udaipur, jaisalmer, jaipur, delhi
fam and friends!
i've been on the road quite a bit for the past two weeks, stopping in four major cities for a few days at a time.
first was udaipur, a small city with unrivaled beauty in its location and architecture. originally founded in the middle of a dessert, about 10 years ago a massive rainstorm so severe (or promising) created a lake in the middle of the city. this was the first time in india that i felt like i was in a foreign country; i know that sounds weird but with the 'aladdin' style buildings and a gorgeous body of water flowing thru the vast sands, i have to say this is one of the most aesthetically pleasing places i've ever seen. and it doesn't hurt that the sun is always shinning (it's a dessert after all!). it made me think what paris may look like, although without the indian people and the indian buildings and the dessert sands and the cows everywhere. actually, i don't really know why i thought of paris. but! i did smoke out of a real indian hookah for the first time on my birthday!
next stop inez and i took a 12 hour train ride to spend two nights in jaisalmer specifically for a camel safari. it was totally worth it. we rode camels all day to come upon a sand dune in which we slept under the stars. besides a few ants eating me during the night, sleeping with the moon and stars overhead kinda makes me want to become a dessert hermit, if only for one night.
my camel was a pain in the ass. he was always groaning (do camels groan?) whenever one of the drivers would conduct an order, but i sympathized thinking he just hated his line of work, as i was the same way when i was working back home. so i tried to free the bastard in the middle of the night, but he got pissy at me for that, too. dumb camel. maybe he just likes complaining...
after the camel stint, we went to jaipur to join in on the annual 'holi festival'. 'holi' is renown for celebrating all religions and castes throughout entire india, and is known for throwing powder and liquid forms of color everywhere and on everyone. people were literally covered head to toe in the stuff. it was a messy, beautiful day.
my last stint in india consisted of delhi for a night, which isn't really much to type home about, as i saw it as just another crowded, tourist city. i just went there to catch a flight to bangkok, as i am now in... THAILAND!!
talk with you guys soon :)
hi grandma and grandpa!!
fam and friends!
i've been on the road quite a bit for the past two weeks, stopping in four major cities for a few days at a time.
first was udaipur, a small city with unrivaled beauty in its location and architecture. originally founded in the middle of a dessert, about 10 years ago a massive rainstorm so severe (or promising) created a lake in the middle of the city. this was the first time in india that i felt like i was in a foreign country; i know that sounds weird but with the 'aladdin' style buildings and a gorgeous body of water flowing thru the vast sands, i have to say this is one of the most aesthetically pleasing places i've ever seen. and it doesn't hurt that the sun is always shinning (it's a dessert after all!). it made me think what paris may look like, although without the indian people and the indian buildings and the dessert sands and the cows everywhere. actually, i don't really know why i thought of paris. but! i did smoke out of a real indian hookah for the first time on my birthday!
udaipur
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indian hookah! (not much dif from any other hookah tho, lol)
i just liked this pic
next stop inez and i took a 12 hour train ride to spend two nights in jaisalmer specifically for a camel safari. it was totally worth it. we rode camels all day to come upon a sand dune in which we slept under the stars. besides a few ants eating me during the night, sleeping with the moon and stars overhead kinda makes me want to become a dessert hermit, if only for one night.
my camel was a pain in the ass. he was always groaning (do camels groan?) whenever one of the drivers would conduct an order, but i sympathized thinking he just hated his line of work, as i was the same way when i was working back home. so i tried to free the bastard in the middle of the night, but he got pissy at me for that, too. dumb camel. maybe he just likes complaining...
our little group of 11 (3 drivers, 8 riders)
my stubborn-ass camel
damn tourists...
small village along the way
the dessert dunes
after the camel stint, we went to jaipur to join in on the annual 'holi festival'. 'holi' is renown for celebrating all religions and castes throughout entire india, and is known for throwing powder and liquid forms of color everywhere and on everyone. people were literally covered head to toe in the stuff. it was a messy, beautiful day.
colored power was sold eeeeeverywhere
a painted elephant
another painted elephant
two painted elephants
in the color scheme of things, i got off easy compared to most
my last stint in india consisted of delhi for a night, which isn't really much to type home about, as i saw it as just another crowded, tourist city. i just went there to catch a flight to bangkok, as i am now in... THAILAND!!
talk with you guys soon :)
hi grandma and grandpa!!
You're an expert blogger, is it an "Andrade thing"? I enjoy Steph's blog too. The pictures you are taking look like postcards, I am so happy for you to experience this. My favorite part is sympathizing with the camel over his line of work. Too funny, Paul. I talked to Sarah for a long time yesterday, she misses you a lot. I look forward to pictures of Thailand, I am interested to see what the "real" Thailand is about.
ReplyDeleteTake care!
What was your camel's name?
ReplyDeleteYes, if you changed everything about Paris it would look exactly like Udaipur :)
ReplyDeleteI love that you were there for the Holi Festival! That's been on my 'list' for a while. You look so happy, it makes my heart smile.
Your poor camel. He's probably an artist by night, and just does this to pay the bills.
haha cory, it's so funny the whole time riding my camel i was trying so hard to give him a name but nothing came. so i called him "camel".
ReplyDeletei think they ride those guys pretty hard man. when we arrived at our launching pad for camel take-off, we used the same camels that were ridden the day before into the next morning. and when we came back a day later the next group took the same ones. i'm thinkin it's prolly his full-time job.
steph has a blog??
Seeing you covered in color just made my Monday. I'm so glad you are keeping up with the blogging! I want more :)
ReplyDeletexoxo
Wonderful. :)
ReplyDeleteMow mow.