he did teach us how to ski. Unfortunately on the second day I fell sick (first time in India - bloody vomitting and diarrhoea) so that counted me out. But, Emma and Trevor went to the slopes and practised hard. On the third day, feeling mucg better, I was back in the action. Unfortunately, Trevor suffered some severe beer poisoning and that cut his day short. By the fourth day we were all out again and flying down the advanced slopes. Next stop... the mountain! There are two phases to the mountain, 0ne and two. One is a stretch of around 2 km through the woods, starting at 3050meters abhove sea level and goes back into the town of Gulmarg. The second phase, as mentioned starts from 4000m and goes back to the town of Gulmarg. Emma did not join us the first day we went to the mountain, she stayed on the advanced slope and honed her skills. Maybe she was right, myself and trevor are too reckles!
Phase one was amazing, it was nice to be able to do a long run (baby slopes are only 200m long). The path was very narrow at parts and there were some very technical parts (which I fell on my ass). After the first run we were hooked and ended up doing it twice more that day. On the final day, Emma joined us and she did really weel. I am more gutsy than her but she was technically a much better skiier than me, I didn't really care at all if I fell. The pics are on picasa but here is one or two to tease you...
For the third time, we're back in Delhi. Trevor is leaving us tomorrow for China and we are flying to Goa. We are skipping Mumbai as myself and Emma are not in the mood for another city. I know it will be a big miss for Bollywood but fame is not worth the price. So check out the pics on Picasa and hopefully I will have another update soon...from the beach!
Inside lay a maze of winding streets, all made of sandstone (obviously...we're in the desert!). Interestingly however, the fort is lited in the top 100 most endangered forts in the world as it is sinking. They say it is unethical to stay in the hotels there as the place is sinking, so we didn't. I kind of wish we had of stayed in the fort - much cooler! The fort did remind me of Stonetown, Zanzibar and I must admit, I think this fort had nicer winding streets. I actually just realised I did not take any pics of the fort from the outside... but here is one of a cow (as per usual) sticking it's nose inside someones shop withing the fort.
The desert festival istelf was a bit of a let down, we missed the mustache competition and the Mr Desert finale as that was held the night we arrived. We did get to see some camel racing and camel polo and a tug-o-war competition. I have some photos on a dvd from the event, but since this computer does not have a dvd driver, I cannot upload them...grr!
Jaiselmer is also famous for its desert camel safaris - so when in Rome!! We decided to do a 2 day 1 night safari in the desert and sleep on the sand dunes. People normally do 3-4 days in the desert, but who really wants to spent that long trudging through the heat of the desert, bent over a camel with a sore groin... not me! The desert itself was alot of fun, actually once you got over the smell of the camel (bad smell is a common feature of India!). Camel riding is much like a horse, but more comfortable and slower. We each had a camel each (there was a group of 6 of us). The first day passed pretty peacefully and we stopped under a tree where our guide cooked up a curry and chapatis. Not bad for the middle of no-where!! We eventually reached the sand-dunes which was stunning! As far as the eye could see was dunes, it was very hard to appreciate how grand it all really was. Below is a pic og Emma thinking she's cool...
One night was enough, I don't think we would have got to do anything new (but bruise my ass) if we had have stayed more nights. So overall a very enjoyable excursion.
From here we pressed on back to Delhi, via Bikaner - home of the famous "Rat Temple". Supposedly, Krishna granted all these "holy rats" to this site (there is a long story to it, not going to get into it) and the temple is over ridden with rats. Bikaner itself is the biggest kip known to mankind and the rat temple was not much better. I was expecting the place to be swarmed with rats but realistically, we slept beside more in Delhi railway station a few weeks before! Bowls of milk is left out for the rats and people feed the, corn balls. We spent 10 minutes there and left. Below, a pic from the temple...
It actually felt good to be back in Delhi, and the hatred I once felt towards it had faded. The weather had picked up and we found a nice part of town to hang out in. From here, we finally organised our skiing trip to Gulmarg, Kashmir. We decided to fly up with Spicejet, Indias best budget airline. Arriving in Srinigar (the capital of Kashmir) airport was an experience. The airport is an amry base and there is soldiers and fighter jets everywhere. As you know, Kashmir is a disputed region between India and Pakistan, the conflict dating back to partition in 1947. In 2000, Bill Clinton described Kashmir as the most dangerous place on earth - George Bush has changed that. Cheers George, now I can go skiing!
Gulmarg is situated around 70km from Srinigar into the Himilayas. We got a taxi there and on the way your made very aware of the huge military presence in the region. There was lots of soldiers, AK 47's, armered vehicles everwhere. Every 50 meters on the road was a soldier, crazy. Reminded me somewhat of Northern Ireland when I was young but with more guns in your face. We eventually arrived in Gulmarg to 6/7 feet of snow. The Guardian newspaper has written a few articles on Gulmarg and .
Gulmarg is one of the highest ski resorts in the world and has the highest gondola in the world. The ski lift can bring you up to 4000meters and from here you can ski down. It is essentially the same as jumping from a helicopter and skiing down but without the helicopter. Therefore, Gulmarg attracts some hardcore skiiers and boarders from all over the world. People were suprised that we had come to learn how to ski there, little hardcore. However, Gulmarg has some good learner slopes and cheap ski gear to hire. The first day we hired an instructor who was overpaid but at the end of the day he did teach us how to ski. Unfortunately on the second day I fell sick (first time in India - bloody vomitting and diarrhoea) so that counted me out. But, Emma and Trevor went to the slopes and practised hard. On the third day, feeling mucg better, I was back in the action. Unfortunately, Trevor suffered some severe beer poisoning and that cut his day short. By the fourth day we were all out again and flying down the advanced slopes. Next stop... the mountain! There are two phases to the mountain, 0ne and two. One is a stretch of around 2 km through the woods, starting at 3050meters abhove sea level and goes back into the town of Gulmarg. The second phase, as mentioned starts from 4000m and goes back to the town of Gulmarg. Emma did not join us the first day we went to the mountain, she stayed on the advanced slope and honed her skills. Maybe she was right, myself and trevor are too reckles!
Phase one was amazing, it was nice to be able to do a long run (baby slopes are only 200m long). The path was very narrow at parts and there were some very technical parts (which I fell on my ass). After the first run we were hooked and ended up doing it twice more that day. On the final day, Emma joined us and she did really weel. I am more gutsy than her but she was technically a much better skiier than me, I didn't really care at all if I fell. The pics are on picasa but here is one or two to tease you...
For the third time, we're back in Delhi. Trevor is leaving us tomorrow for China and we are flying to Goa. We are skipping Mumbai as myself and Emma are not in the mood for another city. I know it will be a big miss for Bollywood but fame is not worth the price. So check out the pics on Picasa and hopefully I will have another update soon...from the beach!
posted by Mark Sherlock at
7:36 a.m.
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