Blogs from Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 362

Today was our first day in Jaisalmer, a desert city in the northwest of India close to the Pakistani border. Its a city where everything is made of sandstone, basically because everything around it is sand. Our main reason for visiting Jaisalmer was to wander the desert on a camel and then spend a night sleeping under the desert sky. The first task for the day was to find a travel agent to book a desert tour with. The first guy we talked to seemed really dodgy so we told him that we'd think about it and come back in an hour if we were interested. However, we managed to find a more trustworthy guy and so booked with him. This caused some problems later in the day unfortunately (see below). We then wandered through the ... read more

We were going roughly the same way as our Swiss friends Cynthia and Laurent, so we decided to take the same bus. It was empty for Indian standards and we had a nice time passing through several cities full of painted havelis. We were doing sightseeing from the bus, by sitting higher we had the chance to see the incredible paintings almost at eye level, and furthermore the bus was moving very slowly through the crowded streets. A high percentage of the havelis these days are occupied by different people than the ones who had them built and they do not really care about their lodgings’ value. For this reason, the lowest part of the painted wall is faded or plastered with posters, and from the bus we saw the better conserved parts. There is always ... read more

Long, hot, sweaty bus With criminals and shackles Packed in like sardines. Basically a big transportation day to get to Pushkar. A jeep ride and then a six hour bus ride in hot, sweaty, cramped quarters. You really get to know your neighbours quickly! It actually wasn't too bad since I was plugged into my tunes and we did get a few breaks to stretch our legs and get snacks. One unforgettable moment was when a bunch of criminals in shackles came on the bus...with the authorities of course! Guess the bus is cheaper than a taxi?? Sort of reminded me when I was on the Greyhound bus from Appleton to Chicago! After settling into our accommodations, Nitin took the group out on an orientation tour of Pushkar where we had a small preview of what ... read more

Although Bikaner is well off the tourist route, for us it was perfectly situated because we were on our way to Jaipur and it was right in the middle. We arrived there quite late, around 8:30 p.m. after a very long bus ride through the desert. We had wanted to leave Jaisalmer in the morning but although there is regular bus service, the earlier buses are not allowed for tourists because their route runs too close to the Pakistan border. As we wanted to take a private bus this time because they have more comfortable seats, we had to accept that they only sold us tickets for the 2 p.m. bus. Interestingly this trip was less tedious than the one to Jaisalmer, because we saw a lot of animals, many groups of antelopes, some eagles and ... read more

Walking in Bundi A town that time has forgot Really dry and hot. Our tour guide BJ (nickname something like Bubba?) took us on a walking tour of the new and old parts of Bundi including the Palace and some impressive step wells. Along the way we passed by some market stalls...not just your regular fruit, veggies and clothes. More like the dentist (scary and painful tooth extractions for real cheap), locks of all shapes and sizes, sugar cane juice (freshly squeezed), bangles, nail painting etc. Bundi is known as the City of Wells. I can't remember how many there are around the city but we saw two of them. One of them was 46 metres deep and is now protected. Not only by a fence but by pigeons and bats too! As I mentioned, we ... read more