Holy Cow!

Well, well, well. Everything is a lot better now.
We started our tour of Rajasthan in Bikaner, a desert town in the West part of India. The train ride from Haridwar to Bikaner was 14 hours and it went by fast since we were sleeping most of the night.
Bikaner was an interesting experience. A mixed bag especially for Hana. It was so freaking dirty in the Old Town area. We were walking through the streets looking at very old Haveli (houses with beautiful & busy carvings), but Hana could not really enjoy it because she constantly had to look at her feet so she doesn't step into cow shit and garbage. She even saw a kid pooping on his doorstep, just like that, in front of everybody. I am also affected by it, but maybe because I am more curious or "amazed" by the craziness of it all, it does not put me down as much. We need to mention that we arrived in Bikaner right for the biggest holiday of the year: Diwali and most of the garbage and filth on the streets was due to that. Normally they clean the streets in the morning before opening the shops, and on that day everything was closed so nobody bothered cleaning the streets either.

During the Diwali festival (which lasts about a week or maybe a month, hard to tell since it's still going on) which was described to us similar to Christmas, people visit their families, light candles and blow up the entire country with fireworks, day and night. Now, these are not your usual fireworks, the kids blow up firecrackers which are illegal in other countries everywhere on every corner, by your feet when you walk. And everybody tries to show off, the bigger and louder, the better. Imagine this going on in every city in India for several days....
It does sound like a war zone, but it is not.

On our first day in Bikaner, we visited the Karni Mata Temple in Deshnok, 30 km south. It is a temple devoted to rats. It is pretty funky, a little nasty but mostly funny and intriguing. There are hundreds of rats running around your feet. They don't care about people, they are just concerned with the food they are offered. They fight a lot among themselves and so many of them look sick. Maybe because they are old, or according to Hana's theory they have diabetes since they are being fed milk and sweets all the time.
It is considered good luck if the rats run over your feet. But if you see a white rat, that's good karma. Hana got double good karma because she spotted two white rats and another ran over her feet (me too after :)) Her reward materialized in a puking session that evening at a bad restaurant (Lonely Planet recommendation). She had hard time with the heat that day, which created a bad migraine.

But the best part of our visit to Bikaner was meeting Dhirendsa, an Indian police inspector. We met him on the train from Haridwar and had a very nice conversation. He was very curious about us, and us likewise very curious about him. And before arriving in Bikaner he invited us to have lunch at his house and to meet his family and his new born baby girl.
So, the next day we went to his house where his wife, sister in law, mother in law and his 6 year old daughter warmly welcomed us. The women prepared delicious Indian food. And Dhirendsa patiently explained each dish to us and showed us how to eat it. Raita in one bowl, dal in another, rice, seasonal fruit chuttney and palak paneer on the plate, and of course chappati. After we ate sweets, home made potato halwa and gulab yomun. Then we had Indian chai - Miko's latest addiction. Bye, bye coffee. (he still likes cheese though - no worries)

During the lunch, we had a lot of questions for him and he some for us, so the conversation kept flowing. We definitely felt very comfortable with him and learned a lot about Indian culture in those few hours.
The tradition is still very strong here. He was the only one eating at the table with us. The women were in the kitchen. After lunch, he showed us his wedding album. Their marriage was arranged by the parents, which is how most of Indians get married. Even if that idea is strange to us, they look happy and Dhirendsa actually told us that it worked out well for him.
It was interesting to see the photos of the Indian wedding. So colorful. They both looked beautiful in their traditional outfits. Here the bride wears a red sari, and the groom arrives on a horse, dressed in white with a saffron color turban and a sword. All the celebration and the ceremony happens in the house. It seems to be a very serious affair. They were not smiling in the photos, and Hana mentioned it to him. Dhirendsa replied seriously: "Marriage is a serious matter." In our conversation he mentioned that it is still very difficult to get divorced, because here everybody is involved, not only husband and wife, but the entire families, and it is all about saving the honor. Dhirendsa lives in his wife's family house with his mother and sister in law. Like he said, you won't see old people living in the streets here because the family will take care of them no matter what.
Also, the cast system is still effective here. While we were eating lunch, two men were playing music at their door step. Dhirendsa explained to us that they come from a village nearby and play only at his house for every holiday or important occasion (like wedding or birtday). It has been like that for generations and will continue to be. They are from a lower cast - Shudra (laborers), and he is from a higher cast - Kshatriya (warriors). His duty every time they come is to give them money.
Dhirendsa is a very interesting man. He is really respectful of traditions, for example his wife's family has a guru and he respects it but does not believe in it personally. He is hoping for changes in his country and is open to learn about other cultures. One of the reasons he liked us is because of Hana being from Bosnia. He is thinking about applying to get into the UN troops and go on a mission in Bosnia. And because it is not far from Switzerland he really, really, really wants to visit Switzerland one day, just like many other Indians.

Then sadly the time came for us to leave their nice, clean and peaceful house . Hana told me after that she almost cried when she saw Dhirendsa's wife, her sister and mother come out to say goodbye to us. They were so nice to us, and being invited to someones home here is the best thing that could happen.


JAISALMER

We left Bikaner on 30th of October and took a train to Jaisalmer. We were the only people in the AC wagon, kind of nice to have some private space.
Few hours after we arrived there, we booked a camel safari with Ganesh Travels for the next morning. Two full days and one night. On the first day, we were in a group of 8 people (t ourists) and 4 camel drivers. It was a very nice international group. A good mix: Luke (Australia) and his girlfriend Keri (UK), Rebecca (Swiss), 2 Belgian girls Marianne and Joke, Greg (US) and Baba (South India). It was fun and exciting to be riding the camels. Not super comfortable but not too bad either. There was something very meditative about it, the slow movement, (sweet) silence all around except the bells on the camel. Hana's camel was very tall and it was called "White Man" because of its color. He did not like walking behind the other camels, always walking on the side, in the front or all the way in the back. He was stubborn and had a will of his own. Just like Hana...
Miko does not remember the name of his camel.
It was very nice to be outside of the cities and enjoy the silence and calm of the desert. We arrived at the sand dunes just in time for the sunset. Later, we sat around a fire, ate dinner, talked and listened to their songs. We slept on the blankets under the open sky, stars everywhere. Beautiful.



































The second day we separated from the main group because they were on a 3 day safari and we ended up riding alone with one camel driver. Since it was a small group, we were running a lot on the camels. Miko looked cool in his saddle, slightly bouncing and holding the ropes tight in one hand, while I was trying hard to balance myself. I had one hand in the front and one in the back, and did not even try to control the camel with the ropes. I did not look cool at all.
Because we were alone with our camel driver, we got to talk to him a lot so it became more intimate. While we were sitting in the shade of a tree and he was preparing lunch for us, he told us about his life. He comes from a small village, 85 km away from Jaisalmer. He is Muslim, 25 year old and his wife is 15, they don't have children yet. He works for Ganesh eight months out of a year and then goes back to his village in the summer when they are no tourists for four months. In the meantime, his wife lives with his parents. He is illiterate, never went to school, but speaks fairly good English which he learned working as a camel driver for the past 10 years. What a different life from ours, such a different world. But the camel driver did not complain about it, actually seemed content, relaxed and always singing.
Overall, the camel safari was a fun experience. I learned that camels longevity is about 25 years. They pee and poop while walking and they can also drink water while peeing at the same time. They chew very loud, have bad breath and fart a lot.

After the safari, we spent two more days in Jaisalmer. We stayed inside this amazing fort, which is actually the center of the city. It is several hundred years old and looks beautiful hovering above the city, bathing in the sun light. Jaisalmer is called a gold city because of the color of the fort made out of sandstone.

While traveling in India, we noticed that almost every tourist has the Lonely Planet guide book for India. And like everybody else, we started relying on it heavily. It became our Bible. Before our arrival in Jaisalmer we read in the guide book that there is an issue with the fort and that it is endangered due to the pressure on the city's drainage system, and also thoughtless building, and that the inhabitants are not taking the conservation measures seriously. For those reasons they don't list accommodations inside the fort, so on our first night in Jaisalmer, we stayed in a hotel outside. Then we met a shop owner in the fort who told us the damage the Lonely Planet guide book has caused to many fort inhabitants. Their only income is from tourism during the winter months. So, many people were hungry after the guid e book published and tourists stayed outside the fort. We noticed that the guest houses and restaurants inside the fort were empty and their owners desperate to get us in. We are not sure if the Lonely Planet is right or wrong here but it is definitely scary to realize how much power or persuasion this book has on visitors and how it can affect lives of so many people in these poor places when it is mainly the government's fault if the fort is falling apart.


JODHPUR & UDAIPUR

We took the bus from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur - the blue city. It is called like that because there is an entire neighborhood where the houses are painted blue - indigo blue. It u sed to be the neighborhood where the Brahmins lived (the cast of preachers and teachers). There is also a chemical (forgot which one) in the blue paint which works as a pesticide. So, they mark the house of the Brahmins and keep the termites away.

























Jodhpur also has a fort above the city. It is called Meherangarh. We took the audio tour of the fort and it made it a lot more interesting than just walking around and looking. The recording was not boring at all, unlike most of other audio tours, there were interviews of different people, little anecdotes and interesting history. We got a glimpse of what life was like hundred years ago or less in a fort like this where Maharajas lived with all their wives and concubines.

We have not much while in Jodhpur besides visiting the fort, we wondered in the streets and the main market area. Very mellow visit. We tried delicious lassi (butter milk) made with saffron, a specialty here and we kept going back for more.

We also bumped into some people we met back in Bikaner, a nd again in Jaisalmer. A french guy Julian from Bretagne, who has been traveling for the past 7 months and is hoping to go on for another year and a half. We saw him again yesterday in Udaipur and every time we go together for a meal, then say good bye as if we are not going to see each other again, but we always do.



Another interesting traveler we met on our camel safari in Jaisalmer is Baba (grandfather), a retired Ayuverdic medicine doctor who lives in South India and is on vacation just like us. It is really funny to see an old Indian man in traditional clothes, traveling around with the Lonely Planet guide book, and going to all the places that we are going to.

In Jodhpur we spent a nice evening with him. He likes to talk, tell us about history of India and is very informative. His gesture s are very typical Indian with the famous puppet like head wobble. He is also on a spiritual mission. He message to us was to became spiritual and he thinks that is the reason we came to India, that it was not just a coincidence we chose this country.
He tried to explain spirituality to us in a very scientific way, that everything is energy, that we are all One and that the I that most of us identify with is just a creation of the mind.
He suggested a few books to us to read, one of which is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
So, the next day we went to the bookstore and bought it and we also bought Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald. The second book is very fun to read while traveling in India. It really captures everything Westerners experience here for the first time and she does it in a funny way. Miko is reading a book again, yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way, bargaining for those books with the female bookshop owner was hard core, but in the end we did well. If there were teaching bargaining classes somewhere, w e would definitely take them. It is a necessary skill here. As soon as they see our white faces, we get the "foreign price" which is sometimes 5 times what the real price would be. And the worst is that sometimes we have no idea how much it should cost. So, the best thing is to always start low or ask around.

During our stay here, we noticed that Indian cows really don't like Miko even though he likes them. In almost every city a cow hit him in a butt with the horns while he was passing by. And lately it's been happening almost every day. I'm so scared of them now, that I avoid them and get out of their way. Indian cows are like arrogant spoiled kids here, they can do what ever they want, all the traffic has to go around them.

We spent the last four days in Udaipur not doing much but enjoying this romantic city by the lake. It is very clean compared to the other cities and very laid back, not as much harassment from the rickshaw drivers and shop owners. Just the kids, who yell: Hello, hello and ask for pens and coins and chocolate and biscuits. But most of them actually just want their photo taken and that's all they can say: "Photo, Photo" or "Which country?" or "Your name?" Usually when I say I'm from Bosnia, I get a blank face and that's the end of conversation. Everywhere people have been telling me that I'm the first Bosnian they met, so we believe that I am the only Bosnian traveling the world.























We are staying here in a cool place called Dream Heaven Guest House. They have a great terrace with a view of the city and the lake. We usually spend our mornings sitting there, reading books, writing and sipping Indian chai.
By the way, Udaipur is also famous because the James Bond movie "Octopussy" was filmed here and they play it in every restaurant and cafe and guest house every night. Now, I know why I didn't like this corny movie the first time I saw it. Udaipur is also famous for its mignature paintings.














So, we leave Udaipur tonight on a sleeper bus to Bundi, a small town in the middle of nowhere.
We have less then three weeks left in India. For us, it's been going by really fast and right now we are enjoying it. We got used to the way things go here and everything seems a lot easier now.
Yesterday, we were badly surprised to find out that the trains are already getting full for our next destinations. So, we had to plan ahead, day by day, the rest of our trip. It sucks. I liked deciding from one day to the next what we were going to do. But these are our biggest problems on the trip so far, and of course the regular bowel movement - very important :)