Trip to Rajasthan

During my Christmas break, I went traveling. Liz and I met up with Dan, another service worker, in Delhi, and traveled to Udaipur and Jodhpur in the state of Rajasthan, back to Delhi, and then back to Ranchi together. It was quite a week, and we even changed plans to include one more destination. We did so much traveling that all but 2 nights were spent on trains or buses. Here’s the short version: Christmas Day – Liz and I left from Ranchi at 11:30 pm. Dec 26 – on the train. Dec 27 – Delhi. Dec 28 – Udaipur. Dec 29 – Udaipur. Dec 30 – Jodhpur. Dec 31 – Delhi. Jan 1 – on the train. Jan 2 – Arrived in Ranchi at 8:30 am.
Now for the highlights. The first day in Delhi, we had breakfast with Christina, the other SALTer in India this year. Several of her friends from home have come to visit her, so we got to meet them too. Then we visited Red Fort before catching our train to Udaipur. Udaipur is a beautiful city. We had a very relaxing time for the two days we were there. We stayed in a guest house by the lake. We had a wonderful view of Lake Palace, City Palace, and Monsoon Palace from our guest house. Since we were staying in a “tourist” section of town, we saw many foreigners walking down the street. And all of the shop owners wanted us to buy something from them. But we weren’t usual tourists. People absolutely loved it when we spoke Hindi with them. We decided to go for a walk away from where most of the tourists go. We drew a lot of attention from the children down one street. One little boy showed us a quarter and a nickel from the US and asked us to change the money for him. When we didn’t, he tried to sell us an old clipboard! He may be a successful shop owner one day!
Jodhpur is known as the Blue City, and it is! All of the houses are blue. It is the color of Brahmin (the highest caste in Hindu society), but everyone, Brahmin or not, began to paint their houses blue. Blue is also considered a mosquito repellant. (One lady informed us that it doesn’t work!) The day that we spent in Jodhpur was my favorite day of the whole trip. That was the day I found out that I’m Punjabi…at least I look like I’m from the Punjab (Western India between Rajasthan and Kashmir). We were walking up the hill to visit Jodhpur Fort and many people were stopping us and wanting to talk with us along the way. (I’m sure they also get a lot of visitors up that street!) One man told me that I look Punjabi. I wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not. But then we got to the fort. The guy explaining the audio tour told me the same thing. Throughout the tour (and even in town the rest of the day) people kept wanting to take pictures with me and told me I look Indian. Even as we were walking through the market, Dan overheard several people who were looking at us saying something about a Punjabi. So I guess I believe them. I stick out so much in Ranchi. So maybe to blend in, I should visit the Punjab…
While we were in Delhi New Year’s Eve, we found out that our train was going to begin late. Instead of leaving at 7:30, it wouldn’t go until 11pm. We went to the train station at about 9:30, but as we were waiting, found out that we wouldn’t actually leave until 2am. We were able to board the train at 11:50, and when 2009 began, I was locking my backpack under the seat. Happy New Year! Lol. Instead of reaching Ranchi at 7:30pm on New Year’s Day, we got in at 8:30am on the 2nd. At least we got a full night of sleep before reaching Ranchi!
I’ll try to post pictures as soon as I can!