Blogs from Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 3

A whole day was allowed to travel 400km from Jodhpur to Udaipur. Once we joined the toll road we understood why. The speed limit of 90kph for cars and 40kph for trucks with trucks keeping left. Except most of the trucks occupied the two right lane with all doing a little over 40 and scooters and tuk-tuks in the left lane. This meant that cars had to weave in and out at a speed well under 90. One very special treat on the way was to see water being ‘pumped’ from a large pond by a vertical conveyer belt of buckets up to a channel about seven metres higher than the pond. The whole was powered by a capstan wheel turned by two oxen. For ₹20 we could take as many photos as we wanted- a ... read more

Not India again? Rajasthan, again? Don't you have anywhere else to go? Well, yes, I do. Like most inveterate travellers, I have a bucket list - but, alas, not enough years to visit every country on it before I kick it (the bucket that is, not the list)! So, while I hope to put a line through at least some places on that list in the future, I'll stick with a familiar one in the meantime. I've mentioned before that, in a past life, I'd been fortunate to visit quite a few places around the globe - and even more fortunate that most of those visits were made at someone else's expense, including several trips to India! I enjoyed all of them. However, there are some that I enjoyed more than others and India happens to ... read more

TRAVERSES IN ARAVALLI HILLS OF RAJASTHAN,NW INDIA. TEXT&PICS BY RAKESH GIRI GOSWAMI They form an important geographic unit is state of Rajasthan. In fact they divide state into 2 different parts having varied climate, culture, soil types etc. Aravalli hills start from near Delhi and continue is state for 600kms. following a NE-SW trend covering Sirohi, Mt.Abu. The Aravllis continue in Gujarat also but as isolated hills. Aravallis have maximum width in southern part, and tapering in north. They are continuous from Mt.Abu to Ajmer, but from Ajmer they occur as intermittent hills with many offshoots branching towards Sikar-Jhunjhunu in left, Jaipur-Lalsot in right side. The central part of thee ridges is seen towards Alwar and continuous up to Gurugram-Delhi side. Scientists have expressed the opinion that they continue beyond Delhi but are obscured under ... read more

Geo: 24.5823, 73.6882We followed a walking tour around Jaipur (The Pink City) and took in sights such as Hawa Mahal which is a building that a Moghul king built so that his wives could watch the goings on on the streets without anyone looking back at them. As far as we can tell, this is one of the first recorded and most elaborate 'nosey neighbours' in history.We also went to a place called Jantar Mantar. To Phil's dismay, this was NOT the name of the next dinosaur hybrid in "jurassic world 2", but a place filled with 19 massive astronomical instruments built in the 18th century and apparently home to the worlds largest sundial. We left Jaipur on the evening of 11th October, taking a 12 hour overnight train to Jaisalmer. The train journeys have actually ... read more

RAJSAMAND-ONE DAY OUTING NEAR UDAIPUR by rakesh giri goswami PICTURES BY MANJU LATA GOSWAMI The culture and history of Rajasthan attracts large number of tourists to this part of country. There is general impression in minds of visitors is that former royals lived lavishly,were always fighting and committing atrocities on their people. The truth is exactly reverse, rulers were always concerned about welfare of their people and many monuments are living testimony of their worry for people.They developed many facilities like roads, large water reserviors, shelter places, temples etc. Rajsamand or Rajsamand lake is one such example. It is located 66 kms.north of Udaipur near town of same name which also a district headquarter. Rajsamand was constructed by Maharan Raj Singh in 1660 by putting a m... read more