Our Rajasthan tour

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After 3 nights in Delhi with Kathryn being sick (again) and talking and arguing with various tour agencies we decided to take a tour around Rajasthan with West India travel. We managed to get the tour for £16 a day. This is for a car and a driver which includes all of the fuel and state taxes etc.

We agreed to have a driver for 15 days and our first stop was Mandawa a town that is suppose to be famous for its painted Havelis. After a 7-8 hour drive we arrived in the town. The hotel that we stayed in had the best paintings but they were newly done. A little boy took us around the Havelis and unfortunately they haven't been looked after for years. Half of them were patched up with concrete because the buildings were falling down and they were also dirty due to the pollution and the dust.

The next stop was Bikiner which was a 6 hour drive. After Kathryn feeling a lot better I started to feel ill. However we still managed to do a tour of the fort. We just had the one night there and the next morning we were off to Jasalmer but stopped off at Dishnock to have a look at the famous rat temple called the Karni Mata temple. It wasn’t as bad as what we expected considering it was a temple full of "holy" rats and you have to go in bare footed! Some of them looked half dead but generally they were quite calm. The smell was the worst thing about it though!

We had 3 nights instead of 2 nights in Jasalmer due to me being sick for the first day. However the next day I felt a lot better and we went to the fort with a tour guide. The fort is amazing and the tour was very interesting. Inside the fort there are a lot of buildings that have falling down. Our tour guide told us that this is because the fort is sinking due to the amount of water that is being used inside of the fort.

Later that day we were taken to about 10 different temples. One that stood out was the cobra temple which we found quite interesting because they say 2 cobras live underneath and come out every morning to drink milk. I asked the guy how the snakes survive off milk alone. He replied that the snakes are holy snakes. Somehow I find that hard to believe considering the great rat population in India. However who am I to argue as we did see pictures.

That night our driver called Gopal took us to the desert for our camel safari. By the time we jumped on our camels it was about 4pm and we headed to the sand dunes for about 6:30pm to watch the sunset. Whilst watching the sun go down we were soon approached by a boy holding a cool bag. His first question was, “where are you from sir?” I replied Australia and he stood there thinking for a moment and then pulled out 2 icy cold Pepsi's and asked for 50rs (65p) each. I refused to give him that much as they only cost 10 rs in the shops so offered to pay 20rs as after all it was a desert Pepsi. He reluctantly agreed and when I'd drunk it up he took the bottle and walked off through the sand dunes. The young camel handler that we had with us told us that the Pepsi boy only asked us where we are from because an American once paid 500rs ( £6.25) for a Pepsi!

Whilst this was happening the older man that owns the camels went off to get our food, bed and 4 icy cold beers. When he returned Kathryn and I were starving hungry as he was gone 2 hours. During our wait I was keeping the young boy amused with my mobile phone. He could not believe that it could play music, take photos and make calls. He was so amazed that I almost wanted to give it to him. The wait was worth while as the beers were lovely and cold and the food was probably the best food that we've had in India. Considering we were sleeping in the desert we had a great nights sleep and all in all we had a great time on our desert safari.

The next day we drove to Jodhur after not having a shower due to sleeping in the desert Gopal pulled up outside the Mahrangarb fort of Jodhpur and said, "now you have a look at the fort". Kathryn wasn't very pleased but to be fair it was the only time we could go due the closing times. It cost us 250 rs (£3.00) to get in and it includes an audio tour which was very good. Whilst listening to the tour at one point there was about 40 Indian tourists laughing and staring at us. They continued to stare for several minutes and as we were unable to concentrate on the tour I abandoned it and shook hands with them all. Then came out their cameras and after taking close up pictures of Kathryn and I, we posed for photos with all the family.
Later that night it was time to have a beer and relax on a roof top restaurant. We had a great night as we were talking and drinking with an Irish guy called Morgan and a girl called Elizabeth. It's good sharing India experiences with other travelers.

The next journey was to Ranakpur. This was a great break from the cities. It's in a valley surrounded by mountains and there are lots of black faced monkeys around. It also has a nice Jain temple- one of the best we've seen. We stayed at a lovely hotel called Roopam and got a great room for 550 rs (£7.00) with a big balcony. More expensive than what we've normally been paying in Rajasthan but worth every Rupee. That night we walked to a sunset lookout point that looks over a big dam. It was so peaceful up there until a group of Indian kids went up there also and stared at us until the sun went down. Later that night we made the most of our good health and hit the beers again. This time the Hayward 5000 which is 8%- Gee they hit you in the guts!!!!

The next morning we learnt about the current riots happening in Rajasthan. Gopal was sure we could get to Udaipur safe but if they continued it meant we wouldn't be able to get to Jaipir, Agra (which would means no Taj Mahal) and Ranthanbhore National park. Due to this we were stuck in Udaipur for 3 nights. Not a bad place to be stuck in because it is a lovely place. It's built around a lake with lots of palaces. This places claim to fame is the James Bond movie Octopussy. Most restuarants play this film every night which we were sad enough to watch one night. Udaipur is also where we met a fellow traveler called Mark who we kept bumping into. He was stuck in Udaipur for 7 nights due to the riots.

After 3 nights in Udaipur the riots had calmed down enough for us to drive up to Pushkar. This is a holy town like Hampi so means no beer and meat again. We stayed in a great place called Seventh Heaven which was a good place to relax. There were a lot of beggars in Pushkar and because it's a religious place you get hassled out unless you have a Pushkar passport. This means that you have a red band around your wrist. In order to get this you basically throw petals in the water and repeat the lines they say about giving good health to your family. After it's over they say you have to give money from both you and your family if you want them to have good health. It's a bit of a scam but it was an experience and we were assured that the money we gave was going to charity.

That evening we climbed a big hill up to a temple. Most people do this in the morning because it’s cooler but we stupidly decided to do it in the afternoon. This was the wrong decision because we sweated like pigs all the way up. Whilst we were walking up we were being followed by monkeys and when we got to the top there was an Indian family in the temple and the two young boys outside were throwing sugar cubes to the monkeys and pretty soon there were loads of monkeys all outside the temple. We admired the lovely views of Pushkar and talked to the Indian family. I said to Kathryn that they can go out first because their boys had caused the monkeys to get in an aggressive state and were all hovering outside the temple However when they went to go they were too scared to leave and just stood there. In the end I ended up clamping my hands and scaring them off- Aussie to the rescue!

After 2 nights in Pushkar, Gopal drove us to Jaipur. We saw various temples there and also went just outside Jaipur to see the Amber fort. Inside was just all empty rooms unlike other forts and palaces we have seen where they have been turned into Museums. All in all it was a lot better to look at from the outside. Unfortunately there were a few main sites that had restoration work being done so that means no decent pictures could be taken.

Jaipur was our last stop in Rajasthan. Due to the riots we lost a few days and were unable to go to Ranthanhbore National Park which was in our itinerary. However after the riots settled down we were able to go back into Rajasthan and go there but that’s another blog..

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Photos

Sunset in the desert near Jaisalmer
This is the sunset we saw the day we went on our camel desert safari.

The Blue City
The view from the fort in Jodhpur.

Kat after receiving her Pushkar passport
Kicking back on one of the swings in the guest house that we stayed called the seventh Heaven.

Pushkar city
This is the view we had after climbing a hill to a temple

Comments

[Bill]

General Thoughts
Hi Kathryn and Sonny, Have been following your fascinating blog. Sounds like you are having a fantastic time, except for the tummy problems, which I hope are now over! The pictures look terrific and can only imagine what the real thing looks like. You are really having a 'trip of a life time'. I have enjoyed sharing your trip via the blog with you both and look forward to the next instalment. Where too next!??! Take Care. Love, Bill

[Laura Loo]

That holy rat is really cute!