VLOG: Sri Lanka and India

Day 137: Overnight Train to Delhi

Our last day in Jaisalamer.... Sigh. We really love this place. We had a slow morning, lazily packing up our stuff and eating. We set out late morning to wander up to the Fort and get lost a bit on the twisting, winding alleyways.

I found one tiny little alley that had stairs at the end. We went up, there was a great, unimpeded view of the city below.

We stopped by a restaurant just outside the Fort gate for some "short eats", drinks and cards. I loved the sign next door that misspelled "chilled" beer...

We said our goodbyes to Ashraf and the staff at Mystic Jaisalmer. It was a perfect stay.

Ashraf's guy drove us to the nearby train station. We were Tyndall early, so I was able to get my shoes fixed (who knew they needed some maintenance.... Luckily I had potential shoe repair guys pointing them out over the last couple of days!).

I've been using a website called the Man in Seat 61 for all of our train travel information - bookings, how to reserve online, logistical info, expectations etc. The guy is really passionate about train travel and has information and experience for practically every train trip you can take in the world.

For our overnight train, I followed the step by step instructions outlined on his website for booking our Jaisalmer to Delhi train - it's hilarious and took about two days, but the instructions were perfect (you would think you were breaking into the Pentagon with all the security, blind passwords, one time use usernames etc). Surprisingly, once you have your e-tickets, the process is easy - no printouts required - just show the ticket from an electronic device to the onboard ticket checker and you're good to go!

The train setup was very similar to our Thailand overnight train. We had our own little four bed section, with a curtain at the end to section off our "berth". We were in the second class air conditioned sleeper seats, the highest you can book online. They were clean, though worn, but they were pretty comfortable. Beth, On the other hand, was not comfortable. With all the sitting and car driving we'd been doing over the last ten days, her back was not in the best shape. The prospect of being on the train for the next 18 hours was a little intimidating for her. The kids, however, were in their element. They love the upper bunks on the trains where they can set up their stuff, read, play Minecraft and just generally fool around.

The toilets were better than I thought - similar to Thailand and Vietnam, and they were serviced throughout the trip. Chaiwalas came by periodically to sell thimble sized cups of chai (no Venti skim chai sans foam on the train :-(). The dinner we bought for three (we knew Robin would be asleep) was mediocre at best and was served at 11:00pm for some reason. Luckily we'd bought fruit, vegetables and snacks to keep everyone happy.

Sleep came quickly - the train runs very smoothly and goes quite dark at night. We have a whirlwind finish to India so a good sleep is a big asset right now.

Day 136: Back to Jaisalmer

I woke up to the sound of the wind... and Abby swishing sand off the bed covers. A nice laugh in the morning for sure. She's so cute and loves to laugh at herself, which is such a good trait.

We loved watching the little dung beetles rolling their finds across the sand.

Robin and Beth were all smiles in the morning as well. The early morning chai surly didn't hurt.

We had a very simple breakfast, and before we knew it, we were back in the saddle again, trekking on our camels across the dunes of the Thar desert.

The desert is such a different topography than anything we've seen on our trip, it's definitely not the India we've come to know.

We were still pretty sore when we got off an hour and half later, but it felt like our bodies weren't as bad off as the day before. Some people apparently go with Ashraf on a fifteen day pilgrimage and meditation retreat in the desert on camel - I think that would permanently reshape our legs!

When we got back to Mystic Jaisalmer, we all immediately jumped into a hot shower - Abby finally got rid of every grain of sand on her body! We wanted to check out the Fort area, but were in no rush. We chilled out for a while, then started out on foot later on in the afternoon.

Beth and I stayed at one of the four or five hotels within the Fort walls in '97 - now there are over seventy hotels inside, and hundreds of restaurants and shops. You would think with all that growth, the look and feel of the place would have changed, but the new places have been squeezed into all of the existing four hundred year old buildings in the Fort. It's quite cool - walking through the narrow alleyways on beautiful cobbled streets.

We picked a rooftop restaurant for a drink and snacks while we played some cards. The views you there were fantastic. I love the architecture.

We couldn't pass the retail area near the outside of the gate without visiting our friend, the tailor. This guy is so friendly, we've been back to his ship three times to buy completely unnecessary clothing items :-).

We retired back to our rooftop oasis at the hotel. We all chilled out and watched the sun slide behind the fort.

Ah, a Kingfisher to cap off a nice day back in Jaisalmer.

Never say never

One of the highlights and low lights of our backpacking adventure in 1997 was the overnight trip to the dessert. Back then, we spent two nights sleeping under the stars after riding camels over the sand dunes. It was a highlight because it was very memorable and a low light because the first night of that trip was one of the most uncomfortable I can recall...a freezing sand storm came through and we were covered in sand, sleeping right on thin mattresses on the dunes. I had sworn off desert "camping" forever after that.  

Well, like child birth, sometimes you go at it again. When we were planning the India portion of our trip I told Craig that I would refuse to sleep directly on the sand, but would go if there were little cots. After all, it would be fantastic for the kids and a good family bonding experience yet again. Once we checked into our hotel and talked to the owner about the "Safari", I realized pretty quickly that we would be repeating the 1997 sleeping conditions. To my own surprise (and Craig's), I didn't balk and we signed up in the spot. But for one night only. 

Craig will outline the details, but overall it was a fun, cool experience. Riding a camel is a bit painful on the legs, but fun. At dinner time we were told that the desert doesn't have snakes (good to know!) but does have scorpions (also good to know). We were advised to keep lights to a minimum and stay away from the bushes as that's where they hide out. Well, you only need to tell me once! Headlights were put away and I immediately found some private (not) sand area for midnight pees. I'd risk some stranger seeing my bare butt before I was going near a bush with a headlamp! 

The moonlight was incredible. So bright until about 3:30am when I watched a moon-set. Don't know if that is a thing, but it moved out of sight and then the unbelievable stars lit up the sky in its place. Robin (who had just joined me on our second middle-of-the-night pee adventure) quickly pointed out the two brightest stars as the Uncle Neil star and the Jeff star. She always remembers the brightest stars in the sky. Made me smile and ignore the howling wind and corresponding sand that was whipping over us! (Post mortem: Abby just commented that the "howling wind" was no worse than a slight breeze and that this sounds like some over-exaggerated fantasy book and that Daddy's will be the straight facts. LOL)

We are back in Jaisalmer and head to Agra, via Delhi (18 hour train plus 5 hour car journey) tomorrow night. Helluva long way to go to see the Taj Mahal but how can you bring your kids to India and not see it! Craig's account on Day 133 was much kinder than mine would have been. Long travel days are not our thing, or anybody's thing I suppose. Day 133 was a bit of a shit show with every man/woman/child for him/herself. Moody, grumpy, hungry and a sore back. There have been a few days where I've been ready to call it quits. Not actually do it, but sure thought about it. I realized that we have been a foursome 24-7, no breaks since we said goodbye to the Versluis family on August 6th. I'm not sure I can spend that much time with myself without a break, let alone 3 others! So, in the grand scheme of things, we are doing great. Despite the odd day where we live in dysfunction, we know we are lucky to have these experiences and are making memories every day. 

Day 135: Camel Trek

It was a little noisy in the room last night. It was the night before Eid al-Adha, an important Muslim holiday also known sometimes as the day of the sacrifice - more on that later. Robin and I were in a room at the end of the hotel that was right next to a tent that had been set up for some usage for the festival. When we went to bed at around 11:00, the music was blaring! Ashraf said it was kind of like the Muslim kids flexing their muscles and making a bit of a statement. I told Robin not to focus on sleep, but just to lie down and listen to the music. It worked after a while. I recalled the recent movie Neighbours, with a thirty something couple with a baby living next to a fraternity house that partied hard. Should I go down and ask them to "just.... Keep it down a little?!"... Ha, no chance.

The music played on and on. The pace of it was very up beat and had no signs of slowing. I fell asleep chuckling to myself at how ridiculously loud it was. Robin got up a couple of times, but managed to go to sleep. I filmed a little video at 3:30.... Yes, 3:30! You can tell how loud the music was....

They eventually stopped at 4:00am, I can tell you as a first hand witness!

The girls had painting on the brain, so Beth and I took another opportunity to get away.... And sure enough we strolled into the vase guy's store and bought the damn vase at his initial list price. Lol.

We grabbed the rest of our purchases back at the hotel and hopped into a Tuk Tuk, heading for the post office for some guaranteed hilarity. It didn't disappoint.

We came into the dark building and saw a line of twenty men behind the glass wall with four or five clerks sitting behind. I played the role of clueless tourist, quite well, and asked a clerk where we could ship a package to Canada. He indicated a bank of chairs near him, behind the glass wall (like, in the back office section of the post office). Ok then. We went behind the glass and sat down. Then we waited for something to happen.

Sure enough, ten minutes later a guy came up to us and weighed our stuff and said "package 4700 rupees, packaging fee 400 rupees. Ok?". Yes, I said. "Ok, you come to outdoor packaging Center". We followed him through a maze of piles of paper and old equipment, into the back storage area with even more paper and dusty filing cabinets, out the back door and into what I can most accurately describe as a small concrete holeless outhouse.

The dude proceeded to stuff our things into a box and began to sew a white sheet around the box. He offerred Beth a small piece of styrofoam to sit on.

We made a little small talk, but it was pretty hard. If we hadn't experienced things like this in the past, we would have been a tad uncomfortable, but as weird as this whole thing was, I couldn't say it was that unexpected. When he was finished, he sealed a lot of the seems with hot wax for good measure. Then we wrote the "from" and "to" on the box (here we go again Mum and Dad!), and a few dozen steps later and perhaps only fifteen minutes and we were done. So.... Weird. But, kind of fun at the and time!

When we got back to the hotel, the artists had made a lot of progress...

Robin really took liberties with the real estate!

Abby added a poem she'd written for good measure...

After another late lunch, we went downstairs and got ready for our overnight camel trek experience to start. Beth vowed in '97 that she would never ride a camel and stay in the desert, yet here we were and she was totally relaxed about it. Even having the opportunity to ask questions about the trip and conditions, she was quietly relaxing on the couch. This is the new Beth!

Seven of us crammed into an SUV - there was also a guy from Prague and a father daughter duo from Indonesia. We left Jaisalmer and flew down a smoothly paved road that pretty quickly was splitting the middle of a dry wasteland. Occasionally, we would pass a bus jam packed with people inside and out.

Every once in a while we would spot mud houses - traditional desert houses built with mud walls and thatch roofs. The mud keeps things warm at night and cool in the day.

After about twenty kilometers or so, we stopped at one of the 80 plus abandoned towns in the desert. The story goes that about one hundred fifty years ago, a lower caste man who was friends with the king of Jaisalmer wanted to marry one of the women from one of the towns. The townspeople were all high caste - Brahmin, so nobody supported this marriage to a lower caste man. The people of all 80 towns met in a huge meeting and decided that they'd rather abandon their towns than either defy the king or agree to the marriage (it would set a dangerous precedent). The day after the meeting, tens of thousands of people from all 80 towns packed up and left - leaving these rather big towns completely abandoned.

Some say you can still see ghosts wandering the streets of the town. We just saw these two....

Back on the road, the landscape continued to change. Our final destination was 47km from Jaisalmer. Every ten kilometers or so we would pass through a small village. We saw huge herds of goats, colourfully dressed women and children, and men dressed in their traditional garb - all working away in the hot, late afternoon sun.

Near the end of the line, we passed by a sign saying that we'd entered the national park area. A large swath of the Thar Desert is protected as a national park - the only development in the nearby area being huge wind power generation towers.

The jeep pulled up near a pack of camels who looked like they were waiting for a bunch of tourists....oh, yes.... us!

We must have missed the safety and instructions seminar, as before we knew it, we were on the camels, hanging on for dear life as they see sawed back and forth to the standing position. They were much taller than I'd remembered.

There were three groups of three camels, with two that didn't have riding gear attached. Abby asked the leader why those camels were coming and he told her that camels like to hang out with friends, and each of the group of three camels always went everywhere together. It reminded us of the old lady elephant groups at ENP in Thailand.

Everyone had a huge smile on - we were heading to the desert!

The ride was pretty bumpy - I couldn't imagine riding on a camel that was in a full run - ouch.

It was a nice time of day - maybe 4:30 or 5:00. The sun wasn't that hot and there was a gentle breeze.

After about a half hour, we reached a huge band of sand dunes, miles long and maybe four hundred meters wide. It was so cool looking.... So - expansive. We crossed that dune, went through another patchy desert area and crested a hill to end up at an even bigger dune area. That was where we were to make camp. We trudged through the dunes for ten minutes to find an ideal spot. Getting off the camels was easier said than done - we were all pretty sore from sitting in that wide position for so long. It was a relief to finally sink our toes in the soft sand.

The girls put their thoughts on video....

We chilled out on the dunes and watched the sun go down. The girls tried to really own the space...

To cap off a really nice afternoon, the boys brought by some chai. Sweet! I mean, a cold beer would have also been nice, but the chai was a great addition to the zen-like atmosphere.

Dinner was prepared while we sat around talking with the other three guests - comparing stories, sharing information. Having other adults around to talk to is always a nice treat for us :-). Dinner was served - a simple potato and cauliflower curry, Dahl, rice and chapatti prepared over a small cook fire. It was plain but good - the boys offerred to add some of their spicy curry to our curry, and I accepted with gusto - much better! To top it off, I got a nice, cold beer to accompany the meal. Sweet.

After dinner, four of the camel boys set up little homemade instruments - a water jug for a drum, pots and pans for percussion - and played four songs for us.

It was a nice treat for the end of the evening and soon we were ushered over to each of our sleeping areas. The "beds" brought back memories - simple, white, thin mattresses with thinner sleeping covers on top. Abby was hilarious as she was constantly swishing sand off the covers and her skin - we were in the middle of the desert, but her disdain for sand was holding strong.

The moon was about three quarters full, and I was shocked how bright it was. You could see up and down the dunes for hundreds of meters in the moonlight. I woke up a couple of times at night - both at the request of one of the girls to find a good spot to pee. The second time I got up, the moon had set and the stars were out in full force. It was absolutely beautiful, and reminded me of one of the reasons we'd come all this way, to the middle of the desert at the edge of India.

Day 134: Jaisalmer

This city has grown, but in many ways, it is the same, chill place we remember from 1997..... With an Indian flair of course. Nothing in India can be as calm as, say Luang Prabang, but Jaisalmer has that certain magical feeling that makes travellers who have intentions of coming for a couple of days, end up staying for three months. It happens all the time - we've met a few already. In many ways, it is still India - the cacophony of noise, the activity, the almost alien customs - you just can't put your finger on it.... But it's there. Beth and I woke up this morning and had this moment where we shared the same look - we were so glad we made the effort to come back to the Golden City.

There was no rush this morning. I think we ended up having breakfast at around 10:00. Then, we got lost.

It's actually pretty tough to get lost in Jaisalmer - like Jodhour, there's an outer city, a ring road that goes around the walls of the old city, the inner city that rises towards the Center, the Fort walls at the top of the hill, then the huge Fort area inside those walls. Our hotel is just inside the inner city wall, at the bottom of the hill. We took off on foot, winding our way through an Indiana Jones movie, heading towards the top of the hill.

Every little alley we looked down has tons of character - five hundred year old buildings, cobbled streets and people taking a breath from the activity of the Main Street.

It truly is the Golden City - almost every building, wall, fence and decorative treatment in the city is made out of golden sandstone. The place was built to last.

Beth has been mocking me for taking pictures of chillis throughout Asia, so I had Abby take this one :-).

The streets meandered upwards - hairpin turns, suddenly narrowing, then widening again. Motorbikes and Tuk tuks squeezed in among the pedestrians with short, sharp honks to let them know they had a second to squeeze to the side.

There were almost as many cows as people.... and these cows looked like they'd lived like royalty.

There were quite a few small, impromptu markets with a colourful mix of fruits and vegetables... and people. So far, the people here have been very friendly, though in a more reserved way than say, Sri Lanka. We were getting a lot of smiles and greetings, and the shop owners were friendly but not pushy at all.

Beth and I were in a bit of a shopping mood. We checked one place that had a nice marble vase, but the owner seemed a little disinterested and wasn't budging from his price. Was that a strategy.... Hmmm. We turned our attention to metal. There were a few stores that sold everything stainless steel and copper. We were in the local area of the city where they didn't deal with tourists very much, so after establishing a baseline price and finding out that all of the metal items, regardless of shape or design, were sold by weight, we bought a bunch of copper serving dishes and stainless steel bowls for food prep.

We just wandered and wandered. The kids were entranced by the city - it really is quite different than anything they'd seen and you could see it in their reactions to everything. We had some fun interactions with store owners and ended up buying scarves and some small souvenirs. We hadn't even ventured into the walls of the Fort area where the main tourist shops are, but we didn't care.

It was lunch time - two o'clock? Man, things have changed. Not so long ago, if the clock had struck a minute after twelve and we didn't have food on the table there would be hell to pay :-). We ended up ordering lunch back at the hotel, which has the coolest rooftop restaurant and chill area. There are little niches around the outer wall that are perfect for naps, blogging and.... I think Minecraft as well.

The North Indian cuisine is so good. I'm loving the thalis, which are essentially plates with three or four curries, some rice and naan. Ashraf, the hotel owner, clearly has done enough international travelling where he's learned the little things that make for a successful hotel operation. Having chai at every opportunity also helps boost the satisfaction level - the whole family is thoroughly addicted to chai after just over one week in India.

We left the kids to their own devices.... Ha, I just realized how ironic that old expression is in the modern age... and headed back out to the city on our own.... On our own! That was a nice treat. Beth and I don't get enough time together, so moments like those are very appreciated.

We headed back to a tailor we'd chatted with in the morning and dropped off the girls bags to add more patches. Beth also needed a small repair to her backpack. We got lots of smiles and head waggles.

We noticed this customer taking a keen interest in children's clothing.... Which was hilarious.

Beth and I went back to the "vase guy" and he presented us with the same price. Usually at this point I'm prepared to say, ok, let's pull the trigger. My "money over time spent haggling" tolerance ratio is quite low. Beth prefers at least a bit of back and forth, and doesn't usually react well if the guy doesn't discount. There are many selling and buying strategies we've picked up on our various travels - this guy was playing the "this price is already so low so I cannot discount it any further" gambit, and I felt like he was not going to budge. Sure enough, we walked out for the second time empty handed and I chuckled to myself trying to play out how it was going to feel when we inevitably came back to buy it for the same price.

We had a nice couple of hours, just the two of us, in the streets of Jaisalmer but it was time to return to our hotel, Mystic Jaisalmer.

The kids are now fully patched up. The bags are starting to generate a lot of conversation from interested observers, so that's another great gateway to some nice cultural interactions.

Our little chai girls were upstairs, chilling out by the camel mural that Ashraf had encouraged one of his recent visitors to paint on the wall. He actually asked the girls if they'd like to do some paintings.... I thought to myself "I hope you mean it because they will be like dogs with a bone on that suggestion!".

Late afternoon, we walked outside the city gates to check out the lake. It was quite full after the 36 hours of rain they'd had the day before we'd arrived. It was nice to just hang out there as the sun dropped down behind us.

There was a family picture request, which, if there are females in the group, we usually honour (we've been getting a few requests from young men to take pictures, which we always politely decline). These kids were 10, 13 and 18!

Next door to the hotel is a huge house with a large yard that is used as a recycling business. I watched for a while, seeing people drop off huge bags of plastic, paper or glass, get weighed and receive a small payment. The boy working to sort the drop offs into some logical division works from early morning to late night as his mother/boss overlooks. The whole recycling thing reminds me of how enterprising these people can be. I recall Pranav telling us how much money is generated by the recycling slums, though the proceeds always seemed to float to the one guy at the top making all the money.

We sat in the niches, watching the sun completely set behind the nearby Fort and listening to the life of the city.

Dinner was great - I can't see too many reasons to eat elsewhere in Jaisalmer based on four delicious meals in a row. It doesn't hurt that they have really cold, delicious Kingfisher on hand.