Blogs from Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 336

Well at least I now know where those baggy pants got there name - welcome to Jodhpur, not only home to baggy pants but of course more temples and forts… First of all we toured around Jodphur fort which overlooks the old town, the fort itself was very impressive and has apparently never been breached although there are several cannon ball marks so at least someone tried. From the top of the fort the views were fantastic, especially of the old town which is painted blue to try and keep the occupants cool - and they need all the help they can get a it's pretty darn hot and it's not even summer. While we were touring the fort we noticed that they did evening meals so we made reservations for that night and toured around ... read more

So rats to Bikaner and we head off once again on to the unknown, or to be more precise, what’s unknown could be just around the corner... One thing you do see traveling this way is the absolute poverty of the smaller villages and I just can’t understand how they survive. One thing that amazes myself and Suzanne is that you'll see someone in the absolute middle of no where quite content either working away or walking somewhere - and there's nothing (and I mean nothing) for miles, so where are these people going or where have they been - mind blowing... A few villages later and quite a few hours later we arrive just outside Jaislemer for a camel safari which includes a ride into the desert as well as spending a night below the ... read more

A restfull night we had on the train to Jaipur from Jaisalmer. Jaipur is also a very crowded city. We were expecting the Pink City area calm but it wasn't. We took a fuul day tour from the tourist office at the railway station. Although the price of the tour was very cheap, many extras made the bill high. 180 inR for the museum, 10 inR for observatory area, few other entrances and the lunch we paid 255inR for two. Nice places we have visited but we were expecting to see them more clean and painted clean. The history of Jaipur is not older than 500 years. Unfortunately we didn't find what we dreamed for this city. In the afternoon we left for Agra by train. Agra is also a very rush city with its crowds. ... read more

Yeehaaa - The adventure begins as we set off at out of Delhi at the speed of a relaxed snail and into the rush hour traffic... How busy and how loud - wow, through the noise we learn our drivers name is Harish and he likes Indian Music - I felt like I was in UK curry house and asked for 2 lamb Buna’s, anyway Harish seems like a nice enough fellow and just as was as we will be spending lots and lots of time with him over the next 3 weeks... Instead of driving straight to Bikaner we decided to break up the trip and stop off in Mandawa at a little resort - I know, it's a hard life we lead... Quite a few hours later we arrive at a very relaxing place ... read more

We left Jaisalmer, five of us (including the driver Vicky) crammed into our small indian-made car. Here's one of the advantages of having a car/driver with flexible travel-mates: we can stop for various things of interest. I had neard about the small village of Khidgen (between Jaisalmer and Bikaner) in which there is a spot where the Demoiselle Cranes winter, thanks to food provided by villagers. We (I mean Vicky) had to ask about about 12 people before finally finding a dirt road leading to a large excavated depression, containing something like 300 to 400 cranes, not to mention some little eyed (?) plovers, redshank, shovelers and others. Strange site, in the middle of nowhere. Bikaner, our next stop, is a dusty desert town, with chaotic traffic as bad as anywhere else. At one point an ... read more