Diu: Locals on the beach

Our first glimpse of the sea after eight weeks in India! Diu is a small island about 12 km long, a former Portuguese enclave at the far south of Gujarat. The availability of alcohol and meat in an otherwise dry and veggie state probably accounts for its popularity as a holiday destination with domestic tourists. Carolyn was also seeking (but failed to find) an explanation as to why her brother had seriously considered buying a house there many years ago……???

Everyone did seem to be having a good time with watersports on the beach and tightrope walking also seemed to be very popular. And of course asking the rare Westerners to pose in your family photographs.You couldn't miss our hotel at night because of the illuminations and the whole resort area had lots of gaudy statues that reminded us of Blackpool in the 60s! 

The old town with its fishing boats strewn with drying fish and the remains of a 16th century fort had a certain charm. Interestingly siestas, which we haven't encountered elsewhere in India, still feature heavily here as a relic from European influence and we had a lovely peaceful meander around through the quiet streets in the late afternoon sunshine.

Onwards to Goa via Mumbai in a prop plane…..

Gir National Park: Back to nature again!

We arrived at Junagadh station and set off for the Gir national park, only stopping at the Maqbara tomb with spiral minarets pictured above and which also impressed the goat!

Gir is the last haven in the world for the Asiatic lion in the wild and there are currently just over 400 of them in 1150 square km. The Asiatic lion is actually pretty similar to the African lion for most intents and purposes but slightly smaller and paler. Access to the park is rather limited but we were lucky enough to get two permits for early morning safaris when we there, the fact that the very few Westerners around had to pay a premium rate may have been more than a coincidence!

As you can see from above our outings were successful and we saw a total of four lionesses and three beautiful cubs. But no lion king! We also got a brief glimpse of a camera-shy leopard, plus later an excellent nature walk by the river next to the hotel at sunset. We were lucky enough to have a complete anorak as a guide and he was particularly good at identifying birds and fooling them with recordings of their species on his mobile phone!

 

The only downside to our stay here was they we both came down with Delhi belly! Ironic that this happened, as often seems to be the case in our general experience, at one of the most expensive hotels of our trip! Now off to the seaside......

Update from Lucy!

Well, it has now been almost two weeks since Lucy left us at Ajmer station! She successfully navigated her way around Delhi and has been enjoying herself far too much in Kerala but keeping in touch regularly with local phones at 1 rupee a call. We were a little surprised to receive the photo below yesterday though.....

Fortunately an explanation followed soon afterwards! She and some fellow travellers were approached and asked to be extras in a Bollywood film that was being shot at the beach. Herself was only asked to be the bride! Note the banana.......

Swingers in Ahmedabad

Ok,when we saw the full size. upholstered swing in our (upgraded) hotel room we did raise our eyebrows. However, as you can see from the photo above, such swings are standard in Gujarati homes, even at a low housing level. Family members sit there, swinging backwards and forwards holding a cup of chai with unconscious ease.

On the way to Ahmedebad,we stopped off at the 11th century Modhera Sun temple, which included some, ahem, interesting carvings. Now, they could really swing !

 On a different note on one of our two heritage walking tours of the old city Nic saw (women not being allowed in) Sidi Saiyad's mosque with beautiful carved stone jalis (screens).The pictured Tree of Life was one of a pair until Queen Victoria took a fancy to them and removed one which remains in the British Musuem to this day. 



 We had our most stressful train moment to date when leaving Ahmedabad for Junagadh. We were beginning to think we were old hands until when the train was due they switched the train arrival platform three times times which left us running between platforms, before  they actually removed the train off the board completely so that we thought we had missed it altogether. It was not until we them went to the "Superintendent's" office that we were cheerfully told that the train had not yet arrived! No further information ever appeared on the board regarding it,which may explain why it was almost empty.To reduce our stress levels in the ensuing 7 hour rail journey we watched an episode of Downton Abbey. Quite surreal!

 

Off the beaten track: Mount Abu

Rajastan's only hill station is a destination for Gujerati honeymooners and those desperate for alcohol (Gujerat, where we are next headed is dry). It being the height of the wedding season the town had a particularly festive atmosphere reminiscent of British seaside towns from our childhood, even having an amusement arcade and candy floss. On our first evening we took a 'romantic stroll' to Sunset Point, along with the chattering hordes! The last stretch was uphill and push me-pull me handcarts were available. As everyone was staring and photographing us as the only westerners anyway, we decided to take a lift! We were immediately surrounded……and caused a sensation as we progressed downhill!

The next day we went for a hike with a guide, it being deemed unsafe for tourists to walk alone. Mahendra, also answering to Charles," reassured" us within the first five minutes by telling us how a French tourist he was with last year was attacked by a sloth bear and needed 25 stitches. In reality we had a great walk and the only large animal we saw was a crocodile! The views were fantastic and we also enjoyed cooking lunch over an open fire. Our walk finished at the Dilwara Jain temples, the carved marble interiors which were even more beautiful than those at Ranekpur, but photos were not allowed.

A new threat to your marigolds!

And then there were two: Jaisalmer

 We said goodbye to Lucy in classic style on the railway platform at Ajmer as she set off for Kerala via Dehli (not a dry eye in the house) ! Nic endured a strange incident when an unprovoked furious crippled man threw his rubber peg leg at him! He had mistaken Nic for a westerner who had insulted him with a 10 rupee note. We left rapidly for Jodphur!

                                 
The following day we got the slowest train imaginable to Jaisalmer, near the North Western border with Pakistan. The golden city boasts a 12th century fort rather reminiscent of a giant sandcastle and a number of spectacular havelis, wealthy merchants' houses from the 19th century.

But the main attraction was a camel safari! Carolyn was definitely on the nervous side about this, given that she had compared the pain arising from her previous camel experience in Egypt to that of childbirth. In the event, by the second day she was trotting most happily. We were accompanied by three young Punjabi's, their whiskey and mutton (not the ones pictured) and some long discussions over the campfire about our different lives. Night was spent literally under the stars on bedrolls which we insisted were raised above the ground (dung beetles….). Nic's camel, Al Capone, is pictured below at the end of the second morning's ride. We feel pretty similar….but in a great way!

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Camelled out in Pushkar

Strange as it may seem, the annual Pushkar camel fair was a key event in arranging our itinerary and accommodation here was the first thing we booked. Pushkar is a small religious town where meat, eggs and alcohol are banned but once a year for two weeks the population is expanded by thousands of visitors, including 40,000 camels and horses to be traded at the fair. 

The experience of being surrounded by literally innumerable, gently growling camels was unforgettable!

Accompanying the general animal fest is a funfair (erected as per the usual Indian health and safety standards as you can see!) and various competitions including one above for the best decorated camel. 

To add to the mayhem, the tribesmen would exercise their horses through the crowds!

We finally discovered great coffee in India at a little street stall with lovely staff staff, who we discovered also had a secret happy hour and hence returned there many times…you probably won't be surprised that it wasn't this one!! 

Back to basics in Chittaurgarh

Finally, a real road! Though still with cows, goats and over crammed vehicles.

We stayed in a family haveli (guest house built around a courtyard) within the fort walls. Charming family and good veggie food but no hot water or alcohol! 

We spent our day exploring the 5km long fort by bike (at last says Nic!). Chittor was the former capital of the Mewar region before being moved to Udaipur in 1567 because it was successfully taken on three occasions. Each was accompanied by a mass suicide by the female inhabitants by self-immolation (13,000 in one instance). 

This three-heads of Shiva carving is one of our favourites. We are really making an effort to gain a vague understanding of Hindu gods..but as there are over 900,000 'celestial beings' it's proving to be a difficult task..

Note the nude statue above the clothed Goodwins, one sect of Jainism does believe in clothes!

Diwali at Udaipur

We tailored our route to Udaipur to travel via Ranakpur, to visit a group of 15th century Jain temples. Jainism is an extreme branch of Hinduism, some of its followers are such strict vegetarians that they wear face masks to avoid swallowing any insects! 

The main temple has 1440 unique, intricately carved pillars. The only distraction was the obligatory temple dress we were required..the photo speaks for itself! Lunch at the temple was 40p each, our taxi driver who perhaps had different expectations disdainfully rejected our invitation to join us! 

We then had four nights staying within the City Palace (i.e. where the current Maharaja resides!) in Udaipur. We lucked in to an upgrade to a suite with two private balconies and an amazing view over the lake. 

Whilst there we met up with friends Peta and Brian and enjoyed a boat ride around the lake (complete with a pied kingfisher, identified by Brian) and some memorable meals. 

Diwali culminated in an amazing display of fireworks (most of them street based with health and safety nowhere to be seen), literally dancing in the streets and a great festival atmosphere prevailed.