April 1 - 2, 2013 - Tordi, India

April 1 - 2, 2013 - Tordi, India

Its my 100th Blog post!!!!  Thanks for reading, commenting, and hopefully enjoying! Love you all!

Another early morning.  We caught the local bus to a town called Dosa.  From there Monty had arranged for a private jeep to transfer us to a small village called Tordi.  Along the way we pulled over to eat our box lunches.  Lunch consisted of naan with a potato curry, a banana and mango juice.  That sure hit the spot.

On the bus ride the group pulled off a great April Fools joke on our guide Monty.  I am very proud of Bonnie for following through with our plan and for doing such a great job.  During a break from the bus ride we schemed on how our practical joke.  Bonnie, it has to be Bonnie bc she was the sitting next to him, would pretend to be sick and fake being car sick.  And she got him hook line and sinker!  We all looked on with anticipation as the big moment came and when it did he about jumped outta his seat.  I think he was a little surprised at first but we a good sport and laughed with us!

The road to Tordi was quite bouncy.  That coupled with the dry arid and dusty environment definitely reminded me of Africa.  They even have the thorny Acacia trees and giant ants! 

Our hotel for the night was in a converted fort in the village.  It was very rustic and had a great view of the village from the rooftop.  Upon arrival the hotel staff greeted us and performed a welcome.  The welcome is where they dot your forward with a dark pink dot and welcome you to the property.  Each room in the hotel was a different shape and size and decorated uniquely.  I wandered around the property for a bit taking pictures and then had a masala tea or chai.  Masala tea is my new mango shake.  Remember how I mentioned I drank a mango shake almost everyday while in SE Asia.  Well, I now drink a couple masala teas everyday.  So yummy. 

  

That evening our amazing tour guide arranged for us to take a camel cart from the hotel to the foot of a sand dune just outside the village.  All 6 of us loaded up on a cart pulled by a camel.  But this wasnt any ordinary camel.  No. This one was dressed up and painted all fancy.  It had painted on eyebrows and designs on its bum and legs.  It also worm a brightly colored and beaded dressing.  It was about a 15 minute ride out of town and it was a nice slow ride.  The bad thing was that it seems our camel had eaten something that was hard on his belly.  And since we were behind the camel we got pulled through camel farts the entire way! It was actually hilarious and we got a good laugh out of it. 

Once to the dune we off loaded and walked up and found the best seats to watch the sunset.  Not long after we reached the top the hotel staff showed up with beer and tea! Perfect way to thoroughly enjoy the sunset. 

Then was a rooftop dinner at the hotel.  On the way to the hotel we stopped at a little hut in the middle of the desert/brush.  Turns out its a liquor/convenient store and our guide picked up some rum to share. We used it all that night at dinner and had a lovely night chatting and laughing with our group.  And our group has turned out to be quite fantastic.  We all seem to get along well and everyone is easy going. 

The next morning was a 5:30AMer.  We met in the lobby at 5:40am to hike up the mountain to the abandoned fort for sunrise.  This hike was a bit longer and more difficult but as always verry rewarding.  The clouds gave way to a beautiful sunrise and again we enjoyed a masala tea as we took in the view.  

After a buffet breakfast Monty took us on a village tour.  We walked through the town observing and learning what life is like for the local people.  I even got to try my had a pottery making.  The wheel is run by man power.  In my two attempts at making a bowl one got really uneven and the clay went flying off the wheel and I cut the bottom off the other as I was trying to remove it from the wheel. 

We then took the private jeeps to Jaipur.

What I learned:
There is a caste system in India.  You are born into your caste, your learned your castes trade and you live the rest of your life in that caste.