Blogs from Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 361

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaisalmer April 21st 2005

Woohoo 47 degrees Celsius!!!! It was just too damn hot here. The only reason we came here was to go out to the Thar Desert on the borderline to Pakistan and ride some camels, so we didn’t waste any time in booking the trek. The night before the trek we wondered around and visited the local "Government approved bhang shop". Erik and I sipped strong bhang tea and ate some bhang cookies and chocolate, at first we thought the tea was weak, only to find ourselves totally wasted a couple of hours later. A few of the local Indians thought I was sick as I continuously laughed on the way back to the hotel. We had quite a rough night. After only a few hours sleep we got up around 5:30am to take the jeep out ... read more

29) Barathpur and the Keoladeo National Park

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Keoladeo National Park April 21st 2005

Water problems

Stephan and Klaudia

We badly needed a break from big cities and hoped to catch a bus to a place where we would again be surrounded by nature, and we were lucky. It was already after 10 p.m., we did not see anything of Barathpur except the bus stand and took a rickshaw to a place close to the entrance of the National Park. Thank God, the family-run Falcon Guesthouse was still open and we were even served a meal. Next morning, we were up early (around 6 a.m.), hired two bicycles in the guesthouse and cycled to the Keoladeo National Park. We had already experienced Rajasthan’s water problems in other places (mainly Udaipur) and here it was no different. Half of the park should be wetland area and attract a huge variety and number of water birds, but ... read more

First India trip: Kuchaman and Fatehpur Sikri

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaipur April 16th 2005

Fatehpur Sikri

ZenaF

Kuchaman is a fort on the edge of the Thar desert, not too far from Jaipur - an amazing place - solemn, haunting...Fatehpur Sikri is my favourite place, but have only one photo of it...... read more

The Pink City of Jaipur

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaipur April 11th 2005

Palace of the winds

kit t

We arrived at Jaipur train station at the ungodly hour of 5am tired and dirty. The numerous taxi and tour touts didn't make it any easier - every single one of them hassled us - so much so that I actually worked up enough courage to yell at one and tell him to get lost. First stop was a hotel recommended by the hotel in Jaisalmer where we apparently could get a room to have a shower for a minimal price. We then headed into Jaipur to wander through the streets until afternoon. Jaipur was a tad boring. The walls and buildings were all a musky pink which was interesting, but there wasn't much else to see in the old city itself apart from too many shopkeepers and taxi drivers. We did stop and admire a ... read more

27) Jaipur’s Gangaur Festival

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaipur April 11th 2005

Master of ceremony

Stephan and Klaudia

We had already missed the Holi Festival (in retrospective we admit that we were not very keen on throwing colour or being thrown colour at), we decided not to miss this one, which was said to be very lively and colourful. We immediately left the City Palace at closing hour and headed to the street where we could see best. The Gangaur Festival celebrates the union of Lord Siva and Parvati, his heavenly consort and is a symbol of conjugal and marital happiness. People explained that it is a festival for women, married women pray for their husband’s long life and good health (a cause Klaudia embraced with all her heart) and unmarried women prayed for a good husband. We only knew that a colourful procession was going to take place and were much looking forward ... read more

All dried out

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Udaipur April 11th 2005

Kama sutra

Still trippin

A romantic city...? We left Bombay with a smile on our faces excited to get to the next stop, Udaipur. Known to be India's most romantic city, with the magical lake Pichola dividing the city in two parts. At least that was until about 6 years ago when it stopped raining so now it's totally dried up. Despite this, it was a very beautiful city with impressive temples such as the Jagdish temple which was carved out of one huge piece of marble and lots of postcard sunset views especially from the Monsoon Palace. We stayed in a hostel called 'Mewar inn' dubbed as a very nice place to stayexcept it was located on the outskirts of town. It had two beds, one sofa, satellite TV, hot shower and a private bathroom for the reasonable price ... read more

More of Jaisalmer

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaisalmer April 10th 2005

A deserted old village and fort

kit t

We got up that morning at 5 to watch the sunrise. Well actually Melenie woke up - I kind of walked still half asleep. It was so cold but we braved the weather and walked up to the top of the dune to watch the sun rise. Unfortunately, we weren't rewarded for our efforts - the sky was kind of dusty/cloudy and so the sun rise was only moderately beautiful. That morning we had a breakfast of eggs and toast and then headed off on another 2 hour camel ride. Once again we rode through some spectacular scenery and even got to see a few wild camels and baby camels roaming around. After reaching civilization, our tour guides drove us to a few more villages as well as an abandoned ruined city. The city was quite ... read more

First India trip; Agra and the Amber Fort

Asia » India » Rajasthan April 10th 2005

Bathtime

ZenaF

First trip to India in 2005........ read more

Last day in Pushkar

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Pushkar April 9th 2005

By the holy lake in Pushkar

Bon Bon on the Go Go

Camel Safari A smoother ride than it looks Dance by the campfire. We had an early morning start on the camels since we had two hours on the camel ahead of us and any time after 9AM it starts to get pretty hot. My camel did a lot of running but that's okay...anything to make the trip shorter! We only had two day rooms so there were eight of us girls in one room. So that meant only one shower. Everybody wanted to shower up so lucky for me we went alphabetically by first name. :) Although I felt a bit of pressure to be real quick! We had another free day before having to catch the overnight train to Delhi. Robyn and I made a trip to the local palmist. Here's the little prayer he ... read more

26) Jaipur - Rajasthan’s colourful capital

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jaipur April 9th 2005

Jaipur City Gate

Stephan and Klaudia

We immediately caught a bus from Nawalgarh to Jaipur, when it was about to leave. It was again a luxury coach, with only two seats on both sides of the aisle, and for the first time we could also store Stephan’s bigger backpack in the luggage compartment overhead. The trip went ahead without any complications or special events. Once again we arrived in darkness and as the bus was entering the bus stand, we were already spotted by a rickshaw tout. Anyway, for the first time, there was the system of prepaid taxis, which gives you a rough idea about the real prices and how much you have been ripped off so far. We wanted to stay at a place where all the other backpackers put up but we did not like it at all. So ... read more

Brief history of India

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest invaded about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab in...more history

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