Day 18 - Jodhpur

What a busy day!

I was staying in the same room as Julie the previous night, and a group of us had arranged to visit the Bishnoi villages, the small villages out of Jodhpur. The seven of us hopped in 2 jeeps (me, Kay and Julie bagged the open-topped jeep) and zoomed out of smelly, busy Jodhpur, the wind blowing in our hair.

Bishnoi means 29 (or is it49 - whoops, can't remember), which represents the 29 rules the village people live by (things like keeping the ground clean, looking after wildlife etc). In the villages it is customary to take opium, in the form of tea, for morning, noon and night. This has happened for centuries, and the village people even give it to babies (stops them whinging) and offer it to guests (makes them happy). So, as Hannah had warned us in advance, we were offered it in the first house we came to. We declined politely. The head of the family then showed us how he made the tea, and demonstrated by feeding it to our Indian guide from his cupped palm (sidelong looks between us - but he's ok, he's just the guide we told ourself. The guide coughed - "is stong" - oh dear). But theeen the lad driving our jeep, only 19 or so, bounced up and took some too! Hannah was like "nooooo, you are driving the jeep" but too late! The old guy bobbed his head "is good - make him more awake" - Hannah raises her hands in the 'I give up' gesture. Resigned to our fate, we continued chatting to the lady of the house and taking photos. A little later the three of who had come in the open jeep made our way back to it with great trepedation. We climbed back on, and gripped tight as we made our way to the next location - a small village. Our driver was grinning as he drove, and rubbing his head, and the three of us were just crying with hysterical laughter in the back. It was a surreal experience.



Above left: The jeep Above right: Opium man

At the next stop we swapped jeeps, and went to drink chai and try on Rajistani dress. Then we went to a carpet making co-operative, and watched them weave the intricate designes by hand. One carpet normally takes 2 people 3 weeks to make, and cost a mere 4000 Rupees (about 50 pounds). I restrained myself from spending yet more money, but Kay bought 2 and had them sent home.

Lastly we visited a house made entirely of cow dung, and ate Thali cooked over a cow dung fire. (Julie almost screamed when the lady cooking chipatti's picked up the cow dung fuel with tongs, then used the same tongs to flick & pat the chipatti).



Above: We wait for lunch

We jumped in the jeeps then, and rushed back to the hotel so that we would have time to visit the fort, and sighed with relief when we made it back whole!

We were dropped off at the fort overlooking Jodhpur, Mehranghar Fort, and wondered around like complete tourists with headsets on. The narrator had a wonderful, rich british-indian voice, and spoke in detail about the palace, Indian customs and many other things. Best guide yet. The view from the fort, across the blue washed buildings, was awe-inspiring. There was also some filming being done, and the whole fort was done up and camera crews, and little boys with painted blue faces, and giggling female extras in full traditional dress trooped around.



Finally 3 of us - me, Nicole and Julie - and arranged to visit the maharajas palmist (another one of Hannahs contacts!) at his house. After an epic journey of misdirection (2 confused rickshaws, 6 different sets of directions and much wondering around) we finally found the house. The reading was amazing, not at all airy-fairy - almost scientific in fact, and scarily accurate. We laughed about the predictions in the Rickshaw home, and when we arrived back we enjoyed the view from the rooftop cafe while we drank our evening lassi.