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Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaipur December 26th 2023

Masala omeletted up, we took a surprisingly long Uber to Patrika gate. The tall pink structure centred around a long hall that held a riot of STUNNING craft. Columns, ceilings and scalloped arches displayed a mixture of pastel toned block colour, floral and bucolic motifs, bright repetitive border patterns, realistic architectural paintings, and stylised Indian narrative scenes of Gods, stories and people. We were in awe, it must have taken years and painstaking care to achieve this feast for our eyes. Many natives, especially couples, were dressed to the nines, taking professional photos along with crew, and professional equipment. Hattie wants to do this with Gabe in front of Buckingham Palace and Marble Arch. She settled for Grace instead, getting in on two gorgeous ladies’ photo shoot. We then went to the nearby JKK, an arts ... read more
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Asia » India » Rajasthan December 23rd 2023

After our first lie-in of the trip (9.30 wake up 😼) we fought an uphill pedestrian battle against the vehicles and walkways (with one man asking if we would “pimp his ride” to which we responded “no thanks!!) to the much calmer Museum of Gem and Jewellery Federation where Grace, Hattie and Iksha found some of the most beautiful treasures of the trip. Uncle Vivek met us there and helped us pick out our treats (he has exquisite taste). Hattie has expensive taste and inadvertently picked out items exclusively over £300 - including a gorgeous silver chain belt and spice container necklace. Silly betis did the conversion rates wrong in our heads and got excited that everything was £20 (add a zero!!). Unfortunately collectively this was the budget for the entire trip so Hattie came away ... read more
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Asia » India » Rajasthan December 23rd 2023

6. – 21.12. Von Varanasi reisen wir nach Khajuraho, einem abgelegenen Dorf, berĂŒhmt wegen seiner Tempelanlagen aus dem 10. Jhd. Es sind knapp 400km dorthin, aber es gibt keinen einfachen Reiseweg – Zug, Bus, shared Taxi - auf alle FĂ€lle muss man mehrmals umsteigen und es dauert lange. Wir fahren erst mal nach Prayagraj, einer trostlosen Stadt, von wo aus wir den Zug zu nehmen gedenken. Irgendwie klappt es aber mit der Online-Ticket – App nicht, am Schalter ist niemand dazu zu bewegen uns ein Billett zu verkaufen, und ein netter junger Mann, der uns am Ticketautomat eines lösen will (auslĂ€ndische Kreditkarten funktionieren da nicht), kann nur noch StehplĂ€tze auswĂ€hlen. So quartieren wir uns im nĂ€chsten Hotel ein, fĂŒr das alleinig die NĂ€he zum Bahnhof spricht, und besuchen die einzige SehenswĂŒrdigkeit hier, eine Grabanlage eines muslimischen ... read more
Khajuraho
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Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaipur December 22nd 2023

With half closed eyes we ordered an Uber from the hostel and traversed through dimly lit Jaipur. We got out at a beautiful sandstone gate that was blocked by cows and dogs. We sidestepped them and began the trek up to the sun temple as the sun began to rise. Hundreds of monkeys were eating banana breakfasts and the babies were having their morning milk before we’d even had our chai! The view over the trees and mountains and the city was gorgeous and we could hear religious chanting from near by temples. This really was a memorable moment and set a lovely calm tone for the day. The block colour of different dwellings became more vibrant as the sky changed from pink to blue. We walked back down the hill now in the light, half ... read more
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Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaipur December 20th 2023

We woke up at the crack of dawn to get a four hour taxi journey to Jaipur. We said goodbye to our gracious hosts and fell into the hands of Iksha and her uncle, many journey snacks in tow. When we arrived to have a chai break at our first Indian service station, we breathed in our first full fresh air since landing in Delhi. In Wiltshire the air pollution is 3 but in Delhi it’s closer to 400 due to fires in the countryside and winds blowing it into the city - also the immensely heavy traffic. The Chai wallah gave us a cute clay no-handle mug which was meant to be one time use but Hattie took a liking to it and popped it in her handbag to have her morning coffees in back ... read more
Albert Hall halls hall
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Jaipur’s famous block print

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaipur April 29th 2023

Later start today at 9.30am as it's basically a free day. Gordon and Peter had booked another driver like we did for the day, but Arjun said it wasn't necessarily as he and the driver were at our disposal. So we all cancelled the driver and just joined the optional cooking class. First stop for photos was the Albert Hall (at my request) which fortunately was on the way to the scheduled stop, the Lakshmi Narayan Temple. This is a beautiful Hindi Temple completely built with white marble. It was nice to witness the end of a service when we arrived. Had our first proper rain fall as we arrived but temperature today had dropped considerably. Week before we arrived the highs were over 40 degrees centigrade. This week, it's dropped to low 30s, much more ... read more
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Asia » India » Rajasthan April 28th 2023

Usual start at 8.30am after breakfast. Seemed like we were the only 6 guests but a few more turned up as we were leaving. First stop was Amber Fort, but instead of our mini-bus, we all hopped into a covered Jeep for the drive up to the Fort entrance. The old traditional method was riding up on an elephant, but tour companies no longer use this method because the elephants are badly treated. The Indian government does not allow any new elephants to be trained in this way. Amber Fort was fantastic. Located 11km from Jaipur, it was the old fort of the Kachwaha clan of Amber. The fort is built with white marble and red sandstone and many interesting parts to it, plus great views of the surrounding area. After that, we stopped to look ... read more
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Asia » India » Rajasthan April 27th 2023

Started our bus trip to Jaipur at 8.50. Entertaining journey out of Delhi watching how the traffic completely ignores the lanes marked on the road, like they don't exist. Stopped at 11.45am for an early lunch at a nice place in the middle of nowhere called the Siva Oasis Resort. We discovered today that all our dinners are provided, so we ate a light lunch of creme of chicken soup and garlic naan for Daisy and a grilled chicken sandwich for me. Arjun also asked us to tip the rest room attendants. 10 rupees per person is a fair amount. We left to continue our journey at 12.50pm. The landscape changes towards Jaipur from flat to hilly. Many trucks are colourfully painted and have decorations. Arjun says it's because the trucks are like their home because ... read more
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Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaipur April 26th 2023

Buffet breakfast was interesting. A lot of Indian style items we'd never heard of before. We went around and tried small portions of everything. Daisy had a dosa made which she really liked. Tour started at 8.30am and we met our guide Arjun and driver, Arjay. Surprisingly, there was still just the six of us for this entire tour. Certainly wasn't expecting a small group tour. Robyn and Anne however didn't opt for the Varanasi extension. First stop was a visit to Old Delhi. We were taken to the Jama Masjid Mosque (the largest mosque in India), which has three great gateways, four angle towers and two minarets constructed ofalternating vertical strips of red sandstone and white marble. First we had a rickshaw tour through Chandni Chowk, a colourful shopping bazaar in OldDelhi. Then a tour ... read more
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Asia » India » Rajasthan » Kumbhalgarh March 14th 2023

Kumbhalgadh – Ranakpur-Mt Abu Being nearest places from where we live (Gandhinagar), Mt Abu, Udaipur, Kumbhalgadh and Ranakpur are frequently visited places for Gujarat. This was our second visit to Kumbhalgadh and Ranakpur and n-th visit to Mt Abu. Preferred route to Kumbhalgadh is from Udaipur. Ranakpur is near to Kumbhalgadh and hence both places are covered on the same day. Ranakpur can also be approached from Abu Road via Falna. Detailed descriptions about Kumbhalgadh and Ranakpur are available on internet and hence I do not intend to repeat all that. In this blog, I will highlight the mistakes we made. Day-1: Gandhinagar to Ambaji We started from Gandhinagar in the afternoon and reached Ambaji (162 km / 3-15 hrs via Vijapur-Himmatnagar-Khedbrahma). Alternate routes include: Gandhinagar-Himmatnagar national highway, Gandhinagar-Mehsana-Palanpur-Ambaji or Gandh... read more
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