The Craic from Rajasthan

What’s up, friends, or as my new Irish buddies would say, what’s the craic (pronounced crack)?  There’s lots of craic to share from N. India so let’s get into it. 

I arrived to Delhi late in the evening so I missed the welcome meeting with all of my fellow travelers for the next two weeks, but I received a warm welcome from my roommate, Ann, from Ireland.  We immediately hit it off and I knew that we’d have a great time during our travels.  Having done the Delhi tour last time I was here I decided to bag the AM walk around town and catch some extra zzz’s.   I met up with the rest of the group for dinner later that night and immediately got a great vibe from everyone.  We were definitely going to have a ball! 

The next morning we set out for Agra and our first stop in town was a visit to the Red Fort.  I missed the Red Fort last time I was in Agra because my ATM card was seized by one of the machines so while the rest of my travelers were visiting the fort, my guide, Manoj, and I took a visit to Crazytown in the middle of Sketchville to retrieve it.  Thankfully no drama surrounded my visit to the Red Fort this time and I’m so glad I got a chance to see it because it’s beautiful.  Take a look for yourselves. 

 

Supposedly no guests are allowed inside this one special chamber where candlelight bounces beautifully off of the domed ceilings, but for the bargain basement price of 100 rupees (approximately $2.20 USD) per person we were allowed this top secret entry.  Once inside, we had to press ourselves against the walls and away from any eyes that could potentially be peering in through the windows.  Remember, folks, this was a top secret mission and we’d be toast if we were caught.  I don’t know about all of that, but I will say that the candlelight show inside was quite pretty and definitely worth the price of admission. 

After our visit to the Red Fort we stopped by a carpet making factory in town.  It takes hours and hours of very tedious manual labor to handcraft these gorgeous rugs so I have a new found appreciation for why rugs are so darn expensive.   

Here is the design center for the rugs.  The amount of detail they are able to achieve is pretty impressive. 

After the rug is made it must be washed and scrubbed by hand for 5 hours. 

After the rug is dried it is then trimmed.  I truly had no idea that so much work went into creating one rug.  The finished products are gorgeous! 

Being in Agra you know we had to visit the Taj Mahal.  I was more than happy to visit the Taj again because it is so spectacular.  Also, this time we were visiting at sunset so it would be a different experience from my previous sunrise encounter.

Having done both sunrise and sunset at the Taj I think that I prefer the former because for a few minutes we were able to have the Taj to ourselves.  By sunset it was swarming with hundreds of people everywhere.  Of course it’s still stunning, but I think the small window of peace and serenity offered by the early morning is the way to go. 

After the Taj we went out for a bite to eat and lucked out with another wedding procession.  Like before, my pictures are pretty poor, but it’s still cool to see the huge celebration that takes place as the groom is making his way to the bride’s house. 

After Agra we headed to a rural village in Rajasthan where we stayed in a lovely fort atop a hill. 

We dropped our things and then headed in to town to take a look around.  After being clawed by the aggressive children in my last rural village stay in Rajasthan I wasn’t super excited to recreate the experience again, but I was pleasantly surprised by what awaited me this time.  Everyone in this village was incredibly friendly and thrilled to have us visiting their small town.  We were welcomed with huge smiles and enthusiastic waves from just about everyone we met.  It was such a wonderful experience and definitely a highlight of my trip.  

Could this baby be cuter?  She was so adorable sitting on top of this pile of rocks with her brothers and sisters. 

Ah, another gorgeous Indian sunset.  I cannot get enough!!!

After our walk around town we were treated to a little surprise.  We were going to be dressed up in saris.  Woo Hoo!  How can I leave India without wearing a sari?  Here’s a picture of my roomie all glamorous in her sari.  You go, girl! 

Here’s Claudia getting the finishing touch to her new look. 

In the morning we enjoyed a rooftop breakfast before heading off to our next destination. It was wonderful to have a respite from the hustle and bustle of the big cities.  N. India does crazy like no other place I have visited so calm and quiet is a treat. 

Our next stop was Jaipur so of course we had to visit the Amber Fort/Palace complex.  I featured a lot of pics from my last visit to Jaipur so I won’t make you sit through the same shots again.   

Yep, there are cobras inside those baskets.   

While in Jaipur we took in a movie at the Raj Mandir Cinema.  Here’s a pic from the inside.  Oooh, pretty. 

Our next stop was to Ranthambhore National Park.  This and the camel safari were the reasons why I selected this particular itinerary so I was super excited for this part of the tour.  I had seen a documentary on Ranthambhore a few years ago and fell in love with the ruins inside the park.  Now it was time to see it for myself.  Just being in the park was good enough for me….a tiger would be the icing on the cake.  So do you think I saw a tiger?  Place your bets now. 

Our first wildlife encounter was a gazelle.  Sweet!  We definitely don’t have gazelles roaming the streets of Washington, DC. 

Of course we saw monkeys.  Again, I’ll take it.  I love monkeys and think they are pretty entertaining to watch.  They must feel the same way about us because every time I encounter a monkey it stops to check out the humans. 

Here are some of the ruins.  Imagine a tiger draped lazily in one of the windows.  Yeah, this was one of the images in the documentary and what I would have loved to have seen!  This is in zone 3 of the park, which in addition to being the most beautiful is also supposed to be a great place to see a tiger.  We’ll see if zone 3 hooks it up for us today. 

OMG it’s a tiger paw print!!!!  This has to be a good sign, don’t you think? 

This bird is known as the tiger toothpick because it gets up in the tiger’s grill after a feeding and cleans away the leftover bits. 

Look, it’s Bambi!  It was deer mania in the park.   

Allegedly there was a tiger spotting behind the 2 trees.  All the SLR users immediately zoomed in to see if we could catch a glimpse, but we all saw the same thing…..nothing!  Oh well, I guess it wasn’t meant to be. 

No tiger this time, but it’s OK.  I loved seeing the park and am so glad we got to visit zone 3 with the lakes and ruins.  A few of us wanted to try again for the tiger the next morning at sunrise.  With it being Easter weekend we were told that it would be difficult to get tickets as it was a long weekend in India so many people were in town for the safaris.  Some of the locals advised us that if we showed up in person at the ticket counter at the crack (5:00 AM) we could luck out with some tickets.  5 of us decided to give it a shot so we dragged ourselves out of bed at 4:45 and were at the ticket counter by 5 AM.  It was complete and total chaos at the ticket counter with zero queues, screaming guides and seemingly no rhyme or reason to the madness.  Awesome.  Thankfully Amar, one of our fellow travelers and unofficial tour leader of our group, speaks Hindi so he was able to at least announce his order for 5 tickets to the screaming hordes of local guides.  Unfortunately only 2 tickets were available so we couldn’t all go along, but at least 2 of us could give it a shot.  Come on Claudia and Bastion!!!  We are pumped to see your amazing shots.  

When we met up with Claudia and Bastion a few hours later we learned that their trip was a total dud.  Not only did they not see a tiger, but they were in some other zone that was nothing but sticks and dirt.  It’s super hot and dry in Rajasthan right now so everything has a kind of parched and dry appearance.  For hours they drove around in the jeep and didn’t even see so much as a bird or deer.  Wow!  Also the scene at the ticket counter sounds like it degenerated into an even bigger freak show with the ticket booth attendant doing a walk out and Claudia being asked by the guides to coax him back with the soothing words, “you are really nice.”  She literally had to stand there for several minutes saying “you are really nice, you are really nice” over and over again until the attendant returned.  She was fully prepared to accept the walk out as final, but the guides all assured her that this is India and anything is possible.   It seems like they were right because the attendant returned and she got her tickets.  Sadly no tiger sighting, but a pretty hysterical story nonetheless. 

Our next stop on the tour was to a small town called Bundi.

The main attraction in town was this palace and it was definitely worth the visit. 

After the palace tour we were set free to explore the town by foot.  We kept walking and walking in hopes of finding something interesting, but flowing sewage and poo seemed to be the highlights.  At this point we were all getting a bit delirious.  I kept bursting into fits of laughter as I’d watch the expressions on my fellow travelers’ faces. 

A few moments later Ann and I saw this poor cow with a huge chunk of flesh removed from it’s neck and it’s spine exposed.  I don’t know if it was hit by a motorbike and the gash was from the tire or if it was a festering wound, but it was haunting and I couldn’t get the image out of my mind for hours.  The poor thing was obviously in shock and somehow was still walking, but just barely.  I doubt if it made it through the night.  OMG, it ripped my heart out.  Yikes, get me out of Bundi.  

Yet again Raj came to the rescue and we did eventually happen upon a market.  Thank goodness for Raj!  

 

Needless to say we were all pretty ready to get the heck out of Bundi.  An exchange that took place at one of my board meetings beautifully sums up how many people on the trip were feeling about Rajasthan to date.  My company had just unveiled the new corporate logo that had been months in the making and upon seeing the new design a member of our board took the microphone and uttered the following words, “Mr. President, I wanted to be blown away by this new logo, but I’m sorry, it just doesn’t blow me.”   Direct quote, I promise!  Anyway, the same sentiment could be used to sum up our feelings of Rajasthan, but thankfully the itinerary was getting ready to take a positive turn. 

Our next stop was to the charming town of Bijapur where we were greeted with a royal welcome.  How lovely! 

Our lodging was in Castle Bijapur and it was such a wonderful change from the scenery in Bundi.  Originally we were supposed to camp one night while in Bijapur, but it’s crazy hot in Rajasthan right now so our tour company decided against it.  No problem!  I’m more than happy to relax an extra night in Castle Bijapur. 

We took a jeep safari around town and like the other village we visited earlier in the trip, this village was delightful.  I loved all the smiling faces that greeted us as we sped by in our jeep.  Outside of the cities, there is such a warmth that emanates from the people.  I continue to be humbled as my travels continue. 

Some of the girls got henna tattoos while in town.  Here’s a shot of Emma’s sassy new look.  I love it!!! 

In the evening we were treated to some local entertainment.  Again, it was lovely!  It’s great to be away from the mania of the city and in the countryside. 

After the performance we relaxed in Raj and Andreas’ room with some cold beverages so you know what that means…..it’s self portrait time!!  Oh yeah.  Here’s a pic of me and my roomie, Ann.   

And here are Caroline and Wendy.  Claudia and Bastion were outside enjoying more of the entertainment, but rest assured that a good time was had by all. 

Here’s a pic of our room.  Pretty! 

After 2 relaxing days in Bijapur we headed off to Udaipur, which was a unanimous fave of the group.  Udaipur is a beautiful and clean city adorned with several lakes and stunning palaces.  We took a boat ride out to one of the palaces on the lake.  It’s gorgeous!   

After the boat ride we took in a cultural performance that was fantastic!  I love the beautiful costumes. 

In this performance the women were holding a ball that was attached to a chain in their hands that they would swing and hit the various cymbals featured on their bodies.  The pace was pretty fast and they remained in perfect unison.  It was fabulous! 

Next up was a puppet show!  Love it!

This lady was so impressive.  While balancing all of these baskets on her head she also stepped on crushed glass and picked up a napkin from the ground with her teeth.  Wow! 

After the cultural performance we hit the rooftop for dinner.  Here is a pic of the water palace from the rooftop.  Stunning! 

This wasn’t just any dinner either.  It was Emma’s birthday dinner!   Happy bday, Emma!  In the distance fireworks were also going off.  What an awesome bday celebration!  How exotic to visit a palace, take in a cultural performance and then be treated to a fireworks display. 

Next stop in Udaipur is the gorgeous City Palace! 

To keep the elephants from attacking the horses they would dress the horse up so it looked like a baby elephant.  Clever! 

This is the view from the Monsoon Palace, where we took in another stunning Indian sunset. 

Udaipur was fabulous!  The next stop is Pushkar and the camel safari!  Woo Hoo!  I’ve been super pumped about riding a camel since I got to India and now the time has come.  Bring it on, folks! 

I love watching the camels chew.  Their mouths are so funny and their expressions crack me up. 

Here’s my camel, Johnny!  Hello, Johnny!  I am super psyched to ride you through the desert.  As it turns out we were going into the proper desert, but we were in a sandy area so if you used your imagination you could try to pretend you were in the dessert.  That’s cool, it’s good enough for me.  It’s less about the desert and more about the camel.  Let’s get this party started! 

Here’s Johnny taking a little break.  I must have worn him out. 

I love the way the camels sit.  Their little, bony legs look so cute. 

While we waited for sunset the guides brewed us up some tea.  Delicious! 

Yep, it’s Johnny again.  What a cutie! 

Here is Johnny’s handler, Ram.  Both Johnny and Ram were great! 

Here are some more sights around Pushkar. 

We made a trip to the Brahma temple to receive a blessing and make an offering. 

Here is the Brahman who blessed us. 

As we threw the offering into the water we were instructed to make a wish.  I hope my wish comes true!  No, I’m not telling!!!

Sadly our trip has come to an end.  Yet again I have had the pleasure of meeting such amazing, smart and funny people.  I truly hope that we’ll stay in touch and I wish you all safe travels as you return home or continue your travels.  Here’s one last shot of the group at our farewell dinner in Delhi.  Sadly Claudia and Bastion were not able to join us as they flew back to London this evening, but they were definitely there in spirit.  What a great journey and I look forward to seeing you all again.  Please keep in touch. 

This is also the last post I have from India.  It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride at times, but all in all it has been a wonderful 2 months.  I have made fabulous, new friends, seen spectacular sights and received blessings at almost every town I have visited.  What more can I ask for, really?  India is a beautiful country that is filled with warm and friendly people and I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay here.  I will absolutely be back. 

Thank you, India.  Truly, thank you. 

Huge hugs to you all.  Next time you see me I’ll be in Nepal.  Bring on the mountain treks.