Feeling weak and a little shaky, from a night of vomiting and poor sleep, we finally arrived into Kochi, Kerala, in Southern Coastal India (also spelled Cochin). We went from a super chilly morning in Udaipur, feeling underdressed, to being slapped by the warm wet towel feeling of a hot and humid afternoon in the tropics. Kochi is one of the larger towns in the South, with a population of 600,000.  It took us almost two hours in horrific traffic to finally make it to Fort Cochin, the older, historical neighborhood that we were staying in.  Situated on a promontory by the ocean and reached only by bridges or ferries, this part of the city felt like an oasis of calm in comparison to the inland congestion we had already driven through.  The streets were broad and lined with majestic trees, including banana and coconut palms. We heard birds cawing and spotted kingfishers and bee-eaters. It felt like a vastly different country from the primarily desert biome of the North.  Our homestay was located down a winding alley with rooftop views of neighboring homes amidst tropical trees.  Without air-conditioning, and an inability to open the windows unless we wanted to be devoured by mosquitoes, we tossed and turned all night in a pool of sweat.  We had a tiny room, with a king and a single.  As I was still recovering from being sick, I got the single to myself, while Dan was kicked and smothered by Stella and Gabriel.

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It’s Christmas day, and we are in the North East of India in Shillong, Meghalaya.  I’m more than a month behind in documenting our travels through this diverse country, but this post will finally wrap up our stay in the state of Rajasthan!  I briefly wrote about our iPhone fiasco in Udaipur, but now is the time to expound on our 6-day stay outside of that drama.  Looking back, I cannot gloss over the fact that there was a bit of a black shadow cast over our travels for a while, which I will blame for getting me behind on this blog, but there were also many wonderful memories and experiences which helped to take my mind off any silly dwelling on loss.

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Pushkar is one of India’s top holy cities, and is a place of religious Hindu pilgrimages.  It has hundreds of temples and a manmade lake, which is surrounded by bathing ghats. Due to the religious nature of this area, photography and shoes are strictly prohibited.  The city is also famous for its annual camel fair, during which the city swells to near bursting, with over 200,000 in attendance.  Our stay was about one week before this festival. What I found most bizarre within this holy desert locale, was the crazy, hippy, expat, backpacker community that seems to thrive here.  A large part of the markets cater to a western-Indian clothing and jewelry aesthetic. There are competing falafel joints, complete with menus in Hebrew, and amazing fresh fruit and muesli bars, proudly proclaiming the use of safe and filtered water in all preparations. Walking the streets and people watching, showcases a spectrum of holy devotees and mystical men, side-by-side with your dreadlocked and hippy contingency in ali-baba pants, and the local Indian women in bright saris and bangles, with their men in trousers and button-up shirts.

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This was supposed to be the city that we wouldn’t like.  Described by some other blog posts as pushy and polluted, we were not looking forward to heavy sell tactics. Thankfully, our experience was completely opposite from these accounts, except for some pollution, which we haven’t been able to avoid much in the stagnant air of Rajasthan.  Jodhpur is known as the blue city, for housing an inordinate amount of buildings in this shade, which used to signify the home of a Brahmin (a person of the highest Indian caste of priests/scholars).  Blue is also considered to be a color that acts as a natural mosquito repellant.  Once again, we had booked an accommodation in a neighborhood (Navchokiya) that is unreachable by car.  It is part of the old Medieval city that was built long before vehicles were invented and now has very narrow, windy, and sometimes steep roads that are best suited for scooters, motorcycles, and auto-rickshaws.  I personally wish there were more bicycles and pedestrian-only lanes.

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I love the lush verdant greenery of plants, trees and flowers, as evidenced by my choice to live in Portland, Oregon; but, despite my admiration for emerald vegetation, the desert landscape has the ability to touch some deep part of me, the essence of who I am, like no jungle or forest ever has.  The closer we got to Jaisalmer, the more I feel sucked into its’ sandy depths.  When we finally enter this golden and remote town, we are awed by the massive sandcastle of a fort, rising up in the center.  This is not a perfect city, evidenced by the ubiquitous rubbish and poor sanitation of all densely populated Indian cities, but I immediately feel the romance.  This is a place that has survived the highs and lows of history, once being a stop on the camel-route between Central Asia and India, then ignored with the expansion of sea routes, later shrinking with drought, finally to be a strategic location again during the Pakistan – India wars.  With the eventual modernization of the city, by specifically building key canals to transport water and thus revitalize this ancient desert city on the fringe, tourism could flourish and Jaisalmer rose from the dust.  Now, its’ proximity to open desert, historic havelis, and breathtaking fort and castle are exploited for the tourist dollar.

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Hiring a car and driver was the best decision that we made for our trip.  Although, Dan and I sometimes felt like we were missing out on a more “Indian” experience by not sacrificing our comfort by being in packed buses, or challenging our patience with train-ticket buying and long epic journeys in rickety old locomotives on well-abused tracks.  However, our choice to travel in the relative luxury of our own vehicle, deciding when and where we go, allowed us to avoid much hassle, time wasting, and loss of sanity.  We always had a safe place for our bags during day trips, and were able to expedite all sight-seeing into a shorter time frame.  We’d leave the heat of one fort excursion to recover in an air-conditioned car, and “theoretically” nap between destinations.  We also had a steady soundtrack of Rajasthani music to accent our trip and further punctuate this new world we were exploring.

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