Touring Rajasthan... Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Mt. Abu and Jaipur.

The time came when myself and the other interns have got some time off. First question that we were asking ourselves is 'where do we go'. Having missed the last programme due to a very explosive onset of the shits - I was recovered just about enough to give myself a go ahead to go wherever.

Not going to lie - my mind was set on Leh, this is to experience some snow, cold and mountains. These could be seen on the horizon sometimes, but definitely out of reach. Leh in winter was described to me as 'cold and dead' - it is the off season.Whilst this suited me fine, the other interns did not fancy this idea (...and I was told I won't be allowed to go alone) time came to reevaluate.

We discussed Goa, Kerala, Uttrakand, and finally Rajasthan. This neighbouring state had a lot of things which are considered 'must see' as well as being within the proximity of the 16 hour sleeper train. Somewhat sour about missing Leh I dug a little deeper using the lonely planet guidebook and was getting more and more sold on the idea. What won me over was Planet Earths IIs 'City' episode, which featured Mondor gardens as well as places which were on the list - Jodhpur and Jaipur. We could feed monkeys? Lets go.
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Before I continue with the story, it is worth mentioning the two main types of monkeys you can find in India. Most commonly in the cities you will find the rhesus makak - small, fast, furious and vicious. These guys mean business and I am not a fan, over the last three months I have seen them urinate on my group, steal bags of food and help themselves to anything they can. I do not like Makaks.

Looking peaceful. They are not.

The second, more glamorous, pretty, somewhat relaxed and more sophisticated species are the Gray Langurs - these are usually seen in forests or non-inhabited areas. I like Langurs.

Beautiful, clever and relaxed.

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So, with the assistance of the kind office pixies, we ended up with some advice and train tickets. Since we were going for 2 weeks the bags were pretty light, consisting of couple of spare clothes, and a sleeping bag.

First stop was Jaisalmer - most distant of all destinations we were going to. The perceived nightmare of a 16 hour journey proved to be incredibly pleasant. In fact, it was very very good, we had our own bunks, did not get hassled much (besides Ellie), temperatures during the day were nice and the night required a blanket/jumper and all was good. Whilst basic, sleeper trains in India really are the way to go.

We arrived to Jaisalmer pretty late, when we got to Hotel Monica we were pleasantly surprised to find the hotel good it was all groovy: comfy matress. clean, and cheap (200 Rupees per room!) with an incredibly beautiful rooftop area overlooking Jaisalmer. Sweet. The main highlight of Jaisalmer stay was the camel safari. Before we went on this endeavour though, we have had to go and see the fort and bumped into a peculiar looking shop:

Whatever this was. It was a popular spot to pick up medicine as the owner said.

Having shared the details my recent digestive troubles the man he was convinced my disease could be cured using this local herb. Having already owned half a pharmacy's worth of stoppers, pro-biotics and anti-protozans I have decided to pass. Judging by the happy faces of the patients inside the shop - the medicine works very well.

The fort was alright, 5/10

Anyway, within minutes of leaving the hotel we were hassled by number of camel safari providers, we found one, paid 2100 rps each (bit of a higher end, but positive reviews and lack of care allowed for this luxury). Next day, we were picked up, driven out into the desert where we met our companions for the next 2 days.

Our guides and the camels.

This is where I was first introduced to Jonny. Jonny is a professional camel and over the two days we became as close acquaintances as he would allow me. As Nathan has put it "If our camels are staff, yours is definetely an intern" - Jonny was a bit of a renegade, cruising his way through life. This made me really happy, all camels have had signs or pretty intense training and the way to control them has questionable comfort implications (metal bar driven through the nose with strings attached, control the steering by pulling on strings), it was extremely refreshing to see that Jonny was still a camel and not a machine. He would stop to munch on a nice bush, sit down when he felt like it and went straight towards the ladies at the watering point. As one of the smaller ones, he showed the most resiliance (or simply lack of obedience). As sad as it sounds, I was really happy and proud of him.

Jonny, the renegade of funk.

The safari was alright, the ethical considerations kept crossing our minds but admittedly, we still had a great time. Running along the dunes and watching the sunset was nice. Overall, good experience, but one we unanimously agreed that we would never do again.

We got back, showered and went for the train to Jodhpur.

Rooftop view from our hotel.

Jodhpur remains my favourite location from this trip, I loved most things about it, the market, the fort and the overall vibe. What I didn't enjoy is the close proximity to the local mosque meaning we would get woken up every morning at 6:00 dead and the ongoing competition with the Hindu temple resulting in not being able to go to sleep until well after midnight - the positive of it was though, that waiting time for a meal at the rooftop restaurant ranged between 1 and 3 hours so we didn't really have an option to have an early night. We had an interesting character for a host meaning we were never lonely in our rooms (or had the option to).

One of the big big ticks for this trip was heading over to Mandore park to feed the langur monkeys - as feautred on Planet Earth 2. So we went.

Straight away, the park is bigger then you expect, messier and less crowded then what one would expect. Few words of advice, at the bottom you will find the gentlemans club, they are fiestier and if you cross the alpha you are fucked - whilst nobody got bitten, Nathan was jumped off (probably too light to knock him over) and a woman knocked right over (she tried to outrun him). If you want some peace, go to the top of the hill where the women and the babies reside.

Good day, 9/10 easily. These animals are absolutely fascinating, beautiful and their skills and cognitive ability don't stop to surprise me. One of the absolute highlights of my Indian adventure though my native friend could not understand this obsession in the slightest (What an idiot!). It is definitely worth going there if you happen to be in the area. We've done other things out in Jodhpur, including getting lost and making the mistake of walking past a primary school at breaktime (I assume) meaning we got hassled by the kids. We have also confronted the rickshaw drivers who tried to shaft us and watched a few sunsets .

The time came for us to move on, the next destination was Mount Abu, a pleasant holiday destination as we have been told...

Just outside Mt. Abu, overlooking Nakki lake

... Bullshit, whilst the surroundings are beautiful, and the Jain temple is beautiful (no pictures allowed though... sorry), the main street is only comparable to seaside destinations with multiple shacks selling ice cream and milkshakes - pleasant change to constant spice-assault but a bit disappointing nevertheless. If you intend to come here, you will be fine with just 1 full day to make things worthwhile. On the upside, if you are a corn-on-the-cob connoisseur, you will be in heaven.

Worth bearing in mind that the transit from the train station is pretty dramatic, expect to have your adrenaline level shoot through the roof.

We left this place and headed for Jaipur. With all of the travelling and cheap accommodation we, or at the very least I, were feeling it, first thing after arriving at the hostel was sleeping. Next days, we took it easy in preparation for new years eve. It is fair to say not everyone made it, some people needed a little assistance and I was pretty happy to have gotten into my bed by myself at 0030.

Next day, we headed over to see the fort, with Ellie struck by some mysterious disease I tasked myself with finding a suitable replacement, this is how we ended up with Rudra - being a local and an associate of mine she took us to the fort and we had a good day.

We then decided to try feeding some of the vicious monkeys at a temple where I have learnt an important lesson, do not chase the babies, and if you do, do not do it into a building with all the males and only one exit. The feeling of getting punched in the head by a monkey the size of a small dog remains with me until today.

To better my karma, we fed them and loved the process. From today on, I shall call myself a monkey whisperer.

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I had a great time, done a lot of things and managed to manage a very fast and big change - happy days :).