our last stop in rajastan

 we started our trip to udaipur with a bit of adventure.  managed to hitch a ride on a jeep since waiting for the bus seemed to be taking forever,  about 3 km into the trip the jeep blew a tire on a bridge, and a swerve away from crashing the driver managed to keep us on the road, however it meant back to the bus stop. though luckily the bus arrived very shortly and we were on our way.  the road is narrow, mountainous, curvy, and well, pretty darn scary, but we made it without any further mishap.  the girls had been so great for the trip that we enjoyed an ice cream break!  yum!

 then we wandered around checking out the local highlights, including the lake.

 we even got our first glimpse of christmas with a tree outside one of the shops.

 and how could i leave out a picture of a tinfoil deity.  they have small shrines all over here, but this is the first tinfoil one i have seen!

 

then one day we even headed to the zoo, though the playground was more of a highlight than the few sad looking animals.

 zoe and eijla checking out two big crocodiles...

 thomas snapped this one, didn´t think it needed any explanation...

the jain temples of ranakpur

so after our train ride, we arrived late in jodhpur, where we just spent the night before hopping on a bus to ranakpur.  we had decided on a cute place out in the jungle which was supposed to have a swimming pool.  but as it turned out it was all but shut down. the manager was getting married and the entire staff was there.  so we ended up having a very quiet  stay,  the temporary staff was friendly but the swimming pool and the jungle treks were not an option. oh well. we made our own safari on the way to the temples,  a 2 km walk.  we saw peacocks, preying mantis, monkeys, cows, and more,  not too bad for on our own.

 eijla trying to blend into the carvings at the temples...

 our cozy, but not quite staffed hotel.  it had a lot of potential, but was pretty run down.

 the view from the patio and pool area.  not bad at all.  it was a great place to see birds and monkeys.

 thomas and zoe pinky swear to not tease one another.  yeah, that did not last long!

 the place had a little puppy as well,  sadly all of its siblings had been eaten by the crocodiles in the lake, but the girls had  a great time playing with reiki.  and then it was off to udaipur.

saying good bye to jaislamer

we spent our last day enjoying the fort and the views.  zoe is really looking forward to our train ride back to to jodhpur this evening...

 just had to include this pic,  the girls are not always the angels they appear to be in this blog,  escpecially when they do not get what they want!

our little camel safari in the rajastani desert

after our practice run, we were ready to head to the desert.  zoe was very excited...

 but the sun was strong, so pappa and eijla covered up...

 zoe had a bit fun playing musical camels,  she rode, in turn, with thomas, me and even the camel guide.

 eijla wanted to ride on the camel all by herself, and could not understand why we wouldn´t let her!

 then we rode out to the sand dunes, definitely the highlight of the safari.

 where we had fun in the sun and played in the sunset...

 then the stars came out and the temperature cooled down...

 and a stick on fire was ever so fun.  are we bad parents we let our five year old play with fire?

 then after a yummy dinner cooked by the fire,  it was time for nighty nighty under the starry sky!

 sunrise over my cute little family.  mys.

 then it was up for a yummy breakfast, and a couple more hours of fun in the sand,  there were sand angels....

 buried angels...

 and then we were off again before the sun was too hot...

 on our lunch break zoe even managed to pick flowers in the desert.  that kid can find flowers anywhere!

then it was time to say good bye to our camel and guides,  it was a great adventure!

the desert city of jaislamer...

after a some uneventful (aside from eijla vomiting all over herself and me) trip out in the desert, we arrived in jaislamer, where the thing is to take a camel safari.  we were not sure how the girls, or we for that matter, would survive an overnight camel safari, so we took a mini one on the outskirts of town as a trial run.  as you can see, zoe loves camels, and it went well, so there is going to be sore butts and sleeping under the stars in our near futures...

 we checked out the water reserve on the edge of town where you can rent boats and cruise around.  the girls loved it, but even on the water, there were indians chasing us in their boats.  the girls have their own paparazzi wherever we go!

 then we explored the fort, stopping for some nice views now and again.

 and a cozy dinner on a rooftop restaurant watching the sun go down and the girls entertain themselves with their coloring.  mysigt.

more fort exploration

today it was the tourist trail, as we headed up to Mehrangarh Fort, and Jaswant Thada (where the cremate the royals).  the fort had a pretty interesting audio guide, zoe and i shared one and listened to the history of the fort.  there was a lot to hear about.  the fort had never been captured,  pretty impressive.

 after the tour, we walked out to the fort walls and a had a great view of the city, but the girls were getting pretty tired, so eijla crashed and zoe rested on a canon.

 zoe, the scavenger that she is managed to find a piece of coconut shell and some flowers,  most likely the highlights of the fort for her.

 was impossible to try and get fotos of us in front of the fort, every time we stopped people surrounded the girls trying to touch them or take photos, so we had to settle for a family pic in a quiet corner.

 after the fort it was off to the centophs,  the girls had fun chasing birds and jumping off of stairs. 

 then it was time to head back to the hotel with two tired girls, and 2 worn out parents.  good thing we had a auto rickshaw and did not have to walk back.

 and what?!?! is it december?  it is time to pull out the advent calendar zoe got from mormor before we left.  surprised it has made it so far!  zoe was pretty happy.  christmas is just around the corner, though it does not feel like it at all. next we are off to jaislamer, way out in western rajastan close to the pakistan border,  a wild west adventure!