Travrl to India, Rajasthan, Pushkar.

When we first arrived in India, we had hopes of going to the beach in the South, the holy Ganges in the East, the desert in the West, and the mountains in the North, but once we got used to the country, we realized we’d have to cut back in order to have more time to enjoy the places we were in. So, we cut out the beach and the mountains. That gave us a couple days of leeway, and a few different people recommended for us to visit Pushkar, a holy town in the desert in Rajasthan that’s famous among Western travelers as a shopping paradise. Although it wasn’t on the railway, it wasn’t too far out of our way to go there, so we went for it.

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Travel to India, Rajasthan, Udaipur.

Udaipur..An Oasis in the Desert..Venice of the East..A city of romance..a city, where many celebrities across the continents want to spend few days with their better-halves, some came here for marriage, some for movie shoots, but more or less, this city mesmerized everyone. And from the beginning of its foundation, Udaipur remains a center of attraction for Rajasthan. During the dynasty of Mighty Mughals in India, Mewar Dynasty of Udaipur wrote the history of Rajputana with its gallantry, valor and sacrifice, which is still remembered across India.

Today, this city is one of the important place to visit in India, where everybody loves to set his foot. Many places are scattered across Udaipur, where you can find a glimpse of its glorious past and incredible present, but there are some places which should not be missed at any cost, whenever you are in Udaipur. So Lets find them out.. Read on.

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Travel to India, Rajasthan, Udaipur.

A day which has earned an entry all of its own. We began the day with what shall forever more be remembered as the ‘sweat death breakfast’ on the rooftop of our guesthouse. Turns out when there is no breeze it is rather warm in Udaipur, even at 8am. If only someone had warned us it might be hot. Oh wait…After ten minutes of alternating between using the menu as fan, hat and elbow mat to prevent frying our elbows on the molten metal table we surrendered to the shade to finish our sweat droplets with muesli fruit curd-the incredibly appetising Indian term for yoghurt. We have managed to, with a combination of extensive gesturing, saying the same sentence repeatedly in increasingly louder and with varying inflections and haphazard missing out of selected words (as has become my general way of communicating), persuaded the guesthouse to allow us to set up a tab saying as we are staying here for a month. This involves signing all of our orders so they can add them up at the end of each week. So far, so normal. Until we were thrust an empty sheet and simply asked to sign the bottom. We pointed out, using the communication strategy previously described, that is not particularly common practice to sign a blank cheque for an undetermined amount. About ten minutes of stalemate later we won the battle and our actual bill was produced.

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Travel to India, Rajasthan, Pushkar.

We were all up early and in the foyer of the hotel at 5.00am, ready for the train trip to Pushkar. The railway station, when we got there, was more like a refugee centre, crowded even at this early hour. People seem to set up camp - out come the floor mats and everyone lies down to sleep while they wait for their train. Food stalls were busy and there was a pack of dogs roaming the platform. I kept well out of their way.

We found our carriage, definately 3rd class, and looked for our seats. They were padded bench seats with upright backs with a small padded area for back comfort. Each one sat three, but two would have been more comfortable. Luggage was put overhead, we all squashed in, pushed up the metal window screen for ventilation and wondered just how long this journey was going to take.

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Travel to India, Rajasthan, Udaipur.

Harry was waiting for us at nine and we left our lovely retreat, probably the loveliest place we have stayed for a long time. The journey started off across the flat plains of Rajastan but soon we were in to the countryside. There is much evidence of farming and people are using old methods, carrying water on their heads and wheat they have cut. There are haystacks as they prepare for the dry season. Cows meander across the road and we have to slow down to avoid them. Lots of men congregate hoping to get some work for the day and the markets are starting to get busy. The mountains appear either side of the road and we begin to ascend. The land becomes drier and more desert like when we stop for a drink. It is very hot and to only 11 am. We carry on and notice that the surroundings seem litter free, we pass through a small town and they have pavements! and no rubble, wait now it comes and women are digging out a channel for the rain when it comes.We stop at Ranakpur to visit one of the largest and most important of
1444 pillars all differentJain Temple complexes in India. Built in 1439 it has 1444 pillars all different and each telling a verse of the holy book of the Jain religion. Before entering he temple we must be dressed correctly, no shoes or socks, long skirt, or trousers, no leather of any kind as the Jain believe that killing is wrong and will not even eat an egg, luckily plants remain in the diet they obviously didn't understand that plants are living organisms.

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