meenu's cookery school

UDAIPUR- 25th October 2011

Today has been the first day without my driver and it seems so ridiculous that although I've been on holiday I have been waiting for today when I am once again free to travel with total flexibility rather than adhere to the meeting times and the rigidity that having a personal driver entails. As mentioned before though, I do feel its been a good introduction to India but now it is time to face the new challenge of self transportation, getting to grips with the somewhat confusing Train system and booking buses etc. Just prior to leaving Jodhpur I entered into a minor disagreement with Babu as I thought it would be nice if L+J (Lilly/Julien) could join me on the final leg of the tour. The cheek of asking for another 4000 rupees pissed me off and after a fair bit of raised voices and arm waving (which drew a bit of a crowd) Babu finally yielded and agreed to give them a lift at no extra charge to Udaipur after making a brief stop to see the temple in Ranakpur. 

We found a decent little guest house to stay in for Rs200 a night here in Udapiur and as its Diwali tomorrow the plan is to stay here until the 28th, as getting transport over the festive period can apparently be tough. After which I will be heading with Lilly and Julien to Bundi, a quiet walled town which should provide a good setting for some serious relaxing.

After looking in the rough guide for a decent place to have breakfast I came across the Queen Cafe this morning (I promise I won't tell you what I had..). Got chatting to these two Israeli's and shortly afterwards we were joined by the owner of the cafe whose name was Meenu. The place was teeming with mosquitoes and she handed me an electric tennis racket with which to zap the little bastards. I mentioned that I had read about her place in my rough guide which led to her telling us enthusiastically about her introduction into the Lonely Planet. She gave us a very interesting insight into how guides like LP can transform a business over night into the next essential stop on a backpackers itinerary. She had been completely unaware that one of their writers had even visited her cafe and only found out months later of her inclusion. The reason for the guides covert tactics is that if the place were to know a writer were visiting they may put on a fake façade for that one day after which would slide back into mediocrity. This tactic ensures that only genuinely decent places are included in the book. The one problem I can see with this system is that although very good for business, small quaint places can be ruined by the onslaught of wide eyes tourists which enter their doorways. Another inevitable problem is that after increasing its volume of customers, the shop owners increase their menu prices and the place starts to turn into one of the hundreds of other over priced tourists spots. Still, she was a lovely woman so I wish her the best of luck. 

As I finished my breakfast she also told us that she does her own cookery classes and that for a couple of hundred rupees she could teach us a few of her dishes. So around about 3pm I went back to learn how to cook banana curry and stuff paratha. She taught the classes in her upstairs kitchen so we (the Israeli girl also popped back) spent the next hour or so sat on her kitchen floor, hunched down on our legs whilst she explained to us the importance of knowing your spices and the quantities to add to each dish. Initially sceptical of putting banana in a curry, I found that after we had fried the banana and  added it to a mixture of spices (cumin, mustard, coriander, red chilli, tumeric and garam masala) the result was an extremely tasty dish. Wrote the recipe down so might try and recreate it when I got back home! To accompany the curry she was also showed us how to make stuff paratha bread. Made the dough which we then filled with diced boiled potato, cheese, cabbage. garlic, spinach, chopped peanuts and green chilli peppers. Folded the dough over and used a rolling pin to flatten out, then lightly coated with oil and put on a flat pan over the small hob to cook 

When I returned to the guest house got chatting to a couple of German lads from Bamburg called Tici and Sylvester (Stallone he joked...)They're from Bamburg which they tell  me is linked in a cultural exchange with Bristol which is a bit random.Went for a walk around Udaipur with them and got to see all the decorations which have been put up for Diwali. All the bright vivid displays which had been attached to lamp posts and hung over the streets made the place seem even more vibrant than an Indian street usually is. Once back at the guest house walked into a bit of a rooftop party as the owner had invited a bunch of travelling musicians from his home village up north to come and play in Udaipur for a few days to celebrate the festive period. Needless to say me and the Germans entered into an unavoidable whisky downing session with the owner and his important friend (Brahmin caste for those in the know) and the rest of the night slid away into obscurity.

x

Meenu.

Celebrating Divali on the rooftop with the traveling musicians.

Preparing for Divali.

highways of DOOM

JAISALMER TO JODPHUR - 23rd October 2011

Seeing as Jodhpur serves as a central hub from which you can reach the NW cities in Rajasthan (Jaisalmer and Bikaner) the plan today has me making an overnight stop before heading further down south to Udaipur. Sat in the car about 200km from Jodhpur I thought I may use this time to talk a little about the Indian motorways and driving in general as it a topic well worthy of a mention. For Indians life on the motorways is very similar to one long and never ending race where the constant goal is to overtake any vehicle which dares get in your way. Its not unusual to see tractors attempting to overtake cars and lorries taking up both lanes on the road, meaning that oncoming traffic has to create a third lane in the dust embankment to the side. Babu (my driver) gladly told me that thousands die every year which I appreciated but that it would all be OK as he is the "boss of driving department". Babu's limited use of English means that when he describes things to me he places everything into departments. We went to see this monkey temple in Galta and so with Babu it was going to to see the "monkey department". Another example was whilst stopping by this mosque in Delhi (Jama Masjid) he told me that my shorts were in the wrong department and that I needed the trouser department to cover my bare knees so as to be respectful. Anyway, I digress, I support Babu's claim of having superior driving as I feel safe most of the time. Signs dot the highway, as they do in England, warning drivers to slow down so as to reduce risk of incovenient death. My favourite sign however has to be, "At first speed thrills but then it kills. Stop it now!"

Roadkill are numerous with many different animals meeting their maker on these concrete highways of death. The only animal which is spared such a gruesome end is the  mightily powerful cow. These beasts travel wherever they please without hindrance and god knows what would happen to the poor man who runs into one. Hung at the gallows no doubt. Cows are literally everywhere in India, from the moment you wake up and leave your guesthouse there will be one just chilling in the street munching on some rubbish (which is plentiful). The arrogance these animals display is outstandingly visible and they have a look in their eyes as if to stay "Im the fucking boss here.Get out of my way!" The other evening whilst hopping out of the way of a speeding rikshaw, I jumped straight into the path of this mean old cow and promptly received a headbutt to the stomach so they like a scrap as well! I reckon if I'm ever born a cow in my second life, I'll be getting straight on the next flight to Delhi! In regards to cows on the motorway you'll regularly see them walking in the middle of the dual carriageway or sometimes literally just plonked down in the middle of one of the lanes. Drivers politely slow down and carefully drive round them.  To my amusement I recently saw a convoy of army trucks politely wait whilst a cow made his way across the motorway. Like I said before India is mental.

The use of horns is rampant with large lorries displaying signs on their rear bumpers requesting approaching motorists to "BLOW HORN" in bright vivid clours. Drivers therefore indulge in beeping their horn at every opportunity, which most of the time seems completely unnecessary but as so much overtaking takes place I guess it goes someway in preventing accidents. Thinking back to Cathedral square I can imagine the DL claims department having a heart attack out here.... Babu, like I said before, has bought several cd's to showcase some of his favorite Inidan Music. Now and again he'll burst into song and getting his "boogie boogie" on (as he likes to call it). The cabin of the car is filled with his singing at regular intervals whilst he does the classic India shoulder pop waving his arms manically around the wheel and out of the window. Passing by certain temples, he also slows down and does a little prayer, all I can say is that I hope he's praying for a safe journey in this death trap!

Spent the evening in Yogi's (remembered from when I was in Jodhpur a few days ago) with Lilly,Julien and Letty. Earlier on whilst tucking into another snack courtesy of the omelette man I got chatting to this Irish couple, Niall and Amy. We found that we had both suffered the intensity of Delhi and they had also been rushed into booking a driver to escort them around Rajasthan. I've met several people now who arrive in Delhi and are preyed upon by hunting tour touts and it seems rampant as naive frightened tourists are a lucrative business opportunity! Still what is done is done so I won't moan about it on here.Niall and Amy are doing a similar trip to mine spending 11 months travelling around the world ending in South America and so I suggested they join us for dinner later at Yogi's for dinner. At the end of the night a photographer from the local newspaper arrived on the rooftop to take some photos of tourists getting excited for Diwali which is now only a few days away. From what i gather, Diwali is pretty much the Indian christmas, so aload of fireworks were set off and the journalist took some photos of us holding these sparklers which was random but random seems to be the order of the day everyday here.The plan as of this moment has me heading to Udaipur tomorrow making a stop off in Ranakpur to see a temple which was built in remembrance of Mahavira, the founder if Jainism, who achieved Nirvana at the age of 72. So guess that'll be alright.

Later,

x

Babu.

Riding the rick shaw.

The view from my expensive personal car.

meeting cool raoul

JAISALMER - 21st October 2011

Today has been spent plodding around Jaisalmer which has been pretty relaxing. The downtime has been much needed as the last ten days have been so intense. Spent a bit of time putting this blog together, catching up with previous posts and lounging around the hotel in the morning. There is this balcony which overlooks the golden city which i'm currently sat on. Received an email from Lilly saying that they had reached Jaisalmer safely (they took an overnight bus from pushkar) and that they were staying in the desert hotel. After walking around the narrow twisting alleyways which circulate the hill fort i finally found their hotel but the owner told me they had left that morning on a camel treck and would not be back for two days. Having nothing to do I decided to go for a walk, as I've found recently that if you're bored in India,  if you go for a walk something interesting usually happens and today was no exception

Walked down to the central square in the fort where I met the man, the legend, Cool Raoul. He was basically just an Indian del boy who talked to tourists trying to get them to come see his store just outside of the fort. I explained that I wasn't looking to buy anything as I had blown aload of cash in Delhi. He didn't mind and seeing as it was his lunch asked me if I fancied a  beer. We hopped on his motorbike and after stopping at a local store got a kingfisher and drove upto a spot which overlooked the whole city. He was telling me all about Jaisalmer and that for his job he got paid 4000 rupees a month. He said that all this money gets paid back straight to his local boozer who sorts him out with two beers everyday when he drives by. What an utter lad. He lives with his parents (he was only 21) and in the shop he earns 5% comission on all sales which he lives on for petty cash. No rent and food provided by mother. There was a pretty surreal moment when we were sipping cold kingfishers and looking over the city. He pulls out his phone to play some music and his first selection was "Celia" by Simon and Garfunkel followed believe it or not by Justin Bieber! Joked about giving him a slap and then we headed back into town. He asked whether I would like to meet up later to have a go on his motorycycle which I happily accepted arranging to meet him by the gates of the fort at 6.

With a couple of hours to kill I went to the local cafe and got talking to these two older dudes called Tony and Chris from Australia. For some unknown reason the beer that they were drinking was being served to them in a kettle so every now and again they would joke with the waitress that they needed some more "tea" to keep hydrated. Told them I was planning on visiting Australia later in my trip and Tony who works in agriculture over there gave me his number and said that if I needed some extra cash picking fruit whilst in Melbourne to give him a call! This could come in handy as no doubt money might be getting slightly tight by then!

Meet Cool Raoul at 6 and went for a ride. Gave him 200 rupees for some fuel and we took a 50 km drive out of the city to some of the desert roads where he let me loose! Was alot of fun bombing along the roads with the evening wind cooling me down.Once we got back, after a little blitz on his bike around the fort there was a message at my hotel from Lilly and Julien saying that their hotel owner and given me the wrong information (confusing them with another French couple) and they were still in town and that they were having dinner at this restuarant just down the road. Was good to see them again and they have invited me to do some travelling with them after I leave my driver in Udaipur.

Another great day on another planet!

x

Mr. Cool Raoul

Jaisalmer.

a night beneath the stars

 JODHPUR - CAMEL TRECK (JAISALMER) - 20th October 2011

This was the day of Bob Marley. Went to a camel resort about 50Km outside of Jaisalmer and spent the late afternoon riding a camel around the sand dunes. My guides name was Piku and he had named his camel Bob Marley (the dude loved reggae) so me and Bob went off on our merry little way. Piku was 21 and had lived in the village his entire life and had never left. He told me how much he loved cricket but had never owned a television so could never watch it, making do with playing against his mates when not taking tourists out on the camels. He hoped that one day he could go to the oval maidan in Mumbai to watch an actual match. After watching the sunset from the top of this massive dune hopped back onto Bob and we started to make our way back to the huts. On the way Bob decided to go for a run so before I know it i'm hanging on for dear life and seeing as i'm pretty light anyways, nearly got thrown off a fair few times! Another camel bearing an equally terrified British girl called Annie had seen Bob galloping off and decided to turn it into a race. We were neck and neck until Bob came up trumps and stormed ahead leaving the other inferior bob-wannabe in his wake. Once back at the camp we all went for dinner in a courtyard surrounded by these small huts. A buffet of tasty curry and chapati was spread out and got chatting to Annie about Bristol as she had gone there for university. Was a pretty surreal conversation talking about how much i detested Lizard Lounge whilst eating in the middle of the desert!

After dinner those who wanted to sleep in the desert (me included obviously) hopped on a cart and we were towed by my camel Bob out to the dunes, where we would spend the night beneath the stars. It was all very comfortable with bed frames and blankets provided! Talked with Annie until I feel asleep only to awake at dawn to see the sun rise which was pretty incredible!

All in all, a pretty good day.

x

long live the omelette king

Day 9 - Jodphur - 19th October 2011.

Due to the fact that I have this driver (who is beginning to feel like a ball and chain) I parted ways with Julien and Lilly but arranaged to meet them in Jaisalmer on the 21st. They were getting an overnight bus whereas my trip had me stopping in Jodphur. The bus was costing them 270 rupees and god knows how much more I was paying to have this personal driver. Anyways its just for 14 days so I will soon be free to get around by my own methods. After looking round some pretty miserable dumps in Jodphur finally found a decent place very near to the central clock tower for 150Rs (75 rs to the pound) called the Maharani Guest House. After I had dumped my bags went for a walk around the blue city. Just by one of the central guests a local man had set up shop and had a sign proclaiming that he was the omelette King! Naturally I went and investigated to see what all the fuss was about as all the benches outside were packed with tourists and locals hungrily munching down on platefuls of omelette. I had a chat with him and he was probably one of the jolliest old men I've met, "Omelettes make me happy, I use 1,000 eggs a day!" He enthusiastically told me and although dubious of this figure the piles and piles of egg trays gave substance to the claim. This rise to fame came about when in 1990 the lonely planet included him in their latest book and ever since every tourist owning a LP who arrives in Jodhpur makes a bee line straight for the Omelette King. I munched down two of his fine offerings and all I can say is long live the Omelette King!

Afterwards decided to take a stroll through the Jodphur markets and after chatting to one of the shop owners (name was Naveen, thoroughly decent chap) decided to go inside and have a look at his spice. The downstairs of his shop was like a dungeon filled with every type of herbal tea and coffee, natural spices for cooking, incense sticks, scented oils and all sorts of other potent wares. After a lecture on what makes a good incense stick (charcoal and chemicals bad, natural ingredients good) I bought a box and stand for 200Rs. That night went searching for somewhere to eat and came across this great rooftop restaurant which has amazing views of both the Meherangarh fort and the city itself. After trying and failing to chat with these British  guys who were rah central (hopping down to do push ups every five minutes) i ordered some food and enjoyed the views. Whilst eating got talking to a British girl who joined me in my mockery of these douchayyyyy guys. Her name was Letty and was also travelling alone, she was an artist from Edinburgh who was travelling around India, doing sketches and water colour paintings which she hoped to put together for an Exhibition back home. (Best of luck with the exhibition if you're reading this Letty and hope you get back to Delhi for Diwali!) She has been the first Brit I've really met and it was nice to speak English fluently, as talking broken English with Indians and the various other Spanish, French, Italian people I've met can get tiring. Turns out she studied in Newcastle so had a fair bit in common and so spent the rest of the night chatting away.

x

The Omelette King on his throne.

View of the fort from Yogi's.

Blue city of Jodhpur.

in search of the shiva temple

PUSHKAR - 18th October 2011

Hired bicycles with Julien and Lilly (would later wish we'd forked out a bit more to get motorbikes) and headed out of Pushkar to try and find the Shiva temple. Julien, as previously mentioned, is very interested in natural wildlife and so brought along his equipment with him to collect more samples whilst out in the countryside. Lilly always just stands back and watches with a smile every time he traipses off into the bushes to find his next specimen. I can tell she has spent many a trip following him pursue his passion and is well accustomed to him frequently stopping to careful study the ground or crevices between rocks for some tiny beetle. They have been going out for about five years I think after meeting during university and after spending the whole day with them, have found that they are lovely people.

The journey by bike was slow and laborious at times but the countryside threw up some fantastic views  and when we got a hill to coast down it was a great, if brief, respite from the hard cycling on those ancient bikes. After finding the temple we stopped under this large ficus tree to rest and enjoy the cool shade. Our peace did not last long however as a family of monkeys who lived in its branches were not happy that we were sat under their tree, shrieking followed and we decided to move on before we got some 'planet of the apes' scrap on our hands. We sat by a well for awhile and then out of the bush walks these two odd looking strangers who are probably the most classically hippy looking couple I've ever seen. Cristina from Spain and Martin from Switzerland had been travelling for about 18months, they carried a tent and stove and got around by hitchhiking and as living is so cheap in India anyways had managed to last an incredibly long time. The well we had been sitting by had two sets of steps which led down to the bottom which contained surprisingly clear water. The well was home to a wealth of different fish, crabs and beetles (to Juliens great enthusiasm). Christina who was friendly (but a little mad) decided to jump in so before I know it shes leapt headfirst into the well. I edged down to the bottom of the well and dangled my feet into the water which contained these amazing little fish which swarmed round my feet picking away at the dead skin. I've seen the same kind of thing in London where you put your feet into some grotty tank and pay a tenner for ten  minutes and here I was getting the real deal!

On the ride back to Pushkar stopped by a small family's house by the side of the road and shared a cup of chai with this old man who introduced himself as Dhosi Baba. He spoke very good English and told us how he liked to speak to all the travelers who passed by. He must have been in his seventies and was a spiritual man. Baba's are essentially travelling holy men who give up all worldly posessions and this guy had spent the last 40 years travelling from city to city. Local people would give him a place to stay and feed him before he moved onto the next town. He loved to smoke hash and the whole time he was talking to us he had a big old spliff drooping out of his mouth. He asked us where we were from and upon telling him that I was British he told me that back in the late 60's he had met George Harrison from the Beatles, George had stayed with him for awhile, playing his guitar and talking with him for several days.

After getting back to town had one final meal with Julien and Lilly. I had tried to ask my driver if they could come with me but he was having none of it. We were getting on pretty well and seeing as they were heading to Jaisalmer next we arranged to meet in the city's fort a few days later. They are getting an overnight bus straight there whereas I am due to make a stop in Jodhpur for one night. Hopefully we will bump into each other again.

x

meeting the french

JAIPUR TO PUSHKAR - 17th October 2011.

Arrived in Pushkar for midday. Entered the town and was met by a holy priest who said nothing to me but gave me a handful of petals. Was then ushered down to the ghats (a series of steps which led down to the holy lake) where I was asked to drop the petals into the water whilst the priest blessed my family. After this ritual (and having to make a donation like with everything in India) I was then apparently allowed to roam the city without hindrance from any other priests. Found a nice little guesthouse called Shiva but there seemed to be no one around the place except this French couple whose names were Julien and Aurelie (Lilly). They are both biology graduates with Lilly specializing in human anatomy whilst Julien is interested in beetles (weevils to be precise) and plants. Julien collects samples of different beetles and he showed me his small test tubes containing specimens he had found so far in India. They have been travelling for about a month so far and we talked about how overwhelming it is the first time you  arrive in Delhi. They fell foul to a similar thing where they paid way over the odds for a driver taking them around for a week They noticed the wrist band the holy priest had given me down by the ghats and asked me how much I had given. I donated about 50Rs (its 76 rupees to the pound) which was apparently ok. The old trick goes that when you drop the petals into the water, the priest asks you how many family members you have and then asks for your donation multiplied by number you give, which results in some people being bullied into paying 500rs and up! A cheeky little scam which I imagine generates a tidy income every year! I had not eaten all day  and so as they had been in Pushkar for several days, they showed me round and then took me to this amazing restaurant called Sanjays which had a rooftop overlooking the holy lake. I ordered a large thali (like indian tapas) for RS100, a little over a pound! Back at Shiva, Julien made some tea using Tulsi plants he had picked just outside the city that day.

x

Relaxing at the Shiva guest house.