A belated Happy New Year to everyone!!!

A 27-hour marathon journey brought us down to Goa for Christmas and New Year.  It started with an 18-hour overnight train ride from Jaipur to Mumbai (Bombay), where we arrived at 7:30 in the morning.  We jumped into a typical Indian 1950s style taxi, which took us to Mumbai airport.  This being India, the taxi dropped us off at the wrong terminal whilst swearing blindly it was the correct one.  A ‘free’ terminal-to-terminal shuttle bus soon rectified the situation though the driver still tried to extort a fee from us despite the gratuity service.  After a 5 hour wait at the airport, we boarded a small 30-seat propeller plane which flew us the short one and a half hour hop to Goa.  From the Goan airport it was a further one and a half hour taxi drive down to Palolem beach.  It took us thirty minutes to decide on a place to stay, after such a long journey, we were in no mood to extend our deliberations beyond the basic checklist: electricity, bed, fan and ability to hang mosquito net.  Having dumped our bags, there was just enough time to jump into the sea as the sun began to set and the fisherman cast out their nets for the evening haul.  At last we had escaped the mayhem of Northern India and arrived safely to the calming, easy pace of Goan beaches.

Platform vendors sell their goods through the window bars during one of the train stops. 

The sun rises over Palolem Beach.

Life on the Goan coastline is in stark contrast to that in Northern India, particularly Rajasthan, where we had spent the last 3 weeks.  The local people are far more laid back in their approach to daily life; the pace notably slowed and along with it was a grateful reduction in the number of hawkers, scams and the touting that we were previously subject to.  There is a visible presence of western, particularly Portuguese, influence evident in the style of houses, churches, dress and cuisine.  Typical Indian vegetarian dishes remain on the menu but were accompanied by meat and western choices; and of course, plenty of fresh fish.  However, the real test lay in the cow population… they remained present, roaming both the beaches and the market place, but their numbers were smaller and the respect shown to the beast was much diminished. 

A local cow claims his sun bathing spot.

Palolem beach is a beautiful crescent-shaped curve of white sandy beach lined with towering palm trees on one side and the gentle lapping of the Arabian sea on the other. 

The sea draws back at low tide leaving us plenty of room to play  frisbee.

Local fishermens' boats park up on the beach.

Accommodation on this stretch of beach is limited to temporary structures meaning that most come in the form of small coco-huts (ie little wooden shacks with plywood walls and coconut palm tree leaf roofs) which spare the beach from being overrun with ugly concrete hotels. We spent the first week not in a cottage/hut but stayed in a safari style tent which turned out to be pleasantly airy.  The following week we upgraded to a detatched cottage for the New Year (complete with TV....praise be to whoever it was who made HBO available in India :-).

Our 'safari' tent.
 
Our daily routine for pretty much the next 2 weeks was rigorous! It began with breakfast taken at a beachside restaurant watching locals and tourists slowly emerge under the climbing sun. A morning stroll along the beach saw us claim our sun loungers for the day ('free' in return for buying lunch at the affiliated restaurant). Then the daily exercises began: a game of frisbee along the shore, followed by a cooling swim in the sea - repeated at least twice. Next was the agonising decision as to what to have for lunch, which was followed by an afternoon of snoozing, reading, and more frisbee and swimming. Evenings were torturous: Which restaurant to eat at? To sit under the palm leaf canope or at a candle lit table on the beach? Which fish to have? The shark, the red snapper, the tuna, the coconut fish? What to do after dinner..walk along the beach and watch the nightly fireworks or move on to a bar?
 
Christmas was a low-key affair; we exchanged a few token presents and splashed out on an extra big fish for dinner along with a few cocktails. New Year was celebrated on the beach. We spent the evening in one of the many beachside bars watching hundreds of fireworks being set off along the coast line. Safety regulations are rather lax in India and as a result many rockets misfired and went astray. On this occassion we were happy to cocoon ourselves in the middle of a crowd away from any immediate danger.

Our beach resort created a small nativity scene for the festive period.
 
After travelling on a budget for 6 months, the holiday season was a great excuse to indulge in some luxuries...and alcohol!! This was our 'holiday' from travelling and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

Our first stop in the region was Jaipur - a six-hour train ride away from Agra.  Unfortunately our unlucky streak with Indian trains continued.  Our train was scheduled to depart at 6:15 am, so we got up at 4:30am and promptly arrived at the station 15 minutes before the scheduled departure.   Upon arrival, we were notified that the train was already running two hours late.  Disgruntled, cold and still very tired, we sat down on the platform with the other travelers and patiently waited....  the two hour delay was then stretched a further 45 minutes, then another hour, etc....  Meanwhile, amongst the group of waiting backpackers, we amused ourselves by exchanging 'war' stories and watching a rather large group of monkeys cavort around the station and on the tracks, trying desperately to steal food from passerbys.

A successful monkey devours his chipati on the train tracks.

In the end, the train did arrive.... almost 6 hours late!!! 
 
Our train journey to Jaipur was fairly uneventful except for the appearance of a hijras. 

Hijras: India's most visible nonheterosexual group is the hijras; they are transverstites and eunuchs who dress in women's clothing.  Some are gay and some are hermophrodites; since it is traditionally unacceptable to live openly as a gay man in India, hijras get around this by becoming, in effect, a sort of third sex.

So, a man dressed (badly) as a woman came through the carriage, talking loudly to people and clapping.  An Indian man (who was sitting next to us) was clearly disturbed by 'her' and reluctantly gave her money to make her go away.  He later told us that the hijras work in organized groups extorting money from people.  It seems to be based on a superstition (no donation means being subject to a curse) but has become increasingly intermingled with a threat of violence.  They 'work' mainly as uninvited guests at important events: births, marriages, etc... and often get large amounts of money.
 
Jaipur
Population: 2.32 million
Region: Rajasthan
Famous for: the capital of Rajasthan; the ‘Pink City’.
 
We arrived in Jaipur during the late afternoon, and took the opportunity whilst at the train station to purchase our train tickets for our journey throughout Rajasthan.  As the Christmas holiday season approaches, train tickets get snatched up in a hurry by the increasing number of holiday tourists.  After a couple of hours of queuing, we managed to purchase the majority of the tickets we were looking for.      
 
We then found a great rooftop room in a nearby hotel.  After a full days traveling, we gladly opted for an early night.  The following day, we made the most of our time in Jaipur by going on a full-day tour of the city and its sights.  We were carted around the city by bus, stopping at various temples, palaces and forts in and around the 'pink city'.

The pink buildings of Jaipur.

 Our first stop was the Birla Lakshmi Narayan Temple, a splendid example of modern marble carving - it was so white, that the sun's rays reflecting off its walls were nearly blinding.  Our main stop was the City Palace, a mix of Rajasthani and Mughal architecture; the palace remains the residence of the current Maharaja today.  We had a quick tour of the costume and armory museums and admired the colorful pink facades of the complex. 

The immaculate walls of the Palace complex.

On the left - the world's largest sundial.  On the right - pigeons compete for a place to roost on the Maharaja's chandeliers.

The highlight of the day was our visit to the Jantar Maatar observatory, home to the world's largest sundial (accurate to 2 seconds!!).  Our guide explained the function of each of the large ‘sculptures’, which turned out to be impressive and working instruments for studying the Zodiac, the sun and calculating eclipses.

The Jal Mahal - the 'Water Palace' on the outskirts of Jaipur.

We toured the palaces of the Jaigarh Fort.

The following day, we caught up on laundry and emails.  We also bumped into some friends we met in Nepal; so we enjoyed a long leisurely dinner talking with them in the hotel roof terrace restaurant.  That night we boarded the overnight train to Udaipur.  The night train turned out to be the cleanest and quietest of our India trip so for.... and even better, it departed on time!!! 
 
Udaipur
Population: 390,000
Region: Rajasthan
Famous for: India’s most ‘romantic city’; setting for the James Bond movie, ‘Octopussy’.

Udaipur is billed as one of India' most romantic cities; nestled around a man-made lake and surrounded by purple-colored hills, the elegant havelis and palaces overlooking the lake make for a truly serene setting.  In the middle of the lake are two 'floating palaces' made purely of marble; one has now been turned into a 5-star luxury hotel (out of our budget range unfortunately).  We soon checked into a charming haveli (Indian mansion/town house), complete with beautiful stained-glass windows and terraces overlooking the lake.  We spent the afternoon taking in the sights and relaxing in some of the towns many rooftop restaurants. 

The Venice of India.

Udaipur's modern claim to fame is that it was the main location for the filming of the James Bond film 'Octopussy'.  In honor of this, nearly half the restaurants show the movie in length each night at dinner.  We had a great evening watching the film and recognizing the landmarks - certainly the easiest way to 'sight-see' a new place!
 
For the next two days, we took a break from our 'backpacker' existence and indulged ourselves - all under the great excuse of 'Nikki's birthday'!!  We aimed to spend the day in the 'James Bond' solid marble pool in the grounds of a nearby palace, but unfortunately, it was closed due to a rather raucous wedding the day before.  Instead, we had to make do with a rooftop pool (in another hotel) surrounded by gorgeous cushioned alcoves and a panoramic view of the city.
 

The 'James Bond' pool is located in a stunning lakeside palace.  The pool was closed but we still paused for a drink in the opulent surroundings.

The following day, we dug out the smartest clothes we had and took a private speedboat to the Lake Palace Hotel for a romantic birthday lunch.  Nikki was surprised with a birthday cake, though this was not the highlight of our meal.... we were instead really ecstatic about the fact that the restaurant served real cheddar cheese and 'safe, clean' raw fruits and vegetables!!!!

We were driven to the floating palace where we dined on cake and ...er...cheese.

The sun sets in Udaipur.

We were sad to leave Udaipur, it had proved to be a relaxing break from all the hectic and polluted Indian cities we had visited in the weeks before.  We took a 6.5 hour comfortable bus ride through the desert scrub to the city of Jodhpur.
 
Jodhpur
Population: 847,000
Region: Rajasthan
Famous for: the ‘Blue City’.
 
Jodhpur is situated on the fringes of the Thar Desert, known as the 'blue city' because of the blue-wash walls of the old town houses; Jodhpur is an impressive sprawl below the mighty Meherangarh Fort.  We stayed in a wonderful family-run, red-sandstone haveli guesthouse directly underneath the fort, where we were treated to some great home-cooked meals and a friendly atmosphere.

The 'blue' city lives up to its name.

The Meherangarh Fort looms over the blue city.

We spent the next day exploring the Megerangarh Fort.  The entrance fee included an excellent audio guide which taught us all about the artifacts, architecture and legends.  The fort remains in good condition and as well as having an impressive palace, it has amazing views out across the city.  The city itself spreads out as far as the eye can see; short blue and terracotta-colored buildings crowd between a maze of interconnecting twisting alleyways barely as wide as a small car.

The fort was the location of many battles between the kings of Rajasthan.

We toured the forts palaces perched high above the city.

Did we mention the city was blue?
 
The following day, we explored a pillared marble memorial on the outskirts of the city before braving the maze of streets and investigating the local bazaars and traditional spice markets.  We thoroughly enjoyed Jodhpur, which proved to be far less touristy than most Rajasthani cities.  However, our visit to Jodhpur put back the progress of  Nikki's 'cow therapy' by several months (Nikki has an unexplained fear of cows); the cows of Jodhpur seemed particularly aggressive and tried to head butt anyone in sight (mostly tourists).... even Eric was forced to take cover on a couple of occassions!!
 
Soon it was time to move on from Jodhpur; our alarms went off at an ungodly pre-dawn hour, giving us enough time to untangle the web of strings that held up our mosquito net.  We made it to the train station with little problem (apart from more irate cows).  Our train was delayed (of course), but only by 40 minutes - pretty good by Indian standards!
 
Jaisalmer
Population: 58,000
Region: Rajasthan
Famous for: the ‘Golden City’. 

A throng of touts greeted us at the Jaisalmer train station; luckily, we had arranged (for the first time in our trip) for someone to pick us up... so we easily bypassed the pests!!  Our guesthouse was located inside the city fort and we were given the magnificent 'traditional room' - complete with authentic mud floors, original shutters and a cushioned alcove looking out over the fort and the city. 

The view from our traditional window alcove.

The sand colored fort casts a shadow over the city.

 Jaisalmer is known as the 'Golden City', due to the yellow glow of its angular sandstone buildings basking in the desert sun,  The city’s houses cluster around the mighty fort which stands like a giant sandcastle in the middle of the Thar desert.
 
After a much-needed lunch we headed into the city to visit two famous havelis.  Havelis are extravagant mansions, standing 3 or 4 stories high around a central courtyard.  The Sing-ki-haveli and the Patwa-ki-haveli had great examples of intricately carved lattice stonework, topped with magnificent views of the fort.
 

Golden balconies overlook the markets below.

The sun illuminates the golden city.

We wandered around the streets taking in the local life before heading back to our guesthouse for dinner.  The rest of our time in Jaisalmer was spent wandering the streets of the fort and city and indulging in a little souvenir buying.

Colourful rugs and cloths are draped in the city's streets.

Haveli's tower over narrow alleys.

With our tour of Rajasthan complete, it's time for us to head south in search of sun and sand.