Train to Mumbai

We returned to Jodhpur from Jaisalmer so we could take the train to Mumbai. Here we left Anil, our driver and would be on our own. Anil headed back to Delhi and we caught the overnight train to Mumbai.

We took a tuk-tuk to the train station and were over whelmed by the number of people trying to get into the train terminal through the check point. It was a push/shove grab your suitcase event. A man walked up to us and asked us some questions and where we were going. He was also traveling to Mumbai so he said he would take care of us. So, he got us on the train and into our seats and brought us some fruit and said he would see us later. 

We were in a third class sleeper for the 18 hour ride with 6 other people. Our companions worked for India Railways and were on holiday and returning to Mumbai. The guys were great. They made us feel welcome, shared their food with us, and gave us train traveling tips.

Three tier bunks/ 2 sets

Train to Mumbai

Our bunk buddies.

 

At 10:00PM everyone got up and started getting their beds ready for sleeping. We were given clean sheets (cleaner than some of the hotels we have stayed in), a blanket and pillow and into our bunks we went. Next morning they shared their breakfast food with us and told us when we needed to get off the train. Charlie even got to give a math lesson which everyone seemed to enjoy. Another great experience.

When we arrived in Mumbai the man we had met earlier was waiting for us when we got off the train and told us he would help us get to our hotel. The train station was filled with people, it was hot, we were completely confused so we went with the man.  He arranged a taxi to take us to our hotel, rode with us part way, got out of the taxi and paid the fare for us. 

The kind man told us that one time someone had helped him out and he was returning that favor to us and for us to return the favor to someone else.

Welcome to Mumbai!

Mumbai Port, The Arabian Sea

The Gates to India

Khuri Village

Camel Safari

We left our luggage in our  "Maharaja"  bedroom in Jaisalmer and drove about an hour to Khuri Village in the Thar Desert, where the safari was located. This town has a lot of safari tour places.  Around 4:00 we headed out to find our camels and camel driver. We got on our camels (no instructions, just lean back they told us) and headed out to the sand dunes. These dunes are not big like the sand dunes in the Sahara Desert and there is more vegetation in the Thar Desert. We rode the camels for an 1 1/2 hours and arrived at a high dune where we dismounted the camels and waited for sunset. We had a chance to walk around the dunes and were disappointed with the amount of trash littering the whole area. There are local people that bring beer, chips and candy up to the dunes to sell to the tourists. Everything is thrown on the ground when finished. We got to see a beautiful sunset, got back on our camels and headed back to camp.

Jane's camel driver and camel.

  

Camels have names but we could never remember them because they were in Hindi.

Sunset

Local musicians and a dancer performed while we waited for supper.

After supper made by the women of the town and a performance by a group of locals we headed to the sand dunes.  This time we boarded a camel wagon which had our bedding on it.

When we arrived at the dunes the camel driver spread quilts on the sand and piled on more quilts. Our room under the stars!! Our driver lit a little fire and he tried to tell us some Hindu stories about the gods in his limited English. Charlie helped fill in the information as we had heard some of the stories from our driver. The sky was clear and it was pretty cold so we snuggled under the quilts with our sand pillows and went to sleep under the stars. We woke early in the morning and the stars were super bright as the moon had gone down. The Big Dipper was just over our head. We got up, watched the sunrise, got back on the camel cart and went back to camp. Another great adventure.

We had breakfast and then we walked around town. I had colored pencils with me and handed them out the children. Word spread fast through the town and I was over run with kids. We walked on and met our camel driver from the day trip and he took us to his house. There we gave pencils to his children and others. He gave us a town tour, introduced us to his parents and walked us back to camel head quarters, where we met Anil and drove back to Jaisalmer. A once in a lifetime adventure!!

Jaisalmer

From Jodhpur we headed to Jaisalmer, which is a 6 hour drive. Jaisalmer is near the Pakistan border so it has a large military complex.

Jaisalmer MilitaryMuseum 

We did a quick tour of the military museum and watched a video of the last three Inida-Pakistan wars.  One interesting comment in the video was the mention of the Sherman tanks sent to the Pakistan army for use against India.

People ask to take their pictures with us all the time!

Charlie and the boys!!

Hotel Royale

This was the hotel we were staying in and this is where our adventure begins.

We checked in and because it was after 6:00pm we decided to go have supper on the rooftop restaurant. We had supper, talked to some of the family via FaceTime and then went to our room. We opened the door to our room and a man walked out of the bathroom. He said he was checking our bathroom. Charlie went to the front office to check why an employee was in our room. They came to our room and I had noticed a curtain behind our bed was out of place. I looked behind the curtain and the window was open. We were on the first floor. They found footprints on the window ledge, so the fun began.

This was the room where everything happened.

I'll make a long story short. They made all the staff of the hotel come to the front office for a line up. We really didn't get a good look at the man but he was tall and there was only one tall man in the lineup and we pointed him out. Two plains clothes police men arrived.  They had video cameras in the hotel so we went to the owner of the hotel's house where the video camera was set up.  They live in the back of the hotel. We watched the video and they saw the man coming out of our room. He was an employee of the hotel. The police left and men were sent to the bus station and train station trying to find the man. He has skipped town.

The man had unlocked the window and crawled into our room and would have taken whatever and then left by the window. But we surprised him and he had to leave by the door so he got caught. We didn't loose anything. 

The owner moved us to the best room in the hotel, Majaraha Room, and invited us to supper at his house the night we came back from the camel tour.  They also told us all our meals and anything we wanted were complimentary. We did take advantage of this by ordering more food, Charlie got beer and we had our laundry done, plus we went to the owners' home and the wife cooked us a great Indian meal. 

Hand painted walls.

Our new bedroom

The best room in the hotel with a great view of the fort on the hill top.

Jodhpur

Jodhpur, the Blue City, is the second largest city in Rajasthan. 

The Brahma caste live in the Blue City,

Mehrangarh Fort

This fort is huge and was built in 1459 on top of a hill. An interesting fact we learned was when the Royal Family, high ranking nobles, or any soldier went off to war if they did not return alive that their wives would sacrifice themselves. This practiced was stopped in the early 1900's.

Wall around the fort.

The court women were not allowed to go out in public so there were marble screens all over the palace for them to peep through to see what was happening outside.

Opium is still used today in ceremonies and some people use it daily.

The king traveled in this carriage.

A royal baby crib.

Palace view

RoyalCrematorium 

When a member of the Royal Family dies they are cremated here and their ashes are taken to the Ganges River to be put into the holy water and a memorial is placed here to the deceased.

Udaipur

Udaipur is known as the City of Lakes and was founded in 1559 There are 7 man made lakes that surround parts of the city and out laying areas. The lakes supply water to over the million people that live here and are used as flood control during the monsoon season.

Sign along the highway to Udaipur

Truck loaded with marble.

We drove by kilometers of marble quarries. It is a huge industry here. Every hotel we have stayed in has marble floors, tiles, fixtures, tables, etc. This area of India is known for all the marble it produces.

City Palace

This is the maharan's palace, which is the largest in Rajasthan. Part of the palace houses the museum and another section was a hotel and the king lives in another section of the palace. Because of the expense of maintaining these palaces the kings have turned part of their palace into high class hotels to help pay their bills.

The Kings boat

View of the Kings Palace from the lake.

A game the royalty played.

During the 1500's only the Kings had access to glass windows.

The horses hardware was all made from silver.

Lake Palace

This palace was in the middle of the lake and was build for the queen and her attendants. They spent time here during the summer months. Now it is a fancy hotel.

View of the Lake Palace

Marble Elephants

A wall painting from the 1500's.

Pushkar

We left Jaipur for a four hour drive to Pushkur. Pushkar is one of the oldest cities in India.

Savitri Temple- This temple was built by Lord Brahma for his first wife. It is a 1.5km walk up the mountain to the top with a beautiful view of Pushkar Lake. It took us about an hour to hike up to the top.

The temple of the wife of Lord Brahma

Hike up to temple

Temple at top of mountain

View of Pushkar from top of mountain

Pushkar Lake

There was a group of people giving out free food to all the people on the street. Of course we had to try it!

Our guide was a priest so he did a Hindu ceremony with us at the lake.

We were blessed.

Brahma Temple- This is one of Indis's most important temples.  It is the only temple in India where Lord Brahma is worshiped. 

Short Version Story- Lord Brahma had a wife and she showed up 6 hours late for a ceremony Lord Brahma was having and so he took another wife. When the first wife showed up she was very upset and being a powerful god she told Lord Brahma that the only place in India where he could be worshiped would be in Pushkar.  And the only place he could be worshiped was at the lake, not at the temple that had been built for him. Therefore, the lake is a very holy place. Our guide in Pushkar was a priest and he performed a holy ceremony with us at the lake. It was a very special and unique experience.