Rajasthan: Back on the Beaten Path

If Africa, or at least large parts of it, were off the beaten path, then Rajasthan is very much on it. Rajasthan is a province in India. Its claim to fame is that it is home to the kingdoms of the maharajahs. These kingdoms have a rich history and culture that stretch back hundreds of years, and the countryside is littered with their old fortresses, palaces, havelis (fancy homes) walled cities and temples. Add to that a good transportation network, inexpensive lodging and food, colourful markets and town centres, and you have the perfect ingredients for a major tourist destination. It sounds great, but as with most tourist destinations, it can be pretty awful. Whatever culture or beauty may have existed has, for the most part, has been chased away by convoys of tour buses, to be replaced by shysters selling inferior copies of whatever people came for in the first place.Combined with the general filth of the cities (the air was so bad, some days it was difficult to breathe), beggars, congested traffic, and incredibly aggressive touts, you end up with a bad impression to say the least. Also, due to time constraints, Colleen and I hired a driver for our 12 day tour. Before you go thinking we’ve become aristocrats, it was actually not that much more expensive than taking trains and buses, and it was really the only way we could see all we wanted to see given the time constraints we were working with, and given that it is the holiday season here (Diwali), booking hotels and transportation as we went would have been a real challenge anyway. However, this is not the way we like to travel, we prefer to be in charge and not really plan that far ahead, and I can't say we really enjoyed it that much.

However, it is the weak mind that dwells on the negative, so here are some of our good (sometimes great) experiences in Rajasthan, and why our overall experience was positive.

Sheer volume: Having a driver allowed us to see many places we would never have got to without one. Our route was Delhi, Mandawa, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Ranakpur, Bundi, Fatepur Sikri, Jaipur, Amer, Agra, Vrindavan and back to Delhi. Not bad for 12 days, exhausting though.

Driving: Driving in India is a real adventure. The scenery is impressive, and the roads are generally pretty good, it what’s on the roads though that really gets your attention. On any given day, Bittoo, our driver and new Sikh friend from Delhi, would have to weave his way through cars, tractors, people, camels, buses, elephants, trucks, donkey carts, cows (lots of cows), motorcycles and monkeys. While technically you’re supposed to drive on the left here, Bittoo chose the middle of the road in order to be best situated to avoid traffic coming at us from either side. We alternated between amused and terrified. My favourite was the guess how many people on the motorcycle game – 5 was the record, unless the babies count for less than 1.

Camel ride

Camel ride: It was definitely a tourist trap, and when we first pulled up, I got that, “well this sucks, no way I'm going to have fun here" attitude. Then I got on the camel, it stood up, and I turned into a giddy ten year old. Sure the ride was only an hour or so, but we were in the desert, on a camel. You have no idea how tall a camel is until you see the ground from ones back.

The Thar Desert: The Thar desert is in the Northwest of India, on the border with Pakistan. The part of it we saw was really beautiful, dry savanna with huge sand dunes rolling away into the distance. We even saw a few wild antelope. We spent a night under the stars sleeping in the desert too. That was pretty incredible. There were more stars than I've seen in a while, and as if ordered up just for us, there was a thunder storm in the distance, with lightning strikes lighting up the night sky from time to time. The best part though had to be the moonrise. Watching a giant moon rising over the sand dunes, basking everything in a weird brownish burgundy colour was unlike anything I've ever seen before.

Making a Connection: Making any kind of local connection in Rajasthan was not easy. We didn’t spend a lot of time in any one place, and most of the places we stayed were overrun by other tourists, and the industry set up to cater to them. However, we, or rather Colleen, did have a pretty special moment in Jodhpur. We were walking through the main gate of the Palace, and there were a group of musicians playing local music for tips. A group of schoolchildren on a class trip was listening to the musicians, and broke into a sort of group folk dance, a sort of Indian macarena. A few of them saw Colleen and dragged her into the dance. I was thankfully spared, but it was fun watching Colleen awkwardly trying to match steps with a bunch of 14 year old Indian girls. Afterwards, the teachers asked us a bunch of questions for the class, and everyone took pictures with us. We found out from the teachers afterwards that the children were from the countryside, and most had never seen a foreigner before.

Udaipur sunset

Udaipur sunset: Udaipur is adjacent to lake Pichola, and the orange sun setting behind the hills in the distance, shimmering over the lake and casting a glow to the lake palace (you might recognize the lake palace from the James Bond movie Octopussy) as the city lights come one is really stunning. On a trip full of amazing sunset, this was the best. The picture I included gives you an idea, but really doesn’t do it justice. 

Rooftop restaurants: One thing India definitely does right is the roof top restaurant. Almost every hotel or restaurant has seating on the roof. You may have to walk through the kitchen, closet, bathroom  and someone’s bedroom to get there, but once you do, you are treated to amazing views of the city, the desert, or the local fort or palace. It can be especially nice at sunset. 

Meeting other travellers: Africa was so far off the beaten path that we would often go days without meeting other travellers, but here, we meet them daily. Really nice people too, from all over, each with their own story. We have spent some really nice evenings having dinner with other people, just chatting the night away.

Our old friends...

Monkeys: We had gone about two or three weeks without seeing a monkey. No one should have to go that long without seeing a monkey. They are sacred here, so similar to the cow, they cannot be harmed, and have the run of the cities. In some places you would be just standing there and a monkey would scoot right past you. They are real cheeky though, and it wasn’t uncommon to see someone chasing a monkey who had just stole their lunch.

Diwali: Diwali is the festival of lights, and it is the day when the Hindi God Lakshmi brings wealth to a household or business. Homes and businesses are lit up with candles and electric lights so that Lakshmi will not lose her way. Fireworks are also set off. I'm not quite sure what purpose they serve, but there sure were a lot of them, an were they ever loud. 

Local customs: Did you know it is illegal to kill a cow in India? The penalty is 100,000 rupees (about 2,000 USD) and up 3 years in jail. After almost having been hit by several cars trying to avoid cows in some of the cities we visited, I couldn't help but wonder what the fine for killing a tourist was - must be less than for a cow.

The Taj Mahal: I'm sure you've all seen the pictures, but it is even better in person. This would have to go on the over-hyped, but still very much worth it list.

Motorcycle Shrine

Motorcycle Shrine: As the story goes, a local pious and charitable man crashed his motorcycle on a stretch of highway and died. The police impounded the motorcycle, but the next day it miraculously reappeared at the crash site. This miracle was repeated when the police tried to impound the motorcycle again. That was all it took to convince the local people that the man’s spirit had entered into, and now lived in the motorcycle, so they set up a shrine on the side of the highway around it. This was not some event in ancient history, the crash occurred less than five years ago. Nor is it a stale inactive place, trucks and cars were parked all around the shrine, and people (including our diver) were praying and leaving gifts.

Vrindavan: Is a holy city in the Hindu religion. It is in the region where Lord Krishna spent his childhood, and there are many temples to Krishna. More interesting to me though, it is also home to the Hare Krishnas. Yes those Hare Krishnas, the ones you used to see in the airports with shaved heads and pony tails, dressed in robes asking for donations. I don't know a lot about the sect, nor why so many westerners are drawn to it, but it was a little surreal walking through the streets of an Indian town and bumping into worn out American hippies in robes on their way to a Temple. Our driver treated them as an attraction. He would nudge me and point one out whenever he saw one, almost like spotting some rare animal at a zoo.

The ramparts at Bundi Fort

Jodhpur Fort and Palace: Jodhpur's fort and palace were the best preserved and restored of all of the sights in Rajasthan. You could really get a sense of the history of the great maharajahs here and take yourself back in time to tiger hunts, elephant fights, great battles, palace intrigue and general medieval shenanigans.

Jain Temple at Ranakpur: 1444 carved marble columns, no two alike, supporting marble domes, alcoves, colonnades and statues, all in a beautiful natural setting. Maybe one of the most beautiful religious buildings I have ever seen. The sense of spirituality was somewhat diluted by the monk that asked for a tip after blessing me though.

Big juice: Alcohol is not a part of Indian culture. I'm not sure if it's illegal, but no one will sell you a beer. Instead, you order, and are charged for a "big juice", then, miraculously, a beer appears.

So that's our Rajasthan experience in a nutshell. We are in Amritsar now waiting to take the train to Varanasi (leaves in 3 hours). More on Amritsar in the next post. It is an amazing place, by far our favourite in India so far.


Michael
The Grand Hotel,
Amritsar, Punjab
India