Manvar Desert camp.

The drive from Rohet to Manvar was not too far. We all piled back into the trusty Toyota Inova and let Parveen kangaroo jump us all the way. Good old Parveen. What would we do without him?


It looked like this truck had done a few somersaults in its life.

 


With Parveen, our driver for the week

  


Goat herder along the road.





We arrived at Manvar at midday on the day of the great India v Pakistan semi-final. After lunch and a few hours of school work we had the gorgeous swimming pool oasis in the desert to ourselves.  Paul sat with a dozen Indian supporters watching the cricket. He had to be quite restrained as there was no yelling at the telly and telling the umpire he was wrong. He didn’t even have the remote control to throw at the screen!



The gorgeous swimming pool at Manvar Desert Resort

We met a lovely Swiss couple, Joe and Sonja, who came with us on an adventurous jeep safari across the Thar Desert. There were antelope, peacocks and deer to be spotted. One beautiful deer had just had a baby. The fawn was still stumbling about finding its legs and its mother’s milk.

The peacock is the national bird of India

The jeep trip over the sand was very exciting with some ridiculously steep descents that I think Paul would even have baulked at if he was behind the wheel. We just hung on at the back of the open truck and hid our screams of fear amidst our screams of exhilaration.

Our first stop was at a farmer’s mud hut. The adults were in the fields so the children welcomed us with the international language of cricket, throwing a ball to us and holding a bat for the return ball. The young boy was ecstatic to catch Paul out as I don’t think his sisters were that good at batting. He chased our jeep for a long way down the sandy track, throwing the ball to us in the back and then diving into the dirt to take the catch. Howzat!

Next, we stopped at a cobbler’s home. He was busy stretching leather while his wife stitched the patterned outer covering. The children here were extremely friendly and were delighted by seeing their pictures replayed on my camera. We had run out of soaps, pens and gifts so we all took off bracelets collected through South East Asia and gave them to the kids.

Approaching the next stop I watched a woman in a sari run about a kilometre to greet us at her hut. She raced in and got straight to work pumping the bellows and turning the wheel to blow more air onto the fire for her husband’s blacksmith work.  The husband sat there the whole time as she raced around getting the work done. He lit up a pipe and enjoyed a puff of tobacco as he waited for the fire to get hot enough to heat the metal. When all was ready, the wife ran around and got the biggest hammer to beat the metal as he sat there and tapped at it. 
Without a doubt, the women are the strength and heart of India. 
The men seem to be good at cricket though!

Right on sunset we arrived at the high point above our camp. Each day of our tour has led us to even more outstanding accommodation sites and this one did not fail to impress us. We had arrived at a modern 5 star Arabian Nights Bedouin camp. Apparently we are in the low season. This camp is to be packed away in the next week for 4 months as the weather becomes too hot. Yes, it is hot but nothing more than a good Sydney summer although no flies, no mozzies, no humidity and absolutely no crowds. The camp had 30 luxury tents, we took up two and there were another two taken with other guests.

With plenty of liquid refreshments, as is necessary when in the desert, we nestled into plush cushions in the sand and were literally waited on hand and foot as a ten piece local band played traditional Rajisthani music and dancers gyrated and twirled under a million stars.

The darkness of candle light in the desert gave us the courage to dance like nobody was watching and eat whatever was put in front of us.

Whisked away under a crescent moon to my bed of woven tapestries I fell asleep to the sounds of the desert and dreamt of not so faraway places.

The next morning we were woken at 6am to take camels across the sand dunes to watch the sunrise.

The magic of the moment was somehow overtaken by the whole country’s joy of beating Pakistan the night before. 

India won over pakistan. Nothing else matters now.



 In the desert you can't remember your name.

www.manvar.com/camp.htm 

Thank you Ms Cochrane

After having an amazing safari drive through the desert, we arrived at a spectacular camp ground. Our family got 2 tents, both with 2 single beds, a desk, and a luxury bathroom. We got half an hour to get ready before we watched the local tribes people put on a show for us. There were 10 cushy seats on the ground for us, and a big stage. The performance was full of dancing, singing and musical instruments. There was even a man playing a bowl! Towards the end of the show all the dancers ran off the stage and grabbed someone to dance with. I danced with a girl the same age as me at first. The first step onto the stage made me feel magical. I felt I could dance just like them. Then we swapped and I was with a small boy, probably the same age as Maisy. He was a really good dancer. He always held his arms in position and his hips could move so fast while the rest of his body was still. I think that some of the dancers were a bit scared of dad. He was so tall and at one time he swung the small boy around like a helicopter in the air.  At the end of dancing, mum said I would have never have been able to dance that well without all the time I had spent with Ms Cochrane. So, Thankyou so much Ms Cochrane.  I truly was in another world when I was dancing.

From Charlotte

Rohet.

At Rohet we went on a jeep ride. While we were on the ride we stopped at lots of mud hut villages. In 1 village we saw an opium ceremony. We saw dried poppy flowers and opium resin. To make the tea the priest ground the resin with a pestle and mortar. He put it in a funnel made out of camel’s hair and then he poured cold water through it. It came out into a pretty wooden jug. Funny enough you don’t drink from the cup but you have to be offered it from the priest and drink it by slurping it three times from the palm of his hand. Dad had some and said it was just like tea. Our guide said it would be good for my upset tummy so I had some. It tasted a bit like green tea. It was a bit strange drinking from the man’s hand and I couldn’t make the slurping sound. Opium can be very bad for you but the tea I had was just tea.

by M@D!$ON

Dad is trying tabacco in leaves

Jeep Safari from Rohet

Don't worry, Maisy is fine and just enjoying the wonderful experiences of life in India.

While in Rohet we were fortunate to stay in the 400 year old Fort, the ancestral home of Maharajas and noblemen. Still today the direct descendent (the man who would be Maharaja) lives here and even joined us for predinner drinks. A wise and gentle man, he told us the rooms we were in were once his grandfather's quarters and is the favoured accommodation for famous English writers who come to stay and write.

www.rohetgarh.com/home.htm

The entrance to Rohet Garh needs to be big enough to let elephants in.

The upstairs writing room.

A beautiful place to dream up a story.

Charlotte enjoying an evening dip in the courtyard pool.

The man who would be Maharaja

The beautiful curly eared horses from the Fort stables.

India is a land of contrasts and exotic cultures, so from the lush and lavish comforts of this magnificent fort we ventured just a short drive to the villages and fields. The lifestyle in the Indian villages relies solely on agriculture and is tranquil and unchanging. The people are loyal to their village and deeply respect the hierachy within. The ageold custom of sharing and using communal facilities is ever present and this interdepence with the land and community is what gives the people strength to survive in such harsh conditions. It truly makes you reflect on your own lifestyle and our totally independent way of living in our fast food / disposable society.

Will I still remember this when I am back in Godzone country??

ReflectiveLee

Udaipur - City of Sunrise.

We had all got to the stage where after 7 weeks in and out of sterile hotels we were looking forward to something different. We arrived at Devra, a beautiful colonial style guest house run by Major Durga Das and his wife Jyoti. It really felt more like home with the warmth of the house and it’s hosts engulfing us immediately.
‘Devra’ literally translates to ‘where God resides’. 
The Major showed us the shrine that is next to the house. It is over a thousand years old and this was proved by an 18 inch thick piece of silver that had fallen off an idol. Every year the worshippers press a thin layer of silver foil over the idol and it builds up. In about 10 years since this piece had fallen off the thickness was only about 2 mm.

View from Devra over the lake to the palace at sunrise.

View to the west of the Fort

The mad cockeral of Devra next to the large pan that feeds 500



The house looked out upon a small village and the crops they produce. In amongst them is where we spotted our first mongoose, it was much bigger than we had imagined being about 1 metre long.
In the distance we could see the town of Udaipur with its magnificent Rajasthan Palace, Jagadish Temple and manmade Lake Pichola. Above us to the north was the impenetrable fort that was used in the filming of 007’s Octopussy. Nearby was the local school which the Major took us to and the teachers showed us through every classroom. The children were so respectful and courteous. They sang for us and showed us through their perfect school books. Lee and the girls had a great time talking to the teachers and comparing notes.



Kindergarten class

Charlotte with the year 6 class. They do more English grammar than I ever did.

If we were looking for a bit of spirituality in India we all felt this was the place to sit back, relax and contemplate!

www.devraudaipur.com

With the Major and his wife

Paul

The Rajasthan Palace and Lake Pichola

A funny man named Anoop took us on a tour on Lake Pichola, and the Rajasthan Palace. We first got on a small river boat which held around 20 people. The lake was a man built lake, which was filled with rain water, but sometimes in the dry season the lake would be all dried up. The boat took us on a 1 hour ride around the lake to the Maharana’s party Island, and then we had a walk around the Island. The Maharana would go on day trips to the Island, and would have big parties there. We went up onto the sun terrace and took lots of photos. It was beautiful. The whole of the Island was guarded by a big wall that went all the way around. On the wall there were lovely carvings of elephants and crocodiles. Our tour-guide told us that there used to be crocodiles in the lake, and that is why there are carvings of them. Then we got the boat back.

Entrance to the Island

View of the palace from the island in the lake



When we got onto the land again we went to the Maharana’s residence called ‘The Rajasthan Palace’. The Palace was huge, and the Maharana’s had thought of everything to prevent the enemies from getting in. On the big entrance doors there were spikes, but the big spikes were at the top. Can you think why? Well the enemies were not strong enough to push down the big door, so they would bring their elephants because they were big and strong. But the elephants wouldn’t like to get spikes pushed into them so they wouldn't charge the gate. Would you? The next thing they had thought about was narrow and small doors so it would slow the enemies down because they were dads size(dad is very tall) and if they were carrying big rifles they wouldn't fit. They had also thought of making very steep steps to also slow the enemies down.

The Maharana, and his family have the longest lineage in the world for royalty. It goes back 1500 years, and he refused to give it up when the British came. There have been 76 Maharana’s in the line so far. The Palace has a makeup room for the ladies with a swing in it, the Maharana’s room has mirrors on every surface of his room, there was a bath made out of 1 huge slab of marble, and I got to go in it. That is where the Maharana has his coronation bath before he becomes Maharana. He is bathed in milk before the coronation ceremony. There was a mens pool, and a ladies pool, and lots and lots of other rooms.      

The coronation bath tub. Made from a single slab of white marble.
The palace was built around this bath tub.

                                                                                                    

The history of the place is- once a Maharana named Udai went out hunting, he met a holy man on a hill. The holy man told Udai that if he moved his palace here, he would never be defeated. So Udai moved his palace onto the hill and called it Udaipur and since then they have never been defeated.

The current Maharana still lives on the top floor of the palace next to the big tree.

by Charlotte

Leaving Udaipur and the tranquillity of our charming homestay at Devra we drove to Rohet. It was a painfully long trip with our over cautious driver. Parveen is a lovely man but I think after a horrific motorcycle crash 5 years ago he drives in fear of every car, truck, bike and cow that comes near. We all felt car sick with the constant stop and start from accelerator to brake for 5 hours.

Along the way we had a few interesting stops.

Today is a holy day for Rajisthani women who all attend temple to make offerings to gods for the long life of their husbands and the happiness of their families. We stopped at a temple in a local village. The shrine was up high on a hill and the stairs zigzagged up the hillside. The rural woman wore their most colourful saris and brought their offerings with plenty of laughter and chat. It was a wonderful female bonding session. I left Paul sitting on the road side and I ventured up and up. The girls only made it as far as the bell at the entrance. They were crowded in by the local women and girls who did not speak English and had not met many foreigners but wanted to talk, share food and paint bindis on their faces. I managed to get about half way up the stairs and eventually got swamped by flowing saris and blessings of good fortunes for my family. It was wonderfully intoxicating being surrounded by this powerful female unity. I felt I could have taken on the Pakistani cricket team with my new Indian sisters and won.

Oh, did someone mention the cricket?  Tomorrow is the semi-final of the World Cup and India is playing Pakistan in Chandigarh. It has been the ONLY topic of conversation since we got to India. They are totally cricket mad. There must be about a dozen channels on TV devoted to cricket, every patch of grass or empty street has 3 makeshift stumps and a fast bowler and as soon as someone meets you and finds out we are from Australia, the next comment has got something to do with Shane Warne or Ricky Ponting. Enough said, the battle will take place soon and hopefully the arjy- barjy will stay on the cricket pitch and not spread to the borders.

Looking at dhurries on the road to Rohet.

  

WomanLee

Today we went to a marble palace. It was definitely the most marble I have ever seen. The Ranakpur Jain temple was built during the 15^th century. It has 1,444 columns and each one is carved so they are all different. The floor, the walls, the ceiling and all the columns are made out of white marble. The high priest showed us around. He took us to a place where he prayed. We all prayed together. While he prayed his eyes rolled to the back of his head. He prayed for our family to have a happy safe happy trip.

From a happy and safe Madison.  xxx