Pushkar and Jodhpur

Thursday 18th November

Day 2 for me at the camel fair. Generally, although it was still fun, it was pretty much the same as yesterday; they had alot of the same performers as yesterday. Saw the same girl doing a tight-rope walk. There was a turban-tying contest for tourist couples which was quite funny, which the police helped to administer, but often the media photographers and other tourists were blocking the view. The guy who was second was interviewed for TV. The same happened in the moustache competition for the locals. I saw some pretty good facial hair but there was no real audience participation and you couldn't always see what was going on.

Had another good long walk through the town, taking in the atmosphere and the colours, and out to where the camels are staying. There was kabbadi, though i wasnt clear on what each team had to do. Went to the excellent evening entertainment of singing and dancing, and chatted to a few locals. They agreed with me that the audience should be more animated when watching such a live show. They said the crowd is "too lazy" which seems a shame. The second part of the show started very slowly and loads of people left, and then I did, and one of the guys followed after me. He was ok, he just wanted to chat. He had come here alone, leaving his family in Gujarat.


Friday 19th November

Packed up, then had a last walk around the camel fair. Pretty much the same as the last two days. There was a pot race, with tourists racing with pots of water on their head and a gypsy dancer with the snake charmers; they are pretty quick to come round for money as soon as they see you watching. Walked through the town, and the crowds and colour. And another falafel roll. A bit sorry to be leaving but don't really need another two days.

Walked around to the bus stand and immediately got on a packed large minibus to Ajmer, jampacked with locals. Maybe 40 people, including little kids, on a bus with 16 seats. Of course i was the only white man. So there we are like sardines then a guy gets up from the back to mingle and collect the money so we all have to try to move out of his way, and try to get him some cash and hold as we weave through the valley. Why couldnt he have collected the money as we got on, or off? Cos it's India!

Got to Ajmer and got a tuk-tuk to the railway station. Hanging with a couple of girls from Quebec then got on the train to Jodhpur. Just 5 hours, a bit of reading, a bit of sleeping and music. Got a tuk-tuk into town with the Quebecan girls and they dropped me off here at Cosy Hotel, which is a proper hostel. The owner said they had no available rooms but I could sleep on the roof. Its very sociable up here on the roof and a German guy had a free bed in his room so we are sharing.


Saturday 20th November

After porridge, 3 of us walked down from the hostel and across to Jodhpur fort; it is huge and can be seen from miles around. We walked up through the main gates and got the audio tour. Great views back to the city, which has many blue buildings. There are some magnificent old rooms and old swords and palanquins, for carrying royalty in. The palace was lived in by the same family until Independence, around 1948,when the Raj lost their status. Now the family are involved with maintaining the fort. Then we walked across to Jaswant Thada which is a large marble tomb. We walked down into the city and the narrow lanes. Got an Inidan snack on the way to a restaurant where they served me spaghetti as 'chinese noodles', the only rubbish food so far on the trip. We meandered back through the warren of streets to the hostel. Jodhpur has some chaotic areas, but the back streets are great for wandering round in relative peace.