Desert Havali Guest House, Jaisalmer review

Desert Havali Guest House, Jaisalmer review

Well we weren't sure whether we were coming to Jaisalmer but we are
glad when we arrived. Despite it being on the outer most reaches of
India, it is a really nice place with an amazing fort. And we had some
great times with the people we met.

We were acosted as we arrived at the train station with lots of people
trying to sell their hotels with offer of free trip to their hotel;
great considering it was so hot! And it seemed no commission either!

We hadn't thought about doing the safari but every hotel in the town
was very keen on us doing it! We decided to check out the fort and
came across the nice Desert Havali Guest House. Maanu, the manager,
was very kind with free chai tea and we sat chatting. His safari
seemed well recommended in his books and it seemed a great price, only
400 rupees! The rooms at desert havali guest house started from 100
rupees with the usual negotiations of course on the price!

We met a nice couple from Finland and Germany the next day and decided
we would all go on safari, only to find out from Manu it was 400 PER
DAY for 2 days (always check the total price for the safari and that
it's not per day price). A big difference from what we were expecting.
What followed was some tense and long negotiations but we finally came
to an agreement of 650 rupees for 2 day safari if we could find 2
other people.

Next day we were checking out prices at hostels when an English couple
who were sick offered us their afternoon camel safari for free but we
had to go in 30 mins! It was a great afternoon camel safari and met 2
other Brit girls. They paid 550 rupees each just for the afternoon
with nothing like food or drink included!

That evening we were having a nice thali with friends (we met the 2
other americans who were coming on the safari too) when this jeep of
Indians pulls up, next minute they were challenging our friends to an
arm wrestling competition! Very surreal like we were in a dream!

Next day visit to v nice Jain temples 30 rupees each. Finished our
safari negotiations (always make sure you have everything supposedly
included on the trip on your receipt, very important to make sure not
ripped off.)

Following day the desert camel safari 2 day trek began

Back in Auckland!

We have made it back to New Zealand, safe & sound and are staying with lovely Mia in Auckland.

We have arrived in Melbourne!!

Well we have arrived in Melbourne.

Lots of things to sort out before heading back to Auckland on 14th Jan

This is pretty much the end of the World Adventures for now but will be back soon! Hopefully :-)

Benaulim, Goa, India

You'll be glad to hear that luckily the tablets had worked well for
the journey, because if you ever get chance to see the loos on the
trains in India, you wouldn't want to wish your worst enemy to have
diarrhoea on them. Let's just say they are squat toilets!

Sorry back to more pleasant thoughts, we arrived at Goa late and
shared a taxi with a couple from Germany.

We had just missed a cyclone in the area, but the weather was still
crazy. One minute it was bone dry, next minute a rain storm had broken
out, maybe an aftermath of the cyclone.

Goa is more expensive than other places in India as it is a package
holiday destination for Europeans. Still we managed to find a nice
guesthouse, Shalom Guesthouse.

The journey was pretty long so we chilled out for the 1st day. The
beach is really clean, esp for Indian standards.

There were lots of European tourists here, much more than we had seen
anywhere else in one place in India apart from the Taj Mahal.

As it is so much further south, it's pretty hot & humid here but they
say this is unusual due to the recent cyclone. We enjoy our time of
chilling out, esp after our recent illnesses!

We even get involved in a time share day where they try to sell us
holidays here and around the world. It looks reasonable on paper, esp
as we take so many holidays, but my good maths & knowledge we weren't
going to do it anyway. Still it was interesting hearing the concept
all the same.

The final day was spent again at the beach and watching the amazing
sunsets from here. We also loved the cute starfish that came out of
the sand at sunset, esp the ones that seemed to be holding hands, cute!

We spent 3 very pleasant days here relaxing, the south is so much more
pleasant pace of life compared to the hectic and hassled north!

Next stop Palolem, Goa, Paradise Beach!

Daman, Gujarat, India

We got the overnight train from Kota to Vapi, so we're becoming
seasoned experts the train system here now! 18hrs later we arrive in
Vapi (according to the Rough Guide, one of the top ten most polluted
cities in the world, what a claim to fame!)

Well it didn't seem that bad when we arrived! We then got our shared
taxi (5 to the back seat!) to Daman, apparently according to the
tourist office a "mini Goa". Now I can tell you, now that we're in Goa
to compare, that this place has nothing on Goa and I have no idea how
they can claim that! It was occupied by the Portugese for most of its
history, so has catholic churches (80ish% of indians are hindu, 13%
muslim 5% Sikhs & about 2% catholic) and 2 forts to defend the the
town! The beach here is dirty & dark so has no features to justify a
visit here (so luckily we only planned 1 day to visit here on the way
to Goa); which is just as well due to the following.......

Unfortunately we had been told by someone that the drinking water taps
at the railway stations were fine to drink. Oh dear! Our bowels
didn't forgive us for that mistake! James was sick for a few days and
Mariana was initially better but then got it too! Not good that we had
to go on another 18 hr train journey that day. However luckily James
had his emergency supply of Loperamide, to let's just say block the
pipes!

With trepidation we made another overnight train journey from Vapi to
the Bollywood capital, Mumbai. However it was only to change trains to
continue to Goa, for another 12 hr journey!

Bundi, Rajasthan, India

So we had a reasonable trip to Bundi by our sleeper bus! Yes it was a
double sleeper but wasn't as good as the Jaisalmer to Udaipur bus as
we didn't have our own cocoon so we had to keep a closer eye on our
bags. Also the bus was due in at 5am (before sunrise) but as all
Indian bus drivers seem to drive like a khamkazhi drivers we got their
early at around 4am! We had to almost be chucked off the bus as we had
just woken up and they were only prepared to wait their for a minute.
They were slowly driving out of town as we were trying to gather our
things, so they didn't waste any time!

So it's not easy to find accommodation in any place at 4am, but
especially in a little town in India! Luckily, as always the was a
handy rikshaw driver to take us anywhere we want anytime of the day!
They also make so much commission from hotel owners (added to our bill
secretly, I would like to add!), that they love it when the confused
and dazed tourists that we were at that time in the morning, turn up!

So as everywhere seemed closed apart from one hotel owner came out
just as we arrived, strange that at 4am!
Prince Haveli our home for that night wasn't that nice either but we
had little choice at that time. They weren't the friendliest of
management when they heard we only wanted to stay one night! Mainly as
our room was right next to reception & many people arrived late at
night and so was noisy!

So our next home was Raj Mahal Guest House, just down the road from
Prince Haveli so we had to dodge the manager's gaze! This too was
pretty simple but was quieter and the staff seemed friendlier. We
wanted to go to Haveli Rija but the room had become occupied. Too slow!

Bundi is a up & coming tourist resort with an amazing fort (there are
lots in India!) up on the hill. Shockingly, this maharaja palace had
been left derelict to the bats! Luckily it was rented out to a private
company that has slightly restored the place. It's looked like both
the Palace & the fort on the hill were amazing in their day, 400yrs
ago. The fort had become completely abandoned and James went exploring
only to be met by an army of monkeys! Now in the best of times this
may be fun but some mothers were looking after their young so as I
tried to quietly creep walk through them all, some were bearing their
teeth at me. I was sure I was going to get attacked by a rabid monkey!

Bundi otherwise was the home of Rudyard Kipling, when he wrote part of
Jungle Book & Kim in a lovely lake side house to relax in, great
inspiration! I didn't realise but Baloo (which I am sure is a
character in Jungle Book), means Bear in Hindi! Well there you go!

We stayed here for 3 days before moving on ........

Udaipur, India The Romantic City!

We were looking forward to Udaipur as it had been billed as India's
most romantic city!

Well it is a beautiful city due to it's setting next to a lake with a
beautiful lake palace and city palace. This is all surrounded by
mountains in the distance. Nice.

We arrived early after our first trip in a sleeper bus. Yes you can
sleep on board buses over here. There is a second level of the bus
where you can hide away from the world in your own bed. Sounds nice
but actually not as comfortable as sounds when your bus driver is
trying to do a kamkhazi mission; like all drivers do over here. (they
seem incredibly good at driving very fast and very close to other
drivers but not hitting them) Also if every motorbike driver were to
buy a car in India if you think London traffic is bad just think about
over a billion inhabitants!

At 430am your choice of hostel is fairly limited as most are closed.
So we had trouble finding a decent place. Still Sadma Guest House
treated us well for the first night but we quickly found a lovely
little guest house in town which was only a month old! It was called
Udai Haveli Guest House on Ganesh ganj. We had found it by accident
walking around and was too new to be in the guidebooks. (I am now
starting to think guidebook recommended guest houses & hotels can get
a little complacent with their endless supply of new guests) Wow clean
& new pillows & mattresses. At times in the bathroom; it was so new we
thought we were at home! A revelation in India, so decided this would
be our new home for as long as we stayed here. (7 days)

We visited the Palace, home to what is believed to be the longest
running Royal Family (however now they have no power in democratic
India). It is a beautiful palace on a hill above the lake looking over
to the Lake Palace with some amazing pictures and treasures, some of
which are away at an exhibition on India in London!

We also went up the cable car here (63 rupees) to see the sunset which
was beautiful as it looked out over the city, the palace, the lake
palaces and the mountains beyond! We then watched as all the lights
came on over the city. Very romantic.

Over the next few days we chilled out and did some shopping, ate out
and even managed to get to see Octopussy! I was very happy and Mariana
wasn't too upset either! It's surprising how much of the movie is
filmed here and we went oh look that such and such!

Next day we did our good deed for the trip and helped out at a local
animal hospital. They looked after dogs, donkeys, and cattle mostly.
It was so sad to see some of them that had been paralysed after being
run over and no one cared. This is the sad part of this country that
there are so many stray dogs and no one seems to care for them. So we
did our bit for the day which was just looking after them, feeding
them or for the donkeys talking to them and giving them a good brush.
I only wished I could have done more but moat of them that could get
better were getting better. The donkeys had been treated badly by
getting them to carry crazy loads on their backs until their legs
litterally buckled under them and sometimes broke! It was so sad, but
also nice to see that at least these animals were being looked after
so well.

We left Udaipur a little sad as we had both really enjoyed this lovely
city on our overnight bus sleeper to Bundi, our next stop. (yes over
here you can have your own separate cabin to sleep in with a double
bed, strange but pretty comfy!)