Rajasthan Day 2 - Pushkar Mela

Camel Wala

After a nice vegan breakfast and a couple cups of Masala Chai we headed to the fair. Our fort had camel carts for easy access to the fair.

Passing another camel cart in the desert.

Desert children approached us and invited us back to their hut.

They offered us fresh chapati and chai, we thankfully declined.



At the fair, cow dung was used extensively as cooking fuel.

Pretty camel

Camel Wala - looks like he could tell some stories.

Camel Walis (I don't know the plural for Wala)

Desert family trying to make a few rupees at the fair.

This man was smoking something, couldn't smell what it was.

This lady and I hit it off, she really liked my nose ring.

John and I climbed a water tower to get the bird's eye view.

A couple touring the fair by camel.


So many people...

...as far as the eye can see.

The fair aspect of the Mela was crazy - sooo loud, so many people, carnies and their rusty rides, food peddlers... and this freak show. We were curious but afraid at what we might see so we took a pass.

John was a big hit, people took his photo constantly and wanted to ask him questions. Here a group of students had a list of questions for him including where does he work and how much does he make.

Jenne bought a pearl necklace for Annika from this little boy.

We ate street chaat - twice!


Drum circle!!


We attended a cultural show including these Rajasthani fire dancers.

Rajasthan Day 1 - Amer Fort

Our first day in Rajasthan we spent the morning touring the Amer Fort. Luckily, John and Jenne had been there before so we had excellent tour guides.

In the cool of the morning elephants are available to take tourists up to the Fort.

The ride was a little hairy, our saddle wasn't on straight and our elephant was a little tempramental, but it was all worth it.






When we arrived at the fort we rode the elephants into a huge, impressive courtyard.

We thanked our elephant for the safe journey.

She is 25 years old.




A pretty cleaning lady asked us to take her picture, Jenne took this one. Beautiful.



One section of the fort was decorated in tiny mirrors.




Bree isn't too fond of bats...

Nicest Coke stand I've seen.

My first snake charmers in India!!

After the Amer Fort we had a 3.5 hour drive ahead of us to get to Pushkar. Half way there our driver recommended a lunch spot. As soon as we arrived we realized there must be something in it for him because it was spendy and the other diners were White Westerners too - even though we were in the middle of no where.

After lunch I pet some cows in a nearby field and admired the plastic dumping ground.


While having lunch 3 herds of camels went walking by. They were purchased in Pushkar and were being walked to their new homes.


When we arrived at our tent city, Pushkar Fort, we were upgraded to tents with concrete walls. I had requested full tents but quickly realized the AC offered in the upgraded tents was a a bonus, so we stayed in the half-tents.


Our upgraded tent

Tent I had reserved
Our tent came with hot/cold running water, full bathroom, A/C, 3 meals/day (Vegan meals due to the religious aspect of the festival), and close proximity to the Pushkar Mela yet far enough away to be quiet and relaxing when away from the Fair.

My first Pumpkin Pie in India

A group of friends are getting together tonight and for fun I've made a pumpkin pie.

Decorative pumpkins I bought for Halloween... now will be sacrificed for the pie.

cleaning and peeling

Pressure cooker!! Whoot whoot! Even put cinnamon sticks in with the pumpkin while cooking. House smelled great!

My micro/convection oven
Can't wait to try it!

Dad in Turkey - Izmir

Hi All

It is Wednesday evening and we are in Izmir on the west coast of Turkey. Izmir is the largest port in this area. We are staying the Hilton Hotel. My room is on the 30th floor and over looks the harbor. Fantastic view.

Today we visited the largest archaelogical ruin in Turkey. The town of Efes was founded in 700 BC by the Greeks. Then it changed hands many times. It was ruled by the Romans, Turks, back to the Romans, etc., etc. In the 2nd century AD there were 250.000 people living in the city. It was the 4th largest city of the Roman Empire. In 900AD the city was totally abandoned because of frequent and devistating earthquakes. During one quake the major river supplying most of their water changed course and the harbor silted over. When that happened large swamps developed and malaria became so bad, they decided to move inland. So for 1000 years the city was slowly covered by dirt and it wasn't until 1904 when some Austrian archaelgists started digging in the area did they realize what was there.

Tomorrow will be our longest travel day. Wake up call at 6, bags out in the hallway at 6:30 and on the bus at 7. We are heading north to see Troy and hear about the famous horse. Then the following morning we visit a famous battle field of the 1st WW before driving on to Istanbul. Saturday we will have a full day city tour and then a farewell dinner. Sunday everybody heads home.

My travel companion for the past week is a widow from Cambridge, England. She is well traveled but this is her 1st package tour. She has enjoyed it, except for a mis-hap 2 days ago. She slipped and fell and cracked a bone in right wrist. We have three doctors in our group, so she has been well looked after. She will wait until she gets back to Cambridge to get it X-Rayed and put in a cast, if necessary.

Our tour guide, Atakan, has been warning us since we left Istanbul that November is the rainy season in Turkey and that we should keep our raincoats and umbrellas handy. There were days when it looked threating but no rain. Today it caught up with us. We had rain at Efes, a real downpour when eating lunch and then a late afternoon storm here in Izmir after our arrival.

Well, it is 9:30 pm here, so I am going to log off and go to bed. Long day tomorrow.

Regards,

John

Linda's Halloween in Egypt

Hi family -
We managed to locate and purchase 2 pumpkins here in Alexandria... it took us 2 days to locate a vendor who carried any, and it felt like a victory when our driver spotted them as we were searching for a baseball cap for Dad :-) That's another story - found baseball hats with NY or Canada or Toyota or other logos, but not a one with Alexandria or Egypt or anything remotely Egyptian in motif upon the brim... poor Dad had to leave Alex hat-less.

Halloween is not observed here, and the neighbors were very very confused when we asked them to come over to see our carved and glowing pumpkins!!! We didn't make any costumes, nor did we have any trick or treaters. In fact, it's difficult to even remember that it's autumn: the palm trees are still green, the sand is still sandy, the sky is still blue. Just today Drew and I wore long sleeve shirts for the first time (no jackets yet) because the temperatures dipped into the low 70's.

We enjoyed Dad's visit with us, and it's hard to believe he's been gone more than a week already. We played tourist in Cairo and then here in Alex, went for walks along the Mediterranean Sea, and went on "field trips" to the main sites around town. He was a celebrity at my local farmer's market, and I hope he enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed having him.

Kaisa has been home from school for a week and 2 days... last week she had a really low grade fever (but the Egyptians are paranoid about the H1N1 flu and check every student when they arrive at school.. if you have a fever, you go home); then over the weekend, her fever broke (yea!) but she started a bout with pink-eye... in both eyes. They've been glued shut every morning. Oh joy. Otherwise, though, she feels perfectly fine, so I'm still making her do all her homework (which JP is bringing home each day). Maybe tomorrow will be the day? Hope so.

Drew and I are fine, so is Jon.
Thanks for your wonderful emails keeping us informed of the goings-on back in the states. We really like knowing what's up.
Hugs to you all,
Linda and family

Dad in Turkey - Antalya

Hi All

We are in the resort town of Antalya. It is the Turkish equivalent of the French Reviera. Lots and lots of resort hotels, up scale shopping, etc. Antalya has the second busiest airport in Turkey.

We slept in this morning. Didn't have to be on the bus until 9'30am. We drove only 15 minutes to the harbor where we boarded a boat and took a ride along the coast until we came to a small waterfall. Then they dropped anchor and about 20 of us jumped into the Med for a swim. It was surprisingly warm compared to Pajaro Dunes. We could swim around in a very smooth sea. No waves. When I got out of the water the air temperature was colder than the water.

When we got back to port, we walked to a restaurant area and had lunch.

Then back to the hotel for free time. The first free time we have had on the trip. I spent some time in the room then went for a nice walk down to the beach and then along a very nice walkway. Much like the one Linda has in Maamora Beach.

I just finished dinner. The food here in the Sheraton Hotel has been excellent.

Tomorrow we are off to see some more unusual rock formations. Our guide told us that if we want to go to a special calcium deposit in a river then we have to go barefoot and roll up our pants or wear shorts. To be seen if I want to take in this attraction.

A week from today I fly to London. The tour will be over. We still have several important sights to see and then a full day in Istanbul when we return.

All for now. Must go and pack.

Love

Dad/John