Morning at Mumbai train station is pretty chaotic,
people are everywhere, some sit, many sleep on floor... we can not say who is
waiting for train and who permanently lives here. It was very hot night and the
only relieve came from couple of fans at ceiling of each 6-birth compartment. Today
we do not have to search for a place to stay, black old taxi takes us directly
to Consulate of Czech Republic - we had been invited to stay here by young
Czech consular family we met at Sri
Lanka. After a refreshing shower and short
rest our plans quickly change when we meet Honza who offers his invitation to
stay at his unit in Aurangabad, which is
starting town for trips to Ellora Caves and Ajanta
temples. Of course we cannot refuse such an offer and we rush to book first
possible flight. In meantime, Zdenek is very kind to spend his weekend with us
- we visit Jain Temple,
Gate to India, in-famous Taj
Mahal Hotel and Elephant
Island. We feel being treated
like V.I.P.- very nice change from usual backpacker’s mode. One hour flight
from Mumbai to Aurangabad on Monday morning is hassle
free and Raju (Honza’s personal driver) waits at the airport with Skoda Octavia,
taking us to housing complex adjacent to Skoda manufacturing plant… “This will
be your home for next few days” Honza points to spare bedroom upstairs and
continues “…and Raju will be happy to drive you to cave temples or anywhere
else you want”. We can not believe our luck to meet such nice people lately.
Quick coffee and our ways temporarily split for rest of the day – Honza goes to
work at Skoda plant and we spend an hour in comfortable back seats of new model
Octavia heading to Ellora cave temples.
This jaw dropping site was chipped out of gently sloped hills by Buddhist,
Hindu and Jain monks over 500 years, the first temple was created at AD 600. Seeing
total of 34 temples spread over 2km takes some effort and time, it is quite hot
day and after three hours we are pretty tired but it is not the end of it …on
return way to Aurangabad we have one more site to visit - Daulatabad Fort built
in 12th century on 200m high outcrop claims the rest of energy still
left in our bodies. Mid afternoon sun is very intense, there is little shade on
the way up and dry air has strong dehydrating power – luckily we have enough
water to get up and down. This fort was built to be impenetrable but ironically
it was conquered only once by bribing guards at the gate. Hundreds of difficult
steps, dark tunnels and narrow bridges over water canals lead us through
multiple doorways, some of them faked. Finally we make to the top where we find
6m cannon, apparently cast from 5 different metals. “How did they get such
heavy piece of steel up here?” I am asking myself. Few minutes we enjoy nice
views into valley and by 4pm we are back in car heading home. After dinner at
the housing complex restaurant we are really ready for bed. Next day we take it
easy - play indoor tennis, or chill out at resort-style pool … this fenced
complex is nothing like India
we have seen so far. Later afternoon Raju is free to take us to town where we
also visit local mini-Taj Mahal. Leaving right after breakfast on Wednesday we
have to cover 120km to the World Heritage site of Ajanta Buddhist caves.
Much older then Ellora these secluded cave temples date from 2nd
century BC to 6th century AD. Carved into shear rock of horse-shoe
shaped valley the 30 caves are just breath taking. Well preserved fine internal
frescoes were painted with natural pigments and we fully respect the ban of
flash photography. This site had been grown over with vegetation for centuries
until 1819 when it was accidentally discovered by British hunting party. Truly
impressive site. Last dinner with Honza at local posh restaurant marks the end
of our unexpected four days vacation within our travel, and tomorrow we fly
back to Mumbay. From airport back to Consulate for one more night before we
board overnight 3-AC sleeper to Udaipur
on Friday 4th June 4pm. Confused
with train booking system we somehow manage to score two beds tonight… but let
me explain … on-line booking system placed our names on ‘waiting list’ which
means that we may or may not get a berth on this train. When we arrived to
station the list of passengers attached to our carriage shows two names
allocated to the same bed … ?? Does that mean we’ll have to share our (single
and narrow) beds with some strangers? The conductor answers our question with
“No problem, you’ll get your own bed”. Train left station at 4pm and by 11pm
the situation is still unresolved – young Indian girl sits on ‘my’ bed and
Ivana’s co-sleeper has not boarded yet. Well, she is not bad looking…ha,ha. Why
is this happening to us? Everyone else on train is already sleeping, and we
have to sit for the whole 18-hours journey for the same price? Not happy!!! Suddenly
the conductor marched in with a resolution … Indian girl is going to move
somewhere else and we finally can rest, each on our own bed. Arrival to Udaipur
at 9am is pleasant, train station is surprisingly tidy, unbearable Mumbai
humidity is gone and there is hassle free pre-paid rickshaw stand outside.
Heading to the centre of Old Town we hope to find Nivas hotel previously
recommended by other backpacker… and it was easy. We like four days in Udaipur
– scrolling through maize of streets we discover many roof-top restaurants with
not only picturesque views but also with very good Indian food. The most
romantic city, as it is sometimes called is dominated by copula crowned City Palace
being the highest point in Udaipur.
One cannot miss it. Built in 17th century this yellow stone
Rajastan’s largest palace looks impressive especially when lit at night. Few
hours visit was very enjoyable and worthwhile. Unfortunately the lake Pichola
is almost dried up due to number of reasons (unusually low rain over last few
years plus alleged mismanagement of water usage) and scenes from James Bond’s
Octopusy movie filmed here look somewhat different. It is very easy to loose
sense of time here and days go by very fast … but we want to see more of
Rajastan so on Wednesday 9th June we catch overnight 2-AC sleeper to
Rajastan’s capital Jaipur. It takes
few steps before we settle in Vaishnavi hotel early morning and over breakfast
we set for an idea to take sightseeing bus tour tomorrow which should cover all
major temples and forts in and around the town. Straightforward booking at
Tourist Office within the railway station is done in minutes and we can spend rest
of the day by scrolling through historical Pink City
for what Jaipur is famous. Hot, busy, pink buildings and colourful turbans are
words to describe next three hours. Later afternoon (temps still well above
40C) we catch local bus to Monkey
Temple – appropriate name
as hundreds of pink face monkeys company everyone walking steep path up and
down the temple. At first glance they look pretty harmless but our safe
personal space can quickly be violated in presence of food … Iva loses her bag
of peanuts in seconds to a larger male before having any chance to open it and
share nuts between youngsters. When the larger group leader attempts to push me
off the garden bench we conclude it’s time to leave. Next morning we board the
sightseeing bus for the whole day to see many palaces, forts, museums and
gardens. Very exhausting but also very interesting. So exhausting we have to take
rickshaw to backpacker Peacock roof top restaurant for dinner and it feels like
an oasis – great food and few beers to wash down that plentiful pink dust. Enough
of pink so on Saturday we take a 4-hour bus to Hindu’s pilgrimage town Pushkar. Nice and clean room at hotel
Everest is definitely good choice and its owner is very helpful, shortly we
start exploring this small holy town to find many temples, small shops (we
bought some traditional garments), ghats around the central lake (now dry),
pilgrims and tourists. For over an hour we sit on one of ghats (steps leading
to pools filled with ‘holy’ water) quietly watching pilgrims to bath and pray …
to our surprise men and women are mixed up despite our previous observation of
strict segregation. Some dip dressed, some dip half naked but all pour water
over their heads several times. Few foreign tourist are lured into ‘meditation
over holy water’ only to be asked for hefty baksheesh at the end of each session.
Hmm, sad this happens… but fortunately now-days we can clearly see through this
bul...it and we only observe from a distance. Just like Hampi also this holy
town is strictly vegetarian and no booze is available … good bye beer for few
days (remember? It is 40C+ every day). Without any options we settle for fresh
lime and soda which is almost as good as cold beer … NOT! There are no motor
rickshaw allowed in town but sightseeing can be easily done by foot in one day
– one of few Brahma’s temples in India can be seen here although we find white
marble Sikh temple more beautiful (not mentioned in any info pamphlets , not
even shown on tourist map because Pushkar is holy Hindu town). As many times
before 2-3 days is enough for any small town and we wonder what blue city of Jodhpur
will be like. Dominated by captivating Mehrangarh Fort this million people town
offers narrow streets and medieval bazaars in old city around the central clock
tower mingled with business and rush of its population. Fresh saffron flavoured
Makhania lassie and famous omelettes shop are other attractions not to be missed
apart from necessary visit to Mehrangarh Fort. Over few hours walking through
this magnificent palace with audio guide we admire spectacular architectonic marvel
built in 18th century by maharajah Man Singh as well as collections
of Indian royalties on display. From its walls we suddenly understand why Jodhpur is nicknamed blue
city – views down on town reveal light-milky blue colour being traditionally
used on almost all houses. Back down at town the search for an eatery is difficult
as many places are closed due to low season but anyway we find one new
garden-like restaurant with its friendly owner and beer secretly served in
coffee mugs. Vegetarian food is tasty, setting is cool and long discussions
with owner are possible on any topic such as arranged marriages, cast system
and family life in India … we learn that usually … married sons continue to
live with parents and all earned income goes directly to farther, he then
allocates pocket money and decides how joint money is spent. Marriages between
different casts are strictly impossible and love marriages are very rare.
Indeed, daily newspapers report many so called ‘honour killings’ when family and
relatives brutally murder their children if youngsters ‘in love’ leave the house
against the will of parents. Sad, perhaps tragic but we need to stay observers
only, not critics of Indian social structure and we happily return to this
restaurant again and again until we leave Jodhpur.
That happens on Thursday 17th June whereas our last destination in
Rajastan will be desert town Jaisalmer,
less then 100km from western border with Pakistan. How can five and half
hours on bus going towards desert feel like? Hot-dry-hot-dusty. It is only few
days till arrival of monsoon and we could not pick the worse time to be here
but we did not really have any other choice if we want to see it. Besides, we
are tough backpackers and even 45C can not break our spirit. Ha,ha, we took a
room with air-con. Well, that is good for sleep only anyway and it is no help
outside. We follow advice of young guy from Jodhpur to stay in his cousin’s Pol Haveli guest-house (seems like all here are cousins) and that includes free pick-up from
the bus stand. Not sure if this was a scam or not, the truth is we were not disappointed
and everything happened as promised. Brand new Pol Haveli GH built in
traditional Rajastan style with lots of sandstone carved features looked more
like maharajah’s residence then any ordinary hotel.
Jaisalmer
may be rightfully nicknamed ‘golden town’ for its desert-yellow colour of
sandstone used in 100% of all havelis (buildings) including Jaisalmer Fort on
80m high hill built in 12th century and where large proportion of
population resides today. One can see only so many palaces and this time we
give The Maharaja’s Palace a miss, instead we get lost several times in maize
of narrow streets paved with sandstone. What else brings travellers here? Camel
safari in desert where people can spend anything between 1 day, or weeks. We
decide for the former and leave the town at mid-afternoon by jeep, first to
visit Jain temple thinking this must be the most beautiful Jain temple we have
seen in India,
and then continuing to small community of camel drivers. Me and Iva get own
camels to ride for about two hours towards Sahara
like dunes just in time for sunset. Watching hot golden sun going down over
desert is priceless, round dunes cast longer and longer shades until sun
completely disappear behind horizon. Camel drivers prepared traditional dinner,
made our beds by throwing few thick blankets on hot sand and the rest was upon
us as to how long we want to watch bright stars on deep sky … until we fell
asleep. Despite our expectations air temperature did not drop much during the night,
6am sunrise seemed even more colourful then last night sunset. Yesterday
perfectly sand smoothed by wind is covered with numerous trails this morning
and we can only imagine with how many different small creatures we shared last
night together. By 10am we are back in Jasailmere to have shower, small lunch …
then leaving Rajastan on 4pm train for Delhi.
First time in India
this overnight 2AC class was very comfy and less crowded. We are impressed with
expected arrival time at 11am being almost spot-on, but views of Delhi
outskirts are much less impressive with unbelievably dense populated slums
stretching kilometres alongside railway line where people live in inhuman
conditions, we cannot imagine staying there even for one day. Stepping out of
air-conditioned train into hot and smelly Old Delhi station is initially
uncomfortable but we quickly adjust and take pre-paid rickshaw to hotel Ginger
near New Delhi
station … to our disappointment the hotel is full and with bags on our
shoulders we search for an alternative accommodation. Not being very
successful, in desperation we accept an offer from ‘Government Tourist Office’
(???) to stay 3 nights at Hotel Baba-Karol Bagh for total 4000 rupees,
including free transfer. Delhi seems to be more expensive then the rest of
India and retrospectively we were not ripped off that much, considering our
room has reasonably working AC. Pre-monsoon weather is hot, dry and windy.
Furthermore, Delhi’s
streets are turned upside down with trenches and holes dug up everywhere due to
coming Commonwealth Games in October, not exactly the most romantic place right
now. One day city bus tour is nice break from dusty streets; amongst many we
visit Lotus Temple,
Indira Gandhi house, Mahatma Gandhi memorial and Birla Mandir
Temple. Our hotel at
Karol Bagh has few distinctive positives – a proximity to metro station and few
great restaurants nearby, we agree on very tasty Indian food served in Jade Garden
and Spicy By Nature restaurants. Despite numerous warning at Lonely Planet we
get sucked into a package featuring houseboat stay at Srinagar. For 16000 rupees we get 2AC train
Amritsar-Jammu, one night at Jammu, airfare
Jammu-Srinagar and two nights on Safina houseboats at Srinagar, including breakfast and dinner.
Enough of Delhi we leave by 8am AC sitting train
on 25 June heading for Amritsar at Punjab.
Observation:
Indian man
seems to have more fun on social front then women. We are not sure where this
custom originates from but evidence is obvious everywhere we look. Going for a
cold beer after 40C hot day would mean Iva is the only female in bar, and there
could be up to hundred of Indian men happily enjoying beer, wine or brandy.
“Where are their wives or girlfriends?” we ask ourselves. We do not know…
To be
continued ….
