Udaipur and Jodhpur

It seems that here, everything happens for a reason and everything falls into place nicely despite the complete chaos. I think i am finally starting to get out of my European mindset of having everything organised. First, I was booking everything way in advance: guest houses, buses, trains... Now, I start to let things go and let a bit more place to improvisation. It is actually nice sometimes...

My train ride from Pushkar to Udaipur was OK. t just seems that I can never seat where I am meant to. Everyone starts moving around the carriage when the train stops, swapping seats, getting out to buy some food or drinks, and also people getting in just to sell stuff. It results in each stop lasting for more than 20 minutes. It really feels like the trains are waiting for everyone to be ready to go, rather than the opposite... I also always end up changing seats as, most of the time, they do not want women to seat next to me. I did not realise how protective Indians can be with women.

Udaipur was meant to be the most romantic city in India. It probably is, if you go there as a couple and stay in one of the nice hotels on the lake (one of them is a palace on an island and looks pretty cool from the shore). But being by myself, I only found it quite nice, with the usual palace, tomb of some Maharaja and temples to visit. I was there for a bit more than 24 hours and took a public bus heading to Jodhpur. The bus ride was 6h30 long journey with epic moments as the roads are in bad shape and the driver overtakes any car, truck and cows (!) anywhere, resulting in the bus spending half of the time on the wrong side of the road. I spent a good chunk of the journey next to a french lady of about 60. She was backpacking through India by herself and did not really speak English. She seemed to be a trooper though, telling all sorts of stories and having done this four months a year for the last four years. She was an inspiring person as she proved that you can still do that type of stuff, even when you get older. After she left, the journey seemed like it would never end (even though the distances are not that long and the drivers are speeding on these roads with impressive reflexes) as I was seating with locals that were nice enough to try to talk to me, but did not really speak English, which soon both limited the conversation and became exhausting. I finally made it to Jodhpur.

Most houses in the old city are painted in blue (which i meant to keep insects away - not sure that works that well looking at the mosquito bites I got...) and there is a massive fortress dominating the whole city. You can certainly imagine how it was leaving there in the Middle Ages. My guest house was one of the blue houses and was owned by the always happy Mr Joshi. This guy was happy to bargain about everything (most Indians are, but I am still not very good at it). I met a bunch of other travellers with whom I could tag along and visit the city. I especially met and Irish dude named Dara, and an English girl named Polly, also travelling alone, and that were heading in the same direction as me. I ended up getting too drunk with the guy (crazy Irish!), which resulted in me missing my train the next morning as I simply did not wake up...

I finally went to Jaisalmer by bus with my two new friends, were we planned to go and ride camels in the desert for a couple of days. More on that later...

 Cute kid in Jodhpur

 View of Udaipur and the lake by night

 Some wall painting in Udaipur

Seems like Banksy was in India (Holy CCTV Watching 24/24)

 View of the fort in Jodhpur

The blue city

Agra, Jaipur and Pushkar

Something I find quite funny here is how animals are hanging around freely in the streets of cities and towns. I had not noticed in Delhi, maybe because of the city being bigger. However, since getting into Agra, I can’t help but laughing when seeing cows, goats, pigs, dogs, donkeys and monkeys enjoying the noise and traffic and being integral part of the crowd strolling in the narrow roads and lanes. They are obviously the source of a lot of honking from drivers!

My first stop after Delhi was Agra, after two hours of train. Agra is the city of the mighty Taj Mahal. It is one of those touristy places you have to see whenever you visit a country, like Big Ben in London or la Tour Eiffel in Paris. The thing is that it costs an Indian citizen Rs20 (the equivalent of €0.30) to visit the Taj Mahal, whereas a foreigner has to pay Rs750 (about €12)… Anyway, it was totally worth it. This monument is unbelievable, as beautiful from afar as when you get closer, unravelling numerous carved details and encrusted gems unnoticeable from a distance. Needless to say I took too many pictures…

After 24 hours in Agra, I travelled to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. It was enjoyable to be in a very big city that felt a bit cleaner and more relax than Delhi. That place is a big shopping hub for local and regional craft and I had the opportunity to refine my bargaining skills (*sigh*). The usual local sightseeing done, it was time to move again, with a stop in Pushkar. Pushkar is a small town built on the shore of a holy lake, in the middle of green hills. Hindu pilgrims go there to bathe in the sacred waters and prey, sometimes overnight. I have had a great time in the three days I spent in that place. Everything was dedicated to relaxing. I found very quickly the bars where they didn’t mind serving booze (which was not that common considering the holiness of the place) and spent nights chilling there with other travellers. I could have stayed a bit longer, but I suppose lots of places are going to feel that way, and it was time to move on.

Below, few more pictures:

The Taj Mahal at sunset 

New car prototype 

A monkey: they are the cats of Indian cities

View of Pushkar, a relax city on a lake

My next stops will be Udaipur, another city on a lake, Jodhpur, the blue city, and Jaisalmer for a camel ride in the desert.

P.S.: One of the strangest things that happened to me: I got offered to spend 1 hour with a 12 year old ladyboy for Rs500... whilst just strolling in the Old City of Delhi. This is one of those things that make you feel very uncomfortable... especially when you refused and the pimp tries to force you into accepting... 

To be continued…

Delhi

It is with mixed feelings that I spent my first 24 hours in Delhi. After a flight that went smoothly, albeit without much sleep, I was welcomed at the airport by a taxi sent by my guest house to pick me up. The taxi trip was the first shock of the day: traffic is completely chaotic, with cars, buses, rickshaws, bikes and scooters going in every directions without following any road marks and signs... all this with rain pouring down and 30 cm of water on the road (Friday was a rainy day and when it rains here, it is not a small drizzle experienced in London or in Normandy).

My guest house is decent, but the area it is in - Paharganj, or the backpackers district - was a complete shock. This is worn out district, full of hustlers, scammers and bums trying to lure me into spending as much money as possible. This feeling is exacerbated around the train station and in Connaught place, the two spots where governmental travel and tourism offices can be found. People are generally nice but seem to think that I am a walking wallet. Nothing unexpected here, but they just make it extremely difficult for me to get to the places I need to visit for tourist information and bookings. I ended up in various travel shops (including 3 times in front of the same one...) supposed to be the "official" tourism office of India where they tried to sell packaged holidays I-don't-know-where. I guess I am still too nice for this country (and my face saying "where-the-f***-am-I?" probably did not help...), but this drained all my energy as the level of harassment is unbelievable. At least I did not get caught in a scam...

Finally, after wasting hours with various bums insisting to "help" me find my way, I managed to book my train tickets to Rajasthan. This done, this removed a weight from my shoulders and helped me enjoy a bit more of Delhi (that and the fact that I am starting to know where I am and where to go). The last two days have been good, with various visits of monuments and museums (nice when you want some good air conditioning and few hours of quiet...), a lot of catch up of sleep/adjustment to the jet lag, and the discovery of places where I can actually find some cheap food without taking the risk of getting the Delhi belly...

The weather is very hot and humid, comparable to that of Florida in the summer (for those of you that know it, and because it is the only data point I have...). People tell me it is going to get a bit "fresher" in the next few weeks, but I don't really mind as I am sweating so much my clothes are soaking wet after 20 minutes spent outside (I know, classy...).

Few pictures below of some of the most interesting sights the city has to offer:

 Ganesh Festival (Elephant God)

India Gate (their Arc de Triomphe) 

The Red Fort (former Emperor's residence)

Inside the Red Fort - Emperor's wife house

Jama Masjid (the big Mosque)

 The chaos of Old Delhi

Traffic chaos

Next stops: Agra and its famous Taj Mahal, followed by Jaipur and two weeks of train between various cities of Rajasthan.

To be continued... 

Before Departure

12 kg - that is the weight of my backpack. I am now carrying my life on my back. It's funny how you can reduce the number of things you absolutely need to survive when you need to. I have been very cautious in choosing this backpack though: it is a "Biofit" bag, which means that it adapts perfectly to the shape of of my body to spread the weight efficiently and be as comfortable as possible. This might only be marketing and that bag may ruin my back, but one has to take the chance...

I believe that I have restricted myself to the bare minimum, but I have probably taken a bunch of useless stuffs  and am certainly missing some essential things. Well, it will have to do, and I suppose I'll be better prepared next time.

All that to say that I am starting my travel blog. I will try to post pictures and comments about what will hopefully be a fantastic experience...