Of course the Rajasthan is not India but it’s a start.
We arrived in Delhi and visited the usual places, the tomb of Humayun, Qutab Minar (a beautiful sculpted tower), the president’s palace where they were changing the guard (looking just like English guards). Then off to Mandawa where we arrived after a nightmarish drive of 9 hours. Our chauffeur didn’t speak English or French but we gathered he was lost and we went for miles in the dark, on unbelievable roads(the potholes were so deep that it took us 30min to go 5km) All this honking all the while with the beams on highest blinding the people coming the other way! But then we arrived in a palace..all lit up..a fantastic room and were somewhat pacified! I must admit that the other days were fine road wise and that we had a good chauffeur.
Here we visited havelis, wonderful painted houses in several villages and got a feel for rural areas, peaceful little towns, no crowds, lovely weather (around 25°C and sunny) lots of cows, elegant women in colorful saris, garbage on the street but no obvious poverty. Even the women working on the street wear saris.
Our next hotel was even better in Khimsar.
The palaces of maharajas are really incredibly beautiful and refined. What a good thing that a lot of them are hotels and being restored.
Next we left for Jaisalmer, a desert town with another impressive fort, not very far from Pakistan. We heard a lot of planes and saw a lot of army convoys. The special
ty in Jaisalmer is havelis covered in the finest sculptured stone, chiseled like lace, breathtaking! We went out to dunes, at Sam, where it’s a daily excursion on camel back for all the tourists to see the sunset.(just call me “Laurence”)It was fun to see all the people out there, mostly Indian.
Then on to Jodhpur (no I didn’t wear any!)Another fabulous fort, at last a “bazaar” Our “local guides” didn’t like to take us to bazaars much, only the big shops where we were always tempted! How many times did we say, ”no buys this time” and of course we did. The craftsmanship is wonderful. The patchworks, the embroidery, the pachminas, the silk, the jewelry etc. The best I’ve seen since Mexico, but finer. Every region has its specialty.
A very pleasant stop in a small town called Rohet, a charming family run hotel. On to visit Jain temples with again amazing fine chiseled sculptures. What refinement! On to Udaipur home of the “Lake Palace», a luxury hotel on an island on the lake only visible by boat. Udaipur would be a nice place to stay for a while. The hotel had a rooftop restaurant, very romantic with view on the lake all lit up. Visit of maharajas palaces in the town, always extraordinary!(I’m running out of superlatives)
On the way to Jaipur we went by Pushkar, known for it’s temples to Brahma (unusual apparently) and it’s “ghat” (cremation area on a lake) overrun by monkeys and pig
eons and fake priests. Very touristy and hippyisty.The main temple was closed for a wedding.
Dad was stationed in Jaipur before the war (circa 1937) and knew the maharaja at that time (he called him Jai). The officers were invited by him for meals. I don’t know where the British army was stationed but there is another fabulous fort! But most interesting is “Jantar Mantar” an astronomical observatory built by a maharaja scientist in the 18th century, quite surreal! There is a lot to see in Jaipur!
Finally on to Agra, the Red Fort, the palace and of course the TAJ MAHAL. We were very impressed by the beauty of this monument. You see so many photos etc. that it seems a cliché, maybe it is, but it’s one of the most beautiful things we’ve seen! Bac
k to Delhi where it had rained and the streets were all mucky and a flight at 1h45A.M.
We loved the whole trip which I have only given a partial account of, even the amazing traffic. For instance on the way to Delhi you have a real autoroute, two lanes each way and a partition in the middle. BUT you may meet a camel and cart, or a donkey, or a horse, or cows, or a herd of buffaloes, or people crossing over, or coming the other way towards you, not to mention thousands of overloaded trucks belching black smoke, tuctucs carrying 20 people (no exaggeration), bicycles with huge loads and no one uses the slow lane and everyone honks all the time. It’s fascinating! Imagine what it’s like on a road with just a strip of concrete wide enough for one car and huge potholes on each side…we did it and survived (as I said we had a seasoned chauffeur).
What impressed me too is the elegance of the Indian women in their saris or tunics and pants, mostly all slim (unlike the European tourists) and the wonderful colors! Also the refinement of the architecture, decoration and arts of the forts and palaces. I hope we will go back!
We arrived in Delhi and visited the usual places, the tomb of Humayun, Qutab Minar (a beautiful sculpted tower), the president’s palace where they were changing the guard (looking just like English guards). Then off to Mandawa where we arrived after a nightmarish drive of 9 hours. Our chauffeur didn’t speak English or French but we gathered he was lost and we went for miles in the dark, on unbelievable roads(the potholes were so deep that it took us 30min to go 5km) All this honking all the while with the beams on highest blinding the people coming the other way! But then we arrived in a palace..all lit up..a fantastic room and were somewhat pacified! I must admit that the other days were fine road wise and that we had a good chauffeur.
Here we visited havelis, wonderful painted houses in several villages and got a feel for rural areas, peaceful little towns, no crowds, lovely weather (around 25°C and sunny) lots of cows, elegant women in colorful saris, garbage on the street but no obvious poverty. Even the women working on the street wear saris.
Our next hotel was even better in Khimsar.
The palaces of maharajas are really incredibly beautiful and refined. What a good thing that a lot of them are hotels and being restored.
Next we left for Jaisalmer, a desert town with another impressive fort, not very far from Pakistan. We heard a lot of planes and saw a lot of army convoys. The special
ty in Jaisalmer is havelis covered in the finest sculptured stone, chiseled like lace, breathtaking! We went out to dunes, at Sam, where it’s a daily excursion on camel back for all the tourists to see the sunset.(just call me “Laurence”)It was fun to see all the people out there, mostly Indian.Then on to Jodhpur (no I didn’t wear any!)Another fabulous fort, at last a “bazaar” Our “local guides” didn’t like to take us to bazaars much, only the big shops where we were always tempted! How many times did we say, ”no buys this time” and of course we did. The craftsmanship is wonderful. The patchworks, the embroidery, the pachminas, the silk, the jewelry etc. The best I’ve seen since Mexico, but finer. Every region has its specialty.
A very pleasant stop in a small town called Rohet, a charming family run hotel. On to visit Jain temples with again amazing fine chiseled sculptures. What refinement! On to Udaipur home of the “Lake Palace», a luxury hotel on an island on the lake only visible by boat. Udaipur would be a nice place to stay for a while. The hotel had a rooftop restaurant, very romantic with view on the lake all lit up. Visit of maharajas palaces in the town, always extraordinary!(I’m running out of superlatives)
On the way to Jaipur we went by Pushkar, known for it’s temples to Brahma (unusual apparently) and it’s “ghat” (cremation area on a lake) overrun by monkeys and pig
eons and fake priests. Very touristy and hippyisty.The main temple was closed for a wedding.Dad was stationed in Jaipur before the war (circa 1937) and knew the maharaja at that time (he called him Jai). The officers were invited by him for meals. I don’t know where the British army was stationed but there is another fabulous fort! But most interesting is “Jantar Mantar” an astronomical observatory built by a maharaja scientist in the 18th century, quite surreal! There is a lot to see in Jaipur!
Finally on to Agra, the Red Fort, the palace and of course the TAJ MAHAL. We were very impressed by the beauty of this monument. You see so many photos etc. that it seems a cliché, maybe it is, but it’s one of the most beautiful things we’ve seen! Bac
k to Delhi where it had rained and the streets were all mucky and a flight at 1h45A.M.We loved the whole trip which I have only given a partial account of, even the amazing traffic. For instance on the way to Delhi you have a real autoroute, two lanes each way and a partition in the middle. BUT you may meet a camel and cart, or a donkey, or a horse, or cows, or a herd of buffaloes, or people crossing over, or coming the other way towards you, not to mention thousands of overloaded trucks belching black smoke, tuctucs carrying 20 people (no exaggeration), bicycles with huge loads and no one uses the slow lane and everyone honks all the time. It’s fascinating! Imagine what it’s like on a road with just a strip of concrete wide enough for one car and huge potholes on each side…we did it and survived (as I said we had a seasoned chauffeur).
What impressed me too is the elegance of the Indian women in their saris or tunics and pants, mostly all slim (unlike the European tourists) and the wonderful colors! Also the refinement of the architecture, decoration and arts of the forts and palaces. I hope we will go back!
