Jodphur (05/01/2010)
Today started with a hairy car journey to the Ranakpur Jain temple. I know very little about the Jain religion except for extreme veggie tendencies. One thing is clear, though — they make very impressive temples. It was a place of singing and joy. As with as the religious and tourists, there were a bunch of school children from Bali — they were expect at posing, 10 of them could form up in an instant and they delighted in having their picture taken.
Bali turned out to be a village 30km away as we found out on the journey; it was bumpy, unpleasant and, erm, thrilling. The horn beeping was constant until night fell, then we drove with dipped lights until the a car or lorry approached in the opposite direction, when full beams were used. Indicators were constantly deployed, also, but I have no ideal with what meaning. We saw two crashes. One was between two lorries, side-on, and the other a lorry that had been rear-ended by a tuk-tuk. There’s no way that everyone walked away from these. A sorry sight.
No real idea about Jodphur until we got out — the last leg of the journey was by tuk-tuk as the guest house in inaccessible by car because of the narrow streets. It’s a dramatic place and seems to be clean. Food is to come.