Here are three photo albums from India that were taken by our friend, Anne. She went to Nepal next to visit friends she made there last year and is now on a 9-day trek, north of Kathmandu in a region called Langtang.Feb 9, 2009
India Feb-09
Yesterday I arrived in a town called Bharatpur, and today visited Keoladeo National Park, which is considered one of the world's premier birding sites. No, I'm not really a birder, but happy to be near the forest. I hired an old Sikh bicycle rickshaw guy to take me through the park and he pointed out and named the birds for me. The number of birds was impressive! Literally thousands and thousands of herons, ibises, egrets, storks, ducks geese, etc, and multiple varieties of each species. Also antelope, deer, monkeys, turtles, and even a python and a monitor lizard. India is getting better at each stop, or maybe it's just me. The people are kinder the farther I get from Delhi. The food has been good, but not spectacular. I stayed for 2 nights in a cute town called Bundi and will stay here another, then head towards Agra and the Taj. Have been meeting some interesting travelers. There are animals everywhere! Bundi was crawling with monkeys, and yesterday morning one came climbing down the tree in the courtyard of the guesthouse while I was eating breakfast. The other night they raided the kitchen, opened the fridge, and stole a big bunch of bananas. The streets are full of cows, goats, buffalo, and pigs, not to mention dogs. And it's not uncommon to see people driving a herd of camels as you're driving around, though they're not in the towns!
Feb 14
Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bundi
I've decided to take a safari in Corbett National Park, which is a tiger refuge. It's expensive, but I met some people who did one and loved it. I'll stay 2 nights in some tent built on a platform and do 2 1/2 days of safari.
Feb 17
Jaisalmer, India
Jaisalmer is a desert city in western India, not far from the Pakistan border. It's famous for its fort, which looks pretty amazing springing out of the flat desert. Because there is still a large population of people living inside the fort, it is in danger of collapsing from overuse. Lonely Planet advises tourists to choose a hotel outside the fort so as not to place any additional burden on the drainage systems.
This city is very different from other places where i've been, in India, in a good way. There are still people who hassle you a bit to buy their stuff, they still stare, but they don't follow you until you practically have to yell at them to leave you alone, as it was in Delhi. It's also interesting because it's in the desert and the buildings are very old and beautiful.
Yesterday I went on a camel safari for a half day. most people camp in the desert on these safaris for a night or 2, but i can camp in Oregon, right? We left at 2 pm with 2 young German girls and a young Swiss guy also and took a jeep about 60 k into the desert, stopping at a village on the way where one of the guides lived. He was a very amiable guy named Ramadan, and had about 8 kids who swarmed around us asking for "pen, rupee, chocolate" like all the kids here do (and as they often do in Nepal also). They enjoyed having their pictures taken, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they turned out. We ended up having to doctor a little 2-3 year old girl's forehead which had an enormous goose egg and gash where she had fallen earlier that morning. They had washed the blood off and plastered a piece of paper from a cigarette pack on it, and it had dried on. I had some baby wipes, and the girls had some antiseptic spray and bandaids, so we gently got the paper off and fixed her up as well as we could, shooing the swarming flies away as we worked. Then they tied a headband around it to hold it in place. They offered us tea, and the girls accepted, but the young guy and I declined--I am not taking any chances anymore after having spent about 4 days being sick when i first arrived here.
Then we continued on and stopped a bit further down the road where the camels were waiting for us. We each had our own camel, and we rode them about an hour and a half or two (with one stop in a village to buy camel food) until we came to some sand dunes, where they were going to camp. We climbed up the dunes to enjoy the sunset and returned to the camp. The same tour co. had another group there that was on a 3 day safari, so we joined with them for dinner--the camel drivers had even brought some beer along, and I totally enjoyed my warm Kingfisher beer with dal baht (rice with lentil stew) and a chappati. Then one of the guys threw some sweet potatoes into the fire to roast for dessert, the camel drivers sang, using the water jugs as drums with the belching camel noises in the background. The sky was full of stars and it was fun to talk and joke around with the group until we left to come back about 9. They had a jeep to take the swiss guy and me back but the girls stayed for one night. We saw deer in the desert on the way back, and after we got onto the highway we had to dodge donkeys and cattle but got back around 10. It was a highlight of the trip so far. Nice and peaceful in the desert--a welcome change.
This afternoon I'm taking a train to Jodphur for a day or two, where I'll be staying in a homestay.
Anne wrote to us not to go running off to India without talking to her first as she had mixed results on her trip.
