Day 84 - Tordi Garh, Rajastan, India

Day 84 – Hers.

A much better night’s sleep – apparently even the people given our old room slept well – as the festival had a night off.  We went up onto the terrace for breakfast, packed and left Jaipur at a very civilised 10am for the four hour bus ride to Tordi Garh.  Don’t bother trying to find it in a guide book – Tordi Garh is a small, traditional village 2 plus hours down a rural dirt road in the middle of Rajasthan.  There is only one place to stay – but it is a magnificent 17^th century palace in the process of restoration.

The landscape is still very similar to the southern Mediterranean – desert with small trees and scrub – mostly flat, though there are a few hills and sand dunes running along the horizon – and cradling Tordi Garh itself.

We were given the traditional rose petal and tikka mark welcome at the palace, as well as a wrist band to ward off evil spirits – the children of the household were in charge of making the tikka marks and throwing the rose petals.  The little boy throwing rose petals was particularly exuberant – several of us got a fistful of petals right in our eyes.... We also received a welcome drink of ‘Thumbs Up’ cola.  I had seen this in the shops and wondered what it was like - - - absolutely fine, as it happens – though I would still prefer a diet version; they do like their drinks very sweet here. 

We had lunch in the dining room just off the main roof terrace.  We had lentil and garlic soup followed by a buffet that included chickpea dumplings in a buttermilk curry sauce, curried aubergine, curried potatoes, rice, cucumber and tomato. It was absolutely delicious – and the lady of the house later explained to us how she made each dish.  Much of it seemed to be an art – I will have to try some of these things when I get home......   Dessert was a dish similar to rice pudding but made with tiny vermicelli instead of rice,  It was also delicious – Rob had three helpings, I think!

After lunch, we assembled for a walking tour of the village. Prabhev explained the caste system and that this village was one that had originally been set aside for people of the lowest caste.  It is no longer acceptable to use the term ‘untouchables’ – I’m not surprised....I don’t think it would ever have been acceptable to me.  Our guide also explained the traditional methods of building – using a plaster made from cow dung – and we toured the workshop of a local potter.  Several of our group had a go – only Lisle was able to turn out anything that actually looked like a pot – must be all that practice with her primary school kids!

The children of the village ran up to us asking to have their photos taken; pigs, cows, goats and dogs roamed the streets; the elderly women peeked out at us from under their colourful scarves and many of the men just looked up from their work or board games and stared.  It was difficult to know who was on show – them or us!  We returned from our walk at 5:00, just as the camel-drawn carts arrived at the hotel for our evening adventure.

 

Day 84 – His

Camels are surprisingly large animals – especially when you stand so close to them. Several of the guys had heard the stories of camels being bad tempered beasts, spitting and biting and all that, so they were quite nervous of them. These particular animals seemed pretty docile and stood quite calmly as we stroked them and pulled them around so we could have our pictures taken with them. It was all quite charming. We loaded ourselves on the cushion covered carts and went trotting off through the village to the edge of a desert the village stands on. As we drove through the village, kids came running out to shout hello and to pose for more photos. Honestly, the whole thing had an unbelievable charm to it. The large sand dune we climbed was right on the edge of the dessert and the hotel staff had brought tea for us as we sat and watched the sun set over the dunes. One of our group declared that, for her, this was one of the highlights of the trip and I can see what she means. We climbed down from the hill just as it was getting dark and a couple of the guys decided to roll down instead of walking. Kylie tumbled head over heels into a dusty, sandy heap at the bottom and Rewa followed, losing an expensive ring in the process. We spent the next ten minutes searching the dune by torch light – a pretty futile exercise – but it made Rewa feel happier about her loss.

The ride back seemed shorter than the ride there but this is so often the case and the hotel staff – which is really the family of the guy who owns the place – I think he is some long lost feudal lord transported to the twenty first century – served us drinks on the roof of the hotel and arranged for Caroline to ride his horse around the next morning. His wife came out to chat to us for a while and gave away several of her family’s secret recipes for some of the delicious food she had been cooking for us. The whole experience was one of the reasons we go with Geckos. This was not something you can do on a standard tour and is certainly not something you would get to do if you were travelling by yourself. I know that sounds like a shameless plug for Geckos, but, to be honest, I don’t care. They do this kind of thing very well indeed and the whole thing was a highlight for me too. There is only one serious drawback i can think of and that is the dune was covered in small biting insects, my feet look like they have chicken pox. I suppose more sensible shoes might have been in order. AH well, we live and learn.