Rajasthan trip!

Just recently I returned back from a week long Diwali vacation with my family to Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. First to get there we drove about 15 hours on Indias roads (which always includes some dodging of cars, cows, people, and for about half the way potholes). Along the way one exciting thing was when the back of the van I was riding in blew open littering the road with everyones luggage. In hindsight it was comical to watch the oncoming trucks and cars dodging the bags, food packs, and water bottles scattered over the road, but at the time it was a little scary.
Once we reached Jodhpur, and asked 6 different for people for directions we reached our gorgeous hotel on a wildlife filled lake in the middle of the desert. One thing that was really cool about the resort was that on one side of the lake it was quite deluxe with a lovely lawn, garden, nice hotel and restaurant, and then on the other side you could see a small hovel with it’s fire burning silently every morning and night, cows, goats, waterbirds, and a temple that played worship music almost all hours of the day.
Moving out of Jodhpur to officially start our trip in Jaisalmer we stopped at a couple temples. One was a lovely Jain temple with ornately scultped temples, another was a hindu temple with hundreds of stairs leading up looking over the town with its pastel houses of purple, blue, orange, and green. In the inside of the temple the intire inside was covered in colored glass, colored/decorated tiles, and mirrors (really beautiful). Another temple was connected with one of the largest libraries in Asia, and we went at night near Diwali so candles were being lit on all the steps leading to the temple, and all of the houses surrounding.
When we reached Jaisalmer we visited the tourist sights, and being white I really felt like a tourist. It was funny because each time my host mother saw another white person (which was a lot) she would say “Katie look your friends!” The really funny part was that whenever I would say good morning or hello to a westerner they would totally ignore me, but if any of my host family said hello you would have thought they were long lost brothers. In Jaisalmer we went to see the largest inhabited fort in India which was interesting but because I wasn’t India everything like going into the temples with my host family, and everything was difficult. Being a white in India kind of often makes you a target. We also saw a lake that had tons of temples in the middle of the lake, some havelis, which are like Indian Mansions with the walls totally sculpted, and more Havelis.
After a day of sightseeing in Jaisalmer my whole family set out for a desert safari. On the way to the desert safari was that the van we were driving got a flat tire, but personally I enjoyed our time on the side of the road because it gave me time to observe my surroundings, watch a couple working in the dried fields, see their stone hut covered with sticks at the top, and check out further areas with my binoculars.
Once we reached the desert safari my host sister and I rode on one camel together and my host father and brother on the other. Riding on a camel was a lot like riding on a horse, but at the beginning to get up the camel starts with first lifting its hind end and then its front. Honestly it felt like I was on a teeter totter. Through the desert with sand dunes covered with other Indian tourists, traditional dancers, and intrumentalists. I really felt like I was in a tourist area, but thank goodness this time most of them were indians. I was interested to hear that about 70% of the desert inhabitants join the armed forces and all the rest are in the tourist buisness.
Letting us off, and promising to pick us up after sunset, our camel guides left us to enjoy our surrounding sand, sun, music, and fellow tourists. After a beautiful sand dune sunset my family and I were waiting for the camel guides to pick us up. Well of course they didn’t come so my host family and I walked back to our camp. Even though it wasn’t very far I think my host sister and I were the only ones who really enjoyed the hike.
That night we stayed in luxury tents complete with beds, carpet, toilet, lights, ect, and enjoyed the traditional dance and music. At one point all the audience was allowed to come up and join in the dance, and of course I joined in and had a blast. Of course I was the only westerner in our camp so people kept asking to have their picture dancing with me. Afterwards the music band sang a song about me in english, but even though it was in english I only understood about two phrases that they actually sang. The whole evening was a blast, and I ended the desert safari by waking everyone up in the morning to watch the sunrise with me in the morning. I should also add that in the desert the temp reached a low of 14 degrees celcius!! Yeah for cold!
The next day we went back to Jaisalmer to visit a Haveli and go to temple to celebrate the Hidu New Year. At the temple the holy men had brought out the statue and shrine of the god Vishnu into the middle of the partially open air temple. One thing that was special about this Vishnu was that he had a huge diamond in the middle of his chin. The shrine was ornately decorated with silver designs of elephants, flowers, and peacocks on a black background. In front of the Vishnu was a huge pile of cow poop covered in saffron powder and rose petals holding a black rock on a handkerchief. Over the black rock the holy men were pouring milk and then rinsing it with water. To top it all off someone drug in a terrified baby calf to walk in front of the god a couple of times, put a red saffron dot on its forehead, and wrap it in a saffron scarf. When the baby calf went to the bathroom some of the nearby women stuck their hands out to catch the urine and put it on their foreheads.
For the rest of the day we drove back to Jodhpur, saw another Jain temple popular for pilgrimages, ate in its dining hall, and then reached the same resort we stayed at the first night. At Jodhpur we saw the fort, some temples, and palace, did a little shopping and came back. The drive back to Bharuch included some more stops at a couple more temples one kind of tourist destination, and the other a very religious destination that is one of the most heavily visited temples in atleast Gujarat in the city of Umba, worshiping the goddess Umba (durga, pavarti, ect for other names) several thousand people were there, and it was another shove fest to even inch your way any closer. Finally around 2:00 in the morning we reached home after a wonderful trip.