Raj’s, Taj’s, incorrect use of apostrophes and a camel named Johnson

This is Johnson. He is a camel. Johnson bites if you get too close.

This post comes from the desert and camel state of Rajasthan, winding up our stay in sunny and sandy India with vegetarian food, no embracing (on pain of report to the tourist police) and no booze. It’s a holiday alright! At least the Guardia bug Gerald has left us, but not before he put up quite a fight with Matt’s lower intestine.

Our first stop since the last post was Agra. It is famous for its fort (complete with crocodile moat and wild animal enclosure) and the Taj Mahal.

This is the Agra Fort.

At the fort, Matt became quite the pin up boy, with hoards of young and trendy Indian men stampeding for a photo with the great man. Because of a lack of basic Hindi we have never been able to figure out why. Matt has several nauseating suggestions.

This is the Taj Mahal. You may be familiar with it from photographs.

This is Penny jumping. About as rare as a marble castle in the middle of the desert.


The Taj is a symbol of undying love. The Queen to whom it is dedicated (Mahal) died giving birth to her fourteenth child. An earlier child, the crown prince, took umbrage at his father’s reckless plundering of the treasury for extravagant monuments such as the Taj, and promptly usurped him, imprisoned him in Agra fort (with concubines) and spent the money instead on his own wives and monuments. The poor old king spent his final days gazing wistfully out of his prison window at the Taj where his beloved lay. Now they lie together in a large room which reeks of foot odour thanks to the hundreds of tourists crammed into it.

We then saw the sights of Jaipur, the famous pink city. It is in fact another display in royal extravagance. It was only painted pink in the 19th century to commemorate a visit from the Prince of Wales, but the theme, and some of the paint, has stuck.

Here Penny caved in and bought a beggar girl an ice cream. She continued to beg with the red paddle pop in hand, so unfortunately business slumped.

We visited the famous Amber Fort, which is in fact a series of three enormous forts with interconnecting walls. Shortly after its completion the new king moved out and established Jaipur in its shadow. A theme of architectural extravagance is emerging.

Much of this trip has been spent shopping for, or arguing about the need for, homewares. We both agreed that this would be an absolute necessity. It is a cooking pot for a Rajput army. A must for any young bride.

The extravagance continued, but this time benefited us, as we moved to Roopangarh fort, our home for one evening. It was ENORMOUS. We went from slumming it in windowless, hot-waterless, airless grottos to luxuriating in a wing of a castle larger than our apartment back home. We ran around the room singing and dancing for joy.

It’s nice to have a hotel that has its own game warden.

The evening was spent touring the nearby village, where we made some friends.

Next we climbed aboard jeeps and bashed our way through scrub and desert to Pushkar, a holy city where men and women embracing is strictly forbidden, and the police deal harshly with such “unsavoury elements”. Men are encouraged to hug, and it is not an issue for women as they are all too busy in the fields working. There was the usual display of craft goods, and we have injected many rupees into the economy in exchange for shiny and jangly things, and many varied bits of dead camel.

Remember Johnson? Johnson looked a little worn out once Matt got off him. This is his friend, Hugo.


They took us on a wild and stimulating safari in a long and undulating circle around town, and we pitched camp in the scorched wilderness of suburban Pushkar, just behind a hotel wall. It was adventure travel at its best – the “camel safari” well within mobile range for the guides.

So, that is India done and dusted. Our digestive systems have returned to normal, and after a rough start we are slightly enamoured at India. Returning to Delhi for 12 hours should reign in that positive thought, however. We are now in eager anticipation of a beef steak, a bottle of red, and Sal’s company in Dubai.