After a break from cruising of nearly 30 years, we are sailing to the Indonesian Islands on our yacht Bali Hai
We smell a rat (or quite a few actually!)
We started 2017 as we meant to go on – doing something a little different, out of our comfort zone and really challenging.
No, it wasn’t sailing to some far flung place we had never been to, nor was it tackling an ocean with a reputation for being wild – our New Year’s Day was spent visiting a temple in India. This to some, might not sound particularly challenging but I can assure you it was as this was the famous Karni Mata Temple in Deshnoke which is dedicated to RATS!
Waiting to go into the RAT temple!With more than 2,000 rats running freely about our feet, this was indeed a test that would set the tone for 2017. Surely no gale, no rogue wave, no disastrous break down or breakage could be more of a challenge than standing in a temple with the rank smell of rat urine in our nostrils and scores of the little darlings almost running over our toes!
The rats have free rein and are given milk to drink and lots of treats to eatIt is believed that the souls of deceased relatives now reside in the rats – prayers and offerings are therefore made to them
We were in India for one month before returning to Bali Hai in the middle of January. As this is meant to be a sailing blog I won’t write any more about this trip to India but will instead look forward to recounting our next Indian adventure when we sail to the Andaman Islands in February. In the meantime, here are just a few photos from the many hundreds I took in Rajasthan!Jaisalmer Fort was built in the 12th Century and is the only fortified city still inhabited that we have seen. Most of the families living within its walls can trace their ancestry back to the original inhabitantsNo roads just these little laneways. The only traffic – a few motorbikes and quite a few cows!Amazing who you meet just outside the place you’re staying in! From Jaisalmer we went out to stay in a desert camp and had an amazing camel safariThey call camels Ships of the Desert and with sand dunes stretching as far as the eye can see it is easy to understand why! Very reminiscent of the open ocean!Deserts have beautiful sunsets too
Then it was off to JodpurAnother amazing Fort at the “Blue City”Roof top dining with a great view of the fortA guard at the fort museumBuilt in the 1740s, the Toorji Ka Jhalra was built for water storage and was where women gathered for generations to collect waterIt has recently been restored and is a popular gathering place once againThe gorgeous colours of Pushkar – our last stop before returning to DelhiPushkar is set in the Pushkar Lake, a sacred place to Hindus. There are 52 ghats (stone entrances) where pilgrims enter to bathe. Such a serene placeOn the shores of Pushkar Lake 
Langurs keeping us amusedA Hindu ceremony in the banks of Pushkar LakeView from Sivitri Temple on Ratnagiri Hill.Thirsty LangursView of Pushkar from the top of Ratnagiri HillAnother view of Pushkar LakePushkar is The place to see camels!Back at Hannah’s enjoying the colours of IndiaIf you would like to see photos from the beginning of our trip see my previous blog entry “Incredible India”.
In 2015, after a break from cruising of almost 30 years, my husband and I sailed off into the sunset - this time to the wonderful Islands of Indonesia and beyond. Three years passed and we swapped sails for wheels driving through Scandinavia and Europe in a motor home. Now we are on the brink of another adventure - buying a Lagoon 420 Catamaran in Athens. This is our story.
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Salty tales from Bali Hai on Sunday 