Week 101 - Udaipur, Pushkar, Jaipur (India)

We’d arranged an 8am pick up for the drive to Udaipur and were disappointed to be told it had been delayed to 9am. We hung around in our room waiting until it was time to leave and then we had a misunderstanding about how many stops we were going to make along the way. Finally in agreement, we set off. The first part of the journey was through flat scrubland and we alternated between watching the world go by and dozing. 

As the journey progressed the landscape started to turn more green and lush with evidence of the monsoon rains. Our first stop was at Ranakpur, a white, superbly ornate, marble, Jain temple at the base of the Aravalli hills (apparently, the oldest range in the world, predating even the Himalayas). The complex, with the main temple built in 1439, is considered to be one of the finest in Rajasthan and one of the most important in India. We wandered around in awe at the intricacy of the carvings covering every available surface. There are 1,444 pillars in the complex and no two are the same. 

Ranakpur Temple.

Intricate carvings inside Ranakpur Temple.

Continuing along the winding country roads, dodging cows and herds of goats, our driver asked if we were hungry. We stopped at a little place with gorgeous valley views for a buffet lunch. It turned into the most intense meal I think i’ve ever had. The waiter watched over us through every bite, at one point he took a chapatti out of my hand and told me I couldn’t eat it and he’d get fresh ones and then he tried to give me a lesson in how to eat an aubergine, it was all very off putting and I was too scared to eat enough to get anywhere near our moneys worth. 

Back in the car we passed through a heavy rain storm as we followed the hills to Kumbalgarh, a huge stone fort, perched on the hill top with stunning views down into the valleys (all but hidden by the rain clouds). Built in the 15th century, the fort was used by Mewar rulers as a place to retreat in times of danger. It was taken only once in it’s history, when the water supply was poisoned, and then the invaders only managed to hold it for two days. The fort walls stretch 36km making it the second longest wall in the world and it encloses hundreds of temples, palaces and gardens. There was a break in the rain as we arrived and we rushed to the highest point, the Palace of Clouds, to see the view, the wall snaking in to the distance and the cluster of temples and buildings around the gate where we’d entered. We had another downpour just as we reached the top causing us to duck into a building to wait it out and then, when it passed over we hurried back to the bottom before it could start again. We had time for a quick walk around a few of the temples before jumping back in the car. It was a shame our visit was so rushed as it was an incredible sight but at least we got the chance to see it.

View from Palace of Clouds, Kumbalgarh Fort.

Kumbalgarh Fort.

We arrived in to Udaipur just before sunset and walked the rest of the way, down the winding cobblestone streets, to our hostel. It wasn’t until they took us to our room that we realised how close to the lake and palaces we were. We had a corner room with floor to ceiling windows on two sides and could lie in bed watching the giant fruit bats swoop within feet of our room as the sun set over the Lake Palace.

Sunset view from our room in Udaipur.

Udaipur has earned the moniker of‘Rajasthans most romantic city and I can understand why. The City Palace, which our hostel was next to, towers over Lake Pichola, one of four man made lakes, facing the photogenic Lake Palace that seems to float in the middle of the water. The city was founded in 1559 when Udai Singh took flight from the final sacking of Chittorgarh (he was the one who was brought up in Kumbalgarh fort). Although the old town itself is touristy with hundreds of places to stay, eat and shop, it’s easy to disappear into the cobbled backstreets where people perch on doorsteps chatting and the kids run about shouting and playing.

After spending the first night at the hostel, eating on the roof terrace overlooking the lake, we ventured out to explore on our second day. We followed the lake edge, stopping at bathing and dhobi (clothes washing) ghats and taking in the view of the Lake Palace, before crossing a bridge for views of the City Palace. The temperature was bearable and the streets were much quieter than anywhere else we’ve been. We wandered back towards the hostel, buying a heavy rug on the way, where Rhys went to chill in the room while I went to the Bagore-ki-Haveli, a very strange museum. 

The Lake Palace, Udaipur.

The haveli was another former prime ministers mansion, right on the waters edge and although some areas had been beautifully restored, others held bizarre collections of puppets, the worlds biggest turban and sculptures of world landmarks made from polystyrene.

Back at the hostel we hid from the midday sun, heading out again in the early evening for a tuktuk ride to the cable car station. The cable car took us to the summit of a hill with views out over the lake. It was a spectacular sight and we could see a number of the other lakes in the area as well as the City Palace and Lake Palace and Jagmandir Island. Rhys was feeling a bit under the weather so we didn’t actually stay for sunset and headed back to the room. That night, Rhys was feeling worse and stayed in the room while I went out to a roof terrace with views of the lit up City Palace for dinner.

The next day, Rhys was still feeling too unwell to leave the room. I walked over to the City Palace to explore. The palace in Udaipur is Rajasthans largest palace, a conglomeration of buildings created by various maharajas (the City Palace actually comprises 11 palaces), surmounted with balconies, cupolas and towers. I wandered through the museum, through courtyards full of shiny peacock mosaics, rooms covered floor to ceiling with minature paintings and mirror tiles and mazelike passages (built to confuse intruders), passed collections of armory, weapons, silverware and palanquins. It was huge and pretty tiring but I still had a boat trip on Lake Pichola to get a better view of the Lake Palace and to visit Jag Mandir to do. 

View of the Lake Palace from the City Palace, Udaipur.

It was a long walk down to the Palace promenade where I found the boat pier, where after an awkward group photo with me in the middle like a celebrity, I got squeezed into the last seat on a boat heading out on to the lake. We circled the Lake Palace, built in 1754 as the royal summer palace and completely covering the 1.5 hectares of the Jag Niwas island, before stopping at Jag Mandir, the second lake island on which stood another domed palace, built in 1620 (thought to be the inspiration for the Taj Mahal), circled by elephant statues and gardens. I didn’t stay for long before jumping back in the boat back to the City Palace.

By then, it was time to check on Rhys and I walked back to the hostel. After lunch on the roof terrace, overlooking the lake, I spent the next couple of hours going up and down the stairs to try and do the laundry. A quick visit to a nearby miniature painting shop and it was time for dinner. Rhys was starting to feel a little better and decided to join me.

We had an early start the following day, checking out of our amazing corner room before the sun rose to find a tuk tuk to take us the train station. We had a 6 hour journey in an aircon carriage without seats together and with tinted windows restricting our view. Nevertheless, the journey was painless and before we knew it we were in Ajmer. We dropped in to the tourist office at the train station briefly to find out the easiest way to Pushkar and ended up getting a taxi. 

Once in Pushkar, we checked in to our hotel and took some time to freshen up before wandering out to see the town. Much smaller than anywhere else we’ve been so far, Pushkar was also much dirtier, noisier and came with a lot more hassle, surprising since it’s a Hindu pilgrimage town. The stories claim that Brahma dropped a lotus flower on the earth and Pushkar appeared and the lake around which the town is clustered attracts hundreds of people a day to bath in it’s waters. It’s touristy and has a strange Israeli presence, for a not particularly nice town, it seems bizarre that so many Israelis now call this place home, all the restaurants even serve Israeli food. Although it was really interesting to see the hordes of pilgrims hustling along the streets, we were constantly dodging motorbikes with horns blaring, beggars and other people generally trying to make us give them money for nothing, spirituality has been truly commercialised in Pushkar.

It started raining heavily that afternoon and Rhys was still recovering, so we retreated to our hostel roof terrace for pakora whilst watching the tortoises shuffle around and the staff feed the black faced langur monkeys and chase the red bottomed rhesus macaques with sticks. The macaques are a bit aggressive so they’re not welcome but it’s a bit hard to feed one monkey without feeding the other. The monkeys take over the rooftops in the evenings, treating the town as their playground and it’s amusing to watch them swinging about. We had Israeli food at another roof top cafe (oh how I miss hummus) before bed. 

We had a well needed lay in the next day before meeting up with one of the hostel owners cousins who ran a courier service. We’d decided we were carrying too much weight and a parcel home was called for. After climbing on the back of his bike and narrowly missing women and cows, we arrived at his shop and sent another 8kg of souvenirs home, crossing our fingers that it reaches it’s destination.

Next, we decided to walk down to the lake. Pushkar Lake is surrounded by 52 bathing ghats, stairways giving access to the sacred waters to the hordes of pilgrims so they can take ritual baths to cleanse their souls. While in town we thought it only right that we joined in and took part in a puja (prayer). We were separated and sat down with priests on the stairs by the water where the symbolism of each of the flowers, pigments, sugar and rice were explained, before we had to join in with some chanting, washing hands in the lake water and sprinkling it over ourselves, praying for the health of our family and good karma. Rhys said a prayer for his Gramps who passed away this week and threw flower petals in the lake. We made our donation, received our Pushkar passports (a piece of coloured thread around your wrist) and continued on our lap of the lake, returning to our hostel via Sadar Bazaar, the main street, lined with stalls and shops. 

Pushkar Lake.

We wandered out again later that day to visit the 2,000 year old Brahma temple in town, one of only a handful of Brahma temples anywhere (Brahma being the Hindu Lord of Creation), and were caught up in the stampede that pushed up the marble stairs to the main temple. Although visually not very impressive, the piety of the people surrounding us was moving. We didn’t stay long and as we left the rains started to blow in. We escaped to a roof top terrace for lunch before hiding back in our room. We wandered back into town again to a roof top restaurant for dinner.

We had an early afternoon train the following day from Ajmer, so, after a lazy start, we took a taxi from Pushkar to the train station where we dropped our bags in the left luggage room. We took a rickshaw through the windy streets to the end of a pedestrianised area leading to the dargah, the tomb of a Sufi saint, Khhwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti, and a Muslim pilgrimage site. We couldn’t take the camera in so had to take it in turns to wander through the main gate and around the complex. The dargah was built in stages, mostly in the 16th century and was a little haven of peace away from the bustle of the street, with people sitting around, seemingly doing nothing, everywhere. As you walk through the courtyards you come across a mosque, the tomb itself, and two huge iron cauldrons for offerings for the poor. As with the Brahma temple, it wasn’t visually impressive but was an experience to people watch.

Entrance to the Dargah, Ajmer.

Our train left at 3pm and we arrived in Jaipur after dark, taking an autorickshaw to our hotel. We got chatting with the two boys who were driving our autorickshaw and arranged for them to collect us at the hotel the following day for sightseeing. We spent the rest of the evening on the roof terrace.

The boys were waiting for us at 10am as arranged. As we stepped out of the hotel it started to rain, and it pretty much continued on and off for the whole time we were in Jaipur. Jaipur is a very different city to those we’d visited so far, instead of the ancient twisty roads, this city had a more modern feel to it. In 1727, Jai Singh decided to build a new city, moving from the fort at Amber. It was built according to the principles set out in an ancient Hindu architectural treatise, separated into nine rectangular blocks where people of different castes would reside. Later, in 1876, the Maharaja had the entire city painted ‘pink’, earning Jaipur the nickname, the ‘pink city’ (which is definitely more of a terracotta than a pink).

Our first stop, just as the rain started to subside, was at the Jantar Mantar, a peculiar site within the old city walls. Jai Singh was a keen astronomer and built a huge observatory in the centre of the city. As the sun wasn’t out and the instruments only work in sunlight we just walked around the massive structures without a guide, weaving between 27m tall sun dials and instruments for estimating when the monsoon would arrive and the timing of eclipses.

The sun dial in Jantar Mantar, Jaipur.

Next, after Rhys stopped to sit with some snake charmers, we crossed the road to the City Palace, a vast complex of courtyards and buildings. The first courtyard was centred on the Mubarak Mahal (Welcome Palace) which housed a textiles museum and there was another interesting armory museum housed in the former apartments of the wives of the maharaja. We stopped to peer up at the Chandra Mahal, the seven storey residence of the descendants of the maharaja, before continuing into the Pitan Niwas Chowk, the highlight of the palace for me, a courtyard with four beautiful gates representing the four seasons.

Snake charmers, Jaipur.

The City Palace, Jaipur.

Me at one of the gates of Pitan Niwas Chowk, City Palace, Jaipur.

Back at the rickshaw, the rain started again as we rode out of the city walls to the Royal Gaitor, the location of the royal cenotaphs (including that of Jai Singh). Again, just as we arrived the rain stopped and we had the place to ourselves, wandering around the intricately carved monuments to the the soundtrack of peacocks. It was incredibly beautiful.

Me at the Royal Gaitor, Jaipur.

The Royal Gaitor, Jaipur.

We were talked into climbing the hill to the Ganesh temple, against our better judgment. As we made it to the top, where the temple was closed, the rain started again, with one umbrella to share we didn’t stand much of a chance. We squelched back to the rickshaw and agreed we’d make one more stop before heading back to the hotel to dry off.

Our final stop was at Galta and the Surya Mandir, otherwise known as the Monkey Temple. We bought a bag of peanuts at the bottom of the hill before walking up to the temple, with views out over Jaipur. It wasn’t the most beautiful temple but it was worth it to see Rhys reach for the peanuts only to throw them on the floor as he was mobbed by 30 or so aggressive Rhesus Macaques.

Back at the hotel we dried off before retiring to the roof terrace where we ended up chatting to a Welsh couple and a German guy, who we then tagged along with for dinner. We went to a small local eatery with the most amazing BBQ chicken. Rhys had been dying for meat having eaten vegetarian for the past three days and the food was delicious.