Life Motto

Monday 30 October 2017

Eshansthan: My 9 days of Rajasthan

Areas covered: Udaipur, Jodhpur, Thar Desert, Jaisalmer, Jaipur

Duration: 14th - 22nd October, 2017

Snapshot of the trip:

Total cost incurred: This being a solo trip and the cash outflow being too frequent, it was just impossible for me to keep a tab on my expenses. But I would say that the entire trip costed me around Rs. 40,000 (inclusive of a major f*ck up that I shall talk about subsequently)

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Once a rainbow moon you receive a message on Whatsapp which 'makes your day' to such an extent that you just can't stop smiling. One fine day in late August I received a very interesting message on Siemens' Management Trainees group which excited the wanderer (yeah yeah, very much cliched but whatever) within me.........




The message was nothing but the holiday calendar for the year. No big deal, right? That's exactly what I thought until I saw a 9 day holiday period during Diwali. It felt as I am back in school again. Anyway, I started contemplating about the list of places that I can visit solo because I was pretty sure it would be difficult to find a 9 day travel partner in my friend circle. The three places that I shortlisted were Kerala, Spiti Valley, and Rajasthan. I ruled out Kerala because I didn't want to go there alone; Spiti was a no-no since my previous trip was to the mountains and hence, Rajasthan was the only option left (Khamma Ghani!!). Also, in this trip, I wanted to stay in hostels and meet other interesting people. So Zostel was my first preference but I couldn't find any vacancy in any of the locations for the dates that I was looking for. Damn! Anyway, after 3 weeks of making a list of places to see, things to do, food to eat, route optimizations and other 'planning' stuff, I was ready with my bags packed and enthu at its peak. With so much of detailed planning and self made itinerary, what could have gone wrong?

Hey there Murphy!:

I have been using Wright Brothers' creation since I was a kid and I have never missed a single flight in my entire life. But there is a first time for everything right, and if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. So yours truly missed his 5 AM flight to Udaipur as he reached the airport 15 minutes late. I had to reschedule my flight for the same day because I wasn't going to allow 15 minutes affect my 'highly' planned trip. This aberration costed me around 8000 rupees and 12 hours of a dreadful never ending wait. Not really to be honest, as I decided to watch this movie called 6 Below during this 12 hour wait. There are certain decisions that you take in life which are stupid and then there are decisions that make you feel like killing yourself. Watching 6 Below belonged to the latter category. It was a bout a solo traveler who got stuck in the icy mountains and was rescued only because he dropped a text to his mom before leaving for the mountains. Bloody hell! Anyway, in my second attempt I did manage to catch the flight (by reaching 2 hours earlier to the airport) and landed in Udaipur. Journey began...

Day 1 & 2 - Udaipur:

As soon as I landed in Udaipur, I tried to rush out as fast as I could to grab my Ola and reach the City Palace on time to catch the evening light show at city palace. But my driver informed me that it is nigh possible to reach on time. So the only option for me was to just Let It Be - breathe the Rajasthan air and just settle in. After 45 minutes of constantly bugging my Ola driver to recommend places to see in Udaipur, I reached my hostel - Bunkyard which is absolutely GORGEOUS!










By this time, I had started feeling the hunger pangs so I decided to check out Ambrai Ghat which offers an absolutely beautiful view from one of the restaurants over there. As I was trying to navigate my way through, I heard a faint, "Hey! Are you staying in Bunkyard too?'. 'Yes, I am. I assume you too are', I replied. After a brief introduction, she and I decided to check out a restaurant called Millets of Mewar which offers a wide variety of healthy food items. Over the course of dinner, I came to know that she is a business journalist who analyses stocks and presents the esoteric mumbo jumbo on a business news channel (yeah, I dined with a celebrity it seems :P ). She and I decided to check out the City of Lakes aka Udaipur the next day:

Jagdish Temple: 

At a walking distance from Bunkyard is Jagdish temple which was constructed in 1651 by Maharana Jagat Singh at a cost of Rs. 15 lakhs (in 1651. Holy shit!). The temple houses the deity of Lord Jagannath. Strangely, the idol has hands because I clearly remember seeing a hand-less idol in Puri, Orissa.



Gangaur Ghat

We wanted to grab some breakfast at a restaurant called Jheel's which overlooks Lake Pichola but before that we paid a visit to the ghat near the lake. This place is offers picturesque views and is a really good spot for clicking photographs





Saheliyon ki Bari

I wanted to have a look at the much talked about Saheliyon ki Bari but the very mention of it made my fellow Bunkyarder laugh, and after much persuasion, she gave in. This garden was designed and presented by the king to his queen and her 48 maids that came with her as a part of her dowry. Ummm, we hardly spent 10 minutes here and took a quick stroll through the garden.




Fatehsagar Lake

The next place on my list was the beautiful Fatehsagar lake, an artificial lake named after Maharana Fateh Singh of Udaipur. This lake which was made in 1680s has 3 islands, one of which has the Udaipur Solar Observatory (which is closed on weekends). Interestingly, Wikipedia says that this lake provides employment to 60% population of Udaipur. 



Sajjan Garh Palace

Once we were done with the lake, we took an e-rickshaw (worst decision ever) to Sajjan Garh Palace aka Monsoon Palace which is a hilltop palatial residence. It was built by Maharana Sajjan Singh of the Mewar dynasty in 1884. It offers an expansive view of the entire city of Udaipur, Aravalli hills, lakes, etc. Wikipedia sayeth - "The palace was used in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy as the residence of Kamal Khan, an exiled Afghan prince."





By this time, both of us were pretty tired, which reminds me - Please make sure you have 1-2 litres of water with you at all times. The air of Rjasthan is extremely dry and your water consumption might get 1.5-2x.
Since she had already seen City Palace, she decided to head back to Bunkyard whereas I moved towards the City Palace. Thankfully, this time we took a normal rickshaw.

City Palace:

It's a gigantic palace complex whose 1st stone was laid way back in 1553, and then it was constantly upgraded for the next 500 years by the several Maharanas who followed Mahrana Udai Singh II who began the construction of the gargantuan structure. At this point, allow me to tell you this - Make sure you have a good amount of cash with you while travelling through Rajasthan because all these palaces and forts require entry passes which can cost anything from Rs. 30 - Rs. 300. And thou shalt pay extra for thy DSLR (ugghhh!). 









After spending close to 2 hours in the city palace, I wanted to just crash at the hostel, and crash I did. At this point of the blog, allow me to show you the street view of Udaipur.










Bagore ki Haveli:

'No no. You can't enter. It's too late now'. This is what the security guard of this 18th century haveli told me when I tried to enter 5 minutes after 5 PM post which no entry tickets are sold. And there was no way that I was going to back down from this. Hell, I had traveled a 1000 kms to be here and mere 5 minutes couldn't have stopped me, so I begged on and on and finally got an entry (Nope, no bribes). Spooky, to be honest. I was the only one in the haveli and to make my was through umpteen rooms (there are 100 rooms in this haveli) and staircases was definitely an eerie experience. 


A room full of puppets


This turban is probably the biggest in the world. Stats being - 151 feet long, 11 feet circumference, 30 kg weight, 30 inches in height, and 7 inches in thickness.

At 7 PM every evening a cultural show is organised in the haveli in which various folk dances of Rajasthan are shown and talked about. Icing on the cake is the puppet show :D




It was humbling to see a 72 year old woman perform such an enchanting dance and the balance she displayed was mind blowing. Most of us can't even think of achieving such a feat. RESPECT. Please make sure to attend this cultural event when you are in Udaipur.


Once the event ended, I and the fellow Bunkyarder headed to Harigarh restaurant. We had gone to the same place for lunch and were so impressed by the view from this place that we absolutely had to go there for dinner as well. The view was absolutely gorgeous during the night, so gorgeous that I decided to not capture anything and for a change, I decided to be 'In The Moment'. Over several cups of wine, we exchanged our stories and made fun of each other's travelling styles, all in jest, of course. I think no two travelers are same and no travelers see a particular place/thing the same way. We reach a particular place after making our way through a myriad of twists and turns and ups and downs in  our journeys. And I knew that our journey together was about to end, for we shall never be meeting again. 

Day 3 - Jodhpur (part 1)

The problem with staying in hostels is that you have to be as quiet as possible when others are asleep. So I quietly tiptoed out of my room (the name of the room that I was staying in Bunkyard was called Bollywwood. LOL!), caught a rickshaw and then an early morning bus to Jodhpur aka the Blue City. The hostel that I was staying in Jodhpur goes by the name of Bedpool and boy, is it artsy!









I wanted to venture out in the city as soon as I had dropped my luggage in my room. The owner of Bedpool informed that prior reservations are required to zip-line at Mehrangarh fort. None of the blogs had mentioned this thing because of which it became a bit difficult to get an appointment. However, with some cajoling I did manage to find a slot with Flying Fox (make sure you reserve a slot online to save a few hundred bucks). But 1st stop was going to be a cenotaph.

Jaswant Thada:

I caught an autorickshaw (which had 2 huge bags full of wheat flour owing to which I had to somehow squeeze myself in) to the mausolem which is quite close to the Mehrangarh Fort. Jaswant Thada is a cenotaph built by Maharaja Sardar Singh in 1899 in memory of his father. The structure is just too beautiful to describe and the serenity of the place is something which I find difficult to pen down. And to make things sound even more tranquil, I found an amazing musician at the entrance of this building.





I have encountered so many squirrels in Rajasthan that now I am able to recognize the kind of sounds that they make



I saw a rope running across the main hall of the mausoleum which had hundreds of beautiful bracelets tied to it. The security guard informed me that people tie their bracelets across this rope for good luck. Let's go back in to the past for a bit, shall we? Sometime around in February, a dear friend of mine had given me a bracelet which I used to sport all the time...ummm until I came across this rope. I had only one bracelet on me at that time and I just couldn't resist fastening my bracelet to this rope. Who doesn't need good luck, right? (Ok Devu, please don't hate/kill me, please please please! It was for good luck, okay? )


Mehrangarh Fort:

A 10 minute walk from Jaswant Thada will take you to this fort which is one of the largest in the world and was built by Rao Jodha in 1460. This place is so huge that it will take you atleast 2 hours to have a good look at everything that the fort and the museum has to showcase. 










As you go further down the fort, you will come across the office of Flying Fox. For a cost of Rs. 1900 you get to do an adrenaline pumping activity of zip-lining. The amazing view of Mehrangarh fort while doing this is just an added bonus.



Remember the autorickshaw with the wheat flour? Well, the driver had told me about this small path which leads straight down from the fort (situated on a hill) to the city. So, that's exactly the path I took and it offers a great view of the city. The path leads to the clock tower and the Jodhpur market which is an extremely hustling and a bustling place, and this is coming from a Mumbaikar.




After all the climbing and walking, I was just too tired and decided to take rest for a while at the hostel. For dinner, I decided to visit a restaurant called Skyyz which offers an extremely beautiful view of the Umaid Bhavan Palace. The interesting thing is that Jodhpur allowed me to try Ola Bikes for the first time in my life and they are damn convenient.

1st Ola Bike ride

With this, I had completed my 1st stopover at Jodhpur. There were still a few places that had to be checked out and I was going to visit this city soon...after spending a night in the desert ;) .

Day 4 - Thar Desert

Jodhpur is a funny place. You won't be woken up by the usual crowing of the rooster in the morning but by the braying of donkeys. I made my way through a huge bunch of them and reached the bus stop to catch and inter city bus to Jaisalmer. In the bus I met Xin, a Korean guy studying sociology in Pune. One seat ahead of Xin, a dude was trying to pull off a really creative jugaad. I shall let the image do the talking.

En route Jaisalmer, I noticed these patches of land with white sand which reminded of the Great Rann of Kutch.



Somewhere halfway through the journey, we reached Pokhran, and I just couldn't resist clicking a snap. Somewhere in the vastness of this land was conducted India's first underground nuclear weapon detonation in 1974.


Once I reached Jaisalmer, I was transported by a jeep to Karni Desert Camp (refer their website to make a booking in advance) 


There were some interesting sites to see en route Karni Desert Camp.

Amar Sagar:

This is how palaceonwheels.com described this place - "Around 7 km on the western outskirts of Jaisalmer, Amar Sagar is a Lake sum Oasis, which is placed neighbouring to the Amar Sing palace, built in the 17th century. There is a garden located nearby. The site also consists of a number of wells along with Chattris, including that of Maharawal Amar Singh. There is also a Shiva temple in the vicinity, which was made in 1704 AD.  It is a beautiful marble temple that attracts visitors in good numbers." Sounds dreamy, no? Unfortunately, the Maharaja of this thing closed down the garden 2 years ago because of which this is all I could see:


Bummer :P

Kuldhara Village:

This village was established in 13th century and it was quite a prosperous place until early 19th century when it was abandoned for speculative reasons like - dwindling water supply, earthquake, and persecution by state minister Salim Singh. As usual, the abandoned village acquired the reputation of being haunted and was later turned in to a tourist spot in 2010.










Boss, going for a solo trip is one thing. Walking around in an abandoned village with no one in sight takes things to a whole another level. But it was so interesting to see such abandoned buildings, residential areas, temples, etc. What were those people like? What were their worries? What made them happy? Do they have any descendants of sort? Questions, unanswered questions make things interesting...at times. I had spent close to 20 minutes in this place and the moment I reach my jeep, I drank gallons of water. Man, this place is hottttt! And things were about to get hotter as I was about to reach the desert.




Karni Desert Camp & Thar Desert:

The good thing about this camp is that it is isolated from the main road and other desert camps. So the cultural program that is conducted at night can be watched in peace without any noise disturbance from other camps. 





I am extremely bad at getting my pics clicked. BTW I was testing self timer of my DSLR

After 2-3 hours of chilling in the desert heat (>40 degrees), I moved towards the sand dunes (of Sam Dunes) in Thar Desert for a camel ride. 

Here I met Abdul, a 26 year old farmer cum camel rider who speaks Hindi, English (with an American accent), Sindhi, Gujarati, Marwari, French, Spanish, Korean. Abdul has never been outside Sam village/Thar Desert. He hasn't even been to Jaisalmer which is 45 minutes away from Sam and yet, he speaks incredibly well and has interesting stories to tell. His camel, Michael Jackson, drinks about 20 litres of water and consumes about 20 kgs of food during the summers. His daily upkeep requires about Rs. 3000. One more thing, these camel riders earn for about 3-4 months in a year and then have to make do with this earning for the rest of the year. Anyway, I got on top of Michael Jackson, the camel) and started exploring the Thar desert. You can pay 1000 bucks extra to see more of the desert and watch the sunset from the sand dunes.

Meet the 'lively' Abdul and his camel Michael Jackson

As moved further into the desert, Abdul told me that Sam Dunes change their shape throughout the year and the pattern repeats year after year. I found it quite interesting! How can such a level of randomness be predictable in nature. I guess that's one of the amazing aspects of travelling, you know. You start feeling humble and appreciative towards the Creator for giving you this opportunity to experience the beauty of this Universe.







One interesting thing about Rajasthan is that irrespective of the city, street or area you are in, you  are BOUND to find an artist or a piece of artistry there. Without a doubt, I met 2 musicians in the desert as well.



After spending 1.5-2 hours in the dunes, it was time to head for the cultural event at the Desert Camp. As soon as you reach, you are welcomed by musicians singing the famous song from Rajasthan "Padharo Mare Des'.  


While they were setting up things, I decided to try Jugalbandi with Saddam Khan from the group.



Their performance continued for about an hour or so. After a sumptuous dinner, and when everyone had gone back to their tents, I spent some more time under the open sky. The quietude and the serenity of the night desert is something which is too difficult to pen down. The glow of the night lights and the pollution of Mumbai doesn't really allow one to gaze in to the infinity of the sky and admire the stars. But the desert is devoid of any cacophony of the honks, the endless shouts of 'pude chala' and all the mind numbing distractions and pretentiousness that the financial capital of the country has to offer. If you love peace and quietude, head to the desert. A sky full of stars is just an added bonus.

The temperature at night goes below 20 degrees (as compared to 40 of the afternoon). In such a clime, even a morning person like me refuses to get up. After a heavy breakfast and tea in the camp, I headed to Moustache hostel in Jaisalmer. En route I saw:

Peahens

Lambs

BSF Jawans

Day 5 - Jaisalmer:

The location of this hostel is splendid - close to the fort, lake, bus stop, etc. The food is great and they have a pet dog too....yayyy!




What'ya lookin at?

Jaisalmer fort from Moustache's rooftop

Jaisalmer fort:

Mr. Rawal Jaisal built this gigantic fort aka Golden fort, which is a city in itself in 1156 AD which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013. The fort has a market which sells a whole range of stuff from bed sheets to pendrives. Have a look:








A model of the entire fort


Ummm okay!



Of course, there has to be a musician


Rajasthan HAS bats. Everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!






Do check out the 7 Jain Temples inside the fort which were built during 12-16th century. These temples have more than 600 idols.














I spent close to 2.5 hours in the fort. Trust me, it's gigantic. The next on my agenda was to explore the Havelis of Jaisalmer. Remember Xin, the Korean guy whom I had met in the bus? Well, as I was heading towards Patwon ki Haveli, I bumped into him in one of the streets. Small world, eh?

With Xin in Jaisalmer

Patwon ki Haveli:

As www.jaisalmer.org.uk says, "The Patwon Ji ki Haveli is an interesting piece of Architecture and is the most important among the havelis in Jaisalmer. This is precisely because of two things, first that it was the first haveli erected in Jaisalmer and second, that it is not a single haveli but a cluster of 5 small havelis. The first among these havelis was commissioned and constructed in the year 1805 by Guman Chand Patwa and is the biggest and the most ostentatious. It is believed that Patwa was a rich man and was a renowned trader of his time. He could afford and thus ordered the construction of separate stories for each of his 5 sons. These were completed in the span of 50 years. All five houses were constructed in the first 60 years of the 19th century."








Nathmal ki Haveli:

Although there is nothing much to see here but http://www.jaisalmer.org.uk says "This Nathmal Ji ki haveli was commissioned to serve as the residence of Diwan Mohata Nathmal, the then Prime Minister of Jaisalmer. Maharawal Beri Sal commissioned the construction of this Haveli. The architects of this haveli were Hathi and Lulu who happened to be brothers. There is a very interesting story regarding its construction. It is said that the two brothers started building different facets of haveli simultaneously. In those days there were no such instruments, which could keep a track on continuity and thus when this building came up finally it had irregular shape."




And of course, another musician playing Ravanhatha whom I encountered outside this Haveli. This instrument itself has an interesting story. Read here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravanahatha


After this beautiful piece of music, I started asking directions for Salim Singh ki Haveli, and surprisingly everyone was surprised that I was interested in visiting that. Most people think it's a waste of time and to an extent they are true in a sense that it is not as grand as the other havelis but then 'jab aye ho to dekh hi lo'.

Salim Singh ki Haveli:

This is what http://www.jaisalmer.org.uk has to say about this haveli, "Salim Singh ki haveli has been built on the remains of an older haveli built in the late 17th century. The new building was built in the year 1815 and was occupied by the Mehta family of Jaisalmer. They were the most influential family of their time. This haveli was commissioned by Salim Singh, the then Prime Minister of the kingdom when Jaisalmer was the capital."





Fixing the broken pieces

From havelis, now it was time to venture into the spooky parts of Jaisalmer.

Vyas Chhatri:

This is the cenotaph of Sage Vyas, the man who had compiled Mahabharata. This is a popular sunset viewing point too. Unbeknownst to the fact that till this day Brahmins come here for cremation, I was walking around (I was the only one here) in the complex and all of a sudden I saw several piles of ashes. Ummmm....just started walking back to the exit AS FAST AS I COULD.




The security guard of this place then told me about a place which is a better version of these cenotaphs. Thankfully, it was a 'touristy' place, so I had company.

Bada Bagh:

This place not only has a plenty of cenotaphs, but has a beautiful garden as well (which I did not have the time to see)






The sun was about to set and I wanted to capture it well from Gadisar Lake. So I took a rick and headed straight to the lake.

Gadisar Lake:

Raja Rawal Jaisal built this lake which has some really picturesque chattris, temples, ghats and shrines on its ghats. After deliberating for more than 15 minutes, I found the right spot to watch the sunset. The entire stretch of the ghat was deserted except for this one guy was sitting there quite close to the place where I set up my camera for capturing the sunset. So we got to talking. Sean was from Ireland who was travelling India for a few weeks. He gave me some tips for clicking good pictures and then we just sat there, quietly, enjoying the beautiful sunset. 


I spent close to an hour here with Sean (@brokenlights on Instagram) and then headed to my hostel. While having my dinner in Moustache, one of my roommates introduced himself and we got to talking. He was a Swiss litigator in his late 40s who travels for 2 weeks once a year. He insures that he stays in hostels instead of fancy hotels so that he can mingle with the young crowd. We talked about a whole lot of things, politics, religion, work ethics, culture, greed, the best way of pooping, etc. Oh yeah, he told me that it's best to not get married and he gave me umpteen arguments to support that but after seeing a nonplussed look on my face, he thought it would be wise to change the topic. So we talked about fitness and travel and hiking. We then thought of calling it a night but then we met another roommate of ours who had just come in. A 20 something graduate from Canada who is traveling South East Asia for 7 months before he goes back to Canada to start his job. 7 freaking months!!!! Indian parents hesitate to let their kids travel solo for even 7 days....sigh!!! Before going to bed, I enlightened both of them about chai. Remember everyone (except Kuthrapalli) calling it chai-tea in The Big Bang Theory? Well, I cleared the confusion for the Swiss and the Canadian. Chai or Tea. Not chai-tea. Ughhhh!!

I took a bus for Jodhpur the next day, again :)

Day 6 - Jodhpur Again:

In my 1st visit to Jodhpur, I had stayed in Bedpool but this time I had chosen Hostel La Vie for a change. And to be honest, I was not disappointed at all. 







Umaid Bhavan Palace:

Umaid Bhavan is one of the largest private residences in the world. A part of this palace has been turned into a hotel and is maintained by Taj. The construction of this palace began in 1929 and it got finished by 1943. The palace also houses a few vintage cars.



Mandore Gardens:

The next stop on my list was Mandore Gardens. Now, to be honest, I had no expectations from this place. C'mon, what can a garden offer after all? But my my, this place is something. And if you are planning to explore this place on your own completely, may god be with you! Mandore was the earlier capital of Marwar (Jodhpur state) which later shifted to Mehrangarh fort. Mandore has several temples, a museum (which was closed when I visited on account of Diwali) and 7th century ruins of a fort (please please do check out the ruins)





Museum

Ruins




Existential crisis


Exploring the ruins can be a really tiring (and a spooky) process. After reaching exhaustion point I headed to a restaurant for the very famous dish of Rajasthan - Lal Mas. It's one hell of a hot dish (pun intended). Again, headed back to the hostel and met my roommates - a Swiss doctor and a guy from Thailand. My Diwali was spent enjoying the view of Mehrangarh fort from the rooftop of Hostel La Vie. 

The last leg of the journey was about to begin :)

Day 7/8 - Jaipur:

Next day I was supposed to take a bus to Jaipur which got cancelled and I wasn't intimated by Redbus (which has not bothered to refund the amount yet). So I had to take a rickety inter city bus which put me behind my schedule by about 3 hours. 

At the bus stop

Ok, so a really strange thing happened in the bus. A villager had purchased a ticket for an earthen pot tied around his neck (I am guessing they were the ashes of someone). With that eerie experience, I reached Jaipur after a very tiring bus ride and took a rick to my hostel - Blue Beds. Since I did not have much time to explore Jaipur (thank you Redbus), I just dumped my luggage and headed out after a quick bite at a really cool cafe called Nib's. 

Jawahar Kala Kendra:

JKK is a multi arts center built by the Rajasthani government to preserve Rajasthani arts and crafts. Try catching a performance in the amphitheater of JKK.







Tripoli, Bapu, Johri Bazar:

See, I am not a big fan of shopping or flea markets but I was told by a friend to check out these bazars since they must be very well lit for Diwali. So that's what I did. 





Albert Hall Museum:

I could not manage to visit the place but I did click some pictures of the building and it was looking damn beautiful.



Next stop - Zostel. No, I didn't change my mind of shifting from Blue Beds to Zostel but I went there because 2 of my friends were staying there and we thought we should meet. ZOSTELS ARE COOL. Really hate the fact that I couldn't find a vacancy there. Damn!!! After meeting my friends and a bunch of Zostelers, I headed back to Blue Beds as I needed a good night's sleep for the next day would involve an immense amount of hiking.

Amer fort:

This places huge and confusing because there were times when I thought I would get lost. Interestingly, there is a 2 km underground tunnel which leads to Jaigad fort. I wasn't sure whether this was operational or not and hence I decided to skip it. One of the most interesting aspects of this fort is the large number of mahouts and their elephants roaming around the fort.







Jaigarh fort as seen from Amer fort


The 2km tunnel leading to Jaigad fort

Jaigarh fort:

This fort was built by Jai Singh II in 1726 to protect the Amer fort. The fort is 3 km long and houses the then largest canon of the world Jaivana which was manufactured in the fort itself.









Jaivana

Nahargarh Fort:

Amer fort and Jaigarh fort are quite close to each other but to reach Nahargarh, you will have to take a vehicle. Fortunately, this fort is not that huge and hence it can be checked it out in a pretty decent amount of time. Also, they have Sheesh Mahal and a Wax Museum at the entrance of the fort. Make sure to have a look at the Sheesh Mahal.










Thanks to their misadventure, my friends who were staying in Zostel (Ashish and Shelton - yay guys, you are famous now :P ) had informed me about this road which descends down to the main city from the fort. PLEASE do take this instead of a vehicle for going down. It offers some really breathtaking views of the city.


After reaching the main city and grabbing an anesthetic meal of Dal Bati Churma (don't worry! I will let you knwo about the foods and restaurants of Rajasthan under a separate heading shortly ;) ), I went to Hawa Mahal.

Hawa Mahal:

Hawa Mahal was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. It is a high screen wall which was used by the women to observe the festivities going on the street while remaining hidden.

During the night





Foods of Rajasthan:

1. Have a sumptuous breakfast at Jheel's in Udaipur
2. Try Ker Sangri at HariGarh restaurant, Udaipur
3. Have Gatte ki Sabzi at Skyzz, Jodhpur
4. Try Kadi in Jaisalmer
5. Have Ghatua at Dhanraj Ranmal Bhatia, Jaisalmer
6. Must have Mirchi Bada, Onion Kachori, Mawa Kachori at Janta Sweet Home, Jodhpur
7. If you miss Laal Maas at On The Rocks, Jodhpur, then your trip is incomplete
8. Try Dal Bati Churma and Misri Mawa at LMB, Jaipur

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I will be honest with you - I didn't know I could do this - 9 days in an unknown place all by myself. I was sure that loneliness itself would ruin things let alone the hard work that goes in figuring out things when you are on your own. But surprisingly it did not. Although I had prepared my itinerary but I was never sure where I will be and at what time. I wasn't sure where will I be having my food and God forbid, if I fall sick, what would happen. I guess the first solo trip of your life is always the most difficult and demanding. Not only does it require you to think all the time but you also have to ensure to be in the moment and enjoy the marvels that stand in front of you. To quote the movie which I had mentioned in the beginning of the blog, "Sometimes you get hit. You fall. You can't get back up. And you fall further. Before the mountain, I couldn't see how far I'd fallen. Maybe that's what I had to go through...To finally live. Sometimes a part of yourself has to die maybe even the part
you love most...before you can realise what makes you whole and clearly see that it's larger than us. If you're in the dark, get through it by seeing the invisible so that you can do the impossible. Just fail forward. It will all make sense when you see the light at the break of dawn."

Have I found a new perspective to life? Have my horizons broadened? Does life hold a new meaning for me? I don't know. I will not subscribe to the cliches that go with backpacking/travelling but all I can say is that for those 8-9 days, I felt ALIVE. Not knowing what's going to happen next can turn out to be a boon because you never know ki kab "Jane Kya Dikh Jaye" :D

Wandering Wheelz of the Trip:


Eshan Kapoor (without the camel of course)


































































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