Seven Months In Asia ( Jodhpur - Pushkar- Jaipur- Udaipur )

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The trian ended up reaching there at six........that NIGHT, so without knowing this we had not brought any food or water on the train, thinking it was only one night, and the amazing thing was there wasn't a single seller on the whole train, no lunch cart, no station stalls, nothing. so we starved, got dehydrated, sat in empty carriages with the sand lashing against us for the whole day, pissed off and tiredly arriving in jodhpur that evening.



from then on it was simple. the rickshaw driver knew a great hotel, it was, we stayed there two nights, the rooftop had a close and amazing view of Mehranger fort perched on the top of the hill, the restaurant was excellent, there was a brandy shop through the old town market and we met some great travellers there to spend the evenings chatting with.



then came the fort. all i can say is wow. this place was amazing, far exceeded any expectations i had, was much better than i remembered amber fort being, so we spent a long day walking around, sitting in the shade and taking photos, admiring the workmanship and size of the building. after a sensory overload it was time to head back to havelli, have a great meal at on the rocks, walk down to the brandy shop, sleep.

next morning we visited the markets and went to the hotel/palace/museum on the other side of town which turned out to be a waste of time anyways, so we headed back and booked tickets to go to pushkar.

Pushkar (or The Indian Tel-Aviv)

Upon entering the city, after the worst bus ride ever in which our driver killed one large pig and almost three people, my stomach tensed as i saw falafel signs hanging from every single pole. i am in not a racist, but in my experience from travelling in asia since the mid-80's i have yet to meet one friendly isreali who was not out to act tough, rub you up the wrong way, make you feel totally unwelcome or make jokes at you in hebrew. pushkar was no exception. we all felt like outcasts, and ended up staying only three nights.. even though it was a pretty little town curled around a gorgeous lake.



some funny things i remember from pushkar would be the hotel owner who would smuggle beers into my room at night in briefcases and once a huge pillowcase (since pushkar is a holy city, alcohol is not tolerated), the sadhus trying to get money from us, the camels walking down the main streets, the beautiful sunsets.... but all in all, i am sad to say it but it has become a place where not many people are welcome, and its not from the locals you get these vibes....

jaipur was next, and we put pushkar behind us.. a bit saddened by the way things had turned out.

Jaipur


this was my second visit to jaipur, the first one being in 1993. not much had changed, we stayed at the same guest house, had excellent food, walked with other travellers to the beer store at night and sat in evergreens garden to drink them, contemplated the diamond scam, visited amber fort again, met a huge group of potty hare krishnas who tried to convert us when their elephant overtook ours, saw the palace of winds again which was decrepid and dead, booked tickets to udaipur.



Udaipur

it was my first visit to udaipur, my sisters second. we headed for lal ghat, and found a great hotel for dirt cheap. the lal ghat area was amazing, so clean, beautifully planned out, the lake was glorious at night, the lake palace shone, every restaurant showed octopussy, we saw a fantastic sunset at mansur palace with only two other souls there, we walked the city for hours, saw the palace which was impressive, walked the promenades by the various lakes, had an exceptional time. it was then time to leave once again, and diu was looking good as an option. the three of us had never been there, it sounded really quiet and out of the way, it was hard to get to which mean't not everyone would try, it was cheap. we booked tickets with a guy who swore on his name that he was telling the truth about the bus, that it would be from udaipur direct to veeraval and from there we would catch a local bus to diu. like idiots we believed him.

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