Namaskar, Nepal!

We slept in the airport in Delhi to make it to our 7.30am flight to Kathmandu on time (AND to save some money). Like we've told some friends, we were planning to go to Nepal by land; but the Indian Rail System didn't want to cooperate with us. The ticket we took in January was still on the waiting list by the day of travel and we only had a few days left beefore our visas expire. So we explored other options: other train routes, private and government buses, but considering the effort and expenses we decided the best thing was to take a flight straight to Kathmandu.

It was the best way to see the Himalayas for the first time.

By 9:30 in the morning, we were in a totally new country. A. Totally. New. Country. I guess we should leave the details for later, because we still have a few India entries to finish, but Henri and I were sighing in relief over a nice breakfast today about the big differences between India and Nepal, just like we were last night over a simple but fantastic dinner, and some home brew called "Everest Beer."

Henri wrote on our journal:

After 24h in NEpal we are amazed! It feels like a simple border makes India and Nepal totally different. Here are the little things that are so different and feel SO good after 5 months in India, which now feels like we came out of a cultural jail:


1) People dress like modern countries... (and women and men can hold hands in public, not just men! - Marj)
2) Alcohol is sold everyshere, you can go to any restaurant or bar and have a beer/whiskey!
3) Food is good and tasty, made with love and care - there is bacon and sausage and steak! Feels like India is ok with "good enough" and here "good enough is not good enough." No more boys trying to cook in the kitchens, there are real cooks who know what they do.
4) Service is great, people speak really good English. The cook at Gaia Café saw I was looking at him and waving and tells the waiter to look. He sees me and waves back, meaning "I got you and I come ASAP." Wow! That seems crazy but it feels GREAT after 5 months of India!
5) No cows in the streets, no poop everywhere. Ok, it's poor, like India, but the shops look better, there are bars and live music, and respect. People propose their taxi ro rickshaw (or Tigar Balm, hehe - Marj)  but don't bother you if you say no, they just go. Same with shops. No agression! We are so paranoiac now we are always on the defense, ready to bite the bad people. Not saying there are no bad people here but if there are, they are so nice compared with most Indians.


Voilà, I am sure there will be more in the next few days but we already feel relieved.

Pushkar Comes to Shove

Pushkar, la suite...car tout ne pouvait tenir sur un seul post.

Un des principaux temples hindous, à 2 pas de notre guest house, interdit aux non hindous

Scène de rue, vache et vendeuse d'herbe à vache luttant pour ne pas se faire piquer sa marchandise

L'oeil de Marj a capté cet instant d'un musicien en pause sms

Mariage et descente vers le ghat, madame est attachée à monsieur et doit donc le suivre

Jaipur Ghat au coucher du soleil, j'ai du bol que ces 2 femmes passent devant  au bon moment

Au restaurant "The 6th Sense", N°1 sur Tripadvisor, très bien mangé, sur le toit de la guest house "The 7th Heaven"

Le fameux temple de Brahma qui déplace les foules. Sale à l'intérieur, rien de bien spécial, surtout pour nous

Diner dans la chambre devant un petit film, çà fait du bien des fois de se sentir à la maison!

Ajmer and Pushkar

Après 6 jours à Jaisalmer dont 3 dans le désert, nous arrivons à Pushkar après 10h30 de bus le 11 Février au soir.  Le dimanche et le lundi sont consacrés à la détente, et quelques ballades dans le coin ainsi qu'à la rencontre de quelques français habitués des lieux. En effet, Pushkar est un village où plein de gens de tous les pays (France, Italie, Espagne, Brésil...) reviennent chaque année pour faire leur shopping professionnel. On y trouve tout ce qu'on trouve partout en Inde, vêtements, bijoux, toute la panoplie "baba-cool" qui ira remplir les étales des marchés l'été et les boutiques qui vendent ce genre de choses. Du coup, il y a une vraie communauté étrangère mélangée aux habitants et aux pèlerins venus spécialement pour voir Brahma (le seul temple en Inde où on puisse voir ce dieu). Les magasins sont habitués et demandent de suite "combien de pièces?".

Pushkar, ville sainte, alcool interdit, pas de viande ni d'oeufs, et interdiction de s'embrasser en public. Bien entendu, le monde des restaurants sur les toits, les "rooftops", appartient aux étrangers et les règles sont parfois bizarrement mises à mal.

Mardi 14 Février, Saint Valentin, Marj est au fond du lit toute la journée, fièvre et bronches prises.

Mercredi 15 Février, une journée et une nuit de repos ont aidé, cela va mieux et nous partons louer une moto pour 2 ou 3 jours, ce qui nous permet de sortir enfin de Pushkar et voir les alentours. Nous commençons par les temples dédiés à Shiva à 10km au sud de Pushkar, endroit magique et tellement calme et serein.

Après avoir été invité à fumer le shilom par "Aloo Baba" (traduction = baba patate, un baba est un homme saint et celui-là a fait voeu de ne manger que des pommes de terre) et nous être recueilli dans ce temple tellement calme qu'on en oublierait presque le tumulte des 99% de temples que nous avons vus depuis notre arrivée, nous nous baladons sur un chemin très difficilement praticable, même à moto, qui nous mène sur une jolie vue dégagée.

HAPPY DAY 140!

It's been 140 days since we started this trip, and now we only have 4 days left in India... give or take a day.

By luck, we found a restaurant that serves baguettes, bagels, proper coffee and, (AAAAH!!!) blue cheese and walnut salad! Day 140 was a great excuse to eat ourselves back to health after days of being sick in Pushkar and Ranthambor.

It was an exhausting five months, but we've learned more about each other (and how to live with each other) than most couples might discover after years of being together. Maybe in 50 years we will get it right, but even if we don't, at least we'll be laughing through it all.

Flashbacks to our first days on the subcontinent occur more and more often now; and after a conversation with a greying British couple this afternoon at Hawa Mahal (Jaipur), we realized how street smart we've become. We're smarter about other things now, too.

Henri, we've come a long way, baby!

The Thousand-Star Hotel

After months of dreaming about it, our day in the Thar Desert had finally arrived. It is on the border of Pakistan and India, so the military closely monitors which areas are safe for tourists. But you know us, we went to the parts that were off-limits. 

But first, we were taken to an abandoned Brahmin village that was emptied in one night because a king (of a lower caste) wanted to take a Brahmin (the highest caste) for his wife. To avoid this, the entire village packed up and left in one night. They have not returned ever since.

A few kilometers away, our camels, Khalu and Papu, were waiting; munching on a defenseless shrub.

Our guide took us past dried up lakes and villages. Our camels loped along and we bounced on their backs.

We were introduced to desert life from 6 feet high.

We stopped for lunch and our guide, Alep, made chapati (wheat flatbread cooked in fire) and potato curry. Little did we know that we would have chapati for THREE STRAIGHT DAYS!

Before sunset, he took us to a big sand dune and there was no one around. He told us to run around while he gathered firewood for dinner and a campfire.

When I was younger, my dad would tell me stories about the desert, how it is hot in the morning and freezing at night. He also sent us a tape of a cartoon Little Prince that starts with the pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (his Japanese anime version) stuck in the desert, shouting at his plane. I didn't understand why he had a funny accent then, I realized later he was French!

Here we are, desert safari dream, check!

Aujourd'hui, Bonne Saint Valentin! et des anciens posts à aller voir/ Old posts to see again

Salut à tous!

Nous sommes à Pushkar depuis 3 jours et nous nous reposons un peu, ce qui veut dire qu'on reste ici 8 jours et cela fait un bien fou de poser ses valises pour plus de 2 ou 3 ou 5 jours.

Nous venons d'écrire les commentaires des posts/ We just wrote the comments on the posts:
"Ellora, Daulatabad, Aurangabad" + "Ahmedabad and it's good"+ "Ranakpur and Kumbhalgarh"

posté il y a 15 jours et qui se passe il y a un mois. Voilà les liens:/ posted 2 weeks ago and happening a month ago. Here are the links:

http://henrietmarj.blogspot.in/2012/02/ellora-daulatabad-aurangabad.html#more

http://henrietmarj.blogspot.in/2012/02/amehdabad-and-its-good.html

http://henrietmarj.blogspot.in/2012/02/ranakpur-and-kumbhalgarh.html

Nous avons posté des photos sans commentaires ces derniers temps pour ne pas perdre le fils, alors il faut rattraper tout çà./ We posted pictures without comments lately so we won't get lost, but we have to catch up now.

Nous vous embrassons et pensons à vous! Big Kisses and we think about you all!

Henri et Marj

The Golden City

The bus ride from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer was unbearably long. There were no toilet or lunch stops from 10am to 4pm. But the scenery was spectacular. We saw wild antelope, camels and sheep feeding on the trees and shrubbery, it was like being on a safari! Except sometimes the bus driver suddenly hits the break or swerves to avoid the passing cows.

Instead of looking for a place to stay, the place found us. There was a tout on the bus who asked if we wanted to see his guest house and since it was cheap and clean, we stayed. It had a great view of the fort, rising like a sand castle in the desert.

We were lucky to be there on the first day of the Desert Festival. It's the time when they crown Mr. Desert ( a beauty pageant for men) and hold moustache twirling contests. There are also camel races, camel polo matches, and (gasp!) camel tattoo contests.

Rajasthani men are proud of their facial hair, and Henri's moustache gets a lot of compliments here for its (unintended) sophistication. In fact, one of the guys at the guest house pleaded, "Please sir, don't cut your moustache." 

After the festival, we wandered around the market to talk to some camel safari operators. We met a guy with a sparkly silk suit who invited us to try his lassi. I was curious why they had a picture of Anthony Bourdain Photoshopped onto a fake landscape, and they showed us a segment where they appeared on "No Reservations" on the Discovery Channel. They sell VCDs of the episode too... though I don't know if they are authorized to. They slipped Bourdain a "super sexy" bhang lassi. Bhang is religious marijuana and it's totally legal in holy places.

Jodhpur Market Day

When we talked to my mom a few weeks ago, talking about our itinerary, we said on the agenda are Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaipur and my mom said, Bakit laging poor? "Why always poor?" Mom jokes :D

Here are images from our last full day in Jodhpur.

Having breakfast at the guest house.
Sometimes a squirrel comes to upset the sugar pot.

Havelis abound in the Blue city, but if you don' look up,
you'll never spot them because of the confusion at the market.

It was chaos!

I kept getting pushed by fat lady shoulders and hips.
These women are solid like body builders!

This is the market around the clock tower.

The colors are not dull, it's just dhal :)

And we foudn another, more desolate market behind it.

When we lost ourselves in the back streets, we found out how they block print  the bedsheets.

Back on the rooftop to Skype with Henri's family before the sun disappears,
and eating something we got from Janta Sweets and a street vendor.

Making a toast with a few things we found at the English wine shop.

Oras, which means "time" in Filipino, announces the time to leave Jodhpur has  arrived.

Jaisalmer, here we come!

The Blue City