Blogs from Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 341

....FLEXIBILITAET BRAUCHST IN INDIEN.......... wollten eigentlich am 31. 12. von amritsar nach delhi, um mit den tibetern silvester zu feiern! haben dafuer sogar eine schlaflose nacht im ueberladenen und ueberfuellten bus in kauf genommen und nix wars damit!! sind im morgengrauen in delhi eingeritten und los gings uebernachtig auf herbergsuche. nach einer halben stunde war uns schon klar, dass wir weder ein zimmer, noch eine matratze oder auch nur eine ecke zum pennen kriegen koennen, ganz majnu-ka- tilla ist voll bis ende jaenner! deshalb trat plan "b" in kraft, taxi zum india gate und gleich einen bus nach jaipur, rajasthan checken! hat gut geklappt, nach einer weiteren, 4 einhalb- stuendigen fahrt war's also soweit! ziemlich verkatert und zerknirscht landeten wir bei den rajputen,! dachten, dass die wohl auch gut silvester feiern koennen. auch deshalb, weil's hier ... read more

Summary: This blog turned out to be longer than I was expecting so just to outline things I've basically written a discription of what I think train journeys are like here, the sorts of things that you see and the people you meet. As mentioned before, after the disaster of missing taxis in Darjeeling, the spectacularly late fashion of my train (over 9hrs) meant that I had finally managed to successfully book a train and get on it myself! It's clear that the train journeys here are going to be one of the most memorable experiences I have here so I thought I'd make another effort to right down what they are like. It turns out that trains don't travel overnight to Assam (This eastern region) due to bandits which would otherwise hold it up and ... read more

I took these photos from the car, mostly as we made our trek from Japiur to Agra (in Northern India). Admittedly they are not the greatest photos, but hey, the car was moving! Some of them were taken in a city, I'm not sure which one, probably either Delhi, Jaipur, or Agra. Most of them though, I took when I had my turn in the front seat and Praveen #2, our driver, was taking us the long hard stretch from Jaipur to Agra. I thought I'd try and capture the variety of vehicles that were sharing the road with us. I have another set of photos to post soon that were focused along the roadside, instead of ON it. Note to my family and friends who live in India: I realize you may not be too ... read more

From Fatehpur Sikri, it was a bad and bumpy road to Jaipur. NH 11, as it was called was anything but that and I just hoped and prayed that we reach our destination in one piece, as there were heavy vehicles on the single lane road driven ruthlessly by careless drivers. It was sundown when we reached Jaipur and checked into the JaiMahal palace hotel. The hotel was swarmed with foreigners and we were perhaps the only local Indian guests there! The next morning we met our tourist guide Mr. Vijay all dressed up in a suit who spoke very highly of his hometown. He took us first to the Jantar Mantar observatory built by the erstwhile Rajput ruler, Raja Sawai Jai Singh the Second, also the founder of the city of Jaipur, which has the ... read more

PS: I forgot to tell you that "Hotel California" is playing overhead. Before that was "Summer of 69." It is fun to be able to sing along, and look across at the Indian guy in the turban at the computer across from me and see him singing along too!... read more