New Delhi --> Jaisalmer
Just a heads up, the hamster thats running the internet where im at right now is barely even walking on his wheel, so uploading more pictures will have to wait.
From the hotel in Delhi, we went to back to the airport to catch our final flight to Jodhpur. The airport was super nice and the people that we dealt with were all very friendly and welcoming, usually putting their hands together and saying “namaste”. As we walked down the tunnel we caught a glimpse of our plane that had newspaper over the windshield, presumably to keep the sun out while its parked, but it still didnt instill much confidence in us as we boarded. The plane ride itself was about an hour long, so when the flight attendant brought us curry masala and rice we were really pleasantly surprised. The food on our plane rides have been a little questionable, but this one was superb. Justin found a local magazine in the seat pocket and read Drew’s horoscope which pretty much sums up our entire India trip: “Expect a happy event that will change your life and end all your worries. Though initially the event may seem disastrous, trust the universe as it has better and bigger plans for you” Could not be more accurate.
Once we landed (confidence re-instilled after a smooth landing) we waited a few minutes for a spot to open up at the two-gate Jodhpur airport and were then greeted by a man with our names on a sign who then drove us the four hour trip to Jaisalmer. The drive was an eye-opener! Our first glance at rural India started through the city of Jodhpur where we got to see the hustle and bustle of this incredible country. Cows, people, goats, small children, all fearlessly cross the roads all the time and our driver was constantly honking his horn (which is used more as a “hey i’m right here, just letting you know” rather than the “hey jackass” that it means in the states) trying to avoid everything around him. He drove fast. And on the unorganized chaos that is the Indian roadway system, that can be frightening t times. We would drive on the “highways” that connected towns, cruise through a town where people generally stared at us, then back to another highway which led to another town. This process repeated itself throughout the four hour ride, stopping only to pee (once we just went on the side of the road. We saw a guy in the middle of urban Delhi, so im pretty sure its kosher). After more than 300 kilometers of attempting to break through the language barrier with our cabbie, we finally got to Jaisalmer.
Our home here is a beautiful palace with sandy sculptured supports, marble floors and gorgeous Indian architecture. (our cover photo doesn’t do it justice, ill get more pictures later.) Oh and it has a pool. Which is nice, cause its about a thousand degrees here. Last night we drank some Kingfisher poolside, joined up with our fellow runners and had a good ol’ time, laughing and joking with the mostly British and Australian groups. There is something about meeting people who are also crazy enough to do this Rickshaw Run thing that makes them absolutely fascinating. It was a good time.
And then today we got to drive our rickshaw for the first time! The Taj Mahalo a thing of beauty. More pictures to come when we get better internet. The gear shift and clutch is on the left handlebar grip, and the throttle (and more importantly the horn) is on the right. The only brake is the one on the floor which is connected to all three wheels. To start this thing, you pull hard on a huge lever on the floor. Other than that its a pretty simple machine which will be good when we will undoubtedly need to repair it. We chatted with the mechanic over a couple beers and said we’ll be miles ahead (figuratively and literally) since we’ve driven motorcycles and know them pretty well. They have a test track here where we get to drive it around a bit. Which was good so that we can practice the controls and get used to her, but i cannot wait till Monday to get this thing out in the streets!
After our maiden voyage, we headed to the town center which was full of people, livestock, cars/trucks/rickshaws/motorcycles and markets. We went to a local restaurant and ate some fried rice and paneer butter masala and washed it down with a giant bottle of water. Then we went and explored the city. The markets are crazy! Even more crowded than the streets, with even more livestock and people running around. It’s pretty cool. People were staring at us constantly cause we were the only white people there, but all were very nice. Some of the children like to say “hello” in English to us with big smiles on their faces. Others are a bit more shy. The colors are incredible here. From the clothing on the women to the architecture to the food, everything has warm vibrant colors. We walked down a market ally-way that essentially had food/clothing/jewelry stands and behind those were buildings that had open shops that seemed to specialize in just one thing. A guy had a pen/pencil shop, where that’s literally all all he sold. You can get EVERYTHING in the markets. Food, clothing, hardware supplies, jewelry, and even a haircut. All the products are very out in the open and displayed. People trust and respect each other enough not to steal anything. Its very cool. So far the only time i’ve seen someone steal something, was a cow steeling green onions from a stand. A guy tried to stop him, but immediately gave up and just let the cow munch on his snack. Cows are sacred here in India, roaming the streets and mingling in right alongside all the people. No one bothers them even if they are in the middle of the street. On our long cab ride from earlier, we saw a dead cow laying in the road that got hit by a car and our driver seemed really sad about it. In fact, he seemed to have that same compassion toward all living things. I like that.
Right now, we are settling down in our comfy palace and hopefully catching up on some much needed sleep after all that travel.
And as i mentioned earlier, ill get more pictures up in the next few days.
Kev
