India keeps surprising me. It's the country that feels furthest from home (but is actually the closest I have been to home in my trip so far). Everything seems to work differently here, from something as large as the caste system to something as small as catching a train. It's dizzying, but like most dizzying things if you decide to embrace it, it turns out to be a lot of fun. My time here so far has only solidified what I thought before, India is not a holiday, it's an experience. In no other country have I felt the utter contrast between the inside of my guesthouse and the world outside. Very few things are softened for the sake of tourists. At first I thought that this means that what I see is what I get, that that is the true India, but now I have a feeling there is even more when you scratch away the surface but that world is not open to me as a visitor. That's not to say that the country goes easy on you though! In my guesthouse in Bikaner I was sat chatting to some fellow travellers about their experience of India and one girl said something that has stuck with me, 'India makes you happy to still be alive again and again and again.' It is a lovely sentiment but what she had meant by it was that every day something dangerous happens, you nearly get hit by a vehicle, the water is dirty, people stare at you, and you are happy at the end of the day to have survived. I smiled and thought of the number of magic moments I had had during my time here and could clearly see both meanings of the statement. You are in some kind of survival mode here, constantly aware and alert but, because of this, when something wonderful happens, it amazes you even more. Or maybe thats too dramatic, but theres something about this place that makes you want to write a dramatic opening paragraph.
One of those wonderful, amazing situations happened the day I was due to leave Jodhpur. That morning I had breakfast in a kings palace. Yep. It was as magnificent as it sounds. Divya offered to take me to see it after I had mentioned how much I would love to see inside the beautiful building. The King of Jodhpur is the patron of RIFF festival so Divya knows him and is able to use the hotel that occupies half of the palace free of charge. We sat out under the huge pillars overlooking the pristine lawns and enjoyed the delicious breakfast buffet, which included sparkling wine! We got a personal tour of the hotel and I was bowled over by how decadent it was, such a royal place, another Indian contrast.
We returned to the fort and I reluctantly began to pack my things. I managed to make it to visit the temple at the other end of the temple before Yash, Sharon, Govind, Joel, Caroline and I got into a car and journeyed away from the fort, waving goodbye to Jodhpur, and saying hello to Pushkar. We arrived in Pushkar late and had dinner in the hotel (which may be the most colourful hotel I have ever stayed in) before going to bed.
Pushkar is a relatively small town with a relaxed attitude and religious significance as the lake is said to be the tears of one of the gods. My first full day there I lazed around in the morning and then went out to explore the town with Yash. There were so many stalls and shops to look at, all offering beautiful and cheap things and I found it quite overwhelming, deciding that I would make a list of things that I wanted to buy so that I would be able to focus instead of being distracted by everything. We had lunch in a restaurant called Out Of The Blue, which I highly recommend if you visit Pushkar, and then Yash, Joel, Caroline and I strolled down to the lake which the town of Pushkar surrounds, and walked on the ghats to watch a stunning sunset which turned the sky orange and red and reflected on the glistening water.
We ate again at Out Of The Blue (why would we go anywhere else when the food is so good) and spent the evening on the roof of our hotel listening to Joel play his creation, a guitar mixed with a sitar, which made a enchanting sound.
The following day was shopping day and I set off, list in hand. Sharon had agreed to come with me so after some lunch at you know where, we walked from shop to shop, collecting nearly everything I had put on the list and forming a pretty great bargining team. Sharon would pretend it was her that was doing the shopping and I would subtly nudge her towards what I wanted to buy so that she could get the Indian price for me. It worked a dream and we got some great things.
I packed my purchases up as well as some other things I didn't need to carry with me, and sent it home. It all came to 14kg! I just hope it makes it back. I finished off my last day in Pushkar with the people who I had spent the last two weeks with with another delicious meal and Hello To The Queen for dessert, which may be my favourite dessert ever.
Early the next morning it was time to move on again. I said goodbye to Joel, Caroline, Sharon and Govind. I had such a great time with them, especially Sharon and Govind who were so much fun to stay with and work with and I hope to see again! Yash and I got a taxi to the bus station, a bus which was really late, and then I got on a train from Jodhpur to my next place, Bikaner. Bikaner was recommended to me b a friend when I had mentioned that I wanted to do the camel safari in Jaisalmer. It was a much less touristy option and the camel tour there was proud to be an eco tour. I arrived in the city and took a tuk tuk to my hostel where I fell asleep almost instantly.
I met quite a few travellers at my hostel the next day including a group of guys who were planning a day out so I tagged along. It turned out to be one of the strangest days of my trip so far. We went first to the camel farm which had a post-apocalyptic feel with no staff anywhere, a weird little museum and worst of all, dead camels. We saw 4 dead camels in all and unsurprisingly that kind of soured the experience for us and made us want to leave pretty swiftly. The driver then took us to the rat temple, which was, you guessed it, a temple absolutely full of little rats. There were flies and rats and a strong smell and none of us wished to stick around which, for some reason, our guide seemed surprised about. A rat even ran over my foot at one point, ergh. Luckily we were given some stylish, worn out slippers I guess.
The following day was much more sucesssful. I had booked a camel safari with the guesthouse and woke up bright and early to begin. The owner of the guesthouse, Jitu, first took me out in his 4X4 to the desert and we spent a couple of hours driving around while he taught me about the plants and animals we saw. It amazed me how each plant seemed to have an important use, including medicinal and use as food. It is something that I feel like I am so detached from, I have no idea about how to use natural things around me and I found a new respect for the traditional methods of the people who lived in this desert. At one point we arrived at a field with piles of plastic dotted around and i sighed at the waste in such a beautiful place, wondering why they bother piling it up if they are going to just leave it here. However, Jitu explained that this is the field where people bring the dead cows and when their bodies get eaten and decompose this plastic, which was the contents of their stomach, is all that remains. He seemed saddened at how India claims that cows are holy and then lets them eats rubbish from the dirty streets and it was clear he was an Indian who realises the damage that the waste here can do.
We continued to explore and I saw HUGE eagles and vultures everywhere, was lucky enough to see owls and watched an antelope canter away. We reached the village where I would be clambering onto a camel and stopped by a home there which Jitu wanted to support because both of the women who live there are widows and so making money is more difficult for them. I got to see inside a traditional hut made from cow dung, inside of which was so much cooler than the outside. There were some very cute, very curious children there too and I watched as a woman made us chai on a stove in a tiny hut.
My camel and guide arrived and I was shocked by how large the camel was. I am sure if I had been with another traveller I would have forced them to get on first but as I was on my own I had to suck it up and go for it. The camel stood up and I stared down at the tiny people but actually felt pretty comfortable especially ehen it started to walk and I realised how solid and reliable it was. Camels are such funny animals, with a lot of character and they make weird noises as they walk, I had a real soft spot for mine. My guide spoke no English which at first I was disappointed about, how would I enjoy plodding along with no one to talk to? But, after a while I realised the benefits. There was something about the vast, desolate environment, the slow, steady movement of the camel and the silence that made me feel very reflective. The experience allowed me to have some time to think about all that had happened to me up until that point and what I could do in the future. At one point on the trip my eyes swelled up with tears and at another I found myself sitting there smiling like a goon. We stopped after a couple of hours and the guide collected dried pieces of dung and made a raised stove to make the chai on, which I found ingenious. We sat there and drank and shared a couple of very basic sentences while the camel rolled around and rested in the shade.
The chai was delicious and he proceeded to wash the cups and bowl using sand to scrub them clean and water to rinse them, another example of how easy it is to use your surroundings. We started back on the second half of the walk and at one point he offered me a biddi, a very cheap version of a cigarette which is tabacco wrapped in a leaf. I thought 'when in Rome' and as I sat on top of a camel, just me and a guide, smoking a biddi and surrounded by desert I realised that it may be the coolest thing I will ever do. It's all downhill from here.
We got back to the village and I was greeted by a group of very enthusiatic kids who my guide shooed away. I had some more chai in his home and then was directed to a tuk tuk which drove me along the road back to my hostel. It had been a brilliant, unique solo travelling day and I am very thankful for the experience.
The next day my train out of Bikaner was in the evening so I slept in and relaxed before setting off. I took an overnight train from the harsh desert to the cool mountains, Bikaner to Haridwar, and then a tuk tuk to Rishikesh. Rishikesh is actually a large town but just outside of it is a backpackers haven set right next to the bright blue, surprisingly clean, river Ganga (The Ganges) and across a bridge is an area called Laxman Jhula.
Here you find endless yoga studios, cafes and restaurants, guesthouses and shops and the most laid back attitude I have encountered in India so far. I checked into my hostel and resisted taking a nap, opting instead to go out and explore the area nearby. I walked along the one main street, adjusting myself to seeing so many white faces again and taking in my surroundings until I reached a cafe which had a selection of delicious looking pastries on sale where I decided to stop for lunch. There was humus on the menu so I was more than happy to stay there relaxing for a while. I met Max, an Australian who had been staying in Rishikesh for a while working on a new website with some other travellers and who came and sat on my table. We chatted for ages, it was great to have a long interesting conversation after so much small talk which seems to be the norm at most hostels. He had a Royal Enfield (!) and we drove down to the riverside that evening to watch a pooja, which is a ceremony which has been going on there for hundreds of years with singing and instruments and candles being set off onto the river. That evening they had an Isreali band playing the most beautiful music, it was really special to watch and hear such a loving ceremony taking place.
We had super cheap Thali for dinner at a place called Anna's cafe (it cost about 80p). Back at my hostel I bumped into Jack, who I had met in Delhi and travelled to Agra and Jaipur with, in my dorm. He had been in Rishikesh for three weeks and I now understood why, this place was magical and contagious. In the morning I went for a yoga class, reminding myself how unflexible I had become but really enjoying the practice. It is certainly something I would like to take part on when I get home. I had breakfast with Jack and Max at a place called Little Buddha Cafe which was delicious and then went back to my hostel and met some more lovely people who were staying there. That afternoon Max had offered to take me for a drive around the mountain roads on the Enfield and we set off over the narrow bridge and up and round winding roads. The views were just incredible and I was overwhelmed by being in the actual Himalayas! We could have carried on driving forever but it got cold and started to get dark so we decided to make our way back as the sun set.
The next day, after a relaxing morning with the people at my hostel, I took advantage of the bike again and we drove the other direction and found a cool bridge and beach, yes a beach! It was amazing to be in the valley between two mountains on the Ganga and be walking on soft white sand. On our way we crossed Laxman Jhula bridge and there was another bike coming the opposite way which slowed down to a stop. Naturally we thought he was letting us by, but instead he proceeded to try and turn his motorbike around ON THE BRIDGE! Only in India.
The following day I got up really early for the sunrise trek organised by my hostel. There were 11 people on the trek in the end whch was brilliant to get to know other travellers but not so good when all of you have to squeeze in a jeep and wind your way up the sickness inducing mountain road. We reached the temple at the peak and patiently waited for the sun to appear over the mountainous landscape surrounding us. When it did it was a really glorious sight and the light revealed more and more to us, including the distant snow capped peaks further north. No photo can really capture it, but here's a couple anyway.
We started our long trek downwards with some breakfast which the staff had to defend from monkeys using a big stick and then we head down, through fields and villages, past rockfaces and paddies. At some points the path was slippery and steep but none of us damaged ourselves too badly!
We walked for a while and has some really great conversations with people. Near the bottom, the river we had been following for a while became a beautiful waterfall and some of the boys jumped in ntheir underwear (teehee). The water was cold, but clear and clean and we relaxed here for a while.
We all managed to hitch a ride in the back of a pick-up instead of walking back when we got to the main road, exhausted but happy. We had lunch at a delicious place called Pimperknickles, where the food took forever to come but was worth the wait. I shared a gluten-free, dairy-free, califlower base pizza (classic Rishikesh) which was fantastic! That evening we bought a few beers, whopping 8% beers may I add, and sat on the roof of the hostel as a group chatting until our tiredness from a long day got the better of us.
I had planned to visit some meditation caves the next day with the people from my hostel but we found it so hard to hitch a ride, find a taxi, or get there get there by bus, instead we chilled on a huge beach in the valley for a while, catching some rays and listening to music on Jack's speaker.
For my last supper in Rishikesh, under the watchful eye of a big jesus painted on the restaurant wall, and with some of the friends I had made in this marvellous place, I shared an incredible vegetable platter and then a bloody massive Hello To The Queen with Max. All the food in Rishikesh is vegetarian and had opened my eyes to the possibilities of healthy, tasty, eco-friendly food I can be inspired by when I get home.
My last day was spent relaxing in the morning, checking out of my lovely hostel (called shiv shati for those of you interested in staying) saying goodbye to people and climbing onto the back of the Enfield for one last ride as Max has offered to drop me at the airport for my plane. I was really sad to ge saying goodbye to Rishikesh and all I have learnt and experienced there. The people I met there were a great breed of traveller, open minded, individual and interesting and the natural surrouding there took my breath away. What a lucky girl I am to have been somewhere I was so happy and enjoyed it while it lasted! I have a feeling I will see it again!
So there we have it, a post which shows the constant contrasts of India, palaces and huts made of dung, deserts and mountains, bustling towns and peaceful havens. It's a country that keep you on your toes and never holds back and is the country where I have felt the most change in myself and discussed how others have changed too. With a land that is always switching and changing so fast you have to learn to adapt and if you can do that, wow, what an incredible you will have!
Thanks for reading,
Emma x
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