Total
land distance traveled: 2,293km
Dear
friends and family – hello from Jodhpur,
Rajasthan.
Firstly,
thank you to everyone who has emailed us about our safety after the terrorist
attacks in Mumbai on Wednesday. We are both safe and well. We were in the
middle of the Thar desert when the attacks
were happening (more on that later) so we only learnt of them on our return to
civilization last night.
There
is a lot of talk about the attacks here – and some violence is ongoing, but
lucky (for us at least) it seems it is confined to Mumbai for now. We are
however learning as much as we can about the attacks so we can take extreme
precaution as we continue our travels. We have been advised to do our best not
to appear English or American as these Westerners are most likely to be
targeted. Thankfully Indians are warm and welcoming to New Zealanders and Irish
travelers so our passports will be a real asset as we deal with Indians in the
coming months. Cisco is going to remove his NY cap from now on as he’s been
asked on several occasions if he is American. We also aren’t doing any touristy
things on this trip so won’t be visiting places where large crowds gather.
Thanks for everyone’s good wishes for safe travel J
Since
we left Udaipur
last Saturday we have had a wonderful time in the desert. Although its winter
here it gets up to about 38 deg Celsius in the daytime. We’ve added photos of
most of the below antics to the gallery – pls check them out. (Note: None of
Cisco’s photos are on this time due to a virus on his external hard disk which
we hope to resolve soon)
Our
bus trip up to Jodhpur
took us through some amazing desert landscapes, remote villages, and mountain
ranges. The highlight of the trip (for Chloe) was when the old granny in front
of Cisco got sick and started spraying her rice & green curry lunch out the
window – which blew back and covered Cisco who was trapped in his seat and
couldn’t move, who in turn wanted to spray his samosa lunch. It was ok though
as he had the remaining 5 hours on the bus to dry out.
We
spent a few days in Jodhpur (which we both love)
and were then offered the chance to go and stay at our friend’s ancestral home
in a village between Jodhpur
and Jaisalmer (near the Pakistani border). We traveled by local bus for a few
hours into the middle of nowhere where we spent the following 3 days in a
village with no running water (infact hardly any water at all), no electricity,
no shops/markets, no toilets or showers – basically just sand, mud huts, cows
and goats. We ate dinner cooked on an open cow-dung fueled fire in a hut made
from mud and sticks. Our meals consisted of dried chapatti soaked in freshly
squeezed goats milk and bovine chai. We had an audience watching us so we had
to eat, smile and nod with approval. Cisco said it reminded him of the sour
milk Darnie sells in Kadoma. (poor Darnie)
No
one in the village (of about 10 families) spoke English so Chloe made everyone
laugh with her crack-pot Hindi. Despite the isolation (we had to walk 4km
through the desert to get to the nearest road) we loved being in the village
because of the sheer simplicity of life and the quiet and stress free life
people live here.
While
we were in the village there were two weddings going on – and also an exorcism.
Our first night was pretty freaky. At night the village is pitch black – and
everyone is in their huts by 7pm. Later that night we heard a blood-curdling
scream of a woman who was wailing and screaming for over half an hour in the
darkness. We were concerned what was going on so observed from a distance. After
a while a fire was lit and men sat around her and started chanting and shouting
and looking like they were drawing evil spirits out of her. Very spooky stuff…
While
in the village we walked to a nearby village (pop 3,000) with a school which
our friend Govind has set up. This village is very dusty and dirty and doesn’t
get any tourists, so we were like movie stars for the day. There are some
photos of Setrawa village on the gallery.
We
are now back in Jodhpur
where we will stay until next Tuesday. We then get a 17 hour train to Lucknow, from where we will start our journey north to Nepal.
Missing
everyone – hope you are all well. Please keep up the emails and comments.
Although we can only check briefly once per week its great to hear from you.
Lots
of love,
Chloe
& Fra xxxxxxxxxxx
