Blogs from Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 41

inzwischen haben wir unseren weg ueber delhi runter durch das heiss saengende (45 - 48 gerad) rajasthan gebahnt. sind mittlerweile in udaipur. mit bus und bahn bewegen wir uns langsam weiter (verspaetung in der regel 5 - 8 std.). natuerlich auch ueber ein weiteres highlight der taj mahal. ich muss schon sagen wirklich beeindruckend und auch die vielen menschen drum rum konnte man stundenlang beobachten. indien brodelt nicht nur hitze maessig. auch die menschen massen sind ueberall deutlich spuerbar. ich habe das gefuehl das indien, besonders die staedte, jedem moment im choas versinken. eigentlich ist der punkt schon ueberschritten, der kollaps schon lange eingetreten. anscheint koennen staedte nicht untergehen, sonst wuerden so einige nicht mehr existieren. aber sie leben und wie es lebt! so befindet sich auf den strassen ohne ampel das reinste chaos. hunde, rickshaws, ... read more

the city street slope up and down and there are palaces everywhere as well as a big lake which is now full of water after being 2 seasons dry....which is some feat as it'a a huge lake! hooray for the morning shit! city palace witht he Prince of Jaiselmer buying shoes buying books buying jewelery at massage guru dude's place flirting boys keep getting younger and younger have one more day tomorrow then off to Jaisemer.... read more

We're having a great time, as you can tell by our lack of commitment to our travel blog. I guess we were a bit over ambitious thinking that we would be disciplined enough to stay on top of it. Oh well. After we plied ourselves off the beaches of Goa, we headed inland to see two World Heritage Sites: Ellora and Ajanta. Both are a series of temples carved out of basalt (volcanic rock) cliffs, but the two locations are quite different. Ellora consists of three series of over 34 cave temples: some Buddhist, some Hindu, and some Jain. They date from the 16th century. The main attraction is a Hindu temple called Kailash, which is the largest monolithic structure in the world. That is, it is carved out of one solid piece of rock! Thus, ... read more

My next three destinations all occupy the southern section of the very large state of Rajastan. After leaving Bundi, my next destination was a whistle stop tour of Chittorgarh, a town boasting what is billed as the finest fort in Rajastan, as well as some one-of-a kind architecture that you just have to visit to appreciate. The town isn't supposed to be that great to stay in, so I went to Udaipur that evening, which is widely considered to be most romantic city in the 'Stan. I wanted to describe an experience I had riding the train - I had to buy an unreserved seat ($1) on the train because I was buying the ticket just before it arrived, but the unrerverved seating cars where it entitled me to sit had people hanging out of the ... read more

Udaipur is the jewel of Mewar kingdom ruled by the Sisodia dynasty for 1200 years. There is a legend assocaiated with the foundation of the city. According to it, Maharana Udai Singh, the founder, was hunting one day when he met a holy man meditating on a hill overlooking the Lake Pichhola. The hermit blessed the Maharana and advised him to build a palace at this favorable located spot with a fertile valley watered by the stream, a lake, an agreeable altitude and an amphitheater of low mountains. Maharana followed the advice of the hermit and founded the city in 1559 A.D. I would love to say we planned to see the Mewar Festival in Udaipur but obviously as it was Irene and I, we were lucky enough for out time in Udaipur to coincide with ... read more