16.3.2008

In a daze still

First train journey in India went well last night with Judith. We left Jodhpur at 11.30pm so there wasn't much to do once we were on board other than getting ready to sleep. We arrived in Jaiselmer at 5am so it wasn't a decent night's sleep either. I notice that I have grown out of travelling though. It is ok to do trips like this time to time, I enjoy the cities once we arrive very much. However the travelling in between can be tiring, we were spaced out very much after our bus journey and then the train journey. We stay in Jaiselmer for 3-4 nights now and find our bearings. In fact it has been such a nice day strolling around the city, having a leisurely breakfast, went to a beauty parlour to get my black feet scrubbed whilst Judith had a facial done…

Also whilst moving around I find it hard to update my blog, I see so many things, experience so many things but don't have much time to write or upload my photos. It feels like we are always on the go. As much as I am a little nervous about mum and brother coming over, I also know that they will prefer to stay put in places so we won't be rushing around so much. I could understand my father when he decided not to come to India, as he said he likes the comfort of his home and he doesn't like to move around so much. I think as we age and our priorities change perhaps we are less tolerant and know exactly what our bodies want or don't want.

A few days ago when we had our day trip from Udaipur to MountAbu and stopped at a fort: Kumblegarh and then a Jain temple: Ranakpur. I made little notes as we travelled along during the day hoping that I could write so much about it but having missed that momentum I wanted to at least write down my bullet points for myself as a memory.

• Found out about Jon's 8 children from 5 women. Didn't really judge him for that but his story was interesting
• Stopped at a village, a man working with 2 oxes that went round and round, to pull up water from the well below so that it could be used for the crop in the fields
• Stopped at another village for chai, samosas. Very warm people
• Kumblegarh Fort was stunning
• Had a very laid back taxi driver, so even when we scratched the side of the car he didn't seem to mind
• The terrain changed a lot as we drove more inland, it became more flat, desert like. We drove up and down in steep corners of hills later on
• Rajasthani women wore beautiful saris in bright colours and had big nose hoops, which later I learnt means that they are from the lower cast, a working cast. Men wearing different turbans also mean that they are from different casts
• We saw scarecrows in the fields but they were often funny piece like a shoe on a pole; they didn't look very scary
• When we were at Ranakpur temple I met the priest's daughter and mother, who explained more about the times of ceremonies, casts…and looked at my henna making comments about how it should be on both feet and hands. They also asked many personal questions as usual, like when I will get married and so on. Got photos taken with them
• We stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant, everything was soaked in grease. I didn't think my stomach would do well after but surprisingly it was ok
• When we had to stop at train tracks waiting for the train to pass we got harassed by children and other people begging, including a fake sadhu. A girl gave me toe rings, she had beautiful eyes