Jaisalmer - Agra - Rishikesh - Haridwar

It's been a while now since I got around to write the blog. In the meantime Paul and myself are back in Europe, but I still wanted to give an update on what we did in the last two weeks in India.

After our monster journey of 48 hours on the train from Hampi the Indian rail spit us out in Jaisalmer. This is in the North-East of India in the Thar desert. And yes it is dry and again hot! A pretty, small city with a gigantic sand castle, eh fort.

Jaisalmer with it's fort

We spent a lot of time exploring all the little streets with the hidden shops and restaurants until we descided to the THE tourist thing in Jaisalmer. A camel safari. We opted for two days with an overnight stay in the desert. Our two guides were great, the camels smelly, the sun was burning, but we had a great time. A camel ride sure is bumpy, but It was worth the sore bums!!

The apprentice camel driver

From Jaisalmer we went on an eventful bus journey to Agra via Jaipur. We booked an overnight sleeper bus which was hijacked in the middle of the night. Somebody thought it might be a good idea to relieve the fare collector from all the money, but he didn't expect that the collector would be very restistant to it and people outside the bus would come to his rescue. When I looked outside the bus window, I saw a crowd beating a few guys with all they had - fists, legs and plastic chairs. After lot of commodery, waiting and a visit from the police, we were able to continue our journey.

The next morning we had planned to catch the next bus from Jaipur to Agra. But turns out we were sold an invalid ticket, as there was no bus service to Agra in August. Thanks to Paul's persistance we got a place on one of the wonderful state busses - my personal favourite - and six hours later we arrived in Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal.

We sorted our accommodation, paid the incredibly expensive entrance fee and joined the long queue to get into the Taj area. It's a truly beautiful and impressive building. We loved it. However after about half an hour - we were in the queque to get inside the inner Taj building - heaven's opened. To say it rained would be an understatement, it poured. The queue quickly dissolved as everyone was running for the Taj entrance which is not bigger than the door to a normal house. Lot's of pushing and squashing of body parts, but we managed to get inside without getting soaked. German-Irish efficiency!

From Agra we travelled to Rishikesh. Nestled at the foothill of the Himalayas and divided by the holy Ganges this little village claims to be the Yoga capital of the world. We stayed in an Ashram and indulged in yoga lessons and ayuvedic massages. It's a special place and you don't mind waking up at 5 am to the prayer bells and the chanting of the pilgrims and saddhus (holy men), because it is just so beautiful. We had nearly a week to spent there, but it was not enough time, we wished for more.

Rishikesh

On the way back we stopped in Haridwar, not far from Rishikesh. A major pilgrim spot, Hindus gather there in the evenings to take their bath in the Ganges to wash away their sins and to offer the gods their sacrifices for good luck. They are called Puja and are little boats made out of banana leaves filled with colouful flowers and candles. The puja is lit and then released in the Ganges. We took part in the ceremonies, making our offers (who doesn't need luck?) and getting the blessing from the Hindu priests. It was a very impressive and captivating experience and what better way to finish our time in India.

Taking part at the Ganga Aarti