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Other entries in Udaipur

India - Rajasthan Sweet Rajasthan

Frustrating slow internet connections and too many black outs have seen us avoid internet cafes all together...

Udaipur - The most romantic city in all of India, set upon Lake Pichola, with palaces on the water, small winding, cobble stone laneways that rickshaws barely fit through (they do try though) and lots of friendly, family run guest houses.    Their claim to fame - and they don't let you forget it - The James Bond movie Octopussy. Here we saw a traditional Rajasthan dance woth the highlight being a lady balancing 9 bowls on her head and dancing on broken glass (guess that is what desert bordem does to you)

Arriving in Jodhpur we had rickshaw drivers jumping through the bus windows trying to get to us first. By the time we pushed our way through the swarm and reached our bags we were surronded by 20 rickshaw drivers arguing over who saw us first.  Luckily we had a map, iignored them all and started walking - even though a group of 10 were still following us and trying to cut us off the road with their rickshaws.   At this point they were yelling out "20 Rupess anywhere" walked another 50 metres and jokingly offered 2 Rupees, which was accepted and halved by a rival.  So we had a 15 minute ride into town for 1 Rupee. 

Jodhpur, the blue city, is guarded by the biggest, most spectacular fort we have seen - Meherangah Fort!  Just when we thought we would never eat meat, chicken or their by products again (their butchers are enough to turn you off forever) we found "The Omlette Shop" which claims to crack 1000 eggs per day in peak season - and it was TASTY!  For $1 we had 6 eggs and 12 slices of bread, cooked to perfection with his secret Omlette Masala receipe.

Split second decision - we decided to do a camel safari in Osyan, which is just out of Jodhpur and not as touristy as Jaisalmer.  Riding a camel for 6 hours a day is much harder than it looks, but eating dinner and playing with local tribes and sleeping under the stars more than makes up for the discomfort.  It was comforting to see the Bishnoi tribe (who's most worshipped animal is the Antelope and are willing to risk their lives to save the live of another animal.) Live side by suide in harmony with the Rajput's - a hunting/warrior tribe.

What decent camel safari doesn't end with a high speed chase between a jeep and a train.  Trsavelling at 110 k's - on INDIAN roads, swerving on and off the road with two wheels in the sandin order to squeeze past an oncoming truck and in true Indian style, substituting the brake for the horn.  We were convinced we were going to roll a number of times, but the driver just managed to catch us!

Good news - we made the train and 6 hours later in 40 degree dry heat we arrived in Jaislmer and were instantly offered a paid role as extras in a new Bollywood movie - Nanhe Jaisalmer.  Which included breakfast, lunch and Chai, as well as never ending snacks and Mineral water. Obviously we made the most of it.  It was amusing to see how much Indian's love their movies and movie stars and how quickly they turn you into a star!  Only dissapointment - the camels were paid 3 times as much as us!  If you ever go to Jaisalmer, make sure you eat at "Little Tibet"  We never eat at the same restaurant more than once  - this one brought us back 3 times!

To escape the celebrity stardom we caught a bus to Bikaner - complete with 2 hours (of a 6 hour journey) of Indian singalongs in order to visit Karni Mata Temple AKA Temple of the Rats!  Pilgrims flock from all over India in hope that the rats will scamper over their feet, they will see the "Holy White Rat", and the best part - to eat holy food offerings covered in holy rat saliva!  Nik sampled an offering outside the temple before realising what it was.  We have since learnt that 30,000 Indian's die each ear from Rabies!  We are hoping that it wasn't a holy offering being re sold out the front!

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