Delhi P2

So I had been to Delhi at various times after the first time however hadn’t really written about any of it. So I thought I would do one post to talk about some of my other experiences in Delhi after the first time I went. I ended up in Delhi after coming from Nepal, before going to Ladakh and after coming back from Ladakh so spent quite a bit of time there.

So Delhi has the best hostels in India hands down. When I was in Delhi the hostel I stayed at before was really nice but also a little far from town and I decided that this time I wanted to stay a little closer. I found this other hostel called stops and decided to stay there after reading good reviews. What a place it turned out to be. It was an old business hotel turned into a hostel with the conferance room turned into a cinema room or AV room. The room had three A/C units, a projector, a surround sound system and thick cushions all over the floor. It was PERFECT after a day in the heat exploring Delhi.

So through some people in the hostel I had heard of this charitable trust called Salaam Balak. They were focused on helping street kids and had a tour which I went on. It was surprising to know a lot of the kids that are street kids are just separated from their parents at crowded places and the parents haven’t managed to find them. It’s quite easy to imagine given how crowded Delhi is. UNforunately both the boys and girls then mixed up in all sorts of illegal activities. In an effort to stop all this – Salaam Balak takes in street kids, provides them a safe place to stay and more importantly education. There are many street kids that have achieved the lifestyle of their dreams through this organisation. It was an interesitng tour that I would recommend to anyone visiting Delhi:

 

Check this out – Just like in PK (the indian movie) they put pictures of god on the walls in an effort to stop people urinating on the street! haha

We visited one of the houses where all the kids live. We could sit and talk to them which was really nice.

This is the Delhi underground:

Does this sign design look familiar?

 Pretty similar to the London underground.

One of the best things about Delhi was the food and there is one famous restaurant near the Jama Masjid (the main mosque) called Karim’s. The speciality there is mutton burra which was AMAZING:

Not the most glamorous place but well worth a visit. Other random places in Delhi:

M&S are there.

Graffiti:

A huge underground market under CP:

Sufi Gazals at the local sufi mosque:

Check out the paan flavours:

A night out with some people from the hostel:

This is a guy who makes special tea on the street, he uses a coffee machine and steam to make it:

Lastly the amazing Akshardam swaminaran mandir, even though I don’t quite agree with the need for such an expensive temple, you can’t argue with the beauty of it:

Overall I really enjoyed Delhi but I really found it the one place in India you have to be very careful. A lot of the locals are extremely odd and generally people have a more aggressive mentality than the rest of India. The city is amazing however you do need to be careful with the people. I think my experience was also very good due to where I stayed. This hostel was probably the best I’ve stayed in, in India. So after Ladakh – I chilled in Delhi for a week then headed to Mumbai.

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Gujarat

On to the motherland. It’s been a while since I’ve had time to sit and update this. Currently sitting in Ahmedabad airport so thought it would be a good time to update this. So after so many days of travelling and living out of my bag it was really nice to see some familiar faces and stay at a place that felt like home:

On getting out of Varodara airport, I was attemping to negotiate the fare to Vidhyanagar and quickly realised my knowledge of numbers in Gujarati is somewhat lacking. The guy got very confused when I was telling him in Gujarati what is the price in English. Eventually managed to get down to the correct fare which I found from the pre-paid taxi desk but they didin’t have any cars so couldn’t just go with them. The mix of accents here in Gujarat is interesting and after attempting to speak Hindi for so long in Rajastan it was a big mix of everything when negotiating with the taxi drivers in Varodara. I guess you can call it “Radhika Gujarati” 🙂

So there is no exact address here in India, all address are like opposite this place, next to this place. This made finding the flat interesting but we got there. It was also the first time I could fully understand a taxi driver. It really makes a big difference as I asked him a lot of questions about Gujarat and India in general and was telling him stories of my travels the whole journey. So this is the flat complex:

Now the flat itself is done up to Pupa’s standards. Suffice to say it’s very comfortable.

The view as you walk in:

The kitchen:

Dining Table (which I was told by multiple people was chosen after visiting pretty much all the table shops in Ahmedabad):

The TV (with sky):

The corridor leading to the pantry:

Then we have the temp store room:

After this we have the master bedroom which was my room:

The view from the room, because of that house the view will always be unobstructed:

The Bathroom which is a typcal indian style wet room:

The shower head:

Finally Ba’s Room:

When I was taking these pictures I went outside to take pictures from the outside and walked out and this girl started yelling at me. I couldn’t make out what she was so aggitated about so carried on. She got increasingly more aggitated and was yelling at me that there was a snake in front of me. I quickly backed away until I could see it – then of course took a photo from what I deemed a safe distance:

On this day I also saw a monkey attack a girl and try and get her school bag. Glad I saw that after the monkey temple in Jaipur or doubt I would have got as close as I did.

I didn’t take a proper picture of the living room but it is opposite the TV (obviously) and has a very nice triangular sofa. All rooms have A/C and fans fitted. It would be really nice for the whole family to come and chill for a week. Not a great deal to do but be immersed in a culture that’s completely foreign to London. With everyone together it would be fun. There are some nice day trips that can be made from the flat though. All round very very comfortable and there is a nice communal area:

Quite a big upgrade from the old house which I only have pictures of from the outside as it’s all closed up:

It’s called Agam Niwas:

Anyway so the first night of arriving there I got food poisening. It’s been hit and miss so far in India where a mixture of immodium and fasting has fixed most food issues however the next day was full on fever which I hadn’t experienced before. Gujarat was a mixture of chilling and going to visit family. Very different to the rest of my travels but a welcomed break. The breakfasts were epic, tikhi puri with masala chai and bhusu:

All of Ba’s family are in Gujarat so we went round to visit her friends and family. Even with the age difference, everyone was extremely interested to hear all the travel stories and were very interested in my travels. We met Sankumariba who had travelled India exhaustively at a much younger age and we were swapping stories of the places. We then met Harishdada who went to an Ashram in Hariana and he was telling me about the horrors he experienced on the train. He also talked to me a lot about yoga and meditation which was interesting. He does it a lot and is the same age as Ba and extremely fit which he attributes to the two. He was basically telling me that we can keep our whole body healthy by doing different breathing excercises that control the energy flow in our body. It was interesting.

We also went to both of my mama’s houses of which one has the best trained dog I have ever seen who only understands Gujarati. He also told me stories about how he came to my dad’s wedding and before coming to London was vegetarian and didn’t drink. That changed on that trip! Lastly we make a day trip to Ahmedabad to visit Ba’s sister. She is extremely eccentric but very interesting. The whole of Ba’s side of the family are very deeply into astrology. This sister of hers needs a photo of someone and their date of birth and then draws a grid on a piece of paper. She then, holding the photo recites something with her eyes shut and then fills the grid with numbers. I know how it sounds but this boy she was reading was someone that the friends we were with at the time, were worried about. What was impressive is that without ever meeting him, described his personality exactly and was giving them advise about his future. Was fascinating to watch. She was a very outspoken eccentric lady but was interesting to hear all her stories and she is extremely intelligent. I have photos of everyone we went to visit but didin’t think it was right to post them on this blog. I will create a seperate page, password protected, for those pictures.

With me getting ill and only having a week there most days were spent either visiting someone or recovering. I did have a few days where I ventured out on my own. The flat is basically on a road that links Vidhyanagar to Karamsad called Karamsad road. So since Mum’s village or gaam is Karamsad, I thought I should go and see it. I was very surprised to see it is basically a small village:

The intresting thing is that Karamsas was the home of the famous Sardar Patel who was a social leader who, after Gandhi, played a leading role in India’s struggle for independence and guided its integration into a united, independent nation. So I went to see his house in Karamsad:

I had actually never heard of him until now.

Check this out, it’s a clinical lab:

Check this out – this is the local bank:

This is the street it is on:

After seeing there was pretty much not a lot there I thought it would be nice to go and see Fuaji’s mandir and old people’s home. He is quite literally known by the whole town so found my way there quite easily. On arriving I was greeted by a very nice guy called Jagdishbhai who looked after Fuaji a lot. He showed me round the mandir and showed me photos of when the mandir was opened.

This is the mandir:

This is the old people’s home:

And these are the grounds surrounding the two:

Anyway after this I thought I would go to mota bazar in Vidhyanagar. Over there they have a sharing Rickshaw system, so basically you stand on the road and stop all the rickshaws you see and if any of them are going in your direction you hop in for 5 rupees and he stops as close as he can without inconveniencing the rest of the passengers. So got to Vidhyanagar in 5p which is around a 5 mile road. The difference between Vidhyanagar and Karasad is huge.

So Vidhyanagar or Vallabh Vidhyanagar was founded with the blessings of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a leader of the Indian Independence movement and the first home minister of India. The reason of foundation of the University and the town was to spread the Education in the Rural Areas of Gujarat. Both the town and the Sardar Patel University (SPU) are named in honor of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The town is also known as V.V. Nagar. SP University is listed in Top 50 universities in India. So because of all the students it is quite developed and there are SSSSSOOOOO many food places:

Had to take a picture of this energy drink add:

Came across Radhika’s Flats:

Check out this pan menu:

Subway has made it to India:

I really feel like I missed out a lot on the food when in Gujarat but got quite sick so stuck to home food to prevent any further illness. Next time I definately want to eat out more. Overall I had a very nice time in Gujarat, was very nice to spend time with Ba. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed with her once grown up so was nice. My Gujarati has definately improved! I have a brief few days in Bangkok then it will be Burma where I am booked on a two week tour. It will be nice not having to think again – and just being ushered from one place to the next with expert guides everywhere you go. I’m glad I did Rajastan on my own as it gave me A LOT of flexibility but will be nice to have things sorted for a little while. Next up Burma!

Varanasi

Right so I finally got to Varanasi. This hostel I actually booked in advance and the main reason for booking was that they organise tours. As luck would have it the hostel turned out to be REALLY nice. Clean rooms, plug points next to all beds, really nice communal chill out areas, nice hot shower and fast internet for the first time in AGES. As they say in Hindi, “Aur kya chahiye”.

So on arriving at the Hostel at around 8:45am I saw there was a temple tour leaving at 10am, so signed up to that. Our guide was Anil and I learnt a lot about hindism.

Before starting the tour we went to where they clean clothes:

So they have a series of pipes that delivers purified water from the river to this area and when the water is very dirty, it drains back into the river and they fill this area with clean water again. The people here work from generation to generation, literally beating the dirt out of clothes and the government are recognising this as an official place to wash clothes and are currenty in the process of building concrete slabs to wash clothes on.

Varanasi is one of the oldest living cities in the world and probably derives from the two rivers that flank the city, the Varuna to the north and the Asi to the south.

So moving onto the teple tour, there are three main gods, Brahma (creator), Vishnu (protector) & Shiva (the destroyer of evil). Brahma’s wife is called Saraswati, Vishnu’s wife is called Laxmi and Shiva’s wife is called Parvati. Majority of the temples in Varanasi are  dedicated to Lord Shiva and therefore Varanasi is often referred to as Lord Shiva’s City. Varanasi’s associations with Shiva extend to the beginning of time: legends relate how, after his marriage to Parvati, Shiva left his Himalyan abode and came to reside in Kashi (another name for Varanasi). Shiva has had many avatars on earth including Hanuman (monkey god) and Vishnu had 10 avatars in total with the most recent being number 9 in the form of Buddha. The final avatar is called Kalki and is due any time now.

So the first temple we went to was a Durga mandir. Durga is an avatar of Parvati. It is said that goddess Durga protects her devotees from the evils of the world and at the same time removes their miseries. Therefore people pray for that purpose.

In a lot of these temples – you can’t take pictures inside the mandir which is quite irritating but this is what it looked like from a distance.

Within the temple I saw lots of priests chanting and a HUGE havan. There was a main Durga statue that everyone was praying to and at the end of praying everyone walks once clockwise round the temple.

After this we went to a temple where some guy had translated the Gita from sanskrit to hindi and all the walls were filled with the translation. It wasn’t really that interesting:

After this we went to Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple. Unforunately there was a bombing there some time back so security was very tight and no phones or cameras were allowed in so have no pictures. As you go in there are loads of monkeys and eventually you get to the main mandir which has a statue of Hanuman and right opposite there is a temple dedicated to Rama & Sita. Rama was an avatar of Vishnu and within the Ramayana there is a story of Hanuman (Lord Shiva) praying to Rama. This would seem a bit odd, why would one god pray to another but the reason was to show that anyone, be it god or human can pray. This is why they have a statue of Hanuman which is facing another mandir of Rama and Sita.

That was the end of the tour. In the evening they had a food tour where the guide took us to all local places to eat. The food was amazing. So we first started out at a chaat place:

Was really nice and came to 20 rupees (20p). After this we went to the Muslim part of town for some meat. They also had the cheapest Naan in Varanasi at 4 rupees a naan. So I had a naan and a chicken roll for 50 rupees:

Check out old town:

It was EXTREMELY dirty and smelly. Congested with cows everywhere and stinks of cow crap and other waste.

After this we went to the famous Blue Lassi shop in Varanasi where he had pages and pages of varieties of Lassi:

I had a Kesar Pista one. Was nice.

After this we proceeded to Mithai:

Lastly had paan:

A very nice meal and all within 100 rupees so £1.

The next day I did a Market tour in the morning which was interesting. We started off in a paan market. It was cray to see. It was a wholesale paan market and the paan leaves all vary in price massively. Apparently there is this one leaf that seasonal and out of season it sells at a crazy premium:

So they sell these paan leaves wholesale in these baskets. They also sell them at varying levels of ripeness. It was interesting to see.

Check this guy out making fresh Sev:

After this we went to the spice market:

Followed by the iron market:

And then stopped for tea here which was really nice:

Lastly we went to the flower market which was a sight:

It was good in that we got to see a lot of the very non touristy part of Varanasi.

In the evening I went to do a ghat tour followed by the famous arti. In this learnt all about the cremation process. So this is the famous holy river:

We then got on a boat and did a river tour of the ghats:

So the ghats are quite literally just the stairs leading down to the holy river. The city has nearly 100 ghats. Most of the ghats are bathing and puja ceremony ghats, while a few are used exclusively as cremation sites.

Dashashwamedh Ghat is located close to Vishwanath Temple, and is probably the most spectacular ghat. Two Hindu mythologies are associated with it: According to one, Lord Brahma created it to welcome Lord Shiva. According to another, Lord Brahma sacrificed ten horses in a yajna here.

After this we went to one of the ghats used exclusively for cremating bodies. Obviously no pictures were allowed out of respect but the guide explained the whole ceremony to us.

Now walking around the streets here you see a lot of dead bodies being carried on the street on a bamboo stretcher fully covered while they are chanting “Rama nama satya hai” meaning “God’s name is truth”.

What is interesting is that not everyone is cremated. Holy men, lepers and people with small pox have traditionally been buried, with holy men traditionally buried in a vertical position preserved with salt. Small children under two are not cremated because their soul does not need purifying. In many cases today they are not buried but are taken to the middle of the Ganges or another sacred river and dropped to the river bottom with a weighed stone. Families who can not afford the wood for cremation sometimes throw unburned corpses in the Ganges. In some cases an effigy is burned to symbolize cremation. Few people are buried. These are victims of suicide, murder, or some other kind of violence who, it is believed, have souls that will not rest, no matter what is done to the corpse.

Bodies are usually cremated within 24 hours after death, if at all possible, even if close relatives can not attend the funeral. Ideally cremation is done within 12 hours after death, or at the very latest before sundown on the next day if death occurs late in the afternoon. There is little mourning when a Hindu dies because they believe that once a person is born he or she never dies. Often there is little crying. Some Indians have said this is because the point of a funeral is to show respect not sadness. Traditionally women have not been allowed at cremations because they might cry. Their tears like all bodily fluids are regard as pollutants and will mean the soul will not find peace. Women are not supposed to enter the cremation area or even watch what goes on inside it. This includes close relatives and family members. They may help lay out the body at home but carrying the body, gathering the wood and lighting the fire are all considered man’s work.

Varanasi (Banaras, or Benares) is the place every Hindu hopes to be when he or she dies so they can escape the cycle of rebirth and death. If a person dies in the Ganges or has Ganges water sprinkled on them as they breath their last breath it is believed they achieve absolute salvation, escaping the toil of reincarnation to be transported to Shiva’s Himalayan version of heaven. Therefore every Hindu wants to die in Varanasi. Cremations have been taking place in the Ganges for thousands of years. Perhaps a 100,000 cremated bodies are thrown in the Ganges every year. In Varanasi, funeral parties wait for their turns on the steps of the ghats. There is even a caste that specializes in sifting through the ashes and mud at the bottom of Ganges for rings and jewelry.

Once dead the family members have traditionally prepared the body of the deceased. Before cremation, the body is wrapped and washed, with jewelry and sacred objects intact, in a plain sheet. A red cloth is used for holy people. Married women are buried in their wedding dress and an orange shroud. Men and widows have a white shroud. Later the body is dressed in fine clothes and the nail are trimmed and thumbs are tied together while scriptures are read. Often some leaves of the Tulasi tree and few drops of sacred water are placed in the mouth of the deceased. In ancient times the funeral bed was made from rare wood and antelope skin. These days it is made from bamboo or common kinds of wood and no animal skins are used. After the body has been prepared it is carried by male relatives on a flower-draped bamboo bier to the cremation ghats. There is no coffin. Male relatives that carry the shrouded body chant “Rama nama satya hai,”. The eldest son is in the lead. He has been purified in a special ritual and carries a fire kindled in the home of the deceased. The fire is carried in a black earthen pot. The body is immersed in the river before being placed on the funeral pyre.

The body is anointed with ghee (clarified butter). Men are sometimes cremated face up while women are cremated face down. The funeral pyre is often made of corkwood and offerings of camphor, sandalwood and mango leaves. Sandalwood also masks the smell of the burning body very well. The ghee ensures the body burns evenly. A typical pyre is made of 300 kilograms or so of wood. Rich families sometimes pay for the entire pyre to be made up of sandalwood. Mantras are recited to purify the cremation grounds and scare away ghosts. Offerings are made to Agni, the fire god, at an altar.

It was all very interesting to see. Also depending on what cast you are – you have different ghats you can be cremated at.

Anyway after seeing all that we went to the famous Aarti. A group of priests daily perform “Agni Pooja” (Worship to Fire) wherein a dedication is made to Lord Shiva, River Ganges, Surya (Sun), Agni (Fire), and the whole universe. Was again very intersting to see:

The next day someone from my hostel was going to a place called Sarnath where Buddha gave his first sermon. The Auto ride there was INSANE. Traffic over here is on another level. At one point we got to a railways crossing and the barriers came down and people leant their bikes over and got under the barrier and crossed. On top of that people on both sides of the crossing were waiting on both sides of the road such that when the barriers did eventually come up, it was pure chaos. Anyway finally made it to the place. The place where he gave the first sermon, King Ashok had built a huge Stupa.

We started off with visiting the buddist temple that was built on the grounds:

The inside:

They also had a memorial statue of Budda and his five students:

The buddist good luck spinning wheels:

After this we went to see the stupa. It was in a beautiful ground and is said walking around it gives you luck. Buddists from all over asia come to see it.

We walked round it about three times just to make sure we went fully round it! The grounds were beautiful:

What was interesting is that the tree that Buddha found enlightenment under was in Bodh Gaya around 250km from Varanasi but they took cuttings from the tree and planted one at Sarnath and one somewhere in Sri Lanka. This was the one at Sarnath.

It was very nice to see a place so tranquil and quiet in Varanasi. The rest of Varanasi is just pure crazy. Was also interesting to learn a bit about Buddha.

The next day I went back to the Ghats and walked around. I went to the main ghat where they cremate the bodies and saw it all close up. So after carring the body through the streets, they dip the body in the river and then put it on the pyre. They then add more bits of wood on the body and have this huge bit of hay with a coal piece on it. Then they walk round the body touching the fire to the head every time and then finally burn the body. After a while the fire burnt through the clothes and you see the skull and bones – was a pretty horrific sight but interesting to see.

The next day I went to the main temple in Varanasi. It’s called Kashi Vishwanat. I’ve never seen so much security around a temple. It’s CRAZY. There was obviously no cameras or even mobile phones anyway near the temple. There were like multiple check points to get to the mandir and LOADS of police all around. There were a lot of police although am not sure that necessarily translates into good security. The temple itself wasn’t anything great. Lots of small temples dedicated to Lord Shiva.

I liked that Chaat place so much from the food tour I went back everyday. The whole menu is in Hindi on the board and I asked him for an English menu of which there is none. I basically let him recommend dishes for me and would just eat them, after every dish I would ask what’s next and something amazing would be presented. That place is REDICULOUSLY cheap and I have on average three chaat dishes, a coke and a Kulfi for £1.50. I always have plans to go to the Muslim part of town and get some meat but am always full after the chaat. I could easily be vegetarian here. Favourites were Papdi Chat, Dahi Puri & Dai Vada.

I have also been going to the Aarti ceremony daily. The atmosphere is really nice which is the only real reason I go.

So it’s the end of my time in Varanasi. Varanasi has been CRAZY. It’s the dirtiest place I have been to, cows all over the place, craziest traffic I have seen in india, plublic urination seems to be the norm and I’m sure people spit a lot more here than other parts of India. However it’s definately an interesting place with the spritual and religious signifance very apparent everywhere you look. Anywy tomorrow am off to Gujarat to see Ba! Can’t wait.

Agra

This blog is surprisingly time consuming to put together but also find it’s one of the best ways to capture a moment.

So I initially didin’t plan on going to Agra but looked at how much time I had and Agra was convenient to get to from Jaipur. Am glad I went.

There is a usual dialogue now everytime I come out of a station. Some guy approaches me for a Auto, I tell him where I’m going, he charges me double the usual fare and refuses to budge. I tell him I know the distance (from google maps) and how much the fare should be but he continues to tell me I won’t find anyone for that price and how the route I’m suggesting all the roads are closed. They all come up with the same story. After exiting the station and getting closer to the Auto stand – he suddenly seems more inclined to agree with my price. To get the correct price I call the Hostel from the Bus/Train and ask them what the correct fare is. My hindi on this dialogue is actually quite good. The problem is once they start talking to me in the Auto I can no longer converse as fluently which really confuses them.

Anyway the main point of coming to Agra was to see Fatehpur Sikri. This is around an hour outside of Agra. I asked the hostel how to get there and apparently there were local buses every 30 mins. Since I hadn’t really taken a local bus I thought it would be an adventure. Found my way to the bus station where the fruit seller was trying to convince me that there were no buses to Fatepur Sikri. Anyway eventually found my way onto the bus and what an experience that was:

The bus was filled to the brim with people. That bit you can see in front of me where the driver sits was full of people as well as people standing. The journey was mainly on a motorway. The craziest thing is how they pick up passangers. The conductor of the bus, leans out of the door while the bus is going slow and shouts FFAATTEEPPUURRRR, and if anyone nearby is interested, he signals the driver to stop. An interesting system to say the least. They also seem to stop randomly for people on the motorway.

Anyway eventually got to Fatepur Sikri and quickly found a guide to show me round. The main thing to see is the Mosque as well as the palace. I started with the Mosque.

So the city was founded in 1569 by the Mughal emperor Akbar, and served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571 to 1585. After his military victories over Chittor and Ranthambore, Akbar decided to shift his capital from Agra to a new location 23 miles (37 km) on the Sikri ridge, to honor the Sufi saint Salim Chishti who was his guru. Here he commenced the construction of a planned walled city which took the next fifteen years in planning and construction of a series of royal palaces, harem, courts, a mosque, private quarters and other utility buildings.He named the city, Fatehabad, with Fateh, a word of Arabic origin in Persian, meaning “victorious.” it was later called Fatehpur Sikri.

So the first thing I went to see was Buland Darwaza: Set into the south wall of congregational mosque, the Jama Masjid at Fatehpur Sikri, this stupendous piece of architecture is 55 metre high, from the outside. The gate was added some five years later after the completion of the mosque as an ‘victory arch’, to commemorate the Akbar’s successful Gujarat campaign. It carries two inscriptions in the archway, one of which reads: “Isa, Son of Mariam said: The world is a bridge, pass over it, but build no houses on it. He who hopes for an hour may hope for eternity. The world endures but an hour. Spend it in prayer, for the rest is unseen”. The central portico comprises three arched entrances, with the largest one, in the centre, is known locally as the Horseshoe Gate, after the custom of nailing horseshoes to its large wooden doors for luck.

On entering the gate you can see the Tomb of Salim Chishti: A white marble encased tomb of the Sufi saint, Salim Chisti (1478–1572), within the Jama Masjid’s sahn, courtyard. The single-storey structure is built around a central square chamber, within which is the grave of the saint, under an ornate wooden canopy encrusted with mother-of-pearl mosaic. Surrounding it is a covered passageway for circumambulation, with carved Jalis, stone pierced screens all around with intricate geometric design, and an entrance to the south.

So apparently people buy Saris and put it on the tomb which is supposed to be good luck for the family and people buy pieces of threads and tie it somewhere in the tomb for wishes. It is said that as Salim Chisti devoted his life to Allah so he is never really dead. Therefore people make wishes etc to him such that even in death he is still performing Allah’s work therefore deemed immortal. I told the guide very nicely I don’t believe in that so don’t want to buy anything to put in the tomb. Photography was not allowed inside but unfortunately only took one picture from the outside. It was really nice. The inside was just his tomb with loads of people praying. On your way out of the tomb they tap you on the head with this massive feather. Not really too sure about the significance of that.

We then went to see a red sandstone tomb of Islam Khan I, son of Shaikh Badruddin Chisti and grandson of Shaikh Salim Chishti, who became a general in the Mughal army in the reign of Jahangir. The tomb is topped by a dome and thirty-six small domed chattris, and contains a number of graves, some unnamed, all male descendants of Shaikh Salim Chisti.

That small grave is Akbar’s carrier pigeon!

This is the actual Mosque (Jama Masjid) which is still active today and I couldn’t take photos from too near. It was one of the first buidings to be completed in the complex. The large black domes are representative of Mecca and the whole structure faces Mecca (as all mosques do):

After this I went to the Palace where I learnt some interesting things about Akbar. So Akbar ushered in an era of religious tolerance and also formed powerful matrimonial alliances. When he married Hindu princesses—including Jodha Bai, the eldest daughter of the house of Jaipur, as well princesses of Bikaner and Jaisalmer—their fathers and brothers became members of his court and were elevated to the same status as his Muslim fathers- and brothers-in-law. While marrying off the daughters of conquered Hindu leaders to Muslim royalty was not a new practice, it had always been viewed as a humiliation. By elevating the status of the princesses’ families, Akbar removed this stigma among all but the most orthodox Hindu sects. He firmly believed in uniting religions which I thought was very interesting.

This was the Hawa Mahel where he would entertain his wives and concubines. The walls are setup to let a breeze through and yet no one can see up:

This was a Hindu temple with a Holy Basil outside. Again another symbol of him attempting to unite religions:

The most impressive building was this one called Diwan-i-Khas: the Diwan-i-Khas, or Hall of Private Audience, is a plain square building with four chhatris on the roof. However it is famous for its central pillar, which has a square base and an octagonal shaft, both carved with bands of geometric and floral designs, further its thirty-six serpentine brackets support a circular platform for Akbar, which is connected to each corner of the building on the first floor, by four stone walkways. It is here that Akbar had representatives of different religions discuss their faiths and gave private audienc. The official story is they would discuss their faiths but the truth is no one really knows what it was used for:

Royal Gardens:

On this stage Akbar would have a huge scale and he would donate his weight in gold to the poor twice a year.

Overall well worth seeing both places. Although I didin’t like people at Fatepur Sikri. Most places in India I don’t get hassled at all as people think I’m local but over here was hassled right left and center for money. The kids especially would come up selling pens for 10 rupees telling me I’ve come this far to travel and what is 10 rupees to me. I then bought a plate of fruit and the guy was telling me I should also buy for the kids even though none of them were asking. Lots of small stuff like that eventually got very irritating. I have heard countless such stories from all the caucasian travellers I’ve spoken to but first time I experienced it.

On the way back – I got to the bus station a bit late and had to sit right at the front. Was an interesting experience. In the evening chilled.

Now I was supposed to go from Agra to Varanasi the next day at 8:30pm and was going to buy a last minute ticket at 10am however by 10:01 am they were sold out. I was a bit shocked. After that quickly found tickets from Delhi leaving at 6pm and a bus to Delhi arriving at 4pm. Even on India timing I should be okay. So the next day I had a 1pm coach to Delhi however in the morning went to see the Taj Mahal.

All over India they have foreigner pricing and local Indian pricing for all attractions.The hostel guy told me they are quite strict at the Taj Mahal. The price for locals is 20 rupees (20p) and price for foreigners is 750 rupees (£8). I managed to blag a local ticket and was quite hapy.

So in 1631, Shah Jahan, emperor during the Mughal empire’s period of greatest prosperity, was grief-stricken when his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, a Persian princess, died during the birth of their 14th child, Gauhara Begum. Construction of the Taj Mahal began in 1632. The court chronicles of Shah Jahan’s grief illustrate the love story traditionally held as an inspiration for Taj Mahal. The principal mausoleum was completed in 1648 and the surrounding buildings and garden were finished about five years later

It was interesting that the four towers are built with a slight lean outwards such that if there was very strong wind or natural disaster then the columns would fall away from the main building. Inside is the tomb of the emporer and his wife but again no photography allowed.

This was an interesting optical illusion – as you look further on the patterns turn into lips to remind people of the love he had for his wife:

Also what was interesting is the whole structure has no colouring on it. So any colouring you can see is from semi precious stones. It’s quite impressive given the size of it.

Lastly there were two guesthouses on either side:

So the Taj Mahal looks completely different at four times during the day. Sunrise, Sunset, During the day and at full moon. I wasn’t organised enough to see any of them but they had a replica in a shop I went to see:

Sunrise:

Sunset:

Full Mooon:

The full moon viewing is special and is a seperate ticket in it’s own. On full moon they have 10pm shows.

I now had a 3 hour jorney to Delhi. So the bus was supposed to arrive into Delhi at 4pm and my train at 5:55pm. The bus got so delayed that it actually arrived at 5:20pm. The time to the train station was 25 mins which didin’t give me much time. Some Auto driver took me to the station and rediculously overcharged me but I didin’t have much choice given the time constraints. He was also very friendly uptil the point he found out I wasn’t Muslim (I needed to shave). Big change in his general tone after that. Anyway I arrived at the station at 5:50pm with my train at 5:55pm. I got past security and then couldn’t find my train on the board. A porter came and found me and told me that the varanasi train is on platform 12. So we ran to platform 12 and the train was there. I checked the train number and it was incorrect meanwhile the porter was insisting it’s the right train. It was around 5:55pm – the departure time of my train and he took me to the wrong place. There was a TV screen on the platform and I finally found the correct platform of 15. We then ran to platform 15. I had my big bag on my back and the old porter was carrying my smaller bag. On getting to platform 15 the train had left and the porter was trying to convince me it was the train on platform 14. He just wanted to get me on a train and didin’t really care if it was the right one. I saw the train half way down the platform and decided to run for it. I was more worried about the porter as the smaller bag had all my valuables in it. Anyway I ran and caught up with the train, tried to get into the first carriage which was the conductors carriage and he was just yelling at me to go further up. The next carriage I got to – I couldn’t open the door. The next carriage luckily had the door open and I was running out of platform soon. I got onto that carriage and the porter got on both of us completely out of breath, sweating and panting. Then some lady started yelling that this is the women only carriage! I couldn’t believe my luck but couldn’t get off the train. I tried my best to explain I was about to miss the train and I have a A/C seat and will change at the next station but was a bit difficult as no one spoke English. Anyway I think eventually they understood and I found a seat in the general class until the next stop at which point I got all my bags together and ran once again to the correct carriage. WHAT A MISSION. If I had missed this train – it would have resulted in two wasted days in Delhi.

After the ordeal of catching the train – I proceeded to lock up all my luggage and had one bhang cookie, watched one movie (by which time the bhang started to take effect) and went to sleep. Next stop Varanasi.

Jaipur

I had a four hour train to Jaipur and once again no accomodation. On the train read of this new hostel which looked quite good and just showed up. Luckily they had beds. Jaipur is HUGE, after all the smaller cities I’ve been to in Rajastan, I was quite surprised to see just how big Jaipur is. After speaking to some people at the hostel who also wanted to see the sights of Jaipur we decided to hire two Autos and go exploring. First up was the museum. The building itself was beautiful:

A bit of history:

Some interesting exibits:

Beautifully carved door:

Possibly the worlds biggest instrument:

After this we headed to the palace. Now all the main parts of Rajastan has it’s own royal family which is why there are so many palaces. The royal family don’t have any powers or responsilibities as such, just the status. In Jaipur the current King is 14 years old and is the adopted grandson of the last official king before the British rule. The palace was full of information about a Maharana Pratap Singh who fought many famous battles for the Merwar region of Rajastan. Pratap is considered to exemplify qualities like bravery and chivalry to which Rajputs aspire, especially in context of his opposition to the Mughal emperor Akbar. The history of the city palace is closely linked with the history of Jaipur city and its rulers, starting with Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II who ruled from 1699-1744. He is credited with initiating construction of the city complex by building the outer wall of the complex spreading over many acres. Initially, he ruled from his capital at Amber, which lies at a distance of 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Jaipur. He shifted his capital from Amber to Jaipur in 1727 because of an increase in population and increasing water shortage. He planned Jaipur city in six blocks separated by broad avenues

Beautiful Archway with peacocks:

The group from the hostel:

After this we went to an old skool observatory known as Jantar Mantar. It is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Sawai Jai Singh who was a Rajput king. We then got a guide that showed us how it all works. To this day, the observatory is used by astrologers, for instance to calculate the auspicious date for weddings. Even with the guide I found it difficult to visualise how all the equipment works. With the Earth going round the sun and tilted and also spinning makes thinking about shadows on sundials a bit hard. The sundials didn’t just tell the time but also tracked the tilt of the earth, what star sign we are currently in etc. I learnt that star signs are nothing more than constellations in the sky that change over a year as the earth goes round the sun. I knew it was something to do with the stars but didin’t know they were constellations. The other interesting thing was the really big measurement devices were split into two, such that there were huge gaps in them. So when the sun was pointing to a gap in one it was pointing to an actual measurement in the other. The reason for this is maintainance and measurement taking. The gaps were kept for easy access to the devices for people to be able to walk down and easily take measurements. The other thing that was interesting was that a lot of the measurement devices were curved. This is to match the curvature of the earth such that the speed of which of the shadow moves across the device is uniform and even.

This device points to true north:

The Samrat Yantra, the largest instruments, is 90 feet (27 m) high, its shadow carefully plotted to tell the time of day. Its face is angled at 27 degrees, the latitude of Jaipur. The Hindu chhatri (small cupola) on top is used as a platform for announcing eclipses and the arrival of monsoons.

Me and my star sign:

All the star signs:

Nadivalaya:

The equipment with holes in it (there are two identical ones with holes at different parts of it such that one can always be used for measurements:

One of the guys from the hostel very cleverly read somewhere that there is a daily the light and sound show which shows animation of how the observatory actually works and so the following day, in the evening we went there. It was WELL worth going to. Very interesting.

Overall very interesting place and definately my favourite place in Jaipur. After this we headed to Amber fort.

On the way we saw the following:

Amber (pronounced Amer) is situated about 11 kilometres from Jaipur and was the ancient citadel of the ruling Kachwahas of Amber, before the capital was shifted to the plains, the present day Jaipur. After struggling to find an English speaking guide we finally got one and got a guided tour of the fort. The guide was one of the better ones. Amber Fort is known for its artistic style, blending both Hindu and Rajput elements. With its large ramparts, series of gates and cobbled paths, the fort overlooks the Maota Lake, at its forefront. It was another climb up to the fort.

Ganesh Pol or the Ganesh Gate was quite impressive, named after the Lord Ganesh who removes all obstacles in life, is the entry into the private palaces of the Maharajas. It is a three level structure which has many frescoes and was also built at the orders of the Mirza Raja Jai Singh(1621–1627) and leads to the private quarters of the royal family.

This is the royal toilet (one for king and one for queen).

The views from the palace:

This is where the king would sit with his queens and concubines (plural) and chose who to spend the night with:

After this we went to a sound and light show at the fort which gave us a good story about the history of the fort:

The next day we went to the Surya temple which was built by the King who built the city to worship the Sun god. It was another epic trek to the top except this time with monkeys everywhere. We bought some nuts at the bottom for the monkeys and half way up they managed to get hold of the pack:

Eventually we got to the top and the mandir people had more food:

After this we went to the other fort in Jaipur. The fort is called Nahargh and the main attraction is a beer cafe with amazing views of the city. This was yet another climb but the hardest of them all in Jaipur but we eventually got to the top. The fort itself was okay but the restaurant was amazing.

The climb:

From the top:

The next day we thought we should actually go and see the pink city so wondered around the markets. On wandering around came across this:

Even though there is no one on it, it seems to be collapsing from the middle. Bamboo scaffolding – a little crazy.

The pink city of Jaipur:

Also all the carrots here are bright red – consequently the ghajar ka halwa is all red:

After wondering around the pink city – I had a train to catch to Agra. I had initially planned to go directly to Varanasi but Fatepur Sikri was highly recommended and so I headed to Agra to see that. Jaipur has been interesting, it’s been nice chilling with people from the UK for a change. Lastly check this out:

Pushkar

After another early start and a train ride later I arrived in Ajmer. You have to get to Ajmer to get to Pushkar. There is not a lot to see in Ajmer another than a Mosque and have not heard good things about Ajmer, so I proceeded to Pushar. On leaving the railway station I was mobbed by Auto drivers all wanting way too much to get to the bus station. Now I’ve recently learnt of a very cheap way of travelling. In these small towns they have Autos that continually do one route and they just fill the Auto with as many random people as they can and charge 10 rupees each person. So on getting out of the station I was teling them I want a shared Auto to the bus station. They were of course telling me that’s impossible. Eventually one of them told me there are a group of “gore” up ahead and go speak to them. I proceeded on to find two French guys literally SWARMED by drivers. On talking to them I managed to get a 60 rupee fair to the bus station and then would take a bus to Puskar. However a random Taxi guy was quoting 300 rupees (£3) directly to Pushkar so the French guys agreed on taking that. The French guys were in shock as I don’t think they had experienced that before. Anyway they had no accomodation booked either but I found one guesthouse on the net for £5/night private room which had good reviews so proceeded there. Luckily he had rooms.

Pushkar is one of these places that you can escape the craziness of India. It is a very chilled out place and you don’t really feel like you are in India. Pushkar is one of the religious capitals of India and it is said every Hindu should visit Pushkar during their life. So the accomodation I picked had amazing views of Pushkar:

Pushkar is one of the oldest existing cities of India. It lies on the shore of Pushkar Lake. The date of its actual origin is not known, but legend associates Brahma with its creation. Pushkar has many temples. Most of the temples are not very old because many temples were destroyed during Muslim conquests in the area. Subsequently, the destroyed temples were rebuilt. The most famous among all is the Brahma Temple built during the 14th century CE.

Pushkar in Sanskrit means blue lotus flower. Hindus believe that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna (a ritual). The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar. Pushkar word may be derived from word ‘Pushkarni’ means- lake. It may be derived from word Pushpa means flower and Kar means hand.

The Pushkar lake has 52 ghats where pilgrims descend to the lake to bathe in the sacred waters.

I went exploring with the French guys and we headed to the lake:

I sat down near the lake and a swami came up to me and was telling me how holy Pushkar is. There are 1000 temples, 6000 priests and how Pushkar is one of five holy places in India. He then went on to tell me how I should do the Puja that everyone comes to Pushkar to do and he can perform it for me. I was trying to say no and he said – “okay they are foreigners they don’t want to do the puja, but you are hindu you believe in god don’t you?”. I said “no” and he looked very disaprovingly at me & stopped talking to me pretty quickly.

The ghats:

There are a number of cafe’s around the lake and it’s very tranquil to just sit near the lake. The water is the Ghat is FILTHY and the lake close up also doesn’t look too clean. I have no idea how people bath it them. After walking round we found a Gurudwara and a host of temples.

We also visited the Brahma temple in Pushkar. Again terrorist problems stopped me taking my camera in – but I managed to take some pics on my phone. The temple is one of very few existing temples dedicated to the Hindu creator-god Brahma in India and remains the most prominent among them.

In the guide books we read about this temple on top of a mountain which has a realy good view for Sunset. It was a 45 mins trek but we decided to take an Auto. Little did we know that the Auto only takes you to the base and it’s like 1000’s of stairs to get to the top. The day before in Chittorgarh I had climbed that tower so my legs were a bit fragile but nonetheless climbed to the top (after resting a few times). It was very difficult. I have a feeling I am going to die in Nepal. The worst bit was it got steeper as you got higher up. Anyway evetually got right to the top. I was amazed that there were 60 year old people coming down.

The climb up:

Views from the top:

Thirsty Monkeys:

More Views:

The Sunset:

It was a pretty tiring day – very active after such little sleep. The next day I just sat at a Cafe around the lake and chilled. Sunset on the lake:

I have a train ticket to Jaipur tomorrow. It’s a 11:30am train so thank god no early start. I really liked Pushkar – not a lot to do here but it’s got a very different vibe to the rest of India which I really like. It would be quite easy to spend a week here just chilling by the lake, reading etc etc.

Chittorgarh

So I hadn’t really planned to go here but some Indian tourists insisted that I have to go so I went. Chittorgarh has a huge fort which has a lot of historical importance. There is not much else here so I took an early bus in the morning. The bus stations are becoming easier to navigate even though nothing is in English. On arriving I found a rickshaw driver who proceeded to sort my entire sightseeing itenary. After taking me to the hotel I booked we headed to the fort and picked up an English speaking guide he organised on the way. On the way back he stopped off for food somewhere. He spoke no English but was very friendly. The fort was HUGE. It’s 13 square KMs there you need an Auto to get about. Chittorgarh Fort is one of the largest forts in India and probably the grandest in the state of Rajasthan. It is a World Heritage Site. The fort, popularly known as Chittor, was the capital of Mewar which was later moved to Udaipur and is today situated in Chittorgarh City. 

So we first started out in one of the palaces which was pretty much destroyed by past wars:

The fort also has religious significance as it has the original Meera Bai temple. The story goes that Meera got married to the ruler of Chittor at the time. She had a very very deep devotion to Lord Krishna (who is a re-incarnation of Vishnu and Buddha was the latest reincarnation) and so her Husband built her a mandir. Her husband then died in battle. Then the throne passed on to a relative who behaved in a very undivine way towards Mirabai. When he saw everybody appreciating her spiritual qualities, it was too much for him and he got very jealous of her. Legend has it that every attempt the King made to kill her (poisenous snake hiden inside Flowers, milk with poison in it) was thrwarted by Lord Krishna through some kind of miracle. We went to see the Kumbhaswamin Temple:

MeeraBai mandir:

Then proceeded to the Gaumukh Reservoir which is a spring that feeds the tank from a carved cow’s mouth in the cliff. This pool was the main source of water at the fort during the numerous sieges:

We then went to see the Tower of Victory. The Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) or Jaya Stambha, called the symbol of Chittor was erected by Rana Kumbha between 1458 and 1468 to commemorate his victory over Mahmud Shah I Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, in 1440 AD. Built over a period of ten years, it raises 37.2 metres (122 ft) over a 47 square feet (4.4 m2) base in nine stories accessed through a narrow circular staircase of 157 steps (the interior is also carved) up to the 8th floor, from where there is good view of the plains and the new town of Chittor. The dome, which was a later addition, was damaged by lightning and repaired during the 19th century.

Was an absolute mission climbing to the top but views were nice. Again very very questionable health and safety with parts of being pitch black with the guard teling me to use my phone as the lights are out:

We then went to the summer Palace. Now apparently there was a king called Rawal Ratan Singh whose wife’s beauty was legendary. However no one was allowed to see her due to the “parda” system they had in place. However the king agreed to show Ala ud-Din Khalji (ruler of another region) his wife’s beauty through a mirror at 45 degrees overlooking a lake and this was the place it happened. Later he attacked Chittor in 1303 CE to capture the queen of Chittor,Rani Padmini, the wife of Rawal Ratan Singh

The mirror he saw her on:

Where she was standing:

After this we rode around the fort and stopped at some amazing viewpoints:

After this we went to get some food and I had to prepare for the next day. The whole of Rajasthan is very last minute planning. I have nothing planned for the next day booked until the previous night. So I got back to the Hotel to a decent internet connection and bought a train ticket to Pushkar leaving 8:20 am so yet another early start.

Udaipur

So this was my first bus journey. It was a 5 hour bus ride to Udaipur as there are no direct trains. Once again I took one of the ‘doctors’ biscuits before the journey and time FLEW by. I watched a movie for the first hour after which I, magically, managed to sleep very comfortably the rest of the way 🙂

So the bus Journey I took on the South India tour was a proper local bus. I did some research and found that the government run a premier bus service which on the site is referred to as “Volvo”. The tickets are a lot more expensive and the coach a lot more comfortable. For one thing the coach has windows and has climate control. The middle class locals obviously use this service and tickets can very easily be booked online the night before the journey. I think a lot of people don’t bother pre-booking as the buses are normally quite full. The price of the ticket was around £5 for a 5 hour journey.

Anyway I arrived at Udaipur and booked myself into a guesthouse. It was CRAZY cheap. So I got an ensuite room for £5. The next day I went to explore Udaipur. What a beautiful place.

First stop was Bagore Ki Haveli:

Nothing amazing to write home about after the Havelis in Jaisalmer but they had (probably) the world’s biggest Turban on display:

I then proceeded to see the Jagdish Temple which is one of the famous temples of Udaipur. Located in the City Palace complex of Udaipur, this temple is made in the Indo-Aryan style of architecture. In 1651, Jagdish temple was built by Maharana Jagat Singh, who ruled Udaipur during 1628-53. The temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu (Laxmi Narayan), the preserver of the Universe. It is celebrated for being the largest temple in the city of Udaipur.

This three-storied temple is a wonder of architecture that comprises beautifully carved pillars, decorated ceilings, painted walls and lush halls. In those times, 1.5 million rupees were spent to raise this structure. The spire of the main temple is around 79 feet high that undoubtedly dominates the skyline of Udaipur. This shikhar (spire) is festooned with sculptures of dancers, elephants, horsemen and musicians making it truly a sight to behold. 

After that I went to see the City palace. It was built over a period of nearly 400 years being contributed by several kings of the dynasty, starting by the Maharana Udai Singh II as the capital of the Sisodia Rajput clan in 1559, after he moved from Chittor. It is located on the east bank of the Lake Pichola and has several palaces built within its complex. Udaipur was the historic capital of the former kingdom ofMewar in the Rajputana Agency and its last capital. On arriving I wanted a guide and managed to share one with these two French guys, so had a nice guided tour of the palace. As good as the audio guides are – you can’t beat a real guide for these places. The palace was beautiful.

Back in the day whenever there was an inauguration they would fill this pit with gold and the new King would distribute the wealth to the people.

So the palace was hired out by one of India’s wealthiest families for a wedding. Apparently it’s very common for the super rich of India to host weddings in his palace. They were setting up for the evening. The wedding looked AMAZING. I was seriously thinking of crashing it as the ID cards looked easy enough to fake, but for such an occasion would need appropiate attire, which I didin’t have.

Maharanas of Mewar are Surya Vanshi or decedents of Sun god. So they daily pray the sun god. One big sun god status made of Gold is available inside the palace and the kings use to perform puja here on the cloudy days when sun god is not visible.

This was the queen’s bath back in the day:

Udaipur is known as the white city and here’s why:

Beautiful architecture within the palace:

They very interestingly had three symbols of sacred geometry which I found interesting and want to research later:

I then took a boat ride on the lake:

This is a hotel owned by the Taj Group called Lake Palace Hotel in the middle of the lake. It used to be a palace which has now been converted to a hotel. You can’t go to visit unless you stay there and rooms start at £400/night – so well out of my budget.

View from the boat ride:

As you can see from the distance, Udaipur is surrounded by hills.

The boat ride was very nice. Very beautiful lake. We then stopped off at this island in the middle of the lake for about 20 mins. Again more work was being done on this island for the wedding. It’s a shame the preperation was going on as we couldn’t see what the island normally looks like. Although this must be the most grand wedding I’ve seen:

Views from the island:

Anyway I was famished after this so went to get something to eat. After lunch/dinner I had read of the Monsoon Palace which is supposed to be the highest point in the city on top of a hill and so a really good point for sunset. I therefore decided to take a Riskshaw there. On arriving I found out that the riskshaw can’t go to the top of the mountain, only cars can and I had to take a government car to the top. The palace offers a panoramic view of the city’s lakes, palaces and surrounding countryside. It was built basically to watch the monsoon clouds; hence, appropriately, it is popularly known as Monsoon Palace. It is said that the Maharana built it at the top of the hill to get a view of his ancestral home of Chittaurgarh. The timing was a bit hit and miss but I made it within haf an hour of sunset so perfect timing.

The palace itself was not great but views from the top were amazing. The palace, built with white marble, is located on Bansdara peak of the Aravalli hill range at an elevation of 944 m (3100 ft).

After this went back home. I had planned to go to a cultural show in the evening but was too tired. The next day was a two hour journey to Chittorgarh to see the famous fort.

There seems to be a lot of early starts for this leg of the trip. Is starting to feel like the South India tour all over again. I think in Pushkar I’ll take a few days to chill. Definately need some chill time before I hit the CRAZY Varanasi. Udaipur was a beautiful city. I can quite clearly see why it’s the wedding capital for the north. I could have spent some more time here just chilling by the lake but decided to move on.

Jodhpur

I had planned on leaving Jaisalmer a day earlier than I actually did however a few “special” milkshakes later, I decided to stay another day. Anyway so there was a train to Jodhpur so I booked myself onto that. The demand for tickets wasn’t huge so a last minute normal booking was fine. It was a 5 hour journey at 17:30. Now I had a bottom bed and the guy on top of me refused to go and sit on his bed. I waited patiently until he went to the loo, then fully spread myself out on my bed and put all my stuff all over it so there was barely any room for him. He got the hint. Anyway I had one of ‘the doctors’ cookies before the journey so time literally flew by.

Now in Jodhpur the two main things to see are the palace and fort. I was thinking – how different can the fort be from Jaisalmer but the contrast was stark. In India they have a Spanish cab company called Ola. You basically download an App and then book taxis using it and it’s all at a fixed price. I have undoubtedly been ripped off by MANY rickshaw drivers so this is a good way of avoiding that. I called an Ola Cab and went to the Palace.

The Palace was beautiful from the outside and is divided into three main sections. One section is a Hotel which is so exclusive I couldn’t even visit. The second part is a museum and finally the last part the King of Jodhpur lives in.

An old skool jukebox:

The museum had an interesting collection of clocks of which this was my favourite:

I didin’t spend too long there but from there got to the fort. Again the fort was perched on a hill:

The name of the fort is Mehrangarh. Though the fortress was originally started in 1459 by Rao Jodha, founder of Jodhpur, most of the fort which stands today dates from the period of Jaswant Singh (1638–78). The fort is located at the centre of the city spreading over 5 kilometres (3.1 mi). Its walls, which are up to 36 metres (118 ft) high and 21 metres (69 ft) wide, protect some of the most beautiful and historic palaces in Rajasthan.

Entry to the fort is gained though a series of seven gates. The most famous of the gates are:

– Jai Pol (“Gate of Victory”), built by Maharaja Man Singh in 1806 to celebrate his victory in a war with Jaipur and Bikaner.

– Fateh Pol, built to celebrate a victory over the Mughals in 1707.
– Dedh Kamgra Pol, which still bears the scars of bombardment by cannonballs:

– Loha Pol, which is the final gate into the main part of the fort complex. Immediately to the left are the handprints (satimarks) of the ranis who in 1843 immolated themselves on the funeral pyre of their husband, Maharaja Man Singh.

In a lot of these forts you get an audio guide with a foreign ticket. In a lot of places I pass as a local with my pigeon hindi but this one I needed an English audio guide so didin’t quite work. The audio guide was pretty good and expained a lot of the history about the fort.

This fort was very different from the one in Jaisalmer as it was mostly a palace. Therefore you had courtyard after courtyard (each used for different purposes) beautifully decorated whereas the Jaisalmer one was more like a small city:

There was a dude with a hookah pipe which apparently they used to and still do smoke opium. Although I tried the bhang lassis in Jaisalmer I think hallucinogens are just one step too far. Not that it was for offer in the fort anyway.

There was a room full of Howdahs which are the things you put on top of an Elephant that you sit on. Apparently the Royal Howdah came in many fashionable styles:

There was also varying styles of Palanquins which they used to carry Royalty and distinguished guests in:

Golden one:

Some elaborate rooms used to entertain guests:

Now if you walked along a bit more you came to the watch tower where the views over the city were amazing. Jodhpur is known as the blue city and here is why:

There was a zip line route through the fort but after doing it once in a Cambodian jungle I didin’t think it could be as good, so headed back home.

In the evening I heard, what sounded like, a HUGE street party so went to invesigate and look what I found:

This was on a main road:

It was a wedding procession on the street. On the small road they blocked the whole thing with a band, horses and loads of people dancing on the street and then they proceeded to block of the main road on there way to the hall. It was completely crazy. But THEN I found out the people downstairs were getting married and everyone at the hostel was invited. I thought why not. Everyone at the wedding thought I was escorting all the people from the hostel as a guide and so proceeded to attempt to use me a translator. They quickly found out I wasn’t the guide. Now the guy who was getting married had never actually met the girl but they had spoken over the phone many times and seen each other’s pics. Throughout the whole ceremony the bride had her face covered. It was interesting to see a traditional Rajput wedding:

The next day I went to see something called Jaswant Thada. It is a white marble memorial built by Maharaja Sardar Singh of Jodhpur State in 1899 in memory of his father, Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. They call it the Taj Mahal of Jodhpur and easy to see why, it is beautiful:

View of the fort from a distance:

After this I went to the see the clocktower and a restaurant for a quick bite before my coach journey to Udaipur.

Got back to the hostel and had to rush to the coach station to get a local government bus to Udaipur.