Living It

Got a new camera, a Canon s100, and trying out some built in filters. Liking the fisheye on the taraxacom.

In Fort Greene

Jaisalmer is on the Western edge of the state of Rajasthan in India, and it is one of the few fort towns in the world where people still live within the fort. The architectue of the fort, palace, Jain temples, and havelis is quite majestic.

About 50 kms out of town, there is a little bit of desert.

Hindus worship holy rats in the Karni Mata temple outside of Bikaner in Deshnoke. Pretty disgusting, especially because you’re not allowed to wear shoes and the rats look fairly mangy.

Bikaner is the first city I’ve been to where camels are used as work animals, and outside the city camels were roaming free.

My favorite thing about Bikaner was the kites. Just as on the book Kiterunner, which is set in Afghanistan, in the afternoon the sky was filled with hundreds of kites flown mostly by kids but also some adults. I’ve never seen anything like it, and the i was delighted by the shock of recognition from the book.

From Leh flew to Jammu and took a bus to Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple, the most important temple for Sikhs. Had no idea how striking it would be. It’s centered in a large pool within an enormous complex, and there were thousands of people there both day and night.

Got on the train from there to Bikaner.

There is nothing like going to a distant land to clear your head and make you aware of the things you take for granted.

In Leh and the Ladakh region of India, the power would go out several times a day, heat and hot water was a luxury, Tibetan prayer flags flying everywhere, only one bar, no Western brands at all – not even coca cola, cricket is the most popular sport, monks in dark red robes walking around, snow capped mountains all around, lots of stray dogs, mostly vegetarian food, you drive on the left of poorly maintained roads, Saturday is a “dry day” meaning alcohol AND meat is not allowed, and bathing using a faucet and a bucket.

Except for the bucket part, I really enjoyed it.

We were fooled, because all the roads we saw East of Leh the day before were paved and in good condition. So we rented a motorcycle to check out the sights West of Leh. We got a Pulsar, which is made by Bajaj, the maker of my scooter. In fact, West of Leh there are rockslides on the road and many stretches of dirt roads. In addition, it was probably the most twisted road I’ve ever driven on, and it was definitely the highest at over 11,000 feet.

An hour into our trip, we were descending a mountain, and I was slowly navigating a sharp turn with dirt on top of the asphalt when the bike slid out from under me and we slammed into the ground. Despite the pain, we got up quickly to get out of the road. A car stopped and helped us move the bike, which was scratched up but worked fine. We were wearing multiple layers, which saved us from being torn up. Neither of us wanted to look at our injuries, and we continued for another couple of hours to Lamayuru.

As soon as we got off the bike there, people asked us if we’d been in an accident and were okay. My entire right side was white with the chalky dirt we landed in. Taking the layers off, we were both very bruised on our right legs, my right elbow was skinned, and my phone was busted. It was a couple of days before we stopped limping and people still ask me about the bruises, but it could have been a lot worse.

Regardless, it was a beautiful drive through the high mountains and along a river. Coming back we stopped in Alchi, which was nestled in a valley and resplendant with cherry blossoms.

Not having enough excitement for the day, we almost ran out of gas on the way back.