2015/11/17
Sweets in Jaisalmer
[J.] We tested our sweet Indian tooth today while hunting some samosas in the streets of Jaisalmer. Apparently, this shop is the best to buy sweets and the convincing indicator for us were all the locals busy buying there as well...
So, my teeth only survived a few of these sweets, never thought that too sweet is actually possible!! Still, I am in sweet heaven.
So, my teeth only survived a few of these sweets, never thought that too sweet is actually possible!! Still, I am in sweet heaven.
Jaisalmer, India
[J.] Aaaaah, Jaisalmer! What a beauty, what a sight. A town and its amazing fort built of yellow sandstone...
The first day after arriving in this town, we felt like we finally arrived in our holiday. We spent the day at the roof top restaurant of our hotel, super lazy, making further plans, drinking coffee and lassi and enjoyed the stunning view from there onto the fort in the near distance.
The next day, we wandered through the streets and visited the fort, windowshopping all the beautiful crafts and art available for sale, having the idea of inviting all friends and families to join our trip under the condition of arriving with empty luggage so that they can take home all the things I want to buy. *sigh*
We took a break at the little Kuku coffee shop at one inner corner of the fort and had a breathtaking view over the city, the real italian coffee deal and a divine fig milkshake. Totally yum!
We took a break at the little Kuku coffee shop at one inner corner of the fort and had a breathtaking view over the city, the real italian coffee deal and a divine fig milkshake. Totally yum!
Here is a short video that we made to say `Thank you` to our amazing guide Bhawani from the Pleasant Haveli Camel Safari.
One minute in Delhi
It almost feels like Weiberfastnacht in Cologne just without the Kölsch and the music ...
This should be a lot better already
2015/11/16
Bikaner, India
[J.] After the hectic days in Delhi, Bikaner was a relaxing stop for us for two days on our way to Jaisalmer. We stayed in a family guesthouse and spent a lot of time resting, organising the next stays and wandering through the old city (while getting terribly lost in this maze of little streets).
The bazaar streets were not that crowded and most of the vendors did not bother us. We did not visit the rat temple nearby Bikaner where rats are considered holy and bringing luck. Other tourists told us though that this temple appeared strange/weird for them as it is very dirty with rat poo all over and walking across this sacred temple required the shoes to be taken off. Uuurgh! Someone even told us that it is believed to bring luck to eat the food from the floor that the rats left behind and that she saw a woman doing this. While I consider myself being open minded, I am really not too sure about this... ;)
The bazaar streets were not that crowded and most of the vendors did not bother us. We did not visit the rat temple nearby Bikaner where rats are considered holy and bringing luck. Other tourists told us though that this temple appeared strange/weird for them as it is very dirty with rat poo all over and walking across this sacred temple required the shoes to be taken off. Uuurgh! Someone even told us that it is believed to bring luck to eat the food from the floor that the rats left behind and that she saw a woman doing this. While I consider myself being open minded, I am really not too sure about this... ;)
Two experiences stood out for me while being in Bikaner and made the stay there really rewarding:
1) When walking through the old city we passed a tiny little shop of a tailor. I have a scarf with me that I bought in Zambia that needed to be fixed and with hands and signs I asked him if he could help me. He did and when I wanted to pay him he refused to take any money, regardless of how hard I tried. That totally made my day after the Delhi experience where it sometimes feels like everyone is out to rip you off.
2) On our way to Jaisalmer, we met an Indian guy in the train who shared a lot of stories with us about his life. He was on his way back from Bikaner to his home after having spent a day with his sister. And he shared all the sweets he was taking with him with us. Super sweet and super delicious!!!
1) When walking through the old city we passed a tiny little shop of a tailor. I have a scarf with me that I bought in Zambia that needed to be fixed and with hands and signs I asked him if he could help me. He did and when I wanted to pay him he refused to take any money, regardless of how hard I tried. That totally made my day after the Delhi experience where it sometimes feels like everyone is out to rip you off.
2) On our way to Jaisalmer, we met an Indian guy in the train who shared a lot of stories with us about his life. He was on his way back from Bikaner to his home after having spent a day with his sister. And he shared all the sweets he was taking with him with us. Super sweet and super delicious!!!
2015/11/15
Delhi, India - finally starting our trip!!!
[J.] Finally, after leaving SA and spending some weeks in Germany with family and friends we are on our way to India to start our trip.
For me personally the trip started at the trainstation Schierbrok, Germany where I was catching the train to the airport in Frankfurt. My mom lives here and I was spending the last few days with here and our dogs, who savely arrived in Germany and will stay with my mom and her two dogs for the next year. While waiting for the train I could hear our dogs bark over a field of around 200meters distance and it made me so sad...
Okay, Delhi now!!
We arrived in this big city basically unprepared. We have not really had the time to read up a lot on the Indian culture or anything that we would normally do before arriving in a new country. That paid us back on our first day where we were about to run into a classic scam, so annoying! The taxi driver took us to a street that was apparently blocked by the police and droped us off at a tourist information place where they pretended to call our hotel (was some fake guy) and who told us the hotel is closed during the morning. We were quite confused and tired and stressed but overall their story was not consistent and it became quite apparent that they just want to sell another trip to us... All the time they were very friendly and even offered us a coffee for free.
So, we were leaving this office and gathered our options while I was having a cigarette when the next guy approached us showing us a map and telling us that we need to go here and there and blablabla... Everytime, we asked him to show us on the map where we are and where we have to go, the direction was another... Then I thought, okay, this is not leading anywhere, let me take a picture of this map and then we just walk. In order to do so, I asked Nicolai to hold my cigarette and saw him inhaling twice deeply which he has not done for 5 years!! Haha... So much for starting your journey relaxed!
We arrived in this big city basically unprepared. We have not really had the time to read up a lot on the Indian culture or anything that we would normally do before arriving in a new country. That paid us back on our first day where we were about to run into a classic scam, so annoying! The taxi driver took us to a street that was apparently blocked by the police and droped us off at a tourist information place where they pretended to call our hotel (was some fake guy) and who told us the hotel is closed during the morning. We were quite confused and tired and stressed but overall their story was not consistent and it became quite apparent that they just want to sell another trip to us... All the time they were very friendly and even offered us a coffee for free.
So, we were leaving this office and gathered our options while I was having a cigarette when the next guy approached us showing us a map and telling us that we need to go here and there and blablabla... Everytime, we asked him to show us on the map where we are and where we have to go, the direction was another... Then I thought, okay, this is not leading anywhere, let me take a picture of this map and then we just walk. In order to do so, I asked Nicolai to hold my cigarette and saw him inhaling twice deeply which he has not done for 5 years!! Haha... So much for starting your journey relaxed!
Lessons learnt so far:
- Dont trust anyone blindly who is approaching you first
- Dont trust anyone blindly who is approaching you telling you that he does not want your money. For sure he will direct you somewhere where you clearly dont want to go
- Be informed, haha!
- Have an offline map installed on your phone that can navigate you. This has already saved us a couple of times and tends to work when you let the rickshaw driver know that you know where you wanna go :)
- If someone tells you without you asking that this and that is closed, with a probability of 99% it is not closed.
- Dont trust anyone blindly who is approaching you first
- Dont trust anyone blindly who is approaching you telling you that he does not want your money. For sure he will direct you somewhere where you clearly dont want to go
- Be informed, haha!
- Have an offline map installed on your phone that can navigate you. This has already saved us a couple of times and tends to work when you let the rickshaw driver know that you know where you wanna go :)
- If someone tells you without you asking that this and that is closed, with a probability of 99% it is not closed.
All in all, 3 days in Delhi were very interesting, loud, busy, dirty and hectic. We are curious about how the rest of India looks like and are heading west to Bikaner into the desert...
The pic below shows the Main Bazar Road in Delhi where we stayed for the first 3 days.
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