pushkar

After a week of working in jaisalmer, we have dropped the cameraman off in jodhpur for him to go home and we have travelled on to pushkar. A very different city from what i have seen so far.
We were driven by one of the producer's drivers which was a lot more relaxing than with the bus. He picked us up at 5 am and we arrived in pushkar at 9 after we had a short stop at the driver's brother-in-law's house for chai. The best chai we have had is without a doubt at the family homes we have been invited to. Families are very proud of their homes, even if it is very basic with a few rooms with matresses on the floor and a small kitchen. The family traditions are also very interesting. Most families from grandchildren to great grandparents live together in one house. The daughters are married off and have to go and live with the husband's family and the sons stay put. It seemd to work well, grandparents are there whenever a babysitter is needed, there are lots of children and everyone chips in with the housework.
Anyway, pushkar is regarded as a very holy city with a large lake right in the middle were all of the religious ceremonies take place throughout the day. It is not as hectic and chaotic as other cities and is definitely more backpacker/hippy orientated. i am looking forward to a few relaxing days here after a busy working week.

Oh...and i forgot to mention the monkeys!

  Inn Seventh Heaven...our hotel

snake, water, gun

During our horrendously hot train journey back to kochi last week, we entertained ourselves by talking to the family who sat opposite us.the kids were obviously bored and hot so we started playing rock, paper, scissors. We were soon told that in india they call it snake, water, gun and the boy had fun eating christian's biscuits and laughing at our new game.
The indians we have met on trains or buses have been very friendly and love telling us about their jobs, marriages, families and religion. They are also shocked to hear that christian and i are not married and only boyfriend and girlfriend, a concept that they are not at all used to.

filming

Holiday time is now on hold as we start working in jaisalmer with the cameraman who flew over from rostock. We are filming the different production areas of Christian's leather bags because he wants to show his customers exactly how and in what conditions the bags are made. This is an important topic so we are filming a lot. The producers are both very nice and we had fun zooming around the city on the mopeds filming the workers. They were all happy to see christian again and enjoyed being bollywood stars for the day. We all drank chai together and played with the kids.
In the afternoon we started filming a project for gusti where pens and writing books will be given out to children in villages. The kids who don't go to school here are poor and don't have a lot so when we started giving the things out yesterday they all got very excited. One little boy put his pen in his shirt pocket straight away and looked very proud (indian men always seem to have a pen in their shirt pocket).
It was a long day in the heat but worth it.

jodhpur and jaisalmer

Last night we visited the fort in jodhpur and watched the opening night of a music festival. The festival supports music groups from all over india and it was very interesting, especially as it seemed that the groups of musicians  had never used a microphone before. We enjoyed the first group of men over 70 who seemed just to being doing there own thing while g
Today we took the bus to jaisalmer and despite having to change the back wheel that got a puncture, it was punctual.

today we arrived in jodhpur

We flew from kochi to jodhpur this morning and despite only being four hours away the climate  is very different. Kochi is in the state called kerala and it is very green, hot and humid whereas jodhpur is in rajasthan, a state mainly consisting of desert and the heat is drier. jodhpur is more traditional and rather dusty but has a huge fort and beautiful palace. The population are mainly Hindus so animals, especially cows and dogs, roam the streets making it rather smelly. I even heard treading in cow poo is lucky...
In the evening we watched a dance festival which was very vibrant and loud. It was a taster for the bigger music festival which startts tonight.
The people up north are very friendly and inquisitive and lots of indians have simply said hello as we walk by. The children get very excited when they see hs coming but they are not at all threatening, purely intriguied.
Despite the indians being generally very friendly, i am finding the poverty very difficult to deal with.  There are homeless people and beggars on the street in jodhpur and the small children looked very unlooked after. There are often children wokring in restaurants and guesthouses, even collecting rubbish and the fact that the wealthier simply turn a blind eye is very disturbing.

I've realised tgere is a lot to take in in a country like india.

munnar

Hello everyone!
We were in Munnar yesterday and despite it being very busy because it was ghandi's birthday and the indians were on holiday, we managed to hire

 Motobikes and had a great trip through the tea pplantations.

first stop...Cochin

Hello eveyone!
Journey so far has been pretty smooth. Flying with emirates was a great experience! We had a short stop in dubai, had a look around the very expensive shops then took another flight to cochin. Here are some pics from where we are staying in fort cochin. Off to Munnar today to check out the tea pplantation .