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Published: March 13th 2011
9.30PM. 20th Dec 2010.
(I dedicate this post to the awesome travelers I met in Bundi, who've made my stay in Bundi enjoyable.) I boarded the bus from Udaipur Bus Station that was meant to go to Bundi. I called up Uma Megh Haveli in Bundi earlier, and said that I'll reach there slightly earlier than expected, thus I won't be left outside in the cold (Oh it was bloody freezing, I'm not really used to cold climate). The Lonely Planet mentioned this about bus rides to Bundi:
"Bus rides to Bundi are for thrill-seekers and sadomasochists only."
Hmmm.. well it wouldn't hurt to try it out, besides, life is short for one to enjoy, so make full use of it aye?
Wham! Boom. Bam! What a fucking rocky and bumpy ride throughout the whole 6 hours of bus ride! I even had to hold onto my pee, which I almost burst my bladder by trying to position myself with the plastic bag and pee, only to know that the bus suddenly jerked, and I made a mess on my sleeper bed (Thank god for Dettol Wipes) and made a stop. WTF?
Seems that the bus
made quite a number of stops for chai. Well it's good in a way because I get to pee and warm myself with the fire that was set up by the locals and have chai! It's also bad because of time wasted! But I guess I shouldn't bother that much. Also, there was a majority of French travelers in the bus, and I do understood bit of French, and they were complaining about the condition of the buses here, the roads, bla bla bla. I mean come on, it's India for fuck sake. Not that I have anything against them; they shouldn't be expecting much for the price they pay? LOL
Well, we reached the bus station in Bundi at 4am. Wham! Bloody freezing. I didn't bring in enough winter clothing, and this is really bad with the wind blowing. Instead of hopping onto the autorickshaw, I went towards a group of locals where they warmed themselves up, and we talked for abit, and most importantly, cigarettes. I saw the group of French travelers took few rickshaws (there were about 7-8 of them!) while I'm stuck, alone, with the locals. After which I approach one of the autorickshaw wallah,
and he quoted me 50Rps! Again! Fucking ripped off! Oh well shouldn't complain that much since it's 4AM, and bloody freezing, and I should just go without any word.
'Teekay bhaiyya, challo!'
The owner of Uma Megh asked if I've made a booking. I told him that I'm the only Singaporean guy in Bundi. It's funny because I don't really see any Singaporeans throughout my stay in India except for in Bombay, where I met Kai Teo. The room was decent though, although grubby looking but at least the toilet's in good condition, except that there wasn't any toilet seats! LOL. That's India for you! For 150Rps per night (which is less than USD4 per night) I should complain that much!
The first day, it was bad, because my room is next to the entrance, so imagine the traffic! Honking, cows 'moo-ing', dogs barking, filthy hairy pigs?! WTF. Too much! Tried to get some sleep but failed, so in the end I woke up, requested for a bucket of hot water, showered and took a little walk around town.
I'm in love with Bundi.
Bundi is an old town in Rajashtan, with the famous Taragarh
Fort. Situated approx 35km away from Kota. One of the least touristy places in India, although I foresee the upcoming rise of tourism in this small quaint town. Also famous because of Kipling's book... erm what was it? Kim? I really forgotten about it. Oh well. Walking around this town makes me feel like I'm in some ancient Hindi film, with my kurta and harem pants and chapal (sandals). Not forgetting, cigarettes!(No to Beedee because I used to have them in Singapore :X)
I began to check out few places in Bundi; there's the famous fort, there's the famous chowk(market). Everything here felt ancient, with beautiful forts (although I'm getting sick of the forts seriously). But this is definitely one of the best place I've ever been in India! I started to frequent couple of coffeeshops/cafes, famously Ringo Star! Anyone who've been to Bundi would know of Ringo! The best espresso coffee, best pastas, best soups! Made fresh! I miss their Pasta with fresh tomatoes and olives with garlic butter. Yummy!
I got to know that my guesthouse has a nice garden with a lakeview, so I decided to make it to a point to have breakfast in
my guesthouse, and charge it to my room account. It's bad, I know, but I couldn't get over Potato Paratha with Chai.. and hard boiled eggs! There is something different of their eggs.. I've never tasted eggs so good! I made friends with a family of three: Thomas Roed, Melea Roed and Acacia Roed. They're one cool family, Alaskan, and almost every day we meet up and hang out for coffee, and bhang! LOL. Acacia's their only daughter; she is so sweet that she was the main attraction in Bundi among the locals! Melea was worried about it in the first place, but I told her that in India, they loved children, especially foreigners.
Day by day, I tried to plan my trip to Pushkar, as recommended by both Jools and Lisa, but as I tried to do so, I'm crushed in dilemma, because Bundi was such a nice place to get stuck and lazed around! I mean yeah it's always been an early night for me but it's really good because I've never had this opportunity back home! It's also that Bundi is such a less touristy place, and I was really tired to move on, so I
think I should stick my ass to this lovely town for few weeks!
I met some of the most amazing travellers in Bundi apart from the family of three: Guailo (Mexico), Romy(Aust), Anna (Fin, but got to know she's an exchanged student in Singapore!), Karen (Portugal), Helen (England), Susanne (Germany)... and many more actually! I always see their faces almost everywhere in town, especially Helen; she's a regular in Ringo. Got to know that she used to stay in Bagsu, Mcleod Ganj in Dharamshala and always patron in Ringo there. Ringo, or his real name Rinku, comes and open up his shop in Bundi only in winter, because it's the best time to operate in Rajashtan. After winter/spring, he'll move back to Bagsu and resume life as normal there.
My trip to Bundi wasn't really in the plan at first! Seems that Bundi is pretty charming; not too touristy, although I foresee in few years the rise in tourism here. Bundi is totally laidback, suitable for chill seekers like me. I had my first bhang lassi, which was totally wicked! Gosh, that's really one nasty piece of shit! Of course, the next time I make another trip to
India, it'll be my welcome drink, that sort.
I stayed in Bundi for two weeks; celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve in a pretty much subtle way. Traveller's hanging out, smoke, dancing to Bhangra tunes - it's really one of a kind. It's really amazing how the amount of time you spent with other travellers seem like as if you've been friends for long! Ahhh.. the beauty of travel!
Anyway, I was getting bit worried because of a protest between the Gurja wallahs(milk man) and the government.. on the allocation of government jobs to them. They decided to disrupt the public transportation system, by sitting on railway tracks, blocking roads/highways out of the state; I just want to ensure that my ass sits on Kolkata on the 11th January, to catch a flight back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before going back home in Singapore by bus. In the midst of these protest, I planned out my route to see if it's possible to stop-over Pushkar.. or should I just go straight to Kolkata? Seems like Pushkar is out of the plan now after careful thought. Told people of my plans to head straight to Kolkata; they recommended me
to go visit Varanasi, since it's on the way to Kolkata.
Well the reason why I really do not want to visit Varanasi because of the fact that it's really crowded.. and I keep getting mix reviews on the city. It's either you love or loathe it. I'm scared that I'll fall into the 'loathe' category.. but upon deep thinking much, I'm like 'hey, you know what, if I could survive Chennai, Varanasi shouldn't be a problem then!'
Anna & Guailo got to know about my plan, and we decided to make a trip to Delhi by bus, and take a train to Varanasi. However, there wasn't any private buses or trains running on 1st January 2011, so I came up with a plan to try out the government bus. They were quite reluctant.. but in the end, I guess I could consider myself quite an influential person! LOL. We went to the bus station around 8pm, and wait for the bus to Delhi to arrive.. only at 9.45pm! It was supposed to be here by 8.30pm.. bloody hell! Well, that's India; never on time! The three of us bad farewell to Pini(Pankaj) and other travellers.. gosh. Time
to move on! I kinda dread moving around; been relaxed too much that I'm too lazy to travel around!
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Oooooh Bundi...
Hi !! I too fell in love with Bundi, really nice your videos from the rainbow, that's where i was staying... Oooooooh f*** i miss it so much... Your blog is great !