from blue to brown

la forteresse de jodphur


















sophia la tortue *************** reunion de quartier















karis et notre ami le docteur/cuisinier/magicien/camel rider Natwer *** jodhpur the blue city

















salon du marajah


forteresse de merhandar





















pour finir le plat traditionnel = le thali

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within the chaos of jodphur lies a few gems, which for me, helped alot. the fort for example was incredibly interesting and almost unreal. its endless courtyards, littered with shining stones and material. after this excursion, it became clear why jodphur is known as the blue city.

we also made a toe-eating friend named sophia. no it was not a cow, dog, cat nor goat but a tortoise...and indeed, she had a fetish for toes. turned out to be the household pet of our hotel, the blue house.

i left quite happily on a government bus. i was complaining about the so called delux buses, well this was REALLY a government bus. hard, cracked seats and all. surprisingly enough, the journey was rather enjoyable. the humid air (even at 6am, the air is not chilly) rushing in from all angles, us mingling with the locals, them trying to make conversation and us not understanding a word ( we aren't too fluent in hindi just yet)...you know, the same old bus trip ;)

jaisalmer was our destination of choice this time. it is situated in the thar desert and if i thought there were only cows, cats, dogs and goats running around, clearly i was wrong. i now have to add camels and the odd donkey. so as you may have guessed, animals are sacred, even the bleeding pigeons are too. so they are everywhere, just like in paris, but here, noone chases them away or tries to hit them with stones etc, they are holy. needless to say, i am going to have much luck --- you know the story with a bird pooping on ones head. i'll leave it at that -

if i had to define jaisalmer in a few words (i don't want to bore you after not even a month of travelling), i would say its like a giant sand castle. the buildings, havelis, forts all look as though they have been constructed in sand. truly mind blowing.

welcome to the wild, wild west...hopefully, without the guns!!

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petit a petit on commence a prendre nos petites habitudes et la routine du voyageur se met en place. arrivee dans une nouvelle ville, gerer les 200 taxis locaux qui veulent tous nous emmener dans le meilleur hotel du monde, se perdre dans les rues, apprecier nos 5 douches quotidiennes, decouvrir des paysages et rencontrer des gens aux moments les plus innatendus.
comme ce matin, alors qu'on arrive a Jaisalmer, aux portes du desert, on s'arrete chez un epicier/cafe/docteur/masseur/cuisinier pour acheter une bouteille d'eau et voila qu'on se retrouve invite pour un the et qu'il nous raconte un peu sa vie et nous parle du desert.
demain pour nous c'est le safari de chameau dans le desert avec nuit a la belle etoile, je sais ca fait vraiment touriste mais ca a l'air vraiment sympa...