Jodhpur to Udaipur

There was no need to linger in Jodphur, I was anxious to see more of India. The first day was a slog of ugly wide highways. Near the urban areas of India this is kind of unavoidable. I suppose you could always find a better route if you’re savvy, but it’s always going to be a crapshoot regarding road conditions, and much slower, and you’ll constantly be looking at your phone to see where to turn next, which is never much fun. However, it does improve the quality of the journey by about ten-fold. Sometimes in cycle touring you want to get someplace fast, but cycle touring is only beautiful when you take your time and aren’t particularly concerned with getting anywhere at all. That is the meditative bliss of cycling. When you get on the highway and take the direct path, sure you’re getting exercise, but there’s no magic. There’s also no shelter from the sun. And that’s what really drains my battery. Thankfully, there was still smoke covering the skies of Rajasthan, diminishing the suns potency and allowing me to cycle without sunscreen. But the heat was still there. It was my first time dealing with heat since Delhi. It wasn’t horrible, but it was there, and it tired me out. I stopped for lunch at a ramshackle joint that didn’t have much food, but they did have poha and chai and that set me straight. I spoke with some bright eyed dental college students hanging out there and smoking cigarettes. When I asked if they appreciated the irony of dental students smoking cigarettes they said they did. I was very satisfied with my observation. I do hope they quit though. I continued taking my Tibetan medicine, pausing three times a day to beg for hot water, such a fun little chore. I found a dumpy hotel off the highway to crash for the night. There was a cute little mouse in my room. It didn’t bother me. The food in Rajasthan is spicier and oilier than Punjab, and I think I like it better. But then again, everything is good. It’s so hard to say anything is better, it’s all amazing. And I always eat well wherever I go. The next day google maps graced me with some small road shortcuts. Aw yeah baby, that’s what I like, finally the real Rajasthan. Getting off the highway was fantastic, I finally got to leave the asphalt sea and meet the real environment. The arid flat shrubbery of Rajasthan was pretty and offered a multitude of tempting camping options. My curse was to always see overwhelming amounts of ideal camping spots midday and by nightfall have nothing. I was now going through small village India, my happy place. I filled my water up at a local well, hoping it would be clean, but had difficulty finding food. The asphalt became dirt  and I enjoyed being back on the trail. But then the trail became partially filled in new road, with loose rocks making it almost impossible to cycle. Just when I’d given up and started walking the bike, I was greeted by smooth pavement. What a relief. It was the time of day to look for a camp site but I was going through some towns now, too much development. Then, as dusk was settling in, for the very first time in India I got a flat. Perhaps it was that loose rock road. What a horrible time to get a flat. To make matters worse, it happened right in front of a school field full of kids playing cricket who had already been running towards me trying to get my attention. I was their prisoner now. They swiftly encircled me and began the inquisition, smiling and laughing amongst themselves. I was frustrated and wanted them to leave so I could try to remember how to fix a flat tire, but I had no such luck. Finally, I showed them I had a flat and immediately they started giving me advice on how to fix it. We put a little air back in the tire to get to a hindu temple where they said I’d be okay to sleep for the night. So we all went to the temple and took a closer look at the wheel. One claimed to be a bike mechanic but I didn’t like the way he kept smacking the wheel hub on the ground. Regardless, one of them fetched a bowl of water and used it to find where the puncture was. With this done they shaved it down and used my patches and glue to seal it back. Then one of the elders was brought over by a kid and he invited me to come eat at his house. He made it seem really humble, just some Maggi noodles or something. I had no problem with this. But things quickly changed once I arrived. 

It was a nice house. Immaculate tile flooring, high ceilings, an over excited dog they had to lock upstairs, felt like America. The patriarch worked as a teacher, which I guess fetches a relatively good salary. The son was away in England earning an MBA, and the daughter was a beauty pageant winner staying at home for the weekend. The mother was a lovely woman. First she had me enter their shrine and pledge fealty to shiva and say om na va shiva’i. She then tied a bracelet around my wrist, giving company to the one I received in Dharamshala. It was decided I’d spend the night there. No need to worry about my affairs, soon the kids that had spotted me came by with all my stuff and we hung out munching on cookies drinking chai for some time as dinner was prepared. Finally, I was summoned to eat. The boys and girls stayed behind and I sat to an amazing dinner thali with spicy never before seen curries. Home cooking hits so different, what a treat. I had seconds and thirds. At this point I was their son. The mother seemed to be suggesting I should marry her daughter. They had me watch a 20 minute video of their other daughters wedding. They were fiercely proud of being Rajputs and hinduism and Modi, the whole shebang. I’ve hardly met any Indians that don’t love Modi, the man is popular. On one hand it’s nice to see Indians so proud of their heritage and religion, on the other I sense the impending doom this could unleash on minority communities, particularly muslims. But I get to see the best of things. Everyone wants to keep the foreigner happy, as the refrain goes, guest is god, and boy am I. I was then entreated to a 20 minute video chat with the son studying in London which was awkward but fine, then I hung out more with the massive entourage of children, feeling like some kind of Peter Pan, and finally I was allowed to sleep. 

I woke up to an amazing breakfast just as I had expected I would and more hanging around and chatting. This was a difficult situation because I was anxious to get started but you could tell momma wanted to keep me a little longer. She started talking about having me stay another night but I was adamant that I had already booked my lodging in Udaipur which was a lie I just wanted to avoid an uncomfortable situation of being married to her daughter. Not that her daughter wasn’t lovely but I had more traveling to do and a marriage this early in my trip would complicate things. She took me back to the shrine when it was time for goodbye and gave me a red paint dot on my third eye. Then she took out her offering plate and put sweet jaggery into my mouth like it was communion and forced me to accept a 100 rupee bill. She also packed me lunch. I sort of felt guilty leaving, what had I done to deserve this generosity? No matter. The road calls. The roads were pretty and non-trafficked as the landscape changed into savannah and small hills poked out of the plain, I was approaching the Northernmost reaches of the Western Ghats, the range that I’d follow down to Southern India. I was hoping to make good progress that day but due to my delayed departure I only made it as far as the beginning of the big climb that night. I had been warned by some Indians not to camp in the jungle because of wildlife but who am I to deny myself a jungle camp? So I camped in the jungle after visiting an underwhelming ancient Jain temple. It was hard to find a camping spot but I sort of improvised one and had to use the saw on my Leatherman to do away with some pointy branches that could easily have ripped my tent. I felt quite pleased with myself. I made to eat the food that mama had packed away only to find some oily pickle sauce had slipped out and contaminated some things. It wasn’t as big a disaster as it could’ve been but still made me sad. I should’ve eaten this meal immediately. The parathas were all dry. The chocolate bar was completely melted. Oh well. I will live another day. I made sure to get the food waste far from my tent as there was a tribe of monkeys swinging above me and I didn’t want any trouble from them. I slept well that night, with a broad view of the hilly jungle. 

Day found me and I braced myself for a 100km day to get to Udaipur. I had booked my lodging so I had no choice but to get there. This was my first taste of climbing in heat. It’s not fun. I’d gladly take the Himalayas over climbing in heat. But this wasn’t so bad. After getting over what I thought was a pass, I kept going up and down for a while. The ghats aren’t your typical go all the way up then all the way down affair, more of an undulating range. I was starting to get weary of this but eventually things flattened out a bit and the road to Udaipur stretched out before me. I joined a highway and started going 10 times faster so I wasn’t too upset. As the sun began to drop I quickened my pace and finally came into the city. It was congested coming in as usual but I was so relieved to arrive in this city. Udaipur is an actually beautiful place. The second I saw the lake I was entranced. Here, I could finally just laze about and be at peace. And that is what I did.