Leaving Pushkar - travel to Dharamshala

After our morning hike we stopped at our favorite coffee shop to enjoy a small espresso before taking the bus to Ajmer.  We met another couple traveling around India while enjoying our cup of joe. Below is our favorite coffee shop, and my new scaled friend. The charmer allowed my to photo and pet the cobra, for 25 rupee.

Then we headed to the bus stand and got on our bus right away.  We arrived in Ajmer a couple hours before our train was to depart so we had a snack or two at the station.  Our train departed at 14:15 with a scheduled arrival time of 06:30 the next morning.  Once again the train ride was great, this train must have been newer because everything was quite clean.  Once we got moving, we got to know our berth mate for a while. Eventually we all got tired and went to sleep on our own cozy beds. Heidi and I woke up around 0600 to faint foggy daylight coming in the window. Another 45 minutes or so went by and we made it to our stop, Chakki Bank.

At the taxi stand we had an interesting incident. An Indian man asked us if we’d like to share a taxi to Dharamshala, of course we said we would to save money.  We all got in the cab to go then we got stopped before leaving the station. The taxi union boss stopped us, he would not allow us to share a cab because he knew the three of us weren’t traveling together. They argued for a while and told us we’d have to pay an extra 500 rupee to travel together. We told him we’d rather take a bus. We got out of the taxi and walked to a rickshaw and paid 80 rupee to take us to the bus station. As we were leaving the union boss walked up and offered us the taxi ride for 1000 rupee. We said no, and so in the end he lost out on 750 rupee when he wouldn’t let us share the cab. Then he lost out on 1000 rupee when we didn’t take his offer for a single cab. This is what happens when greed takes over…you lose! On another note, the taxi guys said the bus would take 6hrs to get to Dharamshala, we made it in 3.5hrs :) and for only 270 rupee.

The Magic Bus

Arrival in Dharmashala

Dharamshala was a nice little village, lots of shops and café’s everywhere. We walked around for a while then decided to go up the mountain a little further to McLeod Ganj, a northern suberb.  A taxi to McLeod Ganj cost us 180 rupee. The road was a twisty, rough, winding road with amazing views. The ride was only 15 minutes. We stepped out of the cab and immediately felt like we’d want to stay for a few days.  The main market street was packed with shops and restaurants. The whole village was so clean compared to the places we’ve been before in India. The whole community seems to have an increased awareness of cleanliness and recycling.  For example, yesterday’s newspaper gets stapled in such a way to create a small bag for today’s fruit, etc.

McLeod Ganj arrival and pics

For the past three days the Dalai Lama has been speaking here, unfortunately we were not able to attend. McLeod Ganj is the official headquarters of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, as well as the home of the Dalai Lama.

Our first day we walked around trying a lot of the street food, our favorites so far are the whole grain bread, potato momo, corn, and fruit beer. We’ve eaten at a couple restaurants too, and I’m beginning to like Tibetan food as much as Indian food.

The second day we decided to go for a hike up the mountain a bit to Bhagsu. This is also considered a suburb of Dharamshala. The walk was only about 15-20 minutes and the scenery was beautiful. We arrived at the village and saw a sign pointing toward the Bhagsu waterfall. Another mile walk up the mountain and we came upon the trail to the waterfall. We’ll let the pics do the rest of the talking/typing :)

 

After the waterfall, we headed back to McLeod Ganj to take a shower at our hotel (Loling Monastery, $3 per night). There is only one hot shower on each floor, and everyone has to wait their turn to use it. The tap water here is ice cold coming directly from the Himalayan springs above. The hot shower is a much appreciated luxury.

After cleaning up we walked around town for a while, had some tea and updated our blog. Then went to dinner at the Tibetan Kitchen and had some very spicy food, it was great! Also by this time, all the locals were celebrating Diwali, which is one of the most important holidays celebrated in India.  It is a celebration of your inner light, and goodness.  The lights represent a triumph of good over evil.  The evening was filled with very powerful fireworks and music. The fireworks lasted well into the night. Eventually they quieted down and we were able to get to sleep.  We were thankful to the local people here for sharing the celebration with us.
Tomorrow we will trek further up the mountain to another village called Dharamkot, we hope to find cheap accommodation there and stay for at least a week or maybe two!  Nite :)

The Stronger the Attachment, the Greater the Misery ...

Our last post was prior to our Vipassana Mediation retreat, which began on October 12.  We took a cab to the small village outside of Pushkar where the center is located.  The center was literally in the middle of the desert, and was surrounded my mountains.  It was remote and very quiet.  It didn't occur to me while we were checking in on the 12th that absolutely no one had any idea how to get in touch with us in case of an emergency.  That thought occurred to me about four days into our meditation, and gave me some feelings of uneasiness that I was required to observe objectively with total equanimity:)  Right.

So for those of you who are not familiar with the Vipassana Meditation technique, it is one of India's most ancient meditation techniques that was lost, and then rediscovered by Gotama Buddha more than 2,500 years ago as a remedy for universal ills and the natural defilement's of the mind.  Vipassana was and still is today considered an art of living that will deliver the practitioner from mental impurities and bring peace, harmony and full liberation to those who continue to practice the technique. The literal meaning of Vipassana is to see things as they really are.  The purpose of this technique is essentially self-transformation and healing from all human suffering via self-observation and silent meditation.

Meditation Hall:

The "cell" ...

The following describes the technique according to dhamma.org, the official Web site for the practice:

"Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind. It is this observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity, resulting in a balanced mind full of love and compassion.


"The scientific laws that operate one's thoughts, feelings, judgements and sensations become clear. Through direct experience, the nature of how one grows or regresses, how one produces suffering or frees oneself from suffering is understood. Life becomes characterized by increased awareness, non-delusion, self-control and peace.


"Since the time of Buddha, Vipassana has been handed down, to the present day, by an unbroken chain of teachers. Although Indian by descent, the current teacher in this chain, Mr. S.N. Goenka, was born and raised in Burma (Myanmar). While living there he had the good fortune to learn Vipassana from his teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin who was at the time a high Government official. After receiving training from his teacher for fourteen years, Mr. Goenka settled in India and began teaching Vipassana in 1969. Since then he has taught tens of thousands of people of all races and all religions in both the East and West. In 1982 he began to appoint assistant teachers to help him meet the growing demand for Vipassana courses."


"Although Vipassana was developed as a technique by the Buddha, its practice is not limited to Buddhists. There is absolutely no question of conversion. The technique works on the simple basis that all human beings share the same problems and a technique which can eradicate these problems will have a universal application. People from many religious denominations have experienced the benefits of Vipassana meditation, and have found no conflict with their profession of faith."

Once we completed registration, we were told to thoroughly read the "code of discipline" before making our final commitment, as quitting before the ten days are complete is not allowed, and can be harmful to you as well as harmful to others taking the course.  Throughout the course you must obey the following five precepts:

1.  Abstention from killing ANY being (this doesn't mean that you can have someone kill a being for you in order for you to eat it.  That is the same as killing...just FYI!)
2.  Abstention from stealing
3.  Abstention from all sexual activity
4.  Abstention from telling lies
5.  Abstention from all intoxicants

Throughout the ten days "noble silence" must also be observed from the beginning of the course until the morning of the last full day. Noble Silence means silence of body, speech, and mind. Any form of communication with a fellow student, whether by gestures, sign language, written notes, etc., is prohibited.

You are however allowed to speak with the teacher from 12:00 to 12:30 pm and 9:00 to 9:30 pm if you have questions or concerns.  You may also approach the management with any problems related to food, accommodation, health, etc. But even these contacts should be kept to a minimum so you may develop the sense of working in isolation.

Complete segregation of men and women is also to be maintained. Couples, married or otherwise, should not contact each other in any way during the course. The same applies to friends, members of the same family, etc.  I learned this the hard way when I was struck with a bad case of diarrhea on the third night.  I was literally up all night going to the bathroom, and in the beginning of that evening I actually ran out of toilet paper.  The next morning I was expected to talk to the teacher to let him know what my issue was, and when I asked him if I would be able to speak with my husband who incidentally had toilet paper, he laughed at me and said, "no."

I was really upset and offended by the teacher's lack of understanding at first, but after a few hours of meditation, I realized he was probably laughing at the prospect of me breaking my silence to tell my husband about my diarrhea.  In India, the butt shower is customary, and toilet paper is a wasteful enterprise.  Well, let's just say that I mastered the butt shower, and am stronger for it:)

The first and second days of silence were very strange.  I started noticing small details that I usually overlook such as flowers, small plants, animals, and sensations.  I also started to enjoy washing my clothes by hand, and I put great effort into small details.  My mind became more and more clear everyday and I felt happier and happier with each meditation.  This enhanced sense of happiness and freedom did not come with perfection however.  I still became annoyed with little things that I was supposed to not care about like people belching and farting in the middle of meditation.  One morning I heard a fart in Kale's direction and was mortified by the thought that my husband didn't hold his gas.  Later I found out it wasn't him.  I also was annoyed with the lady I sat next to during mealtime because she wouldn't stop smacking her food like a cow...so I was still kind of bitchy even though I was feeling amazing.  Every time I would think bad thoughts about the burping, farting and smacking culprits I would try to turn that disgust into compassion, and 90% of the time it worked.  I would tell myself they couldn't help it or they just didn't know any better.  I also realized that I was creating my own misery by allowing myself to become irritated:)

Basically our schedule was the same for ten days.  We woke up ate 4 am, and had to be in the meditation hall at 4:30 am for meditation.  We had to sit on our meditation pillows without moving until 6:30 am.  I moved a few times, and so did the other students.  Its really difficult to sit still for two straight hours!  At 6:30 am we had breakfast, and we were free to rest or walk until 8 am.  At 8 am we had to be in the meditation hall for one hour of group meditation with the teacher.  At 9 am we got to "take rest" for five minutes, and then at 9:05 am we had to return to the meditation hall for another two hours of meditation.  At 11 am, after meditation, we had lunch.  After lunch we were able to rest or walk until 1 pm.  From 1 to 5 pm we meditated.  Yes.  FOUR HOURS of meditating...I thought I was going to die the first two days...but I didn't die!  At 5 pm we were served tea and a snack, and from 6 to 7 pm we had meditation with the teacher.  From 7 to 8:30 pm we had our teacher's discourse, which was given via video.  After the video we had to go back to the meditation hall to meditate until 9 pm.  At 9 pm we were finally able to "take rest" until 4 am when the day would start all over again.  After the first two days, I actually began to enjoy the schedule.  I actually began to look forward to the meditations.  AND I actually LOVED waking up early before the sun came up. I have NEVER been a morning person, and now I want to get up early everyday to meditate.  That was not like me before Vipassana, but now I can't see myself sleeping in.  Sleeping in seems like such a waste of time now.  I also became accustomed to not eating after noon each day.  I would have breakfast and lunch and then just a lime water or tea for dinner.  I had so much energy and never once felt deprived of food.  I was truly listening to my body's needs, and my body was telling me that I had had enough food after lunch.  It was pretty amazing.

The Meditators!!!

By the time the tenth day rolled around and we were allowed to speak, I felt like talking was going to diminish the great feeling I had.  But I was also anxious to meet the other girls who were participating in the course.  Its difficult to spend ten days meditating and eating with people but not being allowed to speak with them.  They turned out to be lovely...especially two of them (Lenka and Louisa) who I hope to keep in touch with.  When we were dismissed on the twelfth day, five of us took the bus back to Pushkar together.  We parted ways once we got into town, and set a time to meet for lunch.  It was such a great group.  Ravi from Mumbai, Lenka from the Czech Republic, Louisa from Brazil and Kale and I - the token Americans:)  Lenka, Louisa and I had a lot of the same experiences, thoughts and annoyances throughout the ten days.  Kale and Ravi were a little more accepting of situations that us ladies were irritated by...pretty typical I'd say!  The next morning we met at 5:30 am to hike Sivitri Hill to watch the sun rise.  Kale and I got a head start because we weren't sure if the others would feel like waking up, but halfway up the mountain we heard a voice calling to us in our Vipassana meditation guide language..."uninchurred, uninchurred..."  It was Lenka, and the others.  They ended up meeting us after all.  Once we got up to the top of the mountain there was a beautiful sunrise, and as we watched it, we laughed about some of the teacher's catch phrases that he would repeat over and over during our guided meditations...uninchurrrrrrrrrrrred, uninchurrrrrrrrrrrrrrred ... equanimity ... toooootal equanimity ... patiently and persistently, patiently and persistently, you are bound to be successful, bound to be successful ...work diligently, diligently, diligently ... 

Bhang Lassi and The Dude

Last night Heidi and I decided to try the "special pineapple lassi" which is a fruit smoothie laced with the local favorite - marajuana or "bhang" (remember, meat, eggs, and alcohol are banned here, funny there's no crime either). Our server was our hotel owners 12-year-old son.  He made a very good lassi.  We decided to split just one because we didn't know how it would affect us. After gulping it down we sat at the restaurant for a while and didn't notice anything. We left after about 30 minutes and decided to walk around town and have dinner. We went to the Om Shiva where our favorite salad is, and noticed they had a buffet for 100 rupees ($2).  There were five different dishes of popular north Indian cuisine on the buffet, and we really couldn't pass it up.  The food tasted SO GOOD!  lol  Then, about fifteen minutes later, I started laughing really hard for no reason.  And then Heidi started laughing really hard with me.  We were like children.  The other people in the restaurant probably thought we were obnoxious, and we felt like we were back in high school.  The special lassi had done its job.  It was a fun night.  And of course the laughing was constant:) After dinner we headed back to the hotel. On the way we had to stop and get snacks...of course.  We stopped at a street vendor and purchased some mixed nuts and popcorn. The man kept telling us to try his nuts, so we just kept snacking until he decided it was time for us to make a purchase.  When we went to pay, he didn’t have change for a 50 rupee note, so we just kept adding snacks ‘til we bought 50 rupees-worth of nuts, popcorn and a vegan peanut cookie.

Once we got back to the hotel, we started watching The Big Lebowski, which is one of our favorite movies.  This time it seemed really funny through the parts we don't normally laugh at.  We didn't last long though because after the snacks were gone, we started feeling really sleepy.  By the time the dude was freaking out at the bowling alley cause they never gave the kidnappers the money, we were probably entering our first cycle of REM sleep.

Right - so that's about all I got for ya, now.  Probably no more "special lassi" for us for a while.

Namaste:)

Pushkar, Camel Safari and Really Cute Kids!!!

India is amazing, but I wish for one day only the power would not go out, and the flies would go away.  I am sitting at the "Funky Monkey" cafe right now waiting for the power to come back on so the flies will leave me alone.  WOW!  It just happened!  Maybe this means I have good Karma?  Anyway - Kale and I are currently enjoying Pushka.  A little about this town... It's a holy place.  The food served here is strict vegetarian, and alcohol is prohibited.  BUT marijuana is legal, and you can order it as a "lassi," which is similar to a fruit smoothie.  It is listed on menus as the "bhang lassi" or the "special lassi."  These marijuana-laced beverages will run you anywhere from 40 to 80 rupees (90 cents to $1.80) and they are very strong.  Kale and I haven't tried one yet, but we are thinking about sharing one before we become Buddhist monks for 10 days.  Yes.  We are going to enter a Vipassana meditation center for a ten-day retreat.  We will not be allowed to talk for ten days.  It should be interesting.  Kale and I will be separated because males and females are forbidden to interact during the ten-day retreat.  We enter our monkship on October 12, and it ends on October 23.  Between now and then, we plan to just enjoy Pushkar.

Back to Pushkar - it is a sacred Hindu town, the main pilgrimage site of India and one of it's oldest cities.  Pushka is home to the world's only Brahma temple.  Brahma is the Hindu god of creation.  There are more than 500 temples that surround Pushkar's focal point, the sacred lake.  The sacred lake is surrounded by 52 bathing ghats where Hindu pilgrims go to cleanse themselves of sins and disease.  Tourists can walk down to the lake for a blessing, and receive their "Pushkar Passport," and since this includes a donation, there are several locals here that pretend to be priests so they can bless you as well as take you to the cleaners.  :)  However, if you have your passport you get left alone.  The passport is a small orange and red string wrapped and tied around your wrist, kind of like the red Kabbalah string.  Kale has his passport, and I do not.

This photo represents the southwest corner of the lake.  One the right is Sivitri Hill, and if you look closely, you will be able to see Sivitri Temple on the top.  Kale and I are going to climb this hill tomorrow morning.  I'm sure the experience will be lovely, and we'll be able to take some photos of the entire town of Pushkar once we reach the top.    

Yesterday we had scheduled a short camel safari and dinner with a local man named Kalu. We left Pushkar at 3pm and rode into the desert/hills for a couple hours. At one point we stopped to let the camels take a break and have a drink of water, as well as to give our butts a rest. After the break we took off again for another hour or so until we arrived at Kalu's family farm. Here we were greeted by his mother, grandmother and a five kids. Mum gathered a table and chairs for us and made us fresh chai tea. We sipped our tea and talked for a while then she was off to prepare a fantastic feast. While she was cooking we were talking and playing with the kids. Their ages ranged from 3 to 12, 2 boys and 3 girls. The kids were great, they were so happy and playful. One boy was happy doing his own laundry, he was 6. The little girls were the really playful ones, they would take our hand and lead us up a flight of stairs along the side of the home to the roof, their bedroom during summer. There we played dizzy time, picking them up by their arms and spinning around until we were both dizzy, you know the usual games you would play on a roof. Don't worry, there was at least a small wall around the edge. The kids were fearless and happy, they didn't have a tv, video games, or toys. They did have a wide open yard and fields to play in, along with camels to ride. They found stuff to do, they created their play instead of having it created for them. They were the most well behaved kids we have ever seen (aside from our lovely nieces, nephews and godson of course! lol).  One boy, Vikrm, was Kale's camel guide. He is 10 years old and works for his uncle Kalu. He just helps guide the camels on the tours. This boy was very intelligent, quiet, kind and very soft spoken. He was a true little gentlemen.  After we ate dinner, which was a combination plate of chapatti, dal fry, aloo gobi and basmati rice, we followed mum and Kalu's two sisters into a small room to look at Kalu's wedding pictures, as well as other family photo albums.  Whenever we would run across a photo of someone who has passed away, they would point and say, "him/her...die."  There wasn't any sorrow involved with telling us this either.  "He - die ... she - die ...my brother - die ... my sister - die ... my father - die."  The statement was very matter-of-fact, and said without any sadness.  We laughed about it later and now every now and then we say to each other, "he - die."  HAHA 

Here are some photos of our camel safari:

Kale and Vikrm

 Kale looking unfazed just after his camel, Krishna, tried to bite him on the leg!  HAHA!

 This is my camel, Jimmy:)

 Our friend, Olivia and our three camel guides...

 Jimmy

 My guide and I ... I've forgotten his name!!  Oops!

 Local ladies from the village...

 Camel toe :)

 

 Kalu's nieces - they were so sweet!

Here are some other kids we met on the street.  They wanted our bananas, and we couldn't say no to them.  They were way too cute!

Kale loved this motorcycle ... he wants a Royal Enfield when we return to the states.  I think we will buy one and ride it down to Peru ... :)

I took this while walking through a narrow alley.

  

India – Mayhem, Chaos and Naked Men Covered in Ashes...

Kale and I have now been in India for a little more than a month.  It’s been an adventure thus far, and we have only barely gotten started.  We left beautiful and quiet Palolem, Goa on Monday, Oct. 3 and flew to Jaipur, Rhajasthan.  Palolem is where many backpackers go to relax after traveling throughout the utter insanity of this subcontinent.  So Kale and I are actually doing things a little backwards thus leaving our peaceful little paradise on October 3 and heading north toward the insanity.  We were sad to say goodbye to our friends, Krishna and Susana, but we know we will be back to visit at some point.  When we arrived at the airport in Goa we were informed that our flight had been delayed, and instead of leaving around 3 pm, we left around 5 pm.  Bye-bye Palolem:(

We arrived in Jaipur around 8:30 pm, and took a cab to the Evergreen Guest House.  We decided to look at the evening train schedule before booking a room for the night, and found four trains running to Ajmer, which is only 11 km away from our final destination, Pushkar.  From Ajmer, we could catch a 5 am bus to Pushkar for 24 rupees.  We decided to take a rickshaw to the train station to buy a ticket to Ajmer.  After almost hitting a few pedestrians, our driver dropped us at our crowded destination.  The train station was packed with people lying all over the floor.  No one at the train station is too good to sprawl out on the ground and take a rest.  There are babies no more than six months old as well as elderly people possibly in their 80s all sleeping on the ground.  There are families that bring food and blankets and basically “camp out” while they wait for the train that will carry them to their next destination.  Now, I can’t say for sure whether or not everyone there is waiting for a train, or if it is just a place for them to sleep and not be hassled, but either way, the floor of the train station was covered with sleeping bodies.  The ticket counter was another story.  It was basically a mosh pit of people shoving their way to the front of the line.  Queuing up is not the Indian peoples’ specialty  As I waited in what looked like an attempt of a line, a guy came up to me, and told me that this was the men’s line and that ladies never wait in the men’s line.  He was almost laughing at my ignorance about this rule.  He pointed me toward the “ladies line” which was a smaller mosh pit at the front and center of the large mosh pit.  I braced myself, and went for it.  After some shoving, ass-grabbing and a bit of shouting, I successfully procured two tickets to Ajmer for only 100 rupees.  Kale and I would be able to take the next train, which was schedule to leave at 10:35 pm.  We found the departing platform, and decided to have a seat in the middle of the crowded terminal.  There were two small children sound asleep right in front of me who looked no more than 8-years-old, and there was also a very old lady with bare feet sleeping to my left.  There were families with luggage sharing food and conversation everywhere.  It was very loud, and I was graced, every so often, with the potent smell of poop that came from the open latrines in the trains.  Our train was about 45 minutes late, and when it finally arrived, we were told our train cars were located at the front of the train.  When we stepped onto one of the train cars, the space was so crowded that some of the passengers were using the luggage located above the seats as beds.  There was one man nice enough to let us share his seat, and we were off.  The two-hour trip went quickly, and when we arrived in Ajmer it was almost a quarter past 1 am.  We stepped off the train into complete madness.  Some traveling ascetics were playing drums and satyrs and signing/yelling into microphones while a fairly large audience clapped along.

The train station was basically “hopping” at this ungodly hour.  There were vendors left a right yelling, “chai, chai, chai, chaiiiiii.  Chai, chai, chai, chaiiiii,” and there were several small street vendors selling food.  Kale and I decided to try a samosa for 5 rupees before deciding on our next move.  As we enjoyed our snack, we walked past a sea of sleeping and awake bodies to the entrance.  Walking among the sleeping bodies inside the main entrance of the train station was a cow, of course.  Cows rule here by the way.  Drivers will break for cows before they will break for people.

After walking around and trying a couple of the street vendor snacks we decided to “camp out” among the sleeping bodies while waiting for the bus station to open at 5 am. We threw down our yoga mats and tried to catch a nap. It wasn’t easy to rest with the beating drums, vendors yelling, and the occasional breeze blowing thru a fresh or rotten batch of pee and poo.  After 3 or so hours we hailed a rickshaw to the bus station.  As we walked in we were immediately directed toward the bus to Pushkar. The bus was on its way after a 5-minute wait. The trip to Pushkar was about 20 minutes through the mountain pass and switchback roads.
It was 5:30 am when we arrived, awakened for some reason, in Pushkar.  After stepping off the bus we looked around and then at each other and wondered what to do next. The scene was out of an old western movie, dusty dirt street in almost total blackness. There were a few loners walking by here and there, and a man on the curb setting up for morning chai with a couple early customers awaiting their fix. The best part was that it was dead silent (a rarity in India), and the temperature was perfect. We started walking down the street toward what we hoped was the center of town. We asked a man if he knew of the guest house we were looking for and he pointed us in the proper direction. Almost everyone was saying good morning or Namaste to us when we passed. It was very peaceful and calming, thus adding to our excitement of finally having arrived after a grueling 18-hours straight of travel. Eventually, after asking a few more people about our guest house, we found it. One of the men we asked also gave us a business card for another hotel, which would soon prove to be a blessing. Around 0630 we finally got checked in and went to sleep. Unfortunately about 2 hours later construction began on the very building we were in. There was a cement mixer parked right outside our window, which was run by a pretty loud gas engine.

The workers began mixing concrete, using pulleys and buckets to get it up to the top floor while yelling back and forth.  By around noon, we had had enough.  We left the room for a while to walk around.  We pulled out the business card the man gave us earlier that morning and found the hotel. We agreed on a price of 150 rupee per night ($3.00) for a one-week stay. Immediately we rushed back to the other place, packed our crap and paid the man half the fee (200 rupees) for the room since were only checked in for about 8hrs.
Finally we could relax in our new hotel – Mama Luna. With our 700-rupee-per-day budget well within reach now, this meant that we could spend 550 rupee on food alone. That is a LOT of food!

So far we’ve spent our time here exploring, walking around, looking at the shops, trying different juices and foods, doing yoga on the roof top in the mornings with friends.  The highlight on our first day was feeding monkeys on the rooftop of one nice local’s home.

Later today (Thursday) we are taking a camel safari out to the desert. We met a nice man, Caloo, who started this business when he was 13. He and his brothers have run it since then; he is now in his late twenties. The camels seem to be treated very well so we decided to do it. We will start at 3pm and ride for 2 hours out into the desert, and then we’ll stop at his farm where his mother will teach us how to cook (and eat) a traditional Rajasthani meal. After dinner we’ll ride the camels back to town. We will be sure to post many pics and videos later of our camel safari:)

Namaste!