Paradis des oiseaux - Parc national de Keoladeo - Paradiso degli uccelli

Hindu philosophy at work saving the Nature

Le parc de Keoladeo est vraiment mangnifique en hiver. Nel mezzo della piana gangetica un oasi di pace, il parco nazionale Keoladeo. Des milliers d'oiseaux migrateurs d'Asie y etablissent demeure. Le parc est constitue de marais, de petits lacs et de terre ferme. Toute cette eau explique l'epais brouillard matinal. Una laguna artificiale inizialmente riserva di caccia per i maharaja e oggi patrimonio mondiale dell`Unesco. Nous louons des velos pour circuler librement dans ces 29km2. Lo abbiamo esplorato in bicicletta, camera alla mano, in un piacevole pomeriggio, cercando di dimenticare l`ultima notte di tremendo viaggio indiano :).. Marabouts, cigognes, herons, martin pecheurs... mais aussi antilopes et cerfs nous accompagnent! Et bien sur, les vaches sont la, mais ou ne sont-elles pas en Inde? Un beau moment tres pur qui fait oublier l'arrivee epique dans ce parc. ..e cicogne, e marabu, e aironi, e antilopi, e cervi, e, si sempre anche dovunque, loro, le vacche!.. 

Avec Indian Railway, tout est possible!

Une fois n'est pas coutume, nous avons decide de ne pas prendre les bus locaux mais le train pour rejoindre le parc national de Koeladeo. 10 heures de bus contre 5 de train, ca vaut le coup a priori. Le probleme avec les trains en periode de vacances c'est qu'il faut reserver. Sinon, on risque de se retrouver dans les wagons "unreserved" ou 30 personnes s'entassent dans des compartiments pour 8. Nous reservons donc un train le 26 Decembre: depart 15h25, arrivee 20h08. Au moment de la reservation, je suis surprise de la place "couchette". C'est un peu drole pour un voyage l'apres-midi non? Mais les compartiments indiens sont ainsi faits: de jours 8 personnes peuvent s'asseoir, de nuit 8 couchettes peuvent etre installees dans le meme espace. C'est ingenieux.

Chittorgarh et Bundi, en-dehors des sentiers battus

Jauhar!

Chittorgarh est une ville moyenne tres dynamique ou peu de touristes s'arretent. En decode: c'est chaotique, energetique, epice et exempt des douillettes guesthouses habituelles. Mais un site exceptionnel nous y attire. Il suffit d'une journee pour visiter l'ancienne capitale medievale de la dynastie Mewar situee sur un plateau qui surplombe la nouvelle ville. Le site est magnifique. Cette cite fut plusieurs fois l'objet de convoitise des Mughals. Descendants de l'empire mongole, les Mughals ont etabli un des plus grands empires indiens musulmans du 16e au 18e siecle.  Les Rajputs de Mewar ont toujours resiste et dans le pire des cas preferaient la mort a la defaite. Dans ce cas-la, leurs femmes commettaient "jauhar": elles se suicidaient en se brulant vives sur un bucher. Apres plusieurs sieges sanglants, les Mewar ont finalement transfere leur capitale Chittorgarh a Udaipur qui privilegiait d'une position plus protegee.

Cucina in Rajasthan - In italiano

..aho`.. sto ancora a tradurre.. ma per ora..

Difficile a dirsi, ma noi due condividiamo una grande passione che potrebbe passare inosservata ai piu`.. CIBO!! ;) .. e quindi in questi giorni nella romantica Udaipur, abbiamo fatto una lezione di cucina Rajasthana, una delle attivita` che veramente consigliamo a chiunque quando in viaggio..

Rajasthan Cuisine - English

Difficult to spot, but we two share a great passion, which may pass unobserved to most of the people we meet.. FOOD!! ;) .. so these days in the romantic Udaipur we have taken one lesson of Rajasthan cuisine, really one activity that should always be done when travelling... unless you are in the Philippines and you just ate a full plate of squids!! ;) ..

Udaipur, the Octopussy city

It is supposed to be the most romantic city of India. And right now, being on the roof terrace of a relaxed restaurant called Dream Heaven, overlooking the lake and the mountains, enjoying the sun on a 21st of December, how could I disagree? The setting is beautiful indeed. The City palace, glorious proof of the Melwar empire and of the Rajput glory, shines in the sun. The Taj Lake Palace stands in the middle of Pichola lake and seems unreal. One James Bond movie was shot there in 83: Octopussy. Yes they dare to use this title:-) We watched the beginning of the movie and it looks like the streets of India haven't changed much: only less motorbikes and more traditional clothes for men. Cows and messy traffic were  already the norm!

But despite this beauty, this is India: in the lake people wash clothes, swim, clean themselves, and it looks like the sewers also end up there....never mind, modernity can be seen in the wi-fi coverage and the fact that everybody, like anywhere in this country, has a mobile phone:-)

Remains the relaxing atmosphere of a lazy city....French Riviera or Amalfitana coast...from a roof terrace, it could be real!

Jodhpur.. the (not so) blue city

Green days in Ranakpur

Ranakpur is a wildlife sanctuary on our way to Udaipur. We spent a few lovely days in the nature, breathing the purest air of India! Breakfast with view on the lake (we bought a kettle in Bikaner and it is changing our life, we nearly feel at home drinking our coffee and ginger tea....ah consumerism is far away:-), walks in the mountains and hearty dinners in the resort provided a very welcome break in the nature. We did one interesting walk to Kumbalgarh fort with a "guide" who could only say "Yes and OK" in English, hmmm, that was funny. Anyway, as Indian always agree with you, it wasn't so weird in the end:-) But what a view from the fort! We also crossed beautiful villages where time seems to have stopped 150 years ago. We saw many birds, monkeys and the biggest antelope of India. No sign of the famous leopards though...And on top of it, the beautiful Jain temples provided a bit of culture. The complex was truly impressive. Walking in the middle of the marble erotic sculptures always makes you feel so spiritual, eh eh. But like in Jaisalmer, Jain priests seem more interested in money than anything else. So a few nice days in Green India...hoping that conservation efforts will carry on.

Jaisalmer: the Wild West

Jaisalmer la cite d'or

Fragile fort de sable medieval sur fond de desert, Jaisalmer est une belle surprise! La pierre doree change de couleur au gre de la lumiere et les couchers de soleil, encore et toujours en Inde, sont splendides. Enfin une ville calme...a l'interieur du fort, les vaches sont les principales causes d'embouteillage:-) Je crois que je m'habitue serieusement a l'Inde...il me semble a present normal d'etre coincee dans une embrasure de porte a cause d'une vache qui prend son temps pour brouter du papier journal plutot qu'une peau de banane. Jaisalmer ressemble donc a une Carcassonne a la couleur doree, aux vaches nonchalantes, aux tissus multicolores, et aux habitants plein de tchatche. On adore, on s'y sent bien et on prend plaisir a visiter ce vieux fort, ces temples Jains aux statues evocatrices de plaisirs plutot charnels que spirituels  (vu l'interet pecunier des pretres a l'interieur on comprend pourquoi les Jains font partie des populations les plus riches..) et on passe des heures a la terrasse du restau de Lala et Surya. Ah ces deux freres nous surprennent tous les jours! De prime abord tres modernes, habitues aux touristes, ayant de nombreux

Rajput Wedding

Bikaner has been full of surprises for us.. we planned to stay a couple of days, and we were even unsure if to go or not, but at the end we left it, one week after we first arrived in the middle of the night, with our hearts and minds full of great memories :)

..one of the surprises has been that our lovely Camel Man, alias Vijay, our host, invited us to a wedding, a Rajput wedding! :) clearly it didn`t take long for us to accept! What a fantastic opportunity, one night at the wedding.. :)

well, this was our interpretation..but soon the invitation extended to the three nights of the wedding.. then to the three nights and the last "ceremony closing" lunch.. and finally to the three nights, the last "ceremony closing" lunch and the "after ceremony closing lunch" dinner!!!... uhaoo.. too much even for us.. finally we managed to go to one night at the bride party night and at the proper wedding night, skipping all the rest without offending anybody.. :) ..

So, the first night, all the women of the bride family dance, one by one, a traditional Rajput dance... really great.. here is a video.. funny to see as the people wave a ten rupees note on the head of the dancer and then donate it to the musicians or the servants of the house.. an expensive business!! :) ..

Shekhawati: mille et une nuits...mille e una notte

Shekhawati : a la decouverte des Havelis
Nous voila donc en route vers le desert, dans la region 200km au Nord-est de Bikaner nommee Shekhawati. Notre hote dans la guesthouse de Bikaner en est originaire. C'est un sacre caractere ce Vijay! 57 ans, une energie debordante et une carriere reussie comme "Camel man" et manager d'hotels . Sur la fin de sa carriere, ce qui lui tient a coeur est de developper le tourisme dans sa region natale. Il a fait construire une petite guesthouse a Thelasar, village ou bien peu de touristes ont du passer. Nous traversons des terres arides et plates ou sur une route bien entretenue se cotoient camions, jeep, voitures, motos, vaches et chameaux. Le premier village que nous

Pushkar Video

Here the video of our few days in Pushkar... :) ..was a struggle to get it right in the blog, but hopefully you will like :) ...