After the Camel fair in Pushkar, I am travelling further south to Jodhpur – also called the Blue City, a city on the edge of the Great Thar Desert – the city has a huge fort with a beautiful palace poking above the awesome walls.
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| Meherangarh fort |
I arrive and it's raining – in a desert city… I feel a bit like in Luzern, with all the rain. It's 10 pm and our Rickshaw driver brings us to our Guest House 'Hare Krishna'. The room is super cute, small but with some nice drawings on the wall, I am going to bed at 11 pm and around midnight I wake up because people running up and down the staircase and they sound very excited. Why? Because the rooftop is on fire…So what to do – get your passport and out of the hotel.
At the end we were able to rescue all of our belongings and move in the middle of the night in the midst of rain to another hotel and got our well deserved sleep - thanks god :).
In the morning it's still raining, so my mission is to get to know the local cuisine, first stop a place where you can get the best Lassi in town according to the Lonely Planet AND it's totally true - it's like lemon yoghurt: fresh and fruity and great for a good start in a new day, then down the street there is a place which sells Masala Dosa, a South Indian speciality. I think that was the biggest Dosa I ever had and unfortunately as delicious as it was I couldn't finish it – my stomach is just not big enough.
Then after all this good food, it was time to explore the Blue City a bit and see the so famous Meherangarh fort.
It's really beautiful and huge and from up there, you can see the whole Blue City. I wished for sun but that time it shouldn't be but from the picture you still get an idea how beautiful Jodhpur is.
After Jodhpur the journey continues to Udaipur – the night bus to Udaipur is the worst thing happening to me so far on this journey – the holes of the highway gave me a stiff neck and I couldn’t sleep at all during the whole night ride – anyways, it was definitely worth the pain, cause Udaipur is another beautiful place in India: whimsical and serene, surrounded by misty, ochre-shaded hills, Udaipur is Rajasthan's most romantic city and is therefore also called the 'Venice of India'.
On my 2nd day in Udaipur, I've been visiting one of India's largest and most important Jain temples: Ranakpur – an incredible piece of architecture. Ranakpur is a complex in milk-white marble, a complicated series of 29 halls, supported by a forest of 1444 pillars (not one alike).
In Udaipur we've been meeting with a couch surfer, who couldn't host but showed us his city. So we've been visiting his friend in the countryside, who happened to have a baby-goat, as you can see on the picture, we became friends.
After 4 days Udaipur it was again time to move and so my longest journey by bus, train and Rickshaw began - 32 hours from Udaipur to Arambol in Goa.
On the sleeper train there are 3 bunk beds and I was lucky and got the upper berth. It's rather hot during the day up there but at least no one can disturb you. Best thing is that you take all your belongings and heave them up on the bed, so no one steals anything – therefore you have to squeeze a bit and share the already small room with your luggage but at the end it's better to do that than to loose everything. People are really friendly and share everything with you: stories, food, drinks and there are also tons of sales people running through the train, selling tea, food, toys etc.
Finally I am in Arambol – the month of December is dedicated to Yoga. I am doing a morning and afternoon class and in between I am swimming in the ocean or enjoy sitting in the hammock of my guesthouse. Andrea and Ivan - I've rented your room this year, greetings from the owners to you :)
I feel already at home although this year there are a lot of Israeli's in Goa, not so many Russians because of visa restrictions. Israeli's love this horrible Techno music, so I guess I have to cope with this while I am here or move if it gets out of control – you all know me, I love to have some piece and quiet.
My goal for the yoga month is to be able to do the Scorpio posture – here is a sample, I hope by the end of the month you see my picture instead of that one here.
For now I can do at least the shoulder and headstand pretty well.
I hope you are all well, I am so happy to have received so many nice comments and emails – I am glad you are all with me on this journey. I wish you all a great rest of the week and a happy Pre-Christmas time. Sunshine greetings, yours Eylin
