Thursday 26-2-2009 - Friday 27-2-2009
Udaipur at Southern Rajasthan
A clean, beautiful and wonderful city (especially when you came from Ahmedabad) but polluted by auto conman!
With the free pick up from the railway station, we have not much problem with the automan at the railway station. CC, WC, jiejie and I were sitting in the taxi while SE together with some bags were in a auto. The driver seems quite educated and is proud on Udaipur seeing that he granted Udaipur as the best city in India! Morning, is always the best time to enjoy the beauty of anything, so does Udaipur. The fresh air, clean and proper roads, organization of the houses and even the driver seems friendly, at least, for me. (就像电影里写意的小村庄似的，刚一下火车，迎接我们的司机就带我们穿过羊肠小巷！）But its not for CC. He is very reluctant to talk to the driver; whatever the driver says, he will just ‘oh…’ and smile (皮笑肉不笑！). The hotel we booked is Kumbha palace, managed by a Dutch lady and her Indian husband and to reach the hotel, you need to walk a little bit up to the interior from roadside. No one welcome us with Dutch but someone shouted
‘Swee en’
very loudly! How come the hotel people knows SE’s name? Wait a minute, the voice is quite familiar!
‘Eh, Wei Han wor!’
explains everything.
The other group of friends are staying in this hotel too. They are checking out and then we will take their rooms. WC and I were so happy to see them here! I mean India is so big, even Udaipur is always very big and we are able to meet with each other! The hotel is actually built at the outskirt of the palace (城的外围); we can see the wall from the reception itself. Outside the reception, there is a garden and on top of the hotel will be the rooftop restaurant. We can see many Whites but I never expect that one of them is Dutch who is also the person in charge. She has a pair of very big, blue colored eyes; moderate built body and she is quite tall too. Luckily, she speaks with some slang clearly. If not, I may have some problems in talking to her~:p As WC and I looking around the place, trying to look for some offers for sight seeing, SE is using the internet access to check the results. (I didn‘t know till jiejie ask me to go and see.) Unexpectedly, I found that I got a distinction in Pharmacology. Well, it’s a shocking news to everyone though, as between yy and I, she is always having more chances to get a distinction.
After chit-chatting for a while, SE starts registration, buy bus ticket to Jodhpur, and horse riding pre-booking ; CC takes photos, WC looks for activities on board, jiejie read newspaper and magazine and I look for places for breakfast. There are many good restaurants here; but we have many places to go and we definitely need to bath before going out!! So, after discussing and arranging time with WC, I decided to go to ‘Sunrise’, a rooftop restaurant for breakfast after finish taking photos with yen tsen they all. But, we never realized that yt and I chose the same restaurant for breakfast. I had a bad habit that I always forget to look at the scale given in the LP. The restaurant is far but still within walking distance. Luckily Billy told me about, if not im probably going to pay for nothing.
There are quite many Whites having western style breakfast there, meaning there is toast, baked beans, omelets, bacon like that. Both groups are very excited in the food but slowly we realized that no one is serving us. Only 2 waiters are there and they never come and ask for a order and when we ask them to take order, they kept asking us to wait or said: my boy is not here. WHAT? Your boy is not here? You ask your boy to take order? Isn’t it kind of weird!? Finally, YT’s group give up waiting and left. After they left, the waiter came and ask for our orders because he is too miang and he wants to serve another 2 White ladies who come after us, in my opinion. YAM CHIN! This is the only word I will use to describe. They seems love to serve the golden hair ladies more than dark-black hair colored Asian like us. And the way he serves, is just hiao! Spoilt my appetite (阿谀奉承，抛媚眼，发姣！！)but the food is actually good.
After we took a warm bath, we start our day in Udaipur. Auto is always a problem to us. Though Marine has told wc that the auto man starts giving price at very high rate, we get con by the auto man too! This is the first time I learn the word ‘con’! Again, we get con because we didn’t know that the city palace is actually very near to our hotel. The hotel has a quite strict security check. We need to buy the ticket before enter the main gate; and show the ticket before we enter the area.
It is a very royal, grand, well maintained and beautiful palace. The big garden is seldom seen in India--full with big trees and flowers. I mean its just a relaxing place where you can sit down, free your mind from everything and liberate yourself to the nature. (The king knows how to enjoy, how to ‘tan‘ his life!) We walk across the garden and come to the lake side where we can get a boat ride and go to Jagmandir Island and see the Lake palace hotel at Jagniwas Island in Lake Pichola clearer. While waiting for the boat to depart, we took numbers of photos with the lake palace. No idea how it can stay on the lake water, but it looked peace in the middle of the lake.
The boat is basically full with tourists--many elder whites, 5 teens (that us), and a few Indian who don’t seem to come for vacation. The whites are very funny, whatever CC do, they follow; they will just follow CC’s angle to take photos. The only thing they didn’t follow is pose like 5 of us. :p Along the boat ride, we got to see the exterior view of the city palace from different angles; the ducks on the lake; some birds; women washing clothes at the side of the lake; men bathing using the lake water; how the lake palace floats on the water and some scenery of houses of Udaipur. The only place where we can get out from the boat and visit is Jagmandir Island (we are not allowed to go to lake palace hotel unless you are staying there or going for a lunch which is most probably going to cost us Rs 2000 per person :p ). It’s actually another palace based hotel in which part of it is under renovation. Nothing much to see there, but, as its palace based, it has many nice decoration and design of the places which are suitable for photos. Indeed, you can have another view of the lake pichola and the city palace. On the way back, we saw how the workers clean the lake--the lake is full with algae.(青苔)
After we are back to land, we went to visit the city palace and its museum which is at a small hill. We didn’t take many photos as to use a camera, extra few hundred is required to pay. As I remember, when we first enter the castle, there is a big car park with a small restaurant at the side. Inside the gate, there are some cages which were once used for leopard, tiger and other wild animals. It is a very big palace, showing the bedroom, the toilet (sitting style), the reading room, dining hall, queen’s room (funny, the queen‘s room is just besides the kitchen), the photos of the Kings, the model of the boat or ship and so on. (oh, I forgot already?!) The king likes to put some different colors of glasses and use them to make a big picture to decorate its palace. So, while walking on the corridor, you can always have a look on the opposite window-- can see pea cords! (made by glass..) Another thing is that, the size of the door is superb small! Was it because the kings are quite short? I need to bend down all the time when I pass from one room to another. (弯着腰，低着头，缩着身)Have to be extra careful especially when I need to walk down the narrow stairs! Also, the palace is big enough to make you exhausted and get lost. It seems that there is never an end and you will totally lost your bearing! (永无止境的迷宫！)
Sometimes, when you see something which is worth captured, you will try to take out the camera and take a risk! Here, I took a photo of overview of Udaipur city（瞻望整个城市）; I don’t think I will get a chance to go to a higher place where I can take such photos and I was correct! There is also a big garden which seems to be functional till now as the design is just perfect for some culture festival or deepavali--很多蜡烛塔放蜡烛。and finally, we left the palace without knowing how we actually walk out!
Hunger is actually another factor that we want to go out. I planned to go to a nearer restaurant because there is not many restaurant serves lunch after 2pm except this. Though is near, we have no idea which road to follow and luckily we took an auto, because the place is deep inside the road and it’s the end of a narrow street. (我负责探路: 它给我一种山穷水尽疑无路，柳暗花明又一村的感觉；只因为当我走上一条小道，无视旁边的流水道，再走过一条阴暗的胡同之后，突然豁然开朗，见到高雅的酒店伫立在眼前。找了好久啊！干吗这么偏僻？！）Maybe it’s a midrange hotel in which one room will cost you at least 1250, there are not many people. Only few Whites reading newspaper in the reception hall, few white lady comes out from the room, and we are absolutely the only customer of the restaurant. it’s a very unique and quiet hotel. The silent doesn’t give you a sense of horror but peace! Its so comfortable to be with the environment which is away from all the dust and noise from the town; some bird chirping sounds (鸟叫声)though its not near to any forest or jungle and wonderful lake view. NO AC is required because its windy enough to make you cold! Another interesting part of it is that the building. If a Singaporean goes to that hotel, most probably he will not get used to the style of the arranging of the room as all the rooms are scattered, seem like built in any way as long as there is space and the building will not collapse! Its totally looked like no organization at all but at the same time, the beauty of the structure will make you wonders whether its built like that purposely for creativity? It is Jagat Niwas Palace Hotel!
(别树一格的建筑，相信每一间房的格局将会不一样，因为房间是一层接着一层建上去，有时突然多一间房突出来，有时又多了一块空地。不懂是不是生意变好后，慢慢多加建上去的？)
Everyone is hungry but everyone has no idea what are the weird dish names mean. Simply order but its not easy to finish all at the end because there are few dish comes with rice in a big portion. I don’t want to waste the food like that because its quite costly and I was the one who in charge in ordering food. Feel a bit guilty to waste the food just like that. So, have to try my best to finish it and the outcome is I finally can defecate! After having lunch, we…take photos again~since there is no one else in the restaurant! :p
Next, we go to the Vintage and Classic car collection. This is the place where SE wants to go so much though he kept saying that its fine if we don’t go. Maybe we are a bit tired or maybe the weather is hot, we looked not interested to it, for his point of view. So, he actually suggested not to go in because the entrance is 100 per person, including a bottle of soft drink. Since we are there, of course we have to go! Auto fees is quite high know!? (of course after we ‘ngai‘ SE lah…haiz…really a big boss…swt!). It is actually managed by a car-lover. No anyone else there except 5 of us with him. The cars are stored in different small rooms with locks outside. So, the guy is actually following us, open the door and explain the history and relevant stories to us. To be more specific, he loves explain to WC. No matter how we try to draw his attention away from WC, he will definitely turns back to WC and ask her ‘questions’ and explain. I think, WC and SE are the only 2 who knows more about car; another 3 of us are interested in how cool is the car, the color and the beauty of them. Oh ya, take photos with them! Luckily, they provided soft drink. You never realized that you will sweat so much and spend so much time in such a small showroom. The guy said that we are very lucky to visit on that day as he usually serves VIP only and he was there because other men are on leave. But, I doubt WC will agree with that?
Coming out from Vintage is already 5pm. According to our timetable, its time for us to go to Sajjan Garh which is also known as Monsoon palace, situated outside the main city. (换句话说，我们得出城！)Its built in 19th century at the top of mountain as a fairy-tale castle which is good for sunset views! We were able to get one auto in front of vintage only and the automan kept saying that his auto can fit all of us in! Seeing that CC and SE is so determined to take 2 autos, he called his ‘brother’ to fetch us. As usual, jiejie, CC and I are in one auto. I have no idea what good date was it, but there are many couples get married! Marine said that she saw one pair the day before and we saw one more couple half way to reach the main gate of the hill. The bridegroom is sitting on a horse with a very nice sword and traditional costume. He seems very happy and the people is quite pleasant to have us taking their photos!
As we reach the gate, we need to buy tickets again. Ticket, money, ticket! Everywhere needs tickets! Fortunately, they allow us to use residential permit; if not, I don’t know how much will I need to pay for a eventually free sunset. The auto man kept asking 2 guys to sit in his bro’s auto and 3 girls to sit in his auto. He raised our alertness as normally none an automan will bother who sits in his auto. Later, we realized that he just want to reduce his auto workload as his brother has a newer auto and maybe its easier to bring many people go up hill! WC and I like his brother more, because he never asked ‘where you come from? Japan? Korea?’ but later we realized that, he didn’t ask is maybe just because he doesn’t know how to speak English!
It is a long way to reach the top; many sharp curves in between and the roads are getting more steep. Away from the town, I can finally breath the real fresh air with the forest besides the road. This is what I have been looking for since I come to India. Except Ooty, I don’t see anywhere has fresh air. ( actually ooty is not that good but if compared with other places, its definitely the only place which is helping our respiratory system!). As we were wondering whether the auto is able to go up hill, the other auto stops--the engine is overheated and get burned! The amount of the smoke ruins our hope to reach the castle in time to watch the sunset. However, the brothers managed. We were just in time to reach the castle, have a quick view of the castle (it has nothing to see because its small, not maintained and under renovation.), and go to the best place for us to take photos and see the sunset. Coincidently, we meet again with yentsen they all. They are quite funny as they seem never realized when is the sun sets but busy taking photos of their own only.
Once the sun sets, everyone leaves. You can see all the people go to their respective auto or taxi and leave. Also, the sky changes its color very fast too. The whole area becomes dark suddenly and we can see the lights in Udaipur city. We thought its will be alright to go down hill. But, both auto stopped again because the brake heats up and they need to let it cools down so that it can function properly later! Sweat, that’s why they are siblings? And they smoke!! Err…do they actually know that its very difficult to find a place which has fresh air in India. They should appreciate the fresh air but not spoiling it! The roads become jam a bit in the evening since the roads are all very narrow. By the time we get back to our hotel, I am quite tired already especially after I ate so much for lunch. Next question, where to have dinner? WC, jiejie and I are not hungry at all; but CC needs to eat! So, after gossiping, we went to the roof top restaurant of Kumbha palace.
After dinner (I have only one bowl of soup :D), we went out for shopping. Disappointedly, all the shops are closed already! Why must they close so early? Obviously, people in Udaipur do not have night life outside their house. There is only one or 2 shops are opened. One of it draw jiejie and CC attention--it sells the handmade paper with handmade sewing-picture on silk. 10 rupee for the normal card and the price increases with the difficulties in sewing and the level of complication of the picture. I was not interested to buy because my bag pack is full already; But, jiejie seems very happy because its nice and also cheap enough for her to buy it as souvenir for colleagues. Therefore, I become the person who helps in choosing the cards and pictures for them. (旁观者清！)That was one piece of work which really shows up but it costs us 250; but by the time the ‘shi fu’ of the teen reach, it become 350 or 400. How can that be? And he didn’t want to lower the price though we reduce the amount of cards we planned to buy. All the pictures are basically related to the 3 main cities in Rajasthan--Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jalseimer; horse represents Udaipur and It means brave, elephant represent Jodhpur and it carries the meaning of power, Jalseimer is symbolized by camel which means ‘love’. In addition with that, some pieces of work include tiger and pea cork as well. That’s why all of us think that its possible to get the same type of things in another 2 cities as well. But, we are absolutely wrong because after the night, we didn’t see it anywhere anymore. And jiejie is quite regret that she didn’t buy more and the perfect piece of the shop! (saw once more in Mumbai, but a 10 rupee thing becomes 90!)
The next day is an exciting one, for me, because im going for horse riding. I know if I want to ride the horse myself freely on the field (自由自在的骑马、狩猎) is quite impossible, but a roughly 3 hours horse riding is still worth looking forward to. The place is in a rural area where is surrounded by hills, bushes and paddy fields. (与世隔离！)The first thing I do when I first reach is to choose the horse. But, doggy is very fierce! Keep following jiejie, CC and me. Since CC is the only guy, he has to chase the dog away though he is afraid of dog too. Every fairy tale story or in the history, the hero always ride a white or black horse. I don’t like pure black horse, so I was thinking to have a white one. Sadly, the white horse is not pretty enough for girls. At the same time, I fall for another brown color horse. (一见钟情！它是全部马当中，最俊的那一只！). So, once SE and WC reach, I directly went to tell the person in charge that I want this horse!! :D
This is my second time riding a horse. With too much of expectation, I actually didn’t go up to horse’s back properly. (想有型的，潇洒的上马，but 失败！). We go by one line: CC was the first with the main person in charge; followed by WC, SE, me and jiejie. There is one ‘boy’ following every horse except jiejie and I. We have the same ‘boy’ walking besides us (he is actually a superb ah pak), and he mainly concern about jiejie’s horse, maybe is because that its very young? Jiejie’s horse is too short for her! She has long hands and long legs and the proportion of jiejie’s limb with the horse is just wrong! (不伦不类，奇奇怪怪！姐姐的脚就一直晃在旁边，像坐得很辛苦似的。) Also, its very lazy and playful young horse. Kept lagging behind so the ’boy’ has to always force it to run to follow our speed! Jiejie’s horse run the most; and I also made my horse walk slower so that the ’boy’ will come and make it run!! Horse should run more than walk , right?! As we are very far from the first person, we cannot hear any explanation or introduction of the places we pass. Also, we are not able to talk to each other. Hence, the only thing to do besides enjoying the scenery is take photos! I don’t know how I make it but I actually took 93 photos on the way to see a dam.
While resting after a 2 hours ride, I saw how the horse urinate and defecate; you can see the sphincter relax and how the stool comes out from the anus. Wakakakaka……
Next, we have to walk up hill again to see the dam. The surrounding is hot but quiet. Plus, there are some road signs which are very funny! For example, ‘mind your brake or break your mind’. We didn’t spend much time there as we need to go back to the hotel by around 1pm and catch the bus at 2pm to Jodhpur. Along our back to the horse village, we saw many women and kids waving at us; we are just like the princess or King who waves to His people when he leaves his palace. (公主游行！). Also, we saw how the women take the water from well and carry back to their houses, using their heads. Before we left, the boss showed us a 5 months big pony. It is quite tall but the limbs are too thin to support it properly and, its is blind on one eye.
It was still early when we reached the Hotel, so, we decided to have a light lunch in Lotus café. I wanted to spare more time out so that I can clean my body a bit before going to Jodhpur. Plus, we have no idea where the bus station is. By the time we finish our lunch, it was almost 1.30pm already. Once we reached the hotel, the uncle who fetched us yesterday was yelling at us like father, telling us that we are late for bus as we need to be there by 1.30pm and the they are not going to refund if we miss the bus. All of sudden, wc, jiejie and I were nervous, some more, we have no idea why se and cc are not following us to come back and why the phones are not connecting??! After settled my things, I decided to go out and look for them. They were on their way back, relaxing, not knowing that we are actually late! As usual, 3 of us went in one auto and go to the bus station. But, we couldn’t find them in the bus station and the buses there do not seem to be a proper bus in which the hotel will book for us. Moreover, no one understand English; no one can tell us where to go; none of us can contact another 2! WE WERE PANIC! Finally, the call is answered and wc told us that they are not in the bus station but another traveling agent. Exactly, where is it? No idea!! Fortunately, one of the man from traveling agent came and look for us and direct the auto to where the bus stops.
After we put our luggage in the boot, we get in the bus, trying to cool down ourselves. No one says a word but sms. Let’s talk about the bus. it’s a non AC bus--meaning we have to open the window and absorb all the dusts for few hours. Also, the seat is very small and not adjustable. Moreover, the chair of WC keeps glide behind; makes my seat area smaller and I can’t even lie down. For about 3 hours, I wasn’t sleeping. The pain of my knee is telling me that its injured and maybe its bleeding as well. Really pehk chehk!! (完全动弹不得！)I think jiejie’s condition is more or less the same because there are people standing at the side too, so she cannot put her legs out too. When there is a break for snacks and toilet, jiejie immediately went out to buy water and chocolate to eat. ME? I took promethazine, hopefully I feel less dizzy and can sleep later in the bus. The drug did help me a lot. I slept for awhile till we reach Jodhpur. Our bag is really very very dirty; our faces and bodies absorb dust from air; our bags absorb mud and dirt from the roads. The auto in Jodhpur is quite big but its not in our concern now. We need to go to the train station and go to Jalseimer first. After confirming the time of departure, we decided to go to the restaurant nearby to have dinner. Who knows, we meet yen tsen again. I was surprised to see wei han sitting quietly at the site. He looked very weak! Because he was having severe diarrhea and he actually admitted to the hospital already! Maybe is due to the rush, or we get scared just now, none of us seems to have mood to have dinner.
The railway station is full with unknown people sleeping outside the main door. Ignoring them, we directly go to the platform. We were trying to confirm the direction the train comes and where will be the B1 coach but we couldn’t find someone who can be trusted and understand eng at the same time. So does yen tsen they all: they reached the platform quite late and also having problem for the train. After sometimes, we realized that the train will be delayed by sometimes! Please come faster, I need a rest~ if I cannot have a bath, at least let me sleep! I have no idea where I get the energy again to run up the train, but I can confirm that I sleep immediately after I go up train, until the train stops at Jaisalmer.
Saturday 28-2-2009 -- Sunday 29-2-2009
Jaisalmer--western Rajasthan
A city developed from desert! Desert~oh desert! My first trip to desert!
After a whole day rush, SE is still able to maintain his awareness and complete his work before he went bed--book hotel. (得写个服字给他）！The train went very fast I think because we were told that its going to reach by the time given in train book--meaning we have to get up earlier. However, the sleepiness is just out of controlled that we actually continue to sleep in sitting position. I think the cheap waist bag that papa bought for WC and jiejie is very uncomfortable since both of them keep saying that its very itchy. WC finally cannot stand it and remove it, putting it inside the bed. When we reached Jaisalmer, its still before 6am. Its really nice to see someone taking a card which ‘Mr. Goay’ is written on it, meaning we don‘t have to argue with automan in the early morning! The taxi driver has to pick up 3 groups of customer that day: we, yentsen, and another 2 French ladies.
As I said earlier, if you reach a place in the early morning, the impression and perception will be great! I never expect Jaisalmer to be like that; from what I imagined, it should be in the middle of desert; camps and camels are everywhere; people are staying in just the sand made houses and no trees or plantations except maybe a little bit of cactus. It was stunned when I saw good conditions roads, lamp posts, traffic lights and proper houses. Surprisingly, no camels are seen but cows, especially when we reach the hotel. The owner has 2 hotels--Hotel Ratan palace and Hotel Renuka. Renuka is said to be murky while Ratan is large, so of course we choose Ratan. The main office is in Renuka. To walk from Renuka to Ratan, we need to walk on a street which is full with cow dung and cows. Its just too much, both fresh and dried cow dung!
We need to go for camel safari by 2pm and we have 4 hours left before 2. So, we bought some biscuits and lays and puffs and have our breakfast as we walk to Jaisalmer fort. To reach there, we need to walk pass many shops too, including boutique, restaurant and some tailor shops. (本地人需要的店屋) We stopped at one shop and start buying some Kurtha and the soft type of scarf so that we can cover our face from the sand later in the desert! With 3 girls and 2 guys who shops like ladies too, how much time would you expect to be spent? Half an hour? Nope! One hour plus! My god!
We were surprised that there is no ticket counter to enter the fort. There are many people selling souvenirs, masks and necklaces; some people is performing; some shops and stalls are seen all the way up to the fort. We are lost! We have no idea where is the next entrance to go around the fort. So, we just blinding follow a team of whites, and walk pass many shops till we realized that they might be just want to shopping but not visiting. I was trying to ask one of them but from the way the lady behaves, I think she has misunderstood me as local. Come on~ from all the way, people keeps asking ’Japan? Korean? China?’ how can I be tempeh!?
No other groups to follow, so we decided to find out our ways ourselves. The museum entrance is quite small and hidden inside. And the ticket counter clarified to us that there is nothing called free entrance in INDIA! There was actually 2 notices on board--one is written in English telling that we need to pay few hundred for the entrance; another one is in Hindi, expect the number--the price a local needs to pay! And its only 20? Yes, foreign always need to pay at least times 6 more than locals! After showing the residential permit, we got the local price! There are many CCTV and many fully-uniformed guard going around to catch people taking photos without paying for camera like us. The museum basically built inside the fort--meaning the fort is a museum now. According to the original design of the fort, all kinds of weapons, clothing, musical instruments, stamps, letters, photos, kitchen stuffs, king’s bedrooms, living hall and so on are shown. As we didn’t pay for the headset explanation, most of the time we are just guessing and understand using the description written down only. Same as other fort, we are able to see part of the Jaisalmer city whenever there is a big windows or doors or balcony or garden in the fort! Its such a unique fort with complicated carving which matches the environment and people in Jaisalmer. （鬼斧神工的雕刻！）The only bad thing about this fort is that they allow all sort of people selling stuffs in the fort area. This somehow commercialize the fort. After we come out from the fort, we saw a big group of Japanese. Wow, so many teenage Japanese (almost at our age ) traveling together~ no wonder ‘Japan’ always come first before other nationalities. The last thing we did in the fort is taking photos only!
On the way back to Saffron, we met yentsen again! Also, we saw the ‘Bhang shop’. If I didn’t study forensic medicine, I don’t think I will ever know that Bhang is one of the preparation for Cannabis--a plant that is used as narcotic drug. It seems to be legal to sell it? Whatever! With the fort at a higher location than other houses, most of the restaurant here is ‘rooftop’ restaurant. So does Saffron. We ordered soup and share some dishes as usual; we kept avoid ordering mutton as we all thought that we are going to bring one goat with us to the dessert and the camel man will kill it and cook it on spot for us. It sounds cruel but if this is an experience to see how people survive in the desert and how a goat is killed, why don’t we take it? But you may say this is another excuses to be cruel, just depends how you take it as, nothing more. However, deserts sounds like a place where we should take mutton? We ordered mutton in the end tooJ
With the 2 France ladies, we took a jeep to get out from the town and go to the desert area. On the way, we stopped at 2 places. The first one is the stupa or the graveyard of the previous king and prince. I don’t understand why there is a graveyard at the roadside suddenly (its just in the mid of the sand area). This time when we wanted to buy ticket, we aim for the Hindi words with number, so, the person failed to con us! wakakaka…! To be honest, its nothing. We don’t understand the words written down, some are broken, so, basically I was just looking at the carving of it only. Imagine, the stupa is exposed to the sun, sand, stone and wind; no one maintain it (but there is someone collect money); how much is remained? (被暴晒雨淋！) The second place is a temple which is in charged by a superb ego ah pak. Kept asking us to pay the foreign price where local is free to enter! We have to remove our shoes and walk all the way to the temple on the hot stony roads and when we reach the temple, all of us realized that we are conned! (The French ladies are intelligent because they didn’t enter!) It is just a very normal temple which should welcome everyone to enter but not a place to earn money! Behind the temple, there is a dried lake--if the driver didn’t tell us first, we will never knew it as it’s just another sandy area with not even one drop of water!
It was around 3pm when we met the camel man and our lovely camels--They are all waiting at the roadside. CC and SE can’t wait to wear the scarf once they get down from the car; jiejie, wc and I were busying looking at the camel and try to choose the most beautiful one for ourselves (just like what I did for horse riding). I realized that that is not easy to cover your head and your body including your hand properly if you do not know how to use the scarf. SE and CC were exactly looked like 2 ah sam: SE is better as he was wearing the sun glasses; CC is just like the malay whom you cannot recognize after the hair is covered. Jiejie was wearing the jacket, so she do not need to cover her hands; WC is always expert in wearing the scarf, that’s why she can cover most part of her body most of the time. The problem comes to me. I was busy looking at the camel, taking photos, see how they put the cushion on the back of camel, laughing at SE and CC, asking the driver ‘where is our GOAT??’ and forget to ask someone to help me to wear the scarf properly before I start riding! The terrible news is that this is a vegetarian tour. Due to their religion, they are all vegetarian and I am stupid enough to ask them
‘where is the goat?’ ‘goat?’ ‘goat to eat in desert?’ ‘no! no! no!! all vegetarian! No goat!’ in shocked and somewhat insulted!
Disappointed? Of course! We had been looking for this for the whole day but this news somehow relieved me that I do not have to feel guilty or hesitate for killing it!^^ So, the disappointment left in minute as deep inside our hearts, its still very mean to kill a goat just like that!
Climbing up on to the camel is just easy because the camel always in kneeling position when its rest and my legs are somewhat long enough to climb over it. But, if you didn’t prepare both mentally and physically when it wants to stand up, you will get a huge shock! I was frightened by it even I had prepared--it makes you feel like you are going to fall and you will have a sense of unbalance for a moment of time. SE is the first one to leave and his camel with another camel are leading all other camels. Jiejie and me follow and then is WC. Coincidently, Jiejie’s camel is roped together with mine. So, actually, I don’t have to do anything and the camel will just walk, following jiejie’s camel. But, I was wrong! I need to hold the stick in front of my seat properly (if not I will fall?); I need to cover my face with the scarf! Its so troublesome! The scarf keeps flying with wind and I have to hold it tight all the time or try to tie it in another way so that it can stay on my body. Half of the journey I was working with the scarf; the next half, I gave up with the scarf, enjoy the scenery and takes photos! This is the first place where we see goats more than cows? But how could cow survive in desert? I mean there is never a link between cow with desert? We have no idea how’s CC till his voice suddenly appeared at the back. He was in between the 2 French ladies and kept telling us that the French was the one who started a conversation with him and he has to help them to pass the sunblock to each other. It was fun to ride a camel especially when its running down steep area (当它跑时，身体会不由自主地往上跳); when jiejie is with me, talking nonsense, singing 热情的沙漠和天路 and funny cute songs which may sound weird to others If I suddenly sing It alone, see how jiejie suffered in canning the camel with her rope so that it can walk or run faster (we are lagging behind and SE is far away from us!), see how my camel run faster to kiss jiejie’s leg, how she scream like hell, how we take photos though we are apart. It has been a long time I didn’t talk rubbish with jiejie already! Because of jiejie, I don’t feel that bored on the 2 hours camel ride!
All the excitements gone when I started feel thirsty; when my body keeps slip down from the camel; when I can feel pain at my buttocks. We started wondering how Kent and CheeKhang they all could stand a 12 hours ride last time? It was so painful after 1 hour ride and I actually started counting down for the end of 2 hours. I feel so relieved when I finally see others are coming down from the camels. The first sentence we said to each other was my ‘八月十五’or’屁股‘or ‘my ‘loh yao’ 很痛！！Then, WC started to ask us that why we are not going in to the desert? Are we just having a short rest only or what? We are just outside the desert: the sand should be as smooth as we can see in the movie. We walked pass a small area of desert but most of the time, we are just traveling on more sandy stony roads! (meaning they not exactly in the dessert.) Certainly, that is our destination seeing that the camel men started bringing down all the cushion and let go the camel and cooking; there was already have another 2 men walking around to see the sunset.
So, if they are not going to bring us in, why don’t we walk by ourselves?
We left our belongings within our eyesight and go for a walk. The sun seems much different from what we usually see in city: it looked dull, dark yellow color, very ‘mature’; while in other places, it looks bright, yellowish orange and very active. (像被一层薄黑布遮着，稳重，有威严的散发着光和热于大地！) Just like what I imagine, there is a little bit of suction in the sand which will pull your legs in and stops you to walk properly. So, basically, we need energy to pull our legs out as we walk, against the gravity. Many funny photos are taken, including the Bollyhood’s style. Next, we met YenTsen they all after we climb over a small sand hills. It was fun to run all the way down the steep hill with uncontrollable acceleration!!^^ After chit-chatting for a while, we all go back to our place. CC is quite worry about dehydration in the dessert. He goes on keeps an eye on the 20L water. This is all because of miscommunication with the boss in hotel: we never thought of having veg in the dessert, we thought each person will have 20L of water! As a result of it, CC kept filling our own bottles and drink as much as possible; be alert on the amount of water the camel men used to cook!
The best posture to enjoy the sunset is sit on the sand, side by side with your friends and sister and then leave all the worries and thoughts aside, watch with no words. But, the problem is there are too much camel wastes around that area, so, we have to choose our ‘seats’ properly before too late since there is no extra water to wash your hands or change your clothes in the mid of desert! Perhaps they had been serving too many customer in their lives, they put the blanket properly on the sand for us to sit after that. Next, pakoda (snacks) and chai are served. A playful boy like CC, finished the whole plate of pakoda without leaving it for the French and another 2 guys(Japanese and no idea). Ishh…So paiseh and funny when they finally put the pakoda in 3 plates and serve separately. Also, we never expect that someone will come and sell cold beers; but for CC, he is just another man that would finish off our water!
The sun sets occur as soon as we saw in Udaipur one; however it doesn’t sets behind the mountains but behind the end of desert. The sun seems absorbed all the golden color from the desert as the sky becomes dark as soon as the sun sets! Next, we realized that we have nothing to do before and after we have our dinner. Before it becomes really dark, we started playing OHNO. It was ridiculous--we played just because we can’t play later?! Fine, we even played with the light of torchlight?! YES! By 7pm, the dinner is ready. But the problem is that the surrounding was so dark that we actually couldn’t see what are we eating. We have to help each other to hold the torchlight so that another person can eat. Intelligent people like me, brought my own spoon and hence I don’t have to eat with my dirty fingers! There was rice, some potatoes, dal, spices, chai and a very hard chapatti. I actually did finish most of them except the chapatti. The taste of dal is too plain but with spices (chilly gravy), its eatable; the best of the night should be the potatoes. I have to admit that Indian is really expert in this Vegetable!
After dinner, we lied down on the blanket and see the shinning stars. They are all over the sky, countless in shape or shapeless! Was that the nearest point to be combined with nature? I think so. I can just describe the condition as ‘与大地的结合 ” or ’以天为盖，以地为席‘！We see nothing besides, but just the warm hearts and familiar voices, telling us that we are together both physically and mentally! After a while, the camel men came and arrange our beds for us--4 thick blankets on top of the sand, and after we are lying properly, 3 layers of blankets are put on CC and I; 4 layers for jiejie and WC and 2 layers for SE. (SE seems very reluctant to go to the side.) The thickness of the blankets just make us cannot move freely. Therefore, we can just roll our eyes and turn our heads to see the stars, not even our shoulders! The only person who moves the most is CC--he has to pee more often as he had too much water!^^
I will never forget the night, not because this is the first time I sleep besides CC or this is the first time I sleep outdoor, in an open air area but is due to I sleep under the starring sky. That reminds me of a song named ’Vincent’. With the melody and the starring sky, I slept off, peacefully~~
As I have a habit of turning my body to one side, I woke up few times in the midnight.
The first time: they haven’t sleep yet; meaning I was off for few minutes only.
The second time: as I turn to CC side, I could see he is covering his mouth and nose using his jacket.
The third time: I feel breathless as the sand follows the wind and flies into my mouth and nose.
The 4th time: I heard the camel men is singing while cleaning the camels from far.
The 5th time: camels are shouting. And on the next morning, we got to know that a female camel came on the night, causing all the camel run away and hence the camels men have to tie them up.
The 6th time: there is a dog barking loudly and I think that the wild dog is quite near to us that night.
The 7th time: CC was freezing. I can feel him shivering under the blanket.
The 8th time: I feel cold and I shivered! After we woke up, CC and I realized that we feel extra cool because we kick the most thick blanket away and it wasn’t covering us! Perhaps this is the pay for moving freely with the thick blankets on our bodies?
Non of us wanted to leave our blanket after we woke up as the surrounding is just too cold and windy, especially after looking at how CC runs back from peeing. So, we just sit there and wait for the sunrise. Then, all of us gathered at one side and have the breakfast--bread toast, jam, egg, oranges, banana, butter and chai. I don’t know why we were not sinking into the sand when we slept on it last night. The sand is so smooth and soft and walking barefoot on it is just another type of natural massage. The boiled eggs reminded me on a scene in ’My girl’ which ’Youling’ crack the eggshell by knocking on her head. I never expect it to be so painful?! Next is the girls’ problem. We had not gone to toilet since we left the hotel--meaning for the whole evening, night, morning. Are we going to hold till we go back to hotel or just look for a bush and settle it there? I didn’t have the urge but WC seems suffering already. Finally, we went to a further place where there is a lot of bushes and pee. I thought as you pee, the urine will flow down but I forget that the sand is not packed and so instead of flowing down hill, it entered the sand. (渗进沙里）.
By 9 am, we left. The camel men have very good memory as they are able to remember which camel each of us was riding. I felt like Im forcing myself to the hell and as I climb up the camel. The moment the camel started walking, I can feel the stick of the seat is actually hitting the same point of my loh yao!! This time, I can enjoy the scenery more and talk to jiejie more as it wasn’t very hot, the sunshine wasn’t burning my skin, and I wore a jacket, so I can cover my face with the scarf better. Camels really walk very slow; even the French ladies walk faster than it (they gave up riding as one of them has the thigh injured.) Especially jiejie’s camel. It’s getting slower and slower until we couldn’t find where are the others in front. Moreover, the camel eats as it see the dry grass. It was so scary as it actually run towards the grass and bend down so much that jiejie actually could fall down! Did they forget to feed it? We carried many bags of dry grass with us for the camels, how could it be hungry? Jiejie feel very bad to can it using rope, so, WC they all have to wait for us in front. After 2 hours of riding, we stopped under shades and wait for the jeep to come and fetch us. As we chose to take lunch in desert, they have to cook for us again. Snacks, chai, chapatti, noodles(maggi), cabbage(superb nice) and some spices. Then, we went to take photos with camel, walk around and have a look on a abandoned castle before we leave. On the way back, we saw a small new born camel with its mother. The driver stopped to let us take photos but he advised us to run as fast as possible to the jeep if the mother comes closer.
The hotel manager allowed us to use the bathroom to have a shower. While showering, I realized that my loh yao is bleeding! The spots of blood on my underwear is not menstrual but from the scar! No wonder I feel so pain!!! After that, we went to Nathmal-ki-haveli and Patwa-ki-haveli. (if not mistaken :p) Along the way, there are many cows making road blocks to us as SE said don’t let the tail touches us. CC is so gentleman~ block the tail for us to walk across the road. We didn’t enter the first one as it seems nothing and the ah pak there is waiting for us to chop our vegetable head already! The next one, we got the local price using RP (residential permit). it’s a very small palace with the same type of carving we saw in the fort and also some color glasses. Also, there are people selling souvenir inside the palace. What a waste! Spoil the originality of the palace. After buying some scarf and souvenir outside the place, we decided to go for dinner in Kebab corner as we planned few days back. I stopped for pani puri at the roadside but the taste was terrible. Then, I tried to figure out the way to the restaurant myself using the map in LP. I never expect we will walk for such a long time for a restaurant which is not existing anymore and we have to ended up in ‘Trio’. Due to this long walk, a say is created by CC: ‘我被自己人ｃｏｎ啊！ＭＡＹ ｃｏｎ我出城，转了一个圈后，又走进城．原来那间ｒｅｓｔａｕｒａｎｔ已经倒了！’ Trio is recommended in LP too, famous with the food and musician plays (playing the traditional drum and pianica by 2 men) but the so-called musician plays is just a noise pollution to us. CC even think on giving them money to shut their mouth up! But the whites seem enjoy their music a lot? Including the 2 French ladies that went to desert with us. We had a 160 kebab which is only 15cm long, a kind of mushroom typed veg which no one could finish it later, chicken dish (tasty gravy) and some roti. People may think that this roof top restaurant is well ventilated so that they didn’t fix AC or on many fans but actually they may be just want to save money! We were all sweating and suffocating especially CC. Therefore, we immediately left after dinner and ask for one more room to take a rest. An unexpectedly incident occur in the room when all of us are lying together and take a nap. ‘BANG!’ the bed is broken and fell on to the floor! How to fix it? Run away to railway station for train to Jodhpur! Perhaps the other Malaysian or whoever understand mandarin will read Jiejie’s message in Customer message book in the hotel? Whatever! By 23.15pm, we left Jaisalmer with tan or even sunburn and this refers to---CC and SE!^^
