Last week I went for a mini
vacation to Rajasthan. It was the first trip I had single handedly planned,
right from the dates, to cities to travel to accommodation. I enjoy the
planning and preparation of the trip as much as the travelling itself. In a
span of four hectic days, we covered four cities- Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Jodhpur
and Jaisalmer. Udaipur and Jaisalmer were the main destinations. Chittorgarh
and Jodhpur were more like getaways and transits (respectively).
We took trains and buses, and
stayed in heritage guest houses. It was a beautiful earthy experience. I
travelled in a train after very long time. The sound of the train rushing by
and view of the various lush farms filled me with nostalgia. Everyone in the
train was talking about elections, about Modi and politics. It was fun to see
how everyone has an opinion and arguments are endless in such train journeys,
with a sheet spread in the center and playing cards.
The day we reached Udaipur, the
first destination, election polls were taking place. We were afraid that we'll have trouble travelling around the city, but surprisingly everything was normal. But
I had already checked out details of Chittorgarh and wanted to explore that if
Udaipur was closed. So the first day, as soon as we reached Udaipur, we
freshened up and decided to go to Chittorgarh. Chittorgarh fort is apparently
the largest fort in India. It is on top of a hill, and there are a lot of
palaces and temples inside the fort. It was very very hot. Considering we went
in the month of April, I am sure it was relatively better. We kept ourselves
hydrated with Shikanji and ice-cream. My mom said my face had turned red like a
Monkey. Oh there were a lot of monkeys there. When I was about five years old,
I was bitten by one. Since then I am a little cautious of monkeys around me.
They are fun to watch but so unpredictable.
We came back from Chittorgarh by
evening and then we explored Udaipur. There is a vintage collection of cars driven
by rajas and maharajas in Udaipur. It is not a tourist attraction, but I had read
about it somewhere randomly. I love everything vintage! So we went to see that.
Some of the cars were really nice, the kinds you see in old movies and then
there were chariots and old school buses and carts. Then we did some other
touristy stuff, visiting museums and gardens. We finished the day with a nice
candle light dinner at the rooftop of the hotel we were living at, just next to
Lake Pichola. The wind and the light and the privacy were great. If only they
played good music :-|
Next day we explored some more of
Udaipur, saw the beautiful Udaipur palace, bought some ethnic Rajasthani curios and boarded the bus to Jodhpur. It
was a looooooong, tiring bus ride. Google said it would take four and half
hours, at the bus station they said it would take six hours...ultimately it
took us EIGHT hours. We had taken a Volvo bus from Udaipur to Chittorgarh and
it was wonderful. But for Udaipur to Jodhpur, Volvo bus timing was not
convenient for us. And we had to take the regular roadways bus. Thankfully, we
had got good seats. By the time we reached Jodhpur it was pretty late and we just managed to crash on our bed after dinner. The
heritage guesthouse that I had booked was right in front of the fort. Early in
the morning, we climbed up to the fort and enjoyed the view of the blue city. I
bought a pretty pair of puppets and a mashaal like candle stand from there.
Then we took the bus from Jodhpur
to Jaisalmer which was also long, but comfortable. Long journeys give way to
long conversations which is the best part of travelling. Eat, drink, talk and
nap once in a while. I enjoyed the bus rides as much as everything else. By the
way, the ‘we’ I have been referring to is me and my mom. I went to this trip
with my mom. She had her apprehensions in the beginning which she confided in
me later on, about two women traveling alone. I come from a fairly
conservative family background. My parents are one of the very few ‘progressive’
people in our clan. And while they try to keep pace with our changing world,
with me, they gasp from time to time. Especially when I make sweeping
statements like I don’t want to get married or what is the big deal about
alcohol or I need to start smoking. Sometimes I say things just to see their
reaction :) cheap thrills..haha.
Coming back to the trip...Jaisalmer was a lot of fun because of the sand dunes that we visited. Sam sand
dunes. The tour agency from where we booked the cab for the dunes, said how
Satyajit Ray was the God who discovered Jaisalmer and put it on the map (with
his movie Sonar Kella). “Nahi toh pehle
Jaisalmer kaun aana chaahta tha. Jab kisi ko punishment deni hoti thi, tab use bhejte the yahan- ‘ja-sala-mar’” And everyone
laughed. I smiled thinking how many tourists he must have said that practiced
joke to.
We did a Camel safari around the
sand dunes – one of the most memorable moments of the trip. We stayed at the
sand dunes over night and came back in the morning. We did some more touristy
stuff in Jaisalmer the whole day, and took the train to Delhi in the evening. My
mom was extremely happy to find a Bengali restaurant in the middle of
Jaisalmer, and we gorged on some “home-like” food at the end of the trip.
Here are some pictures from the trip.
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| From the Vintage collection of cars in Udaipur |
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| In a temple at Chittorgarh Fort |
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| View from the hotel in Sam sand dunes, Jaisalmer |
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| The Bengali restaurant in Jaisalmer |
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| Typical Rajasthani moooch :) |
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| One of the many beautiful doors in Rajasthan. I have a whole series of such doors captured in my camera |
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| View from the hotel in Jodhpur |
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| Our caravan in Jaisalmer |
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| Camel ride in the Thar |
