Powder, powder everywhere (and not a spot was spared)

Happy Holi (March 8th) to everyone back home!  But before we get too much into why we are covered in color (which was this morning, and mostly gone now after a 2 hour shower, except for Maggie‘s hair), we’ll start where we left off, in New Delhi.  We apologize for the wordiness and length, but there’s just no other way to describe this trip.

One month into our adventure and we’re really getting into the flow of our journey.  Everything we’re carrying has found it’s proper nook in our bags, we know to bring food on some train rides but not others, and we’ve finally figured out how to cross the ever-crowded streets (Just walk. The cars, moto-rickshaws, cycle-rickshaws, motorcycles, camels, and god-knows-what-else just drive around you, that’s what we’ve learned from watching locals).  Thanks to papa Smola for teaching Maggie at a young age to always “walk with a purpose, like you always know where you’re going”.   We’re also experiencing the signs that always seem to come while traveling and occasionally at home (call them signs, call them divine intervention, call them coincidences, call them what you will, sometimes life is just plain magical).  Our route has been redirected by strangers we met on trains and in the street, our timing has been perfect at multiple points, and we’ve come across many things that just seem to happen at exactly the right place, the perfect moment, and in the best way.  Even our friend Silvia’s advice/mantra given to us the night before we left was very timely, “when you are traveling, you are always lost”, a saying we live by every day, calming us when things seem overwhelming.  But again, we’re getting ahead of ourselves, back to New Delhi.

From New Delhi we flew to Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan, the land of Aladdin (yep, that‘s a Disney reference).  Udaipur is a beautiful old city built in the 1500’s around the palace of the Mewar emperor Maharana (claiming to be the longest living dynasty in the world, the Mewar family is still influential in Udaipur today as it has been in this part of the world for the last 1400 years).  Full of cobblestone streets and narrow alleys, the pace is just right, nowhere near as crazy as Varanasi but still lots to see and to do.  It’s billed as the most romantic city in India for a reason.  Built around beautiful lake Pichola with a floating palace right in the middle of it, Udaipur was simply wonderful.  But why Aladdin?  The architecture is distinctly Persian with a Hindu and Arabic flair, we truly felt like we were wondering in Aladdin (we stayed in Baba Palace Hotel, Ali-Baba anyone?).

The floating palace, now a luxury hotel

Claims to be the world's largest turban,
we doubt anyone challenges them on that

Todd is thinking of adopting the turban
look for back home.  Dashing, no?

The City Palace at sunset

While there we explored the unique and complex palaces that were all built at different times but connected like a giant maze, took a great Indian cooking class from a woman named Shashi (taught by Shashi and her assistant who was enthralled by the fact that noodles was cooking Indian food (remember Maggie means noodles in Hindi), it lasted 5 hours with teaching a recipe then making, teaching then making, then eating, eating and eating, we’ve never been so full. With the great recipes we now have we can‘t wait to cook some Indian food for everyone back home), and did some wonderful shopping.  Which brings us back to signs (or coincidences for the more secular among us).  We were wondering down an alley, talking about the things we wanted to buy before our first shipment home (a suit for Todd, a sword for Todd who collects them from different countries he visits, and some art for both of us).  For no particular reason, we stopped in a very unimpressive shop far from the tourist district just to have a look.  We took one look, then wanted to leave, but the man was a little persistent and showed us some art we hadn’t seen before.  We decided to buy these small paintings done on thin marble in the “miniature” style of Rajasthan (miniature for the incredibly small detail, they actually use squirrel hair to make the brushes to paint with, the squirrel is enticed with a bit of chapatti, local bread, and then given a haircut while he eats ).  After the deal was made we were on our way out when the shop owner says without prompting “wait, if you’d like to have a suit made, my brother/cousin (they don’t make a distinction here in family-driven India) is an excellent tailor”.  Thinking we’d come across a sign, we decided to follow him, something we normally wouldn’t do.  He led us down a narrow maze back to his brother-cousin’s shop in a locals’ only market.  After speaking with the tailor a while, we found we were in just the right place.  He was featured in Nordstrom’s for some bags he made for wine (he showed us the article), has designed clothing for various celebrities in Australia (he showed us their orders and personal notes to him), and was obviously a good person after talking with him a while.  Todd had him make a great suit of Irish linen to wear to Britt and Will’s rehearsal dinner that will be hand-stitched, built to order, and sent to the U.S for $200 (a bit more than they offered in the tourist area, but the quality difference he explained and showed us was unmistakable).   After the suit was settled, we went back to the art man to thank him for introducing us to his brother and he just happens to casually mention that his teacher also makes swords.  Weird.  We again felt we had come across a sign and indeed we had.  He showed us the exact type of sword Todd was looking for, of a higher quality and at a lower price than what was offered in the tourist district and the deal was done.  Again, Udaipur was magical for us.

Carved out of solid sandstone, these are the
windows in the women's part of the palace so
that they can see out but men cannot see in,
a noble women is never to be seen by a
man other than her close family, ever

One of the rooms in the palace, if you look close
you can see us reflected in the mirror in the middle

The Mewar are sun worshipers.  One aspect of this
means they must always look at the sun before they
eat their first meal.  They had this commissioned directly
across from the breakfast room so they could feel
free to eat on cloudy days.

An amazing example of miniature painting

This is a close up of the very small lower left
corner of the last painting, the detail is unbelievable
for an area of about 2x3 inches

Us with our wonderful cooking teacher Shashi,
we took the class in her home.  Isn't Todd's
apron stylish? 

From Udaipur we took an awful overnight bus to Jaisalmer (awful because we were in a sleeper compartment where you lay down, but the driver and roads are so bad that every bump sent us flying through the air and crashing down, so much for “sleeper”).  Arriving in Jaisalmer was even more Aladdinesque, with it’s golden sandstone fort at the middle of the city and right in the heart of the desert.  Known as the “Golden City” because of it’s gold buildings everywhere, we were not that enchanted with the city or the fort itself, although the incredibly intricate Jain temples (Jain is a type of religion) were pretty interesting.  The real tourist draw here though is the chance to take a camel trek into the desert and sleep under the desert stars, which we couldn’t resist.

Inside a Jain temple, the carvings are like this
everywhere on every possible surface

Sandstorms be damned! We found a pimped
out rickshaw and headed for our hotel

Just a small part of the fort, it's massive

Our trek left in the early afternoon, driving 25 miles into the desert by jeep, then hopping on camels 3 hours to the camping spot.  Wow!  Camel riding is something else.  Nothing like riding a horse, you get on while they are sitting down (they’re over 8 feet tall!).  The camel then stands back feet first (lean way back we were told), and then up comes the front.  Legs spread wide and quite bumpy, Todd would not want to go too far on a camel, but the ride is actually very relaxing, sort of meditative, and a unique experience.  We walked through the “desert” (actually scrub desert with vegetation, lots of goat herders, and wild female camels but not the endless sand dunes that we had imagined) and into a small group of pure sand dunes which did fulfill our expectations.  After a great meal prepared over a campfire and some great conversation with our new friend from Germany Stefan (soon to show up again) and some Canadians, we went to sleep on our roll up mattresses under the stars.  Unfortunately the moon was ¾ full so the stars were not as brilliant as they were later when Todd woke in the middle of the night and the moon was gone, but great nonetheless.  We woke up to a cup of warm chai (Indian tea with tons of milk, sugar, and mild spice) by our heads and soon found the stray dogs had carried Maggie’s shoes down the sand dunes (no damage done but quite funny).  We had a super sandy breakfast, got back on our camels (oh-so-sore groins already) and headed back to Jaisalmer.  We spent one more day exploring the fort and city, then took an overnight train to Jaipur, where we are now.

A typical desert hut

In these days of ever-present technology, even
if you live in a hut in the middle of the desert,
you find a way to charge your cellphone

Kind of sad, the camels are led by piercings
that go right through their noses.

Some desert meditation

Some desert yoga

Even camels gotta sleep

Peacocks in the desert?  Who knew?

Cozy in the desert, with a stray dog not
too far in the distance

Hitching a ride

Todd and Romeo, best buddies

Maggie's camel had to accessorize with
some nice pink flair

And finally, back to Happy Holi!  We are now in the “Pink City”, named for the old fort the city is built around that has all pink buildings by order of the previous emperor of this section of Rajasthan.  We have planned most of our India trip around coming to this city for Holi and the Elephant Festival, and are so glad we did.  Signs, signs, and more signs have led us here in this way (never planned on visiting Udaipur until given the advice by a fellow traveler, never planned on doing a camel trek until directed by another traveler, and never planned on cruising through Rajasthan this way, but again, travel as well as life works in mysterious ways) and have continued to work their magic while here.  But first, some history.

Cow dung for sale alongside bracelets, which
would you like?

Holi is the festival of color.  It marks the end of winter, the beginning of spring, and is always celebrated on the full moon that corresponds to this month of the Hindu calendar (which follows the lunar cycles).  As such, it is noted by tremendous demonstrations of color (i.e the powder we’re covered in) to mark the emergence of spring and the burning of dead leaves and sticks to mark the ending of winter.  It is celebrated by playing the game of holi, whereby colorful powder is thrown on everyone walking the streets (special attention given to foreigners) and it is the one day for men to act like boys and anything goes.  Drinking is acceptable, public displays of affection are acceptable, and, unfortunately, wild behavior is acceptable and encouraged.  In Jaipur, it is kicked off by the Elephant Festival, a tremendous celebration of the majesty and history of elephants and, even though it is primarily staged for foreign and domestic tourists, a wonderful sight to see.  

We left our hotel early to grab a bite to eat before going to the polo grounds and to get a good seat for the festival.  We almost walked a different route, but decided to go down a side street, then found a great little cafe to grab a snack.  After lunch, we were walking towards the polo grounds when we realized we had a little more time and decided to take another detour through the central park before making our way to the polo grounds for the festival.  It was on this side street where we came across the parade of colorful elephants making their way to polo grounds.  After photographing a few, one elephant driver pulled up next to us and asked if we wanted a ride.  Of course we wanted a ride!  How to resist riding to the Elephant Festival on an actual elephant?  Again, destiny was on our side.   As many of you know, Maggie is obsessed with elephants (has been wearing a small necklace of one the whole trip) and taking our numerous detours and arriving to the exact right place at the exact right moment allowed us the unforgettable experience of riding an elephant to the Elephant Festival.  Maggie was in elephant ecstasy.  

Part of the elephant parade and soon to
be our taxi service

Dream fulfilled, Maggie on an elephant!

The festival more than fulfilled our expectations.  The elephants are decorated with incredibly detailed chalk painting and they are the stars of the attraction during the slow-moving thanksgiving-day-style parade.  Todd snuck backstage to get a few photos but otherwise there were so many people that the parade was nearly impossible to see.  It was complete with lots of dancing, music, elephant tug-of-war (which we somehow missed) and, of course, lots of games of holi.  And again, destiny was on our side.  We ran into our now good friend Yvonne (from Australia who we met in Varanasi) and our German friend Stefan (from our camel trek), along with Ken and Sassy who we had met on the streets of Jaipur days earlier.  In a crowd of several thousand, we all met at the same spot at the same time and became one big group.  Weird.  

Yep, the lion's eye is also the elephant's eye,
this guy was the eventual winner of the contest

The winners have been crowned!

Friends meet again, Yvonne on the left, Stefan on the right

The next day (today actually), is the official day of Holi.  Fires of winter leftovers were burned early this morning, but we did not wake up at 3:30 AM to see them.  We left our hotel for about 2 hours and, despite numerous warnings about the dangers of Holi (people get very drunk, roudy and downright wild), ventured into the streets of the old city with locals and out of the tourist friendly set-up holi-playing area of our hotel.  We are, after all, travelers and not tourists (there is a distinction) so we decided to experience the way Holi is celebrated by locals.  We were richly rewarded (and punished).  Everyone was enthralled to celebrate Holi with us.  The streets are filled with everyone wishing you “happy Holi”, followed by a smear of colored powder to the face and a hug of friendship.  We were 2 of maybe 5 foreigners on the streets, so we definitely were an attraction.  EVERYONE wanted to celebrate Holi with us and share some powder (along with the occasional inappropriate boob grab of Maggie and powder smearing into the ears).  Because we had planned this part of our trip so much, we were prepared for Holi like you wouldn’t believe.  We bought local clothes we could throw away after, squirt guns filled with colored water that we gave to kids at the end, and had the camera in a waterproof case we brought for scuba diving later in the trip.  We had a ton of fun, but 2 hours of being overwhelmed by drunk teenagers and grown men and we were done.  We finished covered head to toe, earhole to eyehole to mouthole with powder, but enjoyed it all.  The cleanup process took a LONG time, but the memories will be with us forever.  

Ready for action

After the mayhem, same clothes
new colors

Midway through, looking good

Smeared right in the face, can you imagine
this happening in the US?

One of the kindest looking men we
saw, does he not scream happiness?

Most smears are usually followed by a hug
and a "happy Holi"

Tye die hair, maybe this'll be a new look
for Todd back home to go with the turban

We will stay in Jaipur for one more day to see the sights, then head to Ranthambhore National Park in hopes of spotting a wild tiger.  Then to Dharamsala and the home of the Dalai Lama, then Agra for the Taj Mahal, then off to Nepal and goodbye to India.  One last sign among the many others and we’ll be done with that thread for now.  We heard about the wonderful country of Bhutan from our friends Ryan and Silvia before leaving for our trip, but thought it was not possible for us to go.  Then we came across someone who had been there and told us of the wonders, but again, thought it was not possible as the visa process would be too hard.  We then came across another traveler who had been, told us how wonderful it was, and explained the visa process but said we needed to act quickly for the timing to work.  We finally looked into it ourselves, one day before the one month deadline for arranging a trip, and found what seems be a great tour guide and are going to Bhutan on March 29th.  For those that don’t know, Bhutan is the only country in the world with a Buddhist government and has only really been open to tourism for about 6 or 7 years.  Obsessed with cultural and environmental conservation, tourists have to be escorted by a government approved tour guide at all times (to protect their culture from excessive outside influence and inappropriate foreigners) and have to fly in from and out to only 5 countries in the world (one just happens to be Nepal and another just happens to be Thailand, both of which were already on our itinerary in that order).  Our visit also just happens to coincide with a major festival on April 1st.  We’re so excited to have made this work, we’ll tell you all about it when that time comes.

One final word, please read the books Ishmael (thanks to Grant for the recommendation) and The Story of B (thanks to Dave for the recommendation) both by Daniel Quinn, they’ll change your perspective on our culture and life in general.  Hopefully the whole world will read these books one day and lead us down a better path. That’s all we’ll say, please just read them.  Also, please click the follow this blog link at the right to follow the blog, it really is nice to know who's reading.  You need a google account to follow or comment, but google is the best and you should have one anyway:) That’s all for now, you stay classy America.

Top things we’ve never done before this trip

1)  Rode a camel and an elephant in a one week span (only in India could this happen)

2)  Slept beneath the desert sky (and inside the all-invasive desert sand)

3)  Watched a cow milk itself (literally milk itself, couldn’t get the picture in time for proof but it was quite the sight.  We’re told they do this once in a while if a person doesn’t do the chore for them)

4)  Had to ask for spicy food in India nearly everywhere in the north (the damn British palate has ruined Indian food for all white people up here.  They automatically assume we want very bland food unless we specifically ask for it. “Indian spicy?” they ask, “Yes, Indian Spicy”, “Really, Indian Spicy?”,  “Yes really, Indian Spicy”, “Are you sure?”, “Yes, we’re sure, Indian spicy please”)

5)  Took a cycle rickshaw (the first itself for us) that refused to go with traffic but always drove on the wrong side of the road, terrifyingly against traffic.

6)  Finally realized that Indians will always tell you yes, even though the answer is clearly no.  “Do you know where the blank is?”, “yes go that way then that way” then come to find it was neither that way nor that way.  “Can we have chai tea brought to our room?”, “of course just call room service”, room service tells us this is not possible right now because they are “too busy”, then we see it’s written that room service is not served after 8 pm.  “Do you have blank in this shop”, “Oh, not now but we will have it tomorrow, just come back then”, then we learn this shop would never sell blank as it’s not a blank shop.  We've learned they're not exactly lying, they just don't want to disappoint you.  It's deeply ingrained in the culture but annoying when all you want is a straight answer.  

7)  Took advantage of a knowledge of physics and a tip from Nick Smetzer to fully enjoy a beer (enjoying it now actually).  If you wrap a beer in a wet towel then put it under a fan, evaporative cooling will work it’s magic and the beer will be nice and cold.  Nick Smetzer taught Todd how to open a beer with his wedding ring and thus made cold beer available to drink (don’t try if the ring is not made of a very hard metal, like tungsten carbide).  

8) Watched a camel pulling a giant cart of god-knows-what in the middle of rush hour traffic.  India is a constant contradiction between old and new and is always quite entertaining.