RajasthanTrip

Rajasthan Trip Blog [25-Dec-08 thru 04-Jan-09]-
After visiting Thailand at the start of the year it was time I took a break from the hectic work schedule at the end of the year. The last week of December was a perfect time to visit the north western hub of our rich Indian culture – Rajasthan. Going on a vacation with my parents and 2 small kids required quite a bit of planning. The last week of December is when most of the US/EU Clients have a shutdown week and this makes it more convenient.
We did most of the hotel bookings through a affiliate network – Highland Holiday Homes Pvt Ltd in early November. Most of the hotels were average with AC Deluxe room bookings.
With both parents now senior citizens, the train fares were discounted and our total train journey cost us peanuts and was very enjoyable and convenient. My intention over here is to not focus on writing the details of the various destinations, one can get that information on many tourist websites but pen down some lively moments that I and my entire family will cherish forever. Hope u enjoy them as well and can help u plan your vacation-
Day 1-
We took a cab on the 25th from our home to the Bandra Railway Station. There we boarded the Bandra-Jaipur Superfast train at 4:30 PM. The train was on time at most of the stops. On our way we also passed Dahanu Road which had been a school summer vacation getaway at my Aunt's place for all bapat cousins.
A long distance train journey in India is always a great experience to binge on a variety of snacks, fruits and beverages and we all enjoyed this to the hilt. First was Dal-seng near Palghar Stn; followed by delicious chikoos and tadgolas at Vapi Stn; next was crisp peanuts in the Bharuch-Vadodara patch. We had also carried with us a Marathi trip favorite snack - “Tikhat Mithachya Puryaa” (spicy hot purees) in that lasted for the first 3 days. The night in the train was a bit colder than expected and we tucked the kids in warm blankets with all the head/hand/foot gear.
Day 2-
Early morning we reached Ratlam which is known for its spicy shev. At least 4-5 cups of tea helped put out the early morning cold. Our train stopped for some time at a small station where we saw a flock of parrots. About a decade back, one used to get tea in small mud cups in this area. People used to drink the tea and then compete to break the cups on the railway tracks. Finally we chugged into Jaipur Railway Station at 11 am (only ½ hr behind schedule). The driver was waiting for us with a placard. He was going to be with us for the next 10days. Our vehicle was a Toyota Qualis. We checked into Hotel Shalimar near Sindhi Chowk. Atharva-Tanvi were fascinated with the large size aquarium at the frontdesk. We refreshed and then left for sight-seeing; stopping briefly for delicious lunch at one roadside Balaji Veg restaurant. We had a quick glimpse of HawaMahal enroute to the Jaipur City Palace and by the time we finished, it was 5pm.
I captured a photo of the Sabha Niwas palace guard who was dressed in an authentic dress and was talking away on the cell phone w/o worrying about checking the tickets.
We then had our driver take us to a chai-tapri where we enjoyed some masala chai and the kids loved the hot milk that is kept constantly heated in a large vessel in such places. We then visited the Birla Mandir and returned back to the hotel post dinner.
Day 3-
We had a tourist guide for today's day and he turned out to be a pretty gentleman – Shiv Singh. He showed the place where one of the bomb blasts had occurred last year and told us that Jaipur was known for 6 Gs – Gai(cow); Gobar (cowdung); Garmi (heat); Garibi (poverty) ; Gandagi (garbage) and Guide. After stopping for a quick photo shoot at the Hawa Mahal (which looks magnificient in the early morning sun), we went to the Am(b)er Fort.

There is an elephant ride that one can take from the base of the fort but that is not advisable for aged visitors and is time consuming too. The guide explained to the us the various details of the Fort, the 40 km wall that runs round the fort and old city is considered the 2nd longest wall after the Wall of China. He also showed us an underground alley that was used to escape to a nearby fort in times of war. Here a big family of bats have made their den. Some other peculiarities here is the texture of the garden which matches exactly in shape and proportion to the wall decorations and the larger than life sized vessels used to cook food for the entire fort staff in the olden days.

We then stopped briefly outside the Jaigarh fort which houses the larget cannon of that era. The interesting thing here was the vendor standing outside the gate who was selling gigantic size papads. This is another peculiarity in Rajasthan. Tanvi liked the papad and wanted more.
We moved on to visit the Nahargarh Fort which is not so popular since it is not commercialized to the Foreign tourists. The view of the Jaipur city from the top of the fort was amazing. Retracing our steps back into the city, we stopped briefly at Jal Mahal ( which was built first and then the artificial lake was created around it by building a dam in the vicinity). Lunch was taken at Hotel Annapurna – decent place.

Late afternoon, we visited Jantar Mantar next to the City Palace. This was an interesting place where the biggest sun clock is situated (it has a least count of 2 seconds). It also houses a sun sign based clock which was used in conjunction with other dials to understand a person's horoscope. Baba was exhausted at the end of the day but what made our day, rather night, was the mouth watering sumptous dinner we had at a Thali House near Sindhi Chowk. Authentic Rajasthani food consists of Dal-Bati; Churma; Papad; Dal; Bajra Roti and a vegetable known as Ker Sangri.
Day 4-
We checked out of the hotel; had a good breakfast by the roadside of Poha and Paratha followed by Pyaj Kachori at Rawats and then zoomed on the National Expressway to reach Pushkar, the only place where Lord Brahma's temple exists. The natural lake at this place is claimed to be holy but what we saw was a mossy green cover with plastic bags. No cameras or cell phones are allowed inside the temple and one has to hand these over to the outside shopkeepers who expect you to purchase something from them. Gulkand (crushed rose petals in sugar syrup) is a famous product to be purchased at this place.
We then went to see the Ajmer Sharif Dargah (mosque) built for Moinuddin Kishti. The way leading upto the Dargah is jampacked with small shops that sell all kinds of sweetmeats and prayer caps that one must wear while entering the dargah. Also lined up are a lot (I mean a lot) of beggars who try their level best to coarse you into giving them alms and keep on asking for more. There was a mad rush inside the Dargah since it was a special day and we got a bit scared. A similar rush at the Chamundi temple in Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur a few months back had led to a stampede where 60 young teens were killed. Sometimes I wonder how devotees in the name of praying God end up reaching God's doorstep due to such unfortunate incidents. A word of advice here, avoid taking small children to places where there is a mad rush on special festival days.
By the late evening we reached Jodhpur and checked into a hotel right in the heart of the city near the Clock Tower called Jee Ri Haveli. We had booked only this particular hotel thru an internet booking site hotelpushpak.com; I am sorry to say but we were forced to pay extra at time of check-in due to a mistake on the part of the intermediary website broker agent. We called the broker but he was non-committal and we had to finally pay an extra Rs.300 for each room per night. The hotel was owned and run by a family that had converted their home into this 3-storey hotel, they were very nice and tried their best to cover up for the intermediary's mistake by being nice to us. Never ever use this website for doing any hotel reservations; do bookings directly with the hotel sites or by calling them up. The place was well maintained and we were served a delicious dinner on the roof top restaurant. The Clock Tower was sparkling and well lighted. The fountains of the Lake were also very refreshing.
Day 5-
The view from the hotel room was magnificent. The hotel was situated next to the Gulabsagar lake fountains, with the Mehrangarh Fort standing out in the backdrop. There was a big coincidence that happened at the Mehrangarh Fort. My son, Atharva ended up greeting the current Maharaja – His Highness Raja Gaj Singh II in person on his birthday. He had come to seek blessings of their Kuldevi (the dynasty goddess at the temple inside the Fort) and we happened to reach the point where his jeep was parked at the same time. This fort gives the visitors a glimpse of the rich taste and the lavish lifestyle enjoyed for generations by the rulers of this Marwar kingdom. Some of the views of the old city from the Fort showed a specific area of the city where all houses are painted blue on the outer walls. Audio Tours are also available at Fort Museums and the local guides can speak and cater to most of the foreign language visitors that flock to this place. Many foreign tourists are amazed by the fluency of these guides that make you feel at home and impress them with the charm and information of the rajput and moghul era. We then visited briefly the Jaswant Thada where all photos of the Rajput kings are housed in a big marble edifice. As soon as you step onto the marble floor you can feel the difference in temperature on the inside of the building. We were not able to visit the Maharaja's City Palace (called Umed Bhavan) on this day since it was closed for his birthday.
The evening was spent shopping at the National Handloom Emporium ( a one stop shop for all shopping) on the busy market place road. Jodhpur is cheaper than all Rajasthan cities and one should plan to do most of the shopping here.
Day 6-
We checked out of the hotel and hit the road to Jaisalmer via Pokhran. On the way, we stopped to see a beautiful set of temples at place called Osiyan, where we met a big group of Jain people who had come from Pune. Outside this temple there is a unique shop that sells various dry food items like pan masala; suparis; different kinds of papad and a sweet called Til-papdi (wafer thins made of sugar and sesame seeds). The stuff is good and cheap here.
Our next stop was for lunch near Pokhran (this is the place where the BJP govt undertook the successful testing of the nuclear missile blasts in 1998). We then reached Jaisalmer and checked into Hotel Priya. However the front desk told us that we were supposed to reach the desert camp at the Sam Desert which was a change in plan than what was booked for us 2 months back. After figuring out that we would miss our desert sunset if we kept on arguing about it, we decided to hurry up and the driver breezed us through to reach the desert tent camp at Sam Desert which is just 60 km away from the Indo-Pakistan border. The sunset view in the sand dunes was a memorable sight. Here to the camel ride vendors keep on pestering you and making false promises of showing the border etc, beware of them. The evening was another memorable experience. We were treated to tea/snacks and a folk music and dance night around a big camp fire followed by hot dinner. The weather gets biting cold at the night progresses in the desert. Our tents were well equipped with a neat bed and toilet arrangements.
Day 7-
We rose to the first rays of the rising sun in the early morning. Some enthusiasts (I mean really motivated to wake up before sunrise and take a camel ride to the top of the sand dunes) had reached the place where one can take great pictures of the sunrise as it swells over the golden sand dunes. Both the kids enjoyed a hot glass of milk and we too enjoyed good masala chai in the morning cold. After breakfast we took the kids for a camel ride. Beware of the outside camel ride vendors they are very demanding and keep pestering you and making false promises of showing the Indo-Pak border which is 60 km away from this place. Go with the camp package camel ride that is sufficient to get a good view of the sand dunes. Tanvi rode with me and Atharva was with Manisha. The names of our camels were funny – one was Babloo and the other – Raja. Both kids enjoyed the ride, while getting down one gets a big push forward and then backward – the camel first bends on its front legs and then swoops back on its rear ones.
Leaving the camp, we deviated from the main road to reach a place called “Kuldhara”, this is a must visit place which many tourists, especially Indian, miss out. This was a village that was abandoned by the brahmins of Pali 300 yrs back to save their self-pride. All houses have an underground chamber that was used to store grain and hide to escape the atrocities of the weather and the ruling kings of Jaisalmer. Once covered with a floor tile, no one can make out this hidden room below. The village architecture is such that it takes you back into the times like other well preserved historic ruins. The morning sun makes the yellow sandstone glow.
We then went back to Hotel Priya in Jaisalmer, checked in and took some rest. We took lunch at an authentic style restaurant “Apni Dhani”. In the late afternoon we visited the Patwaoon Ki Haveli – another beautiful 5-storey architectural residence built by a rich and prosperous merchant family. The rooms are well decorated and speak of the lavish lifestyle and abundance of all material pleasures and luxury that was enjoyed by this merchant family. Their trade empire was significant in the north western part of India in those times. If you have to do shopping, there is one vendor sitting right below the Haveli who sells printed T-Shirts at reasonable prices here. We discovered after lot of bargain hunting that he was the most reasonable. This was the last day of the year 2008 and we all took it easy at the hotel. 2008 will go down in history as an year which shook the entire world economy which saw the debacles of many financial powerhouses. I wish Alan Greenspan and all these MBAs from Harvard and Wharton had a little more vision, but alas, hindsight is always 20-20 ! Lets hope the new year ushers in a better world to all us to live and enjoy with peace, health and harmony.
Day 8-
We checked out of the hotel early morning and headed straight to the Jaisalmer Fort. We were lucky to have found this great option to see the Jaisalmer Fort. We took an autorickshaw from the entrance and it took us all over the narrow lanes of Jaisalmer Fort, this helped us cover and see the entire fort in about 1+ hr and was not taxing for my parents to climb the steep grade stone roads. The fort and its narrow lanes speak of the tremendous commercialization that has been embraced by the residents of the Fort. The Fort has over 5000 residents and the fort is said to be sinking down with any seismic activity in the region. All residents here are not wiling to move out of the fort to prevent its degradation even thought the Govt tried thrice to evict them. The posts (in Marathi we call Buruj) that are constructed on the Fort helped the King of Jaisalmer fend off the seige by Allauddin Khilji of the Moghul Empire for 9 long years. One can see the big size rounded stone balls that were used to kill the enemy climbing from the mountain sides. Though simple this tactic was very productive. There are many Jain temples inside and the marble carvings are intricate. After this we started our journey to Jodhpur. On the way we stopped for lunch again at the Government Tourist Bungalow restaurant. Not only is the food delicious it is reasonably priced as well. Avoid going to the standard Dhaba on this Pokhran highway where exorbitant rates are charged and the drivers earn a commission too. We also visited the Army Museum at Pokhran called as Shakti-Sthal. The museum provides lot of detailed information and also houses a “charkha” spinning wheel used by Mahatma Gandhi and some historic pre-independence as well as the Indo-Pak war pictures. Most important of all is the monument depicting the nuclear weapon history of India's defence sector. The first tests were conducted in Indira Gandhi's reign here in 1974 and then came the 11th and 13th May, 1998 blasts by BJP Govt. At that time about 22 tons of onions were used to absorb the underground nuclear test blast heat which led to an artificial scarcity of onions in the country thereby jacking up the prices for a short term. Quite interesting !! All the roads in Rajasthan are excellent and we cruised to Jodhpur in about 6+ hrs. Along the way we stopped to enjoy flocks of peacock, pheasants and deer that were grazing in the fields lining the highway. Atharva/Tanvi enjoyed milk and we had some good tea on the roadside “thelas” along the way. We tasted the authentic Mawa Kachori at a famous shop called Janata Sweets on the bustling Nai Sarak Road at Jodhpur. The Clock tower is well lit up in the evenings.
Day 9-
We visited the Umaid Bhavan in the morning. About 80% of the palace is leased out to Taj as a luxury resort, 10% is occupied by the current maharaja Gaj Singh II and the rest is for the public at a Palace Museum. The lavish style of the Raja Udai Singh and his successcors is worth watching in the various photographs, tableware, cutlery, antique clocks and paintings. After this we started our journey to Udaipur. On the way we stopped to see the magnificent and huge (I mean really big) Ranakpur Jain Temples. The property houses a lot many Jain temples collectively called the Ranakpur Jain Temple. There are a lot of monkeys on the hilly terrain leading to this place and onward to Udaipur. There is one more place in the vicinity which we did not visit where the historic battle was fought by Maharana Pratap Singh. We reached Udaipur in the evening. Our hotel (Baba Palace) was situated right in the heart of the city and was right opposite the Jaswant Temple. After checking in and refreshing up, we visited the Temple and then treated ourselves to the various delicacies on the street shops and vendors of the marketplace (Aloo Tikki; Udaipuri farsan and hot gajar halwa, malai doodh).
Day 10-
We spent about 3.5 hrs watching the Udaipur City Palace, this was a bit taxing for the patience of the kids and for the parents. There are zillions of paintings depicting the rich Mewar culture, festivals, fights, animal hunts and one gets overwhelmed after a while, especially this being the last day of the 10-day trip. The peacock balcony in particular was very articulate. The views of the city were splendid too. The most famous Mewar king -Maharana Pratap Singh rode a valiant horse called Chetak. The peculiar thing here is that Chetak's face was covered with an artificial mask of elephant head during the wars which helped the King defeat the enemy warriors atop real elephants. After lunch we went to relax at a garden called “Saheliyon ki Badi” which has a lot of landscaped gardens and fountains. Water fountains are a favorite for all kids and Tanvi was specially jubiliant in playing with them. The water that is supplied to this garden using a gravitational method from the FatehSagar lake , was planned in the medieval times and speaks about the architectural proficiency and planning during those times.
After seeing the sunset at the FatehSagar lake, we visited one of our Rajasthani Jain family friends who shifted back to Udaipur from Pune a few years back. The home made dinner at his house was the icing on the cake to our 10day stint at Rajasthan. We boarded the Udaipur SuperFast train at 9:30 pm and reached Bandra on the 4th at around 3pm. After reaching home by cab, we felt a sigh of happiness and satisfaction. 10 days with 2 kids and parents, covering 3000 km by train and about 1800 km by road was indeed a life long experience to engrave in our memories.