Advertisement
Published: December 22nd 2018
Edit Blog Post
Tigers!!! Yes, seeing the tigers in the wild was really, really cool! So, I had to use that as our first pic on the blog!
So, it is now 10 days into our trip and we will attempt to post a blog. Internet is hit and miss, but better than we expected. We spent 3 days in Jaipur, then 3 days in Ranthambore, 2 days in Bundi and now are in Barli, a very, very tiny village that has an amazing 17
th century fort, still owned by the original family - 16 generations of a Darbar family, member of one of the royal families, but we are confused exactly on the lineage. But it is beautifully restored and we are staying in the King’s bedroom. When we reserved here, we did wonder how large a 48sq meter room was, and then wondered if it was a mistake. The room is huge! And Ed keeps singing Tom Petty’s song. But it is cool.
There are 8 rooms, but as of today and tonight we have the entire place to ourselves. It is fun, but I have decided I would probably be bored to tears If this
was my life. That said, a very short trip to the village below and I feel like I could be on an Outlander site in the 17
th century. Life is very hard and does not appear to have changed much for anyone.
This morning we were up early for a birdwatcher’s tour. It was a beautiful morning, the sun appearing as a large red ball, and people beginning their day. Not a lot of birds, but just great to be up and out. The air feels cleaner this morning. And since we have nothing planned for the rest of the day, I think I will try to get a blog posted.
I will back up a bit to our arrival in India. Ed and I were in Rajasthan in 1995. So, we are spending a fair amount of time discussing what changes we see. So far, it has not changed that much. The children seem nicer, the touts don’t bother us, but again it might be an age thing, regardless we are enjoying it! Even the trains seem cleaner.
We arrived in Jaipur @ 8:30 pm with the customary
hour plus thru immigration. A little tired, we wake up once we were in our cab and driving thru the streets of Jaipur. Did I actually write that Bangkok was chaotic…??? No comparison with Jaipur – driving down the crowded evening streets, motorcycles, rickshaws, tuk tuks, cars, with everyone blowing their horns. We both do a double take – ‘that’s an elephant’ next to us, just walking down the street, richly decorated. It is wedding season, and we see lots of brightly lit tents, with loud music pulsating from them, and elephants are part of the show.
The driver has trouble finding our hotel, which is never a good sign. Since we were arriving late in the evening, we had decided to book a cheaper hotel near the airport for the first night. Upon arrival we are greeted by 3 men, who appear not to know what to do with us. Finally, a 4
th man arrives who does speak English and explains, the hotel is full, they did not receive our booking, and probably a couple of other explanations we did not understand. Fortunately, he is able to book us at another Treebo hotel, and by midnight
we are finally able to collapse into bed. Definitely a step down from our ocean resort!
But the next morning, we move to our beautiful haveli. It is Alsisar Havali Heritage, a beautifully restored 125 year old ‘Nobleman’s townhouse’, hidden behind a large gate, but still in the center of the old city. It is an amazing oasis of calm, as all street sounds are kept at bay.
We enjoy a delicious masala chai, check in and wander the grounds. Our main job today is to buy a train ticket to the Tiger Park in Ranthambore. As Ed finds us a tuk tuk, I am too busy watching as 2 camels with loaded carts, meander down the street. Expecting the train ticket purchase to take most of the day, we are amazed how easy it was to buy the tickets, as there were no major lines, and we had multiple people ‘helping’ us.
That accomplished, we agree to hire the tuk tuk for the day, and have James show us some of the local sights. He is a delight with his stories, not sure if any are true, but definitely entertaining.
Supposedly his brother worked or was in The Exotic Marigold Hotel movie, and he definitely looks like he could have been. He is in a band, lived in Australia as a musician and when he could not get a US visa, went to Russia instead.
We visit the Monkey Temple, with a gazillion monkeys around. Back in the streets with its constant cacophony of noise – horns, people, motorcycles, streets are so crowded. While we wait in traffic, we make friends with the family in the tuk tuk next to us. So many smells, some pleasant, some not so much. Everything is alittle exhausting, so we welcome the very peaceful, quiet and uncrowded Royal Gaitor tombs. This is the tombs of all the Singhs, the kings of Rajasthan. There are only about 8 of us wandering amongst the 7 tombs.
For lunch we enjoy a delicious thali and remember why we love Indian food. The end of the day we finish with a tour to a textile factory which has beautiful tablecloths, saris, duvet covers all block printed in reds, yellows, blues and oranges. Perhaps a return before we depart India.
The next day is quieter, as I am officially ‘enjoying’ my usual tropical head cold. We do go out to see the Palace of the Winds (Hawa Mahal), built in 1799 with 953 small windows. We tour the interior, which is not near as impressive as the exterior. The majority of the building was built to allow the Royal women to stand and watch the street activity below, unseen.
This is probably one of the longest blogs I have written in a long time. But having glanced at today’s news, I decided I will continue writing, rather than read about all the chaos in our own country.
Then it is on to Ranthambore National Park, where as the pics confirmed we were very, very lucky to see the tigers. We did two drives, one in the evening, one the next morning, and saw a tiger each time. Interesting, both of them are considered cubs (less than 3 yrs old), but they sure looked fully grown to us! The park is the largest National Park In Northern India. It was a former hunting grounds for the Maharajas of Jaipur, converted to a park in 1980.
Kenya could actually learn from the well organized structure here. They have 10 zones and allow only 8 vehicles in each zone. And they are very respectful of the distance with the animals, no chasing here, which we appreciated.
Then it is a 3 hour fairly rough ride to the small village of Bundi. Once entering the ‘old city’ part, the narrow lanes, with lots of small narrow shops, reminds us somewhat of Katmandu many years ago. Cars are not suppose to enter the old part of the city, although many do, but the motorcycles are swarming everywhere. Between that and the cows, you have to watch your step. But we really like this small town, see the step wells they are known for and tour a portion of the very large palace that towers over the city. The palace was built in the 16
th century. Most of the palace is closed to the public, and quite run down, but the few rooms we do see have some beautiful, but fading art work on the walls. And we are again reminded of the amazing history of this country.
Tomorrow we leave for Udaipur to
View from our rooftop restaurant at our hotel in Bundi
It does seem they could have placed the cell tower somewhere else, instead of directly behind the castle... spend Christmas. And on that note, (plus I am losing the internet), I will end this blog and wish everyone a very merry and happy holiday!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 5; qc: 38; dbt: 0.0399s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Motsee Lock
non-member comment
Merry Christmas
Thank you for sharing your awesome experiences!