Diwali Getaway Rajasthan
We had five days off for Diwali and in the spirit of making the most of it booked ourselves a jam packed itinerary in Rajastan, famed for beautiful lakes, deserts, turbans and smelly camels. We left our soiree at Mallikas and headed home, to finish packing before getting the last metro and then the night bus from Delhi to Jaipur. We saw the more desolate side of Old Delhi at that time with street cleaners attempting to sweep away the 3ndless paper plates, cups, peelings, newspapers, there were homeless people tucked up and sleeping in any hidden corner, and a number of seemingly drunk auto drivers who we managed to narrowly avoid.
The sleeper bus was surprisingly comfortable........
We arrived at 6am, good time to drop our bags and head to the Lassiwalla. Apparently the best Lassi in India, and it all sells out if you don't get there before lunch time. Lassi is a yoghurt based drink served in a clay cup, and thought to be good for digestion. They can be served sweet or salted, with a variety of spices. We went for a traditional sweetened one, and it is definitely the best Lassi I have had in India so far!
We then met with our friend Pulkit, from Gurgaon. He had a busy Diwali schedule with family, but took the time out to treat us to a great breakfast at the LMB restaurant in the Old Pink City, and explained to us the itinerary we should follow. Taking his advice we set off into the markets for our first round of Jaipur shopping...
We spent a good few ours in the markets buying shoes, clothes, fabric and jewelry, but also highly a amused by the pictures hanging behindd the counters of the shops. Some of the shopkeepers families, some of local gurus and some of no one in particular...
We then took an auto to the Amber Fort. It over is about 11km outside of Jaipur in the hills and was the former residence of many Rajput Maharaja. It was built in the 17th century in beautiful yellow and pink sand stone. There is quite q walk in the heat up the stone stairs, you could take an elephant ride to the entrance instead, but it was absolutely stunning....and expertly described by our guide Duli.
We then whizzed to the Nargargh Fort for sunset, and watching the Diwali fireworks over Jaipur...
We had a hairy drive in an auto back to our hostel with children setting off fireworks in every street, regardless of what else was going on around us. At the hostel they were conducting a traditional Puja which werequires invited to join, followed by another round of iresponsibly unsafe and frightening fireworks!!
We wereawoken the next day by a lady incesently drumming, apparently she'd stop if yoi gave her money. If only I'd known that earlier! We started with brunch at the Indian coffee house, great south Indian food...
We spent the day with one rickshaw driver taking us round the some of the rest of thr sights of Jaipur. Rafik took us to Janter Manta, an old style observatory with all the instruments made from impressive looking sculptures...
Next stop Harwa Mahal, the wind palace...
...followed by a visit to a block printing factory, which actually just turned out to be a warehouse selling fabric, which 2as a little disappointing, but with a bit of a push we were shown some of the blocks, and they tried to explain the process, but I can't say it made it very clear. I did buy some nice fabric though!!
We then had a surreal experience at a place called Chowki Dani. It had been recommended to us by a couple of people in Gurgaon, the guys at the hostel, and a couple xof other people in Jaipur. Apparently the ultimate Rajasthan experience, with food, dancing, magic, elepants, what more could you want? We went, dropped of by slightly mad Rafik our tuk tuk tour guide for the day, and we were left fairly perplexed by the whole experience. We were having a great time in Jaipur, soaking up the history of forts and palaces, drinking Lassi, bargaining to the last rupee in the bazaar, but Chowki Dani was so far removed from any of this it was quite hard to believe. It was like a polystyrene Disney version of Rajasthan, but without and charm or warmth.....but in the spirit of making the most of it (we had paid £6 to enter, which is pretty expensive by Indian standards) we toured round the polystyrene battle scene, paid our respects in the polystyrene temple, clapped when 3 doves came out of the snake charmers basket, and had mehendi applied to our hands. The Indian people there seemed to be really enjoying themselves, and it was an experience, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.......the food was fantastic though. Vegetarian thali served on a banana leaf platter, with as much as you can eat, finished off with photos taken wearing the waiters turban.
We had an earlyish start to get the bus to Pushkar. An easy 5 hours through the winding hills and we set about making the most of our 18 hours in pushkar. We met with Ed and Evie, two friends from the British Council, and started with a spot of lunch in a sleepy little cafe next to our hostel. The menu was more interesting than any of us had seen for weeks, offering oue cheese pasta, mango and green bean salads, and a classic aubergine and pineapple sandwich. The food met expectations, but cut a massive chunk out of our time with some of the slowest service ever, still nice to relax for a while. We then hit the sights taking in the Brahman Temple, one of very few in the world, and possibly the only one in India. We possibly explored further than we should and found ourselves on the top level investigating a drop toilet with the finest views of Pushkar, sorry I don't have a picture. We moved on through the winding markets continuing our shopoing sree from Jaipur, and making our way down to the lake for a traditional blessing.
After searching out some camels who were preparing for the annual Camel fair the following day we bumoed into four artists whomwere styaing in our hostel. They were gathering quite a crowd as they painted a wall in the town centre, celebrating the camel fair. We watched for a while before taking advice from the guidebook and spent the rest of the night chilling in roof top bars ready for another early start, and train ride to Udaipur.
It''s a challenge to say just how much we enjoyed Udaipur, it'stunning lake views, chilled out and relaxed pace of life, historic buildings, puppet shows and great food, so I am in fact going to stop rambling, as I'm sure most have you have stopped reading by now.......I'll leave you with a few photos and a few key words, if you need any more details message me!!
Shopping, beers at sunset, puppet show and dancing, dinner and cocktails, more beer on the roof, hungover city palace, bacon sarnies, boat ride, cancelled train, back to the bunk, all day bussing!
We had five days off for Diwali and in the spirit of making the most of it booked ourselves a jam packed itinerary in Rajastan, famed for beautiful lakes, deserts, turbans and smelly camels. We left our soiree at Mallikas and headed home, to finish packing before getting the last metro and then the night bus from Delhi to Jaipur. We saw the more desolate side of Old Delhi at that time with street cleaners attempting to sweep away the 3ndless paper plates, cups, peelings, newspapers, there were homeless people tucked up and sleeping in any hidden corner, and a number of seemingly drunk auto drivers who we managed to narrowly avoid.
The sleeper bus was surprisingly comfortable........
We arrived at 6am, good time to drop our bags and head to the Lassiwalla. Apparently the best Lassi in India, and it all sells out if you don't get there before lunch time. Lassi is a yoghurt based drink served in a clay cup, and thought to be good for digestion. They can be served sweet or salted, with a variety of spices. We went for a traditional sweetened one, and it is definitely the best Lassi I have had in India so far!
We then met with our friend Pulkit, from Gurgaon. He had a busy Diwali schedule with family, but took the time out to treat us to a great breakfast at the LMB restaurant in the Old Pink City, and explained to us the itinerary we should follow. Taking his advice we set off into the markets for our first round of Jaipur shopping...
We spent a good few ours in the markets buying shoes, clothes, fabric and jewelry, but also highly a amused by the pictures hanging behindd the counters of the shops. Some of the shopkeepers families, some of local gurus and some of no one in particular...
We then whizzed to the Nargargh Fort for sunset, and watching the Diwali fireworks over Jaipur...
We had a hairy drive in an auto back to our hostel with children setting off fireworks in every street, regardless of what else was going on around us. At the hostel they were conducting a traditional Puja which werequires invited to join, followed by another round of iresponsibly unsafe and frightening fireworks!!
We wereawoken the next day by a lady incesently drumming, apparently she'd stop if yoi gave her money. If only I'd known that earlier! We started with brunch at the Indian coffee house, great south Indian food...
We spent the day with one rickshaw driver taking us round the some of the rest of thr sights of Jaipur. Rafik took us to Janter Manta, an old style observatory with all the instruments made from impressive looking sculptures...
Next stop Harwa Mahal, the wind palace...
...followed by a visit to a block printing factory, which actually just turned out to be a warehouse selling fabric, which 2as a little disappointing, but with a bit of a push we were shown some of the blocks, and they tried to explain the process, but I can't say it made it very clear. I did buy some nice fabric though!!
We then had a surreal experience at a place called Chowki Dani. It had been recommended to us by a couple of people in Gurgaon, the guys at the hostel, and a couple xof other people in Jaipur. Apparently the ultimate Rajasthan experience, with food, dancing, magic, elepants, what more could you want? We went, dropped of by slightly mad Rafik our tuk tuk tour guide for the day, and we were left fairly perplexed by the whole experience. We were having a great time in Jaipur, soaking up the history of forts and palaces, drinking Lassi, bargaining to the last rupee in the bazaar, but Chowki Dani was so far removed from any of this it was quite hard to believe. It was like a polystyrene Disney version of Rajasthan, but without and charm or warmth.....but in the spirit of making the most of it (we had paid £6 to enter, which is pretty expensive by Indian standards) we toured round the polystyrene battle scene, paid our respects in the polystyrene temple, clapped when 3 doves came out of the snake charmers basket, and had mehendi applied to our hands. The Indian people there seemed to be really enjoying themselves, and it was an experience, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.......the food was fantastic though. Vegetarian thali served on a banana leaf platter, with as much as you can eat, finished off with photos taken wearing the waiters turban.
We had an earlyish start to get the bus to Pushkar. An easy 5 hours through the winding hills and we set about making the most of our 18 hours in pushkar. We met with Ed and Evie, two friends from the British Council, and started with a spot of lunch in a sleepy little cafe next to our hostel. The menu was more interesting than any of us had seen for weeks, offering oue cheese pasta, mango and green bean salads, and a classic aubergine and pineapple sandwich. The food met expectations, but cut a massive chunk out of our time with some of the slowest service ever, still nice to relax for a while. We then hit the sights taking in the Brahman Temple, one of very few in the world, and possibly the only one in India. We possibly explored further than we should and found ourselves on the top level investigating a drop toilet with the finest views of Pushkar, sorry I don't have a picture. We moved on through the winding markets continuing our shopoing sree from Jaipur, and making our way down to the lake for a traditional blessing.
After searching out some camels who were preparing for the annual Camel fair the following day we bumoed into four artists whomwere styaing in our hostel. They were gathering quite a crowd as they painted a wall in the town centre, celebrating the camel fair. We watched for a while before taking advice from the guidebook and spent the rest of the night chilling in roof top bars ready for another early start, and train ride to Udaipur.
It''s a challenge to say just how much we enjoyed Udaipur, it'stunning lake views, chilled out and relaxed pace of life, historic buildings, puppet shows and great food, so I am in fact going to stop rambling, as I'm sure most have you have stopped reading by now.......I'll leave you with a few photos and a few key words, if you need any more details message me!!
Shopping, beers at sunset, puppet show and dancing, dinner and cocktails, more beer on the roof, hungover city palace, bacon sarnies, boat ride, cancelled train, back to the bunk, all day bussing!
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