Blogs from Rajasthan, India, Asia

So much to see in this amazing land of contrasts. I’m enjoying observing regular people going about their lives perched above them from our tour bus window, and I love interacting with locals when I get the chance. Indian people are warm and friendly. Several times we’ve been photographed by locals who are intrigued by our differences, and on a few occasions I’ve been asked to join a group shot, not dissimilar to travelling in Japan! This time I’m writing while travelling from Jaipur to Agra, the home of the uber famous Taj Mahal. I’m glad we’ve left the Taj well into the tour, otherwise I fear all other monuments will pale into insignificance! Back to Jaipur, and in fact Pushkar which we visited for one night en route from Jodhpur to Jaipur. Pushkar is a ... read more

We arrived in Udaipur airport and after successfully collecting our luggage set off to explore the ‘Venice of the East’. It didn’t disappoint. First up was a visit to the Monsoon Palace perched high on a hill overlooking picturesque Udaipur which is built on a series of lakes, the main one being Lake Pichola. Apparently it was featured in the James Bond classic ‘Octopussy’ although I don’t recall seeing it in the movie. The best part of the so-called Palace was the view which although the city was shrouded in fog was still a grand vista. The Palace on the other hand was more a slightly dilapidated white marble edifice complete with irritating monkeys that stole another tourists food right out of her hands. Then it was on to our very impressive hotel Ananta Udaipur which ... read more

Masala omeletted up, we took a surprisingly long Uber to Patrika gate. The tall pink structure centred around a long hall that held a riot of STUNNING craft. Columns, ceilings and scalloped arches displayed a mixture of pastel toned block colour, floral and bucolic motifs, bright repetitive border patterns, realistic architectural paintings, and stylised Indian narrative scenes of Gods, stories and people. We were in awe, it must have taken years and painstaking care to achieve this feast for our eyes. Many natives, especially couples, were dressed to the nines, taking professional photos along with crew, and professional equipment. Hattie wants to do this with Gabe in front of Buckingham Palace and Marble Arch. She settled for Grace instead, getting in on two gorgeous ladies’ photo shoot. We then went to the nearby JKK, an arts ... read more

6. – 21.12. Von Varanasi reisen wir nach Khajuraho, einem abgelegenen Dorf, berühmt wegen seiner Tempelanlagen aus dem 10. Jhd. Es sind knapp 400km dorthin, aber es gibt keinen einfachen Reiseweg – Zug, Bus, shared Taxi - auf alle Fälle muss man mehrmals umsteigen und es dauert lange. Wir fahren erst mal nach Prayagraj, einer trostlosen Stadt, von wo aus wir den Zug zu nehmen gedenken. Irgendwie klappt es aber mit der Online-Ticket – App nicht, am Schalter ist niemand dazu zu bewegen uns ein Billett zu verkaufen, und ein netter junger Mann, der uns am Ticketautomat eines lösen will (ausländische Kreditkarten funktionieren da nicht), kann nur noch Stehplätze auswählen. So quartieren wir uns im nächsten Hotel ein, für das alleinig die Nähe zum Bahnhof spricht, und besuchen die einzige Sehenswürdigkeit hier, eine Grabanlage eines muslimischen ... read more

We woke up at the crack of dawn to get a four hour taxi journey to Jaipur. We said goodbye to our gracious hosts and fell into the hands of Iksha and her uncle, many journey snacks in tow. When we arrived to have a chai break at our first Indian service station, we breathed in our first full fresh air since landing in Delhi. In Wiltshire the air pollution is 3 but in Delhi it’s closer to 400 due to fires in the countryside and winds blowing it into the city - also the immensely heavy traffic. The Chai wallah gave us a cute clay no-handle mug which was meant to be one time use but Hattie took a liking to it and popped it in her handbag to have her morning coffees in back ... read more

Usual start at 8.30am after breakfast. Seemed like we were the only 6 guests but a few more turned up as we were leaving. First stop was Amber Fort, but instead of our mini-bus, we all hopped into a covered Jeep for the drive up to the Fort entrance. The old traditional method was riding up on an elephant, but tour companies no longer use this method because the elephants are badly treated. The Indian government does not allow any new elephants to be trained in this way. Amber Fort was fantastic. Located 11km from Jaipur, it was the old fort of the Kachwaha clan of Amber. The fort is built with white marble and red sandstone and many interesting parts to it, plus great views of the surrounding area. After that, we stopped to look ... read more