Bricks, Cranes and a Painted Ceiling: On the Road to Jaisalmer

A bit of yoga to start the day, then a very long haul: over 300 km to Jaisalmer, with our driver Puneet at the wheel.

First stop was a brickworks. These are not announced by signage they are literally just straight next to the highway. In previous years this tour group have been able to participate and make some bricks but everything is weather dependant when making, sundrying and then baking them. The clay is dug, mixed with water into a mud and pressed by hand into wooden moulds. The raw bricks dry in the sun and air, usually for 3 to 10 days, then get stacked in a kiln and fired. The tall chimney we saw belongs to India's most common kiln, the Bull's trench kiln, a design from a British engineer in the late 1800s. It burns continuously, with fresh bricks going in one end while finished ones come out the other. India makes well over 100 billion bricks a year, so there are plenty of these furnaces around here. 🧱

A shallow dent called a "frog" is pressed into the top of each brick as it's moulded, and it usually carries the maker's mark, which is how a brick can be traced back to where it came from. The moulding is mostly done by contract labour, paid per 1,000 bricks and often recruited by a contractor who offers an advance (similar to the way shearing gangs operate in nz).

Cranes

Then it was on to a man-made lake that's now a sanctuary for migrating birds, home to thousands of demoiselle cranes. They're the world's smallest cranes, and the French name means "young lady". Every year they fly in from Central Asia to spend winter here, arriving from about August and leaving around March. The lake is one of several old reservoirs built by villagers centuries ago and are now protected conservation reserves 🦢

Lunch was at a desert oasis restaurant where I picked up some souvenirs. 

Then we rolled into Jaisalmer, the Golden City, named for the honey-coloured sandstone it's built from.

We're staying at Hotel Heritage House, which is the best accommodation and the best service of the trip so far. We were once again greeted with flower garlands and a cool drink.

The rooms have gorgeous painted ceilings, and the cleanliness is a high standard. I've told Jane I could just about spend a whole day just staying in my bedroom.

Dinner on the rooftop with a warm breeze was very pleasant. 🌙

Maths on the Median, Camels in the Desert: Mandawa to Bikaner

Yoga

Yoga again to start the day, then another 300 km on the road, this time to Bikaner on the edge of the Thar Desert.

The road itself was a parade. Pilgrim buses blared loud music (it's Navratri, so there are plenty of devotees on the move). Overloaded trucks groaned past, stacked high with crops. A camel plodded along pulling a cart, and more cows wandering across the road like they owned it, which in India they pretty much do. 🐄

We also passed green fields, possibly drought-hardy crops like peanuts, pearl millet, guar and moth beans.

Our driver was even pulled over for speeding, but he produced an exemption card that lets him travel at 80 km/h instead of 60. At 60 it would take a long time to get anywhere!  The seemingly random speed bumps were less welcome, and often sent our bottoms flying off the seats. 😅

As we rolled into Bikaner, the median strip had become an outdoor maths lesson. Every 100 or 200 metres stood a large 3D symbol (a plus, a minus, a circle, a greater-than-or-equal-to) with an English explanation. No photo, sadly, because we were moving. 📐

Lunch was at a very cool Harasar Haveli

where we also stayed the night. built from local brick and carved sandstone.

Then it was on to Junagarh Fort. It covers around 13 acres (5.28 hectares), which makes it huge. It was built between 1589 and 1593 by Raja Rai Singh, a general in the Mughal emperor Akbar's army, and the city grew up around it. Unlike most Rajasthani forts, it sits on flat ground rather than a hill. This a black and white photo of it from the museum so you can get an idea of its size.

We drove in through the gates, and our sightseeing centred on the Prachina Museum, which was founded in 2000 and fills part of a hall built in 1937. It's full of royal costumes, weapons, silverware and instruments from the ruling dynasty. 

This lady's husband wanted a photo with me... so I asked for a photo with her:-)

next stop. 🐪

That was the National Research Centre on Camel, just outside the city. The centre keeps several hundred camels of four breeds, each suited to different work. Bikaneris are strong and good for milk and draught work. Jaisalmeris are built for speed and stamina. Kachchhis are good milkers, and Mewaris are load carriers. We watched the herd come home from grazing in the desert and saw how the males, females and calves are kept separate. The females are milked, but only for a few litres a day.

At the end we tried camel milk ice cream, and I bought a camel milk lassi to keep up my goodbugs while I'm away. It was fascinating and very hot, so we sheltered under a Bodhi (peepal) tree, the type of tree that Buddha was sitting under when he reached enlightenment and from whence his adopted name came.

After arriving back at the hotel,  🌳A five-minute stop at an ATM turned into thirty when we ducked through a doorway and were waylaid by Shiv Swami, a traditional and contemporary miniature artist, and his gallery, much to the inconvenience of our guides, who had lost us. His English was impeccable and he was fascinating to listen to. Shiv comes from a family of traditional Bikaner painters and learned the craft from his father and grandfather. His work has been exhibited in England and France, and he's credited with holding the Guinness World Record for the world's smallest painting in 2002 and 2003. He paints with squirrel-hair brushes and makes his own pigments from minerals and plants, and his work is best viewed through a magnifying glass. 🔍

📍 Bikaner Miniature Arts, on Municipal Road near Kirti Stambh Circle, Bikaner. www.bikanerminiaturearts.com

Horses, Havelis and the Undead

Today started with yoga on the rooftop a little after sunrise. It was a welcome way to ease out some kinks, because the beds are rather firm. Our fearless leader Jane runs a lovely gentle routine.

Today's theme was horses 🐴

We took a 20-minute side trip to Dundlod, home to Dundlod Fort and a stable of Marwari horses. The family behind the fort have been at the heart of bringing the breed back. Marwaris have unique inward-curving ears that swivel , which along with their long eyelashes help to keep the sand out.

Marwari horses came close to disappearing. We were told the English favoured their own stallions, and by the mid-1990s only a few hundred pure Marwaris remained. Framed magazine articles at the fort tell the revival story. A British horsewoman, Francesca Kelly, fell for the breed on a horse safari and teamed up with Raghuvendra Singh of Dundlod, known as Bonnie, to found the Indigenous Horse Society of India. Foals are born at the Dundlod stables each year, and the export of Marwaris is still tightly restricted, with only small numbers ever allowed out. Treks are on offer, and we were also told there's a farrier school reviving traditional horse-shoeing techniques, with some international teaching.

Whilst at the stables we found welcome shelter under the khejri trees, which are everywhere here. They're protected, and cutting one down without government permission can bring heavy penalties. Locals trim them back for shade, stock feed and tools, which gives them that knobbly, pruned look.

Next was the family fort. It's in the middle of a huge renovation, and you get the feeling it will always be a work in progress. The frescoes that have been maintained are phenomenal.

Local artisans called chiteras, traditionally from the potter community, paint onto wet lime plaster. The skills have been passed down through generations. Very few of those artisans remain, but modern restoration projects are training new ones, which is essential to preserving this amazing architecture. 🎨

Our last stop was the Seth Arjun Das Goenka Haveli, the one haveli in Dundlod open to the public. Entry was ₹100 (about NZ$2). It was built around 1870-75 by a merchant family who made their fortune in Calcutta, and the layout is very typical. The front is where the men met and traded, with an upstairs balcony where the women could put in their two cents. Behind the trading area lies the family space, which was also used for honoured guests. There are rope-operated fans called punkas, and the restored frescoes are stunning.

Then it was back to Mandawa for lunch and a siesta.

Revived, we wandered the streets with no real plan and stumbled onto a film set. Some of the cast and crew are staying at our hotel. The women's costumes were brightly coloured and I managed to get a couple of photos. We also passed more havelis, a few temples and street vendors whose stalls were a riot of colour.

Back at the hotel we had drinks with some of the crew. One actor explained the film: a Bollywood zombie movie. It sounds ridiculously amusing 🧟

Over drinks we also got a peek at the honeymoon suite, and the bling was something else. Every wall and the ceiling are covered in mirrored mosaic, and a painting of Krishna dancing with the gopis hangs above the bed

Delhi to Mandawa: Roads, Rituals and a Living Museum

Yesterday was a travelling day, and after a lousy night's sleep I snoozed most of the way. Lots of bumps, potholes and creative driving. I was glad I couldn't see out the front, because I'd have been a nervous wreck. You just have to trust the driver. 😅

We left Delhi around 10am in a much more comfortable coach, "Luxury Beyond Expections" (sic) according to the sign. The luggage was tied on the roof, but we were leaving Delhi, so rules were bent a little.

 

Lunch on the road

We stopped at a clean little roadside diner with dosa, a crispy rice pancake that you tear into pieces and dip in the soup. The dosa batter is fermented, and so is the yoghurt in the lassi, so hopefully my good bugs are getting a top-up, because there isn't much else fermented around. Lots of vegetables, though, I wish I could cook eggplant half as well, perhaps my kids would get why its such a great vege!  

Only three of us are younger than retirement age, but you wouldn't know it. Before getting back on the bus, we found a little toy train and took turns pushing each other around it. There was a lot of laughing, some puffing, and plenty of competitive pushing. Consider it our exercise for the day.

Little towns, big contrasts

We drove through lots of small towns with a big gap between rich and poor. There were unfinished buildings everywhere, and brick kilns with piles of bricks, so the ground here must be good for brick making. 

Monsoon season has just finished so most fields were being prepared for replanting.

Squeezing into Mandawa

Arriving was the real revelation. Our coach drove through streets so narrow that people barely moved aside. You'd swear we were driving over their toes. 

The hotel: a living museum

Then we saw the hotel, It was everything I was hoping for and more. Hotel Heritage Mandawa is a painted haveli, a merchant's mansion, and it's amazingly ornate. Every wall is decorated, and it feels like a living museum that you get to sleep in. Mandawa is known as an "open-air art gallery" for its frescoed havelis and was originally built by a Marwari merchant family (the Poddars) around 1853

A welcome to remember

We were greeted with drumbeats, a red dot (tilak) on our foreheads and a garland of flowers around our necks. They're traditional ways of honouring guests. Then we were handed a glass of rose syrup, a cooling welcome drink.

Dinner and a history lesson

At pre-dinner drinks, Bhooi gave us a history lesson on the old trade routes. Once the overland routes through the Middle East came under Ottoman control, European powers went looking for sea routes to India's spices and textiles.

In 1494, Portugal and Spain divided the newly "discovered" world between them in the Treaty of Tordesillas, drawing a line down the Atlantic. About a century later, Queen Elizabeth I granted a royal charter to the English East India Company in 1600, giving it a monopoly on English trade with the East. The Dutch East India Company followed in 1602, backed by the Dutch government.

At the time, India wasn't one country but a patchwork of kingdoms. Merchant caravans crossing Rajasthan paid heavy duties to the rulers of Jaipur and Bikaner, but the local lords of Shekhawati charged much less. So the caravans took the long way round, and the money settled in Mandawa. Later, British tariffs and new ports pulled the trade away, but the ornate architecture remains.

Roadblocks, Raj Ghat and Dry Days

Sunday: Delhi on high alert

After a shared breakfast we hopped on our bus. It's only a temporary one, since it won't be suitable for the full three weeks. We get the real one tomorrow.

Jane told us a good story about why buses are in short supply. Late last year a bus carrying badly balanced luggage on its roof was involved in an fatal accident, and the rules changed afterwards. Roof carriers are being phased out, so operators have been taking out back seats to fit bags inside. Jane says it's typical of India: rules tighten after a serious accident, and then it becomes a blanket rule.

Anyway local events have us in a bit of a sightseeing pickle

There have been protests and demonstrations in Delhi, mainly on Thursday and Friday, calling for the Chief Election Commissioner to resign over allegations of "vote theft". The government rejects the claims. Possibly as a precaution to quell the unrest, liquor shops across the city were ordered shut for a couple of days, so we've had a couple of dry days.- 

All that meant a heavy police and army presence and huge cordons around many of the sights we'd planned to see, including India Gate, the war memorial dedicated to Indian soldiers who died in the First World War. We couldn't get close enough for photos. We did manage to stop for pictures of two of the government buildings in front of the old Viceroy's House.

Because it was Sunday, we drove through a big Sunday market in Old Delhi. We stayed on the bus!

Gandhi's memorial

Next we visited Raj Ghat, Gandhi's memorial, which was lucky to be open. You go through security to get in, and then it's a big, beautiful, peaceful garden with an eternal flame. After the chaos we'd driven through, it felt like an oasis. We spent about half an hour wandering around, and it was very peaceful and calm.

My phone was dead by then but here is a web image.

Several in our group became the tourist attraction themselves. Complete strangers wanted a photo with them. Apparently being pictured with international visitors is a bit of a status symbol, so they obliged and smiled for the cameras. 📸!

Lunch with no onions or garlic

Lunch was at a local restaurant that served no onion or garlic, which I'd never come across. It turns out some traditions, including Jain and sattvic cooking, avoid them. We ate so much that we had to take food away, and everyone sat there wondering how we'd manage dinner.

In the end we just ate snacks and leftovers and  drank kombucha the whilst Bhooi filled us in with some of India and his own family history. (Definitely a story of its own)

Today we head out to the countryside, to some of Jane's favourite spots. My phone battery went flat during the Old Delhi drive, so I'll recharge and report back with more photos tomorrow.

Bling heaven and Haggling

Our group is finally complete. Erin arrived late on Sat night, so all nine of us are here, plus Jane and Bhooi. Two big days in Delhi, so here's the catch-up.

Saturday: the market

We walked to Central Market, a short stroll from Amar Inn. Whilst the Amar Inn is not the fanciest hotel it does have air con and hotwater and is quite central such that we can actually walk to this market. The pavements are narrow and uneven, so you're dodging tree roots, kerbs and people. 

We started with a big lap to see what we could see. Nothing really opens in Delhi til after 11am and apparently after dark the Central Market is heaving so although the middle of the day was hot and muggy, it was better for dealing with than hoards of people.

Lots of stalls sold the same things, including beautifully decorated saris that weren't quite what we were after but the local women look gorgeous, many in matching tunic, trousers and scarf (dupatta) sets, though Jeans (in this weather!) and tshirt are also common.

When the heat got too much, we hid in an air-conditioned shoe shop full of bling: a diamante-encrusted tiger handbag, wildly impractical heels and embellished sneakers. 🤩

I'd deliberately packed light with just 11kg suitcase (one of the other guests arrived with just 4.5kg bag!!) with the intention to shop once I was here. I came away with 3 outfits (trousers, tunic and scarf) for NZ$20 each. Despite instructions to do so, haggling over NZ$5 can feel petty, so I paid ticket price.. I doubt these outfits will make it out of the house in New Zealand, but they're light and comfortable, so my summer pyjamas are about to get very glam. 

Thrre was only one incident of negotiation. I wanted a white top, 750 rupees but the one they had on display was a bit grubby. "We have a clean one out the back," they said, and then they took my money. The clean one never appeared, and the grubby one went straight back in the bag.

A bit miffed we asked for the money back or a discount, the seller said "one minute!" and dashed off, presumably to find the same top at another stall. meanwhile they had my money AND change! 1050 rupeesI was getting a bit nervous and after a while demanded that the money come back into my hand to be handed over again should this 'clean shirt' ever materialise". It never did so we walked away only to finally start negotiating over the price 600 rupees, 500 I said,  so we got the price down from 750 rupees to 500, about NZ$15 down to NZ$10. Stoked because I really wanted that top!!

First night in India

We're staying three nights at Amar Inn in Delhi while we wait for the rest of the group to arrive. In total there will be nine of us, plus our two guides, Jane and Bhooi, on Best Exotic Tours' trip through Rajasthan. 

Dinner, Chindian style

After an hour's rest from our travels, we had a 'Chindian' dinner last night. It was very fulfilling, though apparently the flavours were more Chinese than Indian. Chinese restaurants elsewhere in India tend to be more of a fusion with Indian flavours.

Bhooi also told us about a local custom: some places in India often leave a little food on the plate to signal they're stuffed and couldn't possibly eat another bite (even if they could). It's the opposite of our Western habit of cleaning the plate to be polite and avoid waste.

4am and wide awake

My body clock is still adjusting. I was asleep before 9pm last night and now I'm wide awake at 4am, hence this blog update 🙂

An evening stroll

We went for a short walk after dinner and I spotted a shop called Archie's, so of course I had to snap a photo for my Archie. I also noted the amazing maze of electrical wiring overhead!!!

Traffic surfing

Bhooi describes driving in India as "traffic surfing", and after my trip from the airport I get it. I landed at a similar time to Richard and Vicki, which meant arriving in peak traffic and being met by a driver. The trip to the hotel took 45-60 minutes and was nerve-racking. There were no lane markings and no indicating, just 4-5 lanes of traffic that were all actually moving, unlike Auckland, where it grinds to a standstill.

Scooters, tuk-tuks, cycles, trucks, buses, taxis and cars all shared the same space, and everyone was beeping. That was the funniest part, because the beeps rarely seemed to achieve anything. I sincerely wish I had taken a video of our driver 'parting the waters' through a flow of traffic that had no gaps. It was insane and completely appealed to me and what Cedric calls my crazy driving.