Getting in

Udaipur was the last leg of our Rajasthan tour and to get there we took a bus from Jodhpur. It took almost 7 hours and the bus got more packed at every village.

We saw the Hills of Mewar, the area around Udaipur and were amazed at the beauty. I bargained like a pro for tuk tuk, for the first time, and we reached the hotel. Though we were in a budget hotel, we had a lake view and it was stunning!

Jagdish Temple

Jagdish Temple was constructed by Maharana in 1651. It is dedicated to Lord Krishna. The royal family visited this temple on special occasions and offered their prayers regularly. The architecture is very detailed and stands tall.

When we arrived at the temple, the curtains were drawn and followers were seated singing songs about Lord Krishna’s greatness. The atmosphere in the temple was very engaging and so we took a seat on the floor next to the crowd. While we were engrossed clapping to the rhythm, the lady in front turned around to inform us that the curtain was over and we could offer our prayers.

Upon coming face-to-face with the deity, we were stunned. It was one of the prettiest idol of Lord Krishna and we just wanted to keep looking at him.

Forts and Lakes

As with all Rajasthani cities we have been to, there is a massive City Palace. We bought tickets for the palace as well as the boat ride in Lake Pichola. One of the first things we realised was that Udaipur’s monuments are very expensive. Not great for backpackers! The museum ticket is Rs. 250 each and additional Rs. 250 for camera, and the boat ride is Rs. 400 each.

PS: this palace is shown in the recent boolywood movie, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.

Tip: If you are interested in just the boat ride around the lake (approx. 20 mins), there is a cheaper option available at Lake Pichola / Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Park. Though the only disadvantage with this option is that you can’t get of at Jag Mandir for a short walk tour.

The palace itself was beautiful and grand with great views. Mewar has been the only kingdom which has fought its enemies and never laid down arms in front of them. Rana Kumbha and Maharana Pratap are famous throughout India for their battles and bravery.

City palace in Udaipur had a whole section for Maharana Pratap, his horse, Chetak and the battle of Haldi Ghati. In this battle the Maharana defeated Mughal forces represented by King of Jaipur. It was a David vs Goliath battle and Mughals never attacked Mewar again after their loss. Similarly, the King of Udaipur never attended the Delhi Durbar of British Empire which was a risky move at the time.

Though expensive, the museum was in a great shape. The rooms of different kings and queens over the ages had beautifully decorated rooms with some great views of the city and the lake.

Once done with the palace, we walked to the jetty to take the ferry ride on Lake Pichola. We saw the Lake Palace which has made Udaipur famous around the world. It really was stunning from all angles!

The boat dropped one to Jag Mandir which is another stunning palace hotel in the lake. It provides excellent views of Taj Lake Palace, city palace and the surrounding hills.

For our final complete view of the lakes and palace, we took the ropeway to the top to visit the Karni Mata Temple. Aside with the temple with its rats (who represents the Goddess), the view was another level. There are 7 lakes in Udaipur and all were visible from the hill as well as the city.

We visited the Chittorgarh Fort as a day trip. The fort is around 130 km from Udaipur and was built over a long hill back in the 7th Century. It is a very historic fort which involved several wars and mass suicides. It was won by the Khilji Dynasty and the Mughals but was eventually taken back by Mewar.

The effects of Muslim occupation was evident as all idol in the temples were defaced. One of the important temples within the fort is of Mirabai. She is a famous medieval saint throughout India who dedicated her life to Lord Krishna. She wrote poems and sang songs which are now recited as prayers.

Seeing the beautiful marwari horses, palaces of Rani Padmini and victory tower of Rana Kumbha was an amazing experience. Each idol in the victory tower had a name and there are built over 9 levels. A great day out!

Great Company

On our first night in Udaipur, we met Marita and Peter from England. Over a long conversation, we found that they had been to India 30 times and knew Goa like locals. They retired early and have been traveling around the world since then! In terms of travel, they were our idols and we would eventually like to travel like them. We decided to travel to Chittorgarh together so we could save money and spend a good day having great conversation.

Final Day

Our final day involved walking around Udaipur and seeing some highlights. We had a milkshake in our favorite cafe started by a great barista. The coffee there reminded me of Australia.

We saw Bagore Ki Haveli which was from the house of Mewar opened by the govt. Being a govt museum it was a little old but still interesting. The most unique exhibition was of puppets! An entire room was filled puppets of all kind, courtmen, king, commoner, ladies and animals.

Tip: There is a cultural music and dance show at Bagore Ki Haveli every evening so don’t miss it.

Food Choices

Udaipur is a well-known tourist destination, especially with the young Europeans and Asians. There are plenty of Israeli, Italian, Korean and Greek restaurants around in Udaipur and more cafes are popping up every other day! Additionally, there are lots of chill hang out spots around the city centre. Feel free to pick up a book or a board game and enjoy a relaxing afternoon along the lake or a drink in the evening with relaxing music.

We highly recommend Grasswood Cafe for an amazing cup of coffee. It reminded us of cafes in Sydney, so imagine the quality.

And of course, don’t forget the local food. It is delicious and the local thali is a must try!

Summary

Accommodation

We stayed in hotel Thamla Haveli which faces Lake Pichola. There are lots of hotels along the lake for various budgets.

Transport

Most tourist places are around Lake Pichola making the city center walkable. However, autos and cabs via Uber and Ola are readily available.

Final Thoughts

Udaipur is incredibly beautiful! The surrounding hills and the lakes make it one of the most beautiful cities in India. In addition, it is a backpacker central at the moment with hipster cafes coming up. An exciting time for the city!

We were in the city for 3 days and we reckon we were short by 2 days. We recommend spending 5 days in Udaipur so you have enough time to see all the tourist spots in and around the city. 2 to 3 day trips are required to see all the attractions around the city so ensure you have given yourself enough time.

Udaipur Gallery

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Getting In

We arrived in Jodhpur by a passenger train after spending 2 days in Jaipur. We witnessed the sunrise along with the salt pans during the ride. Also, for the first time,  we took an AC Chair Car and we were not disappointed. We got a bit of sleep and managed to get some blogging as well.

Land of Grand Forts and Palaces

Jodhpur is the Capital of the erstwhile Marwar kingdom which is known for its valour in defending itself. One of the greatest symbols of this is the towering Mehrangarh Fort. Built above the Jodhpur city,  it can be seen from anywhere in the city.

We walked from our hotel to the fort through curving streets full of blue houses. Once inside the fort, we were entranced by it’s scale and the view of the city as well as the hills nearby.

We then entered the ticketed area of the fort and visited the museum. The art of the Marwar area, its culture and the grand images of its kings were absolutely stunning. In addition, within the fort and throughout the city, people wore the traditional dresses and there were groups of people doing traditional dancing.

The museum was grand and virtually the entire palace of the area had been turned into a museum. The current king of Jodhpur has been very supportive in promoting tourism and that could be seen in the museum itself. Intricate detail of the life of the royals had been saved along with the paintings in the fort.

We met a fellow traveler Nina from Riga, Latvia in one of the rooms and we chatted for quite a bit while we saw the museum. She was lovely and knew so much about the Indian culture including dancing Kathak in Latvia. However, she had a bad time being harassed by auto drivers and hawkers in Jaipur. We couldn’t be anything but sympathetic as we ourselves have been annoyed by the tuk tuk drivers, despite of being Indians! And, we shall see what other countries with different culture hold of us.

Once we finished from the museum, we went to the ramparts of the fort. The Eagles were flying overhead after getting a meal provided by the royalty. The Eagle is the insignia of the Rathore dynasty and Eagles can be seen all around Jodhpur. From the rampart, we were finally able to see the blue city.

It is unclear who initially started painting blue houses or why. We’ve heard everything from Brahmins, servants of the royalty and also the fact that blue is a good colour to reduce the heat and mosquitoes. Whatever be the case, a large area near the fort has its houses blue and it is magnificent. The sun setting behind the hills was beautiful but were unable to see it set as the security kicks everyone out.

Blue City, Jodhpur, unlike other Rajasthani cities, does not have a lot of palaces or forts. However, it makes up quality for quantity. Our next stop was the grand Umaid Bhawan Palace which is the last of the great palaces built in India. As there was a famine in the area, the king decided to build a palace and provide employment for the people in the area. Most of the hotel is now part of the Taj Group of hotels, the king resides in a quarter and a small area is now a museum.

The museum shows the history of the dynasty, the kings of the 20th century and thing used by the royal family. In addition, there is a vintage cars gallery which houses some amazing old cars.  Other than that, the view from the hill is amazing and we had great afternoon here.

Magical Centopaths

The Rathore dynasty has been ruling the Marwar area since 12th century.  During this time,  they only had 2 capitals. Mandore was the Ancient Capital of the area and was in use till the 16th century.

Mandore Gardens house the ruins of the fort, various temples and centopaths of old kings of the dynasty. The centopaths are kept well and the architecture is quite detailed. Unbeknownst to us, the ashes of the kings are kept in the centopaths so they are more like a pyramid than a cremation place.

On our visit,  it was noon and the place was peaceful and quiet. The shade provided by the centopaths was cool and refreshing while we were wowed by the architecture.

According to the legend,  Ravana’s wife was from the area and there is temple for him while he is considered a son in law. We never got to see this temple as we were warned against going to the hills by the tourist police. It was a fun couple of hours being there.

Sickness Hits Home

On our second morning in Jodhpur, I woke with a fever and a sore throat. It was a sure sign of a cold coming. However, I later felt weakness in the legs and signs of an upset stomach. To avoid further sickness, we decided to relax a little spending time at home sleeping and writing for the blog. I gargled and belched several times a day while taking panadol and managed to avoid a full blown cold. Phew!

A Great Feeling

We had been feeling a little let down by Rajasthan till this point. Part of it was the touristy feel to this place while it was also our hectic schedule.

Jaswant Thada changed it all. It is a white marble centopath for king Jaswant Singh who ruled in the late 19th century. It is known as the Taj of Rajasthan. The king is treated like a god here and people pray and ask him to grant their wishes.

The land around is a stunning desert park and the old wall of the fort encircles it. While the memorial was beautiful, we sat on the stairs below in the shade to relax. An old rajasthani man a singing traditional songs and we sat listening.  The cool breeze blowing with Rajasthani music in the shade finally made us happy to be in Rajasthan.

Rural Life

Back in Australia, we had wanted to try two unique things in India. One of them was living in the desert. We started researching and found Hacra dhani which was run as an eco-tourist experience. While it was expensive, the reviews made us believe that it would be a good experience. Mr Gemar Singh met us in Jodhpur and we drove towards his land and his home.

(Here is a photo of Mr. Germar Singh and his wife)

Osian is an historic town around 25km from Jodhpur famous for its Jain temples and sand dunes.  Mr Singh was a hardy Rajput (former royal class) but he had a soft tone and gave a detailed answers. While he had a Mahindra 4×4 which could handle dunes and potholes, he drove unusually slow.

At one point,  he stopped the car on the side suddenly and pointed to the bush 50 metres away. It was a herd of black bucks, a protected deer once almost hunted to extinction. Again some distance away,  he suddenly turned the car into the bush and followed a trail until we saw a fully grown male back buck sitting in the middle of the field. As it saw us, it galloped away in full flight perhaps worried we will shoot it.

By this point, we were already impressed with Gemar Singh, his eyes were trained to spot deer through the bush and his knowledge was amazing. However, our respect only grew for him. In the space of a few hours, we saw wild deer, blue bull, peacocks and Indian sprinbok deer.

We spent some time in Osian seeing the 1000 year old Jain Temple. The carving on the stones were immaculate as well as the story of how people in the area became followers of Jainism. The trading community of Oswal Jains which is spread all around the world comes from this town.

Our next stop was a camel ride and time spent with a camel herder family. However, this was no ordinary camel ride. We traveled through the brush over dunes to the camel herder village. Here we got to know our hosts, see their land and how they make a living in mostly arid land.

Nainsukh and his family owned around 6 camels. They had land where they grew millet from the monsoon rains and gave camel rides to tourists for a fee. We were welcomed to the centre of their property and invited to sit on a cot while they all sat on the ground. This meant they gave us higher status as guests.

We were mostly left free to discover their property, play with camels, calves and take photos to our hearts content. They even taught me how to tie a turban in the rajasthani style. While we sat, we saw villagers in their natural environment. They sat in the central area and talked about crops and other things. We noticed that the guests were welcomed with tea and opium. Lunch was a traditional thali with sabzi, daal, various breads and rice. Our favourite was definitely millet bread. Our host sat to serve us until we were done eating. An amazing gesture!

In the evening, we again mounted the camels to see more of the countryside and the sunset from the dunes. The camels crossed the village and its fences made of a thorny plant. Our guide was a young kid in the 9th grade who knew all about samsung and legal issues with property despite living in a village.  The village was changing afterall!

Another interesting change we saw in the villages was the toilet complex. Indian villages culturally have avoided building toilets and using the great outdoors to relieve themselves. However, not only is this a bad look for the country, it is unsafe for women. For the first time since independence, an Indian government has given a Rs. 12,000 subsidy to build toilets and the people are taking the opportunity with both hands. We saw people building new toilets throughout the villages. Modi government is changing a habit for thousands of years.

Finally, we saw the sunset from the dunes. It was incredibly beautiful especially with the camels chilling in the sand. We met an old British couple who told us great stories of their trip in Rajasthan. Once done, we were picked up by Mr Singh to take us to our accommodation for the night.

Once we reached Hacra dhani, we were absolutely astounded. We reached in the dark and there were no light whatsoever. In the pitch dark, we were able to see the stars and the Milky Way which already made our night. After showing us the hut and toilet, we had dinner in Mr Singh’s house with his wife and son. Mr Singh’s wife made an amazing simple meal of fire baked bread, kadi and sabzi.

(Here is a picture of the property in during the day).

After dinner, we sat in the dark and simply heard the sounds of the night. It was almost a full moon so we could see well and enjoyed the simplicity of the village. At night while sleeping, we heard the sounds of peacocks warning each other of predators.

In the morning, I got up to take photos and saw deer and peacocks just roaming around. We were only there for a short time but it really was an amazing visit!

An Expensive Disaster

The contrasting thing to the village life was living in a palace. This proved to be a nightmare as most of the bigger palaces are now run by huge 5-star hotel chains. On a backpackers budget, we could not afford such a thing. However, we though we had struck gold when we found Ranbank Palace in Jodhpur built in 1920s. It was built for a prince of the royal family and that was good enough for us!

When we arrived from the village, we found out that we were upgraded to a suite. Wow! What could be better? We then set about cleaning up and realised that the shower was broken. We could shower but would be burnt by the hot water. Nice upgrade!

The next two hours we spent sitting in gowns and watched as two maintenance guys came to fix the shower. We finally had a shower and thanked our stars. However, it was not for long as the TV remotes stopped working. The maintenance guy again fixed them but we were disappointed. Upon complaining, we were told that we could get 1 hour of free wifi as compensation. Thanks for providing us what should be free anyway!

This day also happened to be Karwa Chauth where Hindu women fast for their husband’s long life. However, being from the SRK generation, Manish also fasted the entire day without food and water. At night, we asked the hotel to have access to the terrace to be able to see the moon. For some reason, on this night it feels like the moon purposely takes a long time to come out. We waited for around half an hour when we finally noticed the moon. It was quite a romantic moment and we broke the fast with kaju katri and water.

And to finishing off, here is a traditional thali we thoroughly enjoyed.

This ended our trip in Jodhpur – the blue city!

Summary

Final Thoughts

We stayed in Jodhpur the longest out of all the Rajashtani cities. We had a variety of experiences in the city. To be fair, Jodhpur doesn’t have the monuments of other cities but it has various experiences around it which can keep you busy. One thing we liked in Jodhpur was that there were no hassling and the ‘tourist information’ centres, run by the police, were all around the tourist areas to provide service.

Our experience at Jaswant Thada and Hacra Dhani was absolutely amazing while the palace left a little more to be desired for!

Accommodation

We stayed at a 350 year old haveli built of red sandstone which was a delightful experience. Living in the small streets gave us an easy access to the Mehrangarh Fort while also showing us the markets of Jodhpur. We also stayed in Hacra dhani and Ranbanka palace. Dhani was an awesome experience but the palace was not so good.

Transport

We walked a lot around Jodhpur. However, we also used local buses as well as autorickshaws. Our experience with autorickshaws was better than other cities but still we couldn’t be sure they were not overcharging us.

Jodhpur – The Blue City Gallery

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Arrival in the Land of Royals

We arrived in Jaipur from Kolkata overwhelmed by the Durga Pooja festival. As the flight got close to Jaipur, we saw the hills and the dry land terrain. Like the wise say, drive 50km in India in any direction, and the scene will be different. We knew we were going to love it. Once in the city, our first impression was that it was clean and organized. As we had never been to Rajasthan, we decided to see a couple of historic cities during this trip. We planned to spend 2 days in Jaipur, 5 days in Jodhpur and 3 days in Udaipur. This post is about our experience in Jaipur.

Going back in time

Before we left Kolkata, Shruti booked tickets to watch the latest bollywood film at a classic one screen theatre. Raj Mandir is an institution in Jaipur and in the world of multi-screen cinemas, it is thriving. We got there to watch Shandaar, a film starring Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, just in time to grab tickets and drinks.

The film itself was stupid, funny and very stereotypical bollywood.  However,  the crowd in the cinema as well as the decor made the cinema better.  The condition of the seats and the theatre was just brilliant.  It seemed to be getting better with age. An amazing experience!

Palaces of the City

No trip to Jaipur would be complete without a trip to the palaces of the city. On our first day, we decided to walk around the old city. We crossed the Ajmeri Gate, which was one of the main gates into the walled city during the kingdom rule.

We then visited the famed Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Wind. It’s famous for being cool even in the heat of summer as the palace has been designed to catch wind from all sides which then pass through and makes it cool. The front-facade of the palace is just amazing – you decide for yourself.

We went all the way to the top window and the spaces get narrow as you rise. Shruti tried to go back in time and spent a couple of minutes staring out of the window as the women in the palace would have done. Apart from keeping the building cool, these windows were the passage for Royal women to watch the day life of commoners go by.

Our next destination was the City Palace which was the main Palace of Kachwaha Rajput Dynasty of Jaipur. Being the main palace, it had images of the old Rajput kings as well as recent ones. In addition, the art in some parts of the palace was just exquisite.

Finally, we visited the famous observatory,  Jantar Mantar. It has sundials and other instruments which accurately tell time as well as the location of celestial bodies.  Shruti was very keen to learn all about it and we rented the audio guide from the counter. However, we had not paid much attention during our physics class at school and didn’t understand much of the instruments. Like it’s name, Jantar Mantar – which translated to magical instruments, we were just amazed by how advanced the king was in the field of science and left the place a little tired and confused.

Muharram

As we finished from the palaces and were heading back to the hotel, we landed upon the Muharram Procession. The procession included kids with handmade Taziyahs (buildings symbolising battle of Karbala) and banging drums as they passed through the city.

We took lots of pictures of the crowd including some curious kids who wanted us to take a picture of them. The crowd didn’t stop for 1.5 hours and we eventually had to head back only to realise that the old city roads were all shut down due to the number of people on the streets. This reminded us of Kolkata!

Forts of Amer

Amer is the ancient capital of Kachwaha Rajput rulers who later built Jaipur. We reached Amer by an AC City Bus connecting Jaipur and Amer, though we decided to get off halfway to see Jal Mahal. Jal Mahal, palace on water, was a lovely white building in the middle of a lake. Unfortunately,  it is not possible to visit the palace and the lake itself. Apparently, it is really dirty and not maintained from the inside.

Once we reached Amer itself, we negotiated with tuk tuk driver to see the forts in the area.

Tip: The tuk tuk drivers provide a cheaper tour option from Amer Fort. They can drive you to Nahargarh fort, wait there for an hour while you look around and then drop you at Jaigarh Fort. There is a down-the-hill pathway from Jaigarh Fort to Amer Fort and the walk takes about 15 mins. This is recommended route, otherwise you would have to walk up the hill to Amer Fort and then to Jaigarh. The tuk tuk driver, though he was with us only for 1.5 hours, charged us Rs. 400, which was about half the cost of jeeps and other hire car tour operators.

Our first stop was Nahargarh, the Tiger fort. The palace is well known as it can be seen on a hill from Jaipur. The palace itself was quite simple, with wall paintings but the view from the top was absolutely amazing.

Our next stop was Jaigarh Fort which sits on top of the hill in Amer. The palace itself was quite large and had faced many battles. The highlight of the fort was the largest wheeled cannon in the world, Jaivana. It really was huge!

The palace had information on the history of the ruling dynasty including the last king, his services to the country and his social gatherings. In addition,  the palace had exquisite gardens and a fantastic view of Amer city.

As suggested by the auto driver,  we descended down the walkway between Jaigarh Fort and the Amer Palace which was much better than climbing the other way up the hill.  The palace itself was packed with tourists and we tried to see as much as possible without running into people. Though it was large,  it was not the most beautiful palace. By far the most interesting things in palace was the pond outside the palace, an old machine to pull water and the fact that the bollywood film, Jodha Akbar, had shown similar walkway up the hill, especially the bends in the path.

Chokhi Dhani

Chokhi dhani is a Rajasthani themed village which is a chain around India.  Shruti had been to one in Gujarat and was very excited to show me the original Chokhi Dhani in Jaipur.

We booked a package tour to it through our hotel as the Chokhi Dhani is 22 km outside the city centre. Upon arrival,  we were given a traditional Rajasthani welcome of Tilak. Once inside,  we saw several dances of Rajasthan along with scenes of traditional village life. Oh, I danced as well!

As it was a Sunday night,  the place was packed full of people. In one quiet corner,  in a little room,  there was an old lady cooking over fire. This is the traditional method of cooking and she was coming a millet bread. We decided to take a small piece with ghee and garlic chutney. The taste was out of this world! The English equivalent to describe the feeling was ‘nonna’s cooking’.

While we waited for our timeslot for the dinner,  we watched some dances and drank some amazing jaljeera (spicy water). We had booked for a traditional Rajasthani meal and the host sat us down on the ground in an ac dining hall for all you can eat structure.

Our meal consisted of rotis (flat bread of wheat and millet), kadi (spicy yoghurt curry), sabji (gram flour veg curry), daal (lentil curry), baati (fire baked dumplings), churma (sweet cooked flour), khichdi (millet pudding), sangri (khejri vegetable dish), pickle and local lassi. Did I say it was unlimited?

To say that we were full would be an understatement. The irony is that we had stayed hungry almost the entire day to be able to eat this. At the end of the day, we walked around the village a few more times to be able to digest all the food. After a paan, we were done.

Our driver for this trip was a young man whose job it was to take us to the Chowki Dhani and back in 4 hours. However, he somehow felt that we should see all the malls and parks on the way. Unfortunately for him,  we don’t like parks and we’ve seen enough malls in big cities to find them boring. We were irritated to say the least but decided against telling him that people come to Rajasthan for its forts, palaces and its culture instead of the new development.

Bizarre Bazaar

Since Jaipur is on the tourist trail, we had a bizzare ritual dealing with rickshaw and auto drivers. Every time we passed by a rickshaw, the conversation would be like this:

Driver: Would you like an auto?
ATs: No.
Driver: Its very cheap. I will show you the bazaar.
ATs: We don’t want to see the bazaar.
Driver: I will take you to good clothes or Rajasthani handicraft.
ATs: Walk away, ignoring.

Summary

Final thoughts

We weren’t in Jaipur for a long time and it was a jam packed time. We saw the traditional highlights of the city and were content with it. Being the capital of Rajasthan, Jaipur is just another big city. In our view, pink city was the highlight along with Amer.

Accommodation

We stayed at Hotel Arya Niwas which was an excellent hotel. It was spacious, clean and the staff were excellent. Though it is a 3 star hotel, we actually felt like we were taken very good care of. Highly recommend the hotel, it is good price as well.

Transport

Within the city itself,  we did a lot of walking and using the minibuses. To go to Amer, we used Jaipur city bus – 1 from Sanganeri gate. There are plenty of tourist taxis around as well that can be hired on daily, half a day or just a tourist attraction basis.

2 Days in Jaipur Gallery

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