It all began with a train. Train #00150 from Pune, Maharastra to somewhere in Rajasthan. We were in the 3-tier section where six people squish into a 6x4 compartment for 22 hours. I was with three other exchange students and a large Indian couple who deemed it necessary to invite their entire extended family into our cramped little space. I was compressed into a 1x2 area of space in the dirty corner while our Indian friends and all of their brothers, sisters, children, and grandchildren tried as hard as they could to squeeze in. We quickly realized the problem which appeared when everyone was talking at once, each one convinced that what they had to say was the most important and therefore should be said the loudest- including the little ones. It was a loud, cramped, and unfortunate way to begin our trip, to say the least. However, once we understood that the fam were only saying goodbye and wouldn't be staying it was easy to see the humorous side of the situation until a few hours later when they started snoring like lawnmowers under our heads.
Our first stop was Ranakpur where we visited one of the most beautiful temples I have ever seen. It was made purely from marble and everything from the floor to the windows and columns to each ceiling was intricately hand carved. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures, but I really thought I was in heaven for a few minutes there.
A full day on the bus later, we reached Jodhpur where we took one of our many fort tours. It was an enormous castle-like dwelling which was situated on the top of a hill and overlooking the city beneath it. On the left most of the houses and rooftops were painted blue, whereas on the right they were all different colors. We could see forever, and it was an amazing view helped by the setting sun. The fort was full of different rooms which each had their own theme and carvings in the walls.
Jaisalmer was our next stop, and while shopping here we encountered the most tourists of the trip so far. Julia and I are the only two white people in Coimbatore, so it was really weird seeing other foreigners. Every time we saw one we would point and say excitedly, "white person!" Sounds like an odd thing for a fellow whitie to be doing, but we were deprived. Our tour guide took us to the "Golden City" fort which was by far my favorite thing we saw on the entire trip. It was one of the few forts in India where people still live, and was comprised mainly of houses, tiny narrow paths, tourist shops, and yucky smells. We had to navigate our ways around the open sewer systems, cow pies, venders saying "madam, I will help you spend your money," goats, and cows. The cows were everywhere! I don't know how they knew how to navigate around the paths they could fit into and random drop-offs, but it was pretty cool to just turn a blind corner and there would be a cow chilling in the middle of the road with an oncoming scooter blaring it's horn. We went to these huge centuries-old family housing next. Apparently it began with one small house, then when their children grew up the parents built another house on either side, then when those children grew up they would build new floors and on and on. It reminded me of a beehive, sort of. Our guide repeated a few times the significance of there not being windows in most of the houses. In the "olden days" the women weren't allowed to participate in functions and celebrations of the village, so they made windows which were mostly covered so the women could see out but people couldn't see into the houses.
Our first stop was Ranakpur where we visited one of the most beautiful temples I have ever seen. It was made purely from marble and everything from the floor to the windows and columns to each ceiling was intricately hand carved. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures, but I really thought I was in heaven for a few minutes there.
A full day on the bus later, we reached Jodhpur where we took one of our many fort tours. It was an enormous castle-like dwelling which was situated on the top of a hill and overlooking the city beneath it. On the left most of the houses and rooftops were painted blue, whereas on the right they were all different colors. We could see forever, and it was an amazing view helped by the setting sun. The fort was full of different rooms which each had their own theme and carvings in the walls.
Jaisalmer was our next stop, and while shopping here we encountered the most tourists of the trip so far. Julia and I are the only two white people in Coimbatore, so it was really weird seeing other foreigners. Every time we saw one we would point and say excitedly, "white person!" Sounds like an odd thing for a fellow whitie to be doing, but we were deprived. Our tour guide took us to the "Golden City" fort which was by far my favorite thing we saw on the entire trip. It was one of the few forts in India where people still live, and was comprised mainly of houses, tiny narrow paths, tourist shops, and yucky smells. We had to navigate our ways around the open sewer systems, cow pies, venders saying "madam, I will help you spend your money," goats, and cows. The cows were everywhere! I don't know how they knew how to navigate around the paths they could fit into and random drop-offs, but it was pretty cool to just turn a blind corner and there would be a cow chilling in the middle of the road with an oncoming scooter blaring it's horn. We went to these huge centuries-old family housing next. Apparently it began with one small house, then when their children grew up the parents built another house on either side, then when those children grew up they would build new floors and on and on. It reminded me of a beehive, sort of. Our guide repeated a few times the significance of there not being windows in most of the houses. In the "olden days" the women weren't allowed to participate in functions and celebrations of the village, so they made windows which were mostly covered so the women could see out but people couldn't see into the houses.
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