Does A Tent With Electricity Count As Camping? / 30 Oct 09

Departed late (10am) from Jaipur. Before leaving we were met at the hotel by Mahmud who delivered rings we’d purchased yesterday that needed sizing. Because of the long distance between Jaipur and Pushkar our local contact Ahmit recommended that we eat lunch in Jaipur at the nearby Raj Palace hotel, a totally austere pretentious hotel. Not a hotel I’d ever want to stay at. Left at 2pm for Pushkar and arrived around 7. On the way we stopped at the rest stop we’d stopped at last year with Santa Fe Weaving Gallery. It must be “the rest stop” for tourists. Vijay, our wonderful driver, bought a DVD to show in the van, which turned out to be completely in Hindi but we tried to follow along anyway.

Had difficulty finding the royal tented camp as we approached and stopped several times to ask locals for directions. Pushkar looked like a honkey tonk carnival town with ferris wheels and flashing lights. Main street looked like something out of Woodstock with long matted-haired wise men and camels and awful booths selling junk.

At last we arrived the “Royal Tents” and checked in. Tents had a flap over the door and flap between main area and bathroom. The bath had what appeared to be a port-a-potty with a wooden seat but it flushed! Water at the sink came out of an old teapot; you turned the key a half turn and little water dribbled out and then another half turn to shut off. Bathing involved a hose and two buckets, one with cold water and one with hot, which you needed to request 5 minutes before needing.

The wait staff was incredibly attentive. They wore belted jackets and dhoti and beautifully colored turbans. We were supposed to put a little red flag outside when we needed something but as soon as we lifted the flag to go outside to post the flag, the staff came running across the sand.

Pushkar is located in the desert of Rajasthan and there are extreme fluxuations between day and evening temperature. At this time of year daytime can be 95 degrees and in the evening 45. I needed two blankets in order to sleep. So before leaving for the big dinner tent we put in an order for blankets. Dinner at the royal camp is a vegetarian ("Veg" as Indians call it) buffet. This is my favorite food on the trip so far. Especially wonderful are the lentil and bean dishes. By the time we returned to our tents it was freezing and we hurried into our pajamas and rushed to get under the covers.

"Contemporary is Very Temporary" / 29 Oct 09

As unbelievable as it may seem, yesterday's shopping did not quelch our appetite for looking in more of Jaipur's attractive shops. We rejoined our guide, Kr. Vikram Singh Solanki, whose life story and heritage is worthy of an entirely separate blog entry. Suffice it to say that one of his uncles is the Maharajah of Bundi (one of Rajasthan's old feudal domains). Because Vikram's father was not the eldest son (that son would be the Prince) his father has the title of Thakur of Bundi, a title that Vikram will inherit one day. As part of Vikram's current responsibilities, he inaugurates "puri" or festivals, at the 35 villages making up his family's domain. "Kr." conveys his Thakur status.

It's not interesting to detail our various shopping escapades except to note that we had all been looking forward to returning to ANDRAAB, a shop owned by two identical twin Kashmiri brothers (a photo of Moussa Andraab is included here). This is my favorite shop in Jaipur because of their exquisite Kashmir shawls. We left with multiple bags...

Another highlight of the day was finding an enamel pendant similar to something Ferris bought last year of Lord Krishna, or rather one of his many incarnations, SHREE NAT JI. It popped up completely unexpectedly. We stopped at a textile shop near the Jaipur Palace and I brushed several items off the glass countertop and immediately saw it. The shop owner, Subash, is an extremely knowledgeable and sophisticated antique dealer who specializes in exquisite antique textiles. We had stopped at this shop last year when we came to Jaipur with the Santa Fe Weaving Gallery. We were having a very pleasant conversation, looking at antique bandani and asking lots of questions about other textiles when at some point he made the sage comment "you know, contemporary is very temporary". Later, we must have been discussing bartering in India when he said "you know, I am not 100% honest". We thoroughly enjoyed Subash. He reminded me a wise Indian sage. I am thrilled to have found my Shree Nat Ji at last; it will be a treasured possession. I include a photo of me with Subash in todays post.

I'm suddenly out of time...we're headed off to Pushkar tomorrow so I will try to continue as soon as possible. I don't know how much email or blogging access we'll have but I'm sure that Cliff will move camels and elephants to get to an internet cafe.

Oh yes, as we passed a wedding palace last light, I GOT TO TOUCH AN ELEPHANT. Isn't he beautiful?

Jaipur Like A Native / 28 Oct 09

Today had total immersion into Jaipur fashion and shopping scene. Ferris contracted a young British woman whom she'd read about in Conde Nast Traveler to take us around to her favorite shops. Her company is called India Beat. We probably stopped in 20 shops and by the end of the day we collectively had acquired tablecloths, jackets, quilted vests, shawls, shibori jackets, face creams, jewelry and perhaps best of all liquor (to prepare for "dry" Pushkar).

One notable stop was at a local doctor who we needed to take a look at Cliff who's been suffering from laryngitis. We hope he will recover quickly as it is not the same with a mute Cliff writing notes to us on his iPhone and text messaging.

Jaipur Redux / 27 Oct 09

Samode Village Dollars and Scents / 26 Oct 09

Ferris and I woke up to discover that our room has a lovely patio overlooking the pool. Usually hotel pools are pretty unattractive but this one has a perfect design to fit the style of a Maharajah's palace. Here is a view of the pool from our room.

At breakfast we struck up a conversation with a waiter who invited us to come to his home in the village at the bottom of the hill. Cliff, Cathy, Ferris and I thought this was a great opportunity and agreed to meet him at 10:30. Took a jeep into town and visited his home. His family specializes in making bejeweled bangles made from laq. We left with boxes of them. Next to the home of a shoemaker. And last to the home of a stonecutter (as in gems) and, well, you can guess the result.

The town had narrow streets and blue-hued homes with doors of varying bright colors. Donkey carts passed by and goats and herd of boars...

Back to the hotel around 3. We had all scheduled massages for 4:00. Very blissful experience despite having to navigate a spiral staircase in a mini-spa robe with little underneath.

Tonight we plan to have dinner outdoors at the hotel and then watch a Bollywood movie in Cliff and Cathy's room. We'll see if we make it up that long.

Samode Palace Spectacular / 25 Oct 09

Today we met up with Ferris (who arrived last night) and visited the National Museum of Art and the Crafts Museum in Delhi. We particularly enjoyed the extraordinary Indian textile collection at the Crafts Museum. Craftspeople from all over India had been invited to sell their wares in an outdoor courtyard and we dedicated shoppers helped them out.

Caught a 5 pm flight to Jaipur and arrived around 8:30. Then drove one and a half hours to the Samode Palace Hotel which is the spectacular renovated home of a former Maharajah of Samode. We walked up a steep incline and approached the walled palace in darkness. We were told to close our eyes and turn to face the palace and after a countdown to open our eyes. When we opened them we saw the palace edged in lights. After dinner in an outdoor courtyard we were taken on a tour of the palace and finally arrived at our rooms at midnight.