Abhaneri

After breakfast we head off in tuc tucs for the bus station where we board a local bus.  It's a bit of a scramble with all our luggage but Angeli purchases a few more seats where we can put our suitcases.  It's still pretty squishy but we make do.  The other people on the bus are very accommodating.

 

 

We're only on the bus for two hours where we are met by a van and taken to our hotel. 

 It's lovely.  Very peaceful.  It's going to be a yoga retreat and they are putting in a pool. 

 

Sarah and Vaughan got a lovely room.

 

 

Right now it's a work in progress but the rooms are large with huge bathrooms.  One hour away is a national park and three minutes in the opposite direction is the temple of Exorcism.  Both popular draws for people of India.

We head off for our orientation walk.  This area is known for it's 'baoris', step-wells, which were invented long ago to harvest rain water.  It's an amazing structure. They have done lots of filming here.

 This one is called Chand Baori and was built in the 10th century.

It is 20 metres deep and the cool lower reaches of the well is where locals used to gather to escape the heat.

We also visit the Harshat Mata Temple which is close by.

  This temple was dedicated to the goddess of happiness and joy and dates back to the 7th century.

We stop by several vendors one of which is making bracelets.  Amazing process and I purchase two of them.

Alanna tries her hand at the pottery wheel.

We have a restful afternoon and a nice dinner. 

Great sleep except for wild dogs howling!  The next morning we board our van and travel for 3 hours to Agra.

Pushkar

Another early morning.  We're leaving our accommodation at 5:00 a.m.!  We get tuc tucs to the train station where we travel approx. 300/km and 7 hours by train to Anwar Junction in Ajmer.  We then transfer to car to travel to Pushkar which is 30 km. and 45 min.

Pushkar is one of India's holiest towns and a market centre for the surrounding villages.  We arrive at our hotel which is quite lovely.

 

A little bit away from the village and there is a pool and grassy area.  We settle in to our rooms and meet at 4:30 for our walking tour around town.

 

 

 

 

The market

 

 

 

Pushkar is very hot and dusty.  Not much here besides the market and I'm just about shopped out.

 

You want to give these guys lots of room....look at those horns!

  

 

The walk down to the water is a consideration however we are told that there are many holy men that can bother you in that they ask for money.  I just don't feel like dealing with that so plan to spend the next day relaxing around the pool. 


We visit the Brahma Temple and then go for dinner in an interesting roof top restaurant (five flights of stairs). 

 

There is a fair amount of black light paint used to decorate the interior so as night falls it becomes quite interesting (shades of the 70's).  I have a lime soda with a curry dish.

 The view of the sunset is gorgeous.

The next day Vaughan, Cathryn, Leanne and Danita get up early and hike up 700 stairs to watch the sunrise from Savitri Temple. 

The chai man is there and they enjoy a cup while watching the sun come up (along with a few monkeys).  I'd like to say I was there but I couldn't get my butt out of bed so it's Cathryn balancing the sun on her left hand.  Kudos to Vaughan, Cathryn, Leanne and Danita for making the effort!

I sit at the pool and relax.  It's wonderful.

At 6:30 we head off to dinner at a local family's home.  There are 3 families that live here.  Twenty people.  The food is delicious and our hosts are gracious.  They live very simply.  No big screen TV here!

We're not heading out until 9:00 a.m.  Wow!  A sleep in!

 

 

Udaipur

This morning we're up at 5:15 a.m.  We meet at 5:40 a.m. to go to the bus station by auto ricksaws.  We have a newer style bus and has assigned seats.  It is an eight hour/300 km journey.  We enjoy a masala chai tea then it's all aboard.  Connor is sick.  Delhi belly!

On the bus

 

Sunrise on the way to Udaipur.

We enjoy a stop along the way for breakfast?

 

 

Monkeys along the way

Once we arrive in Udaipur we're met by tuc tucs and taken to our hotel.  We settle in and we're meeting with the group at 4:30 p.m. for our walking tour.  I am sharing a room with Pauline this time.

Our room...plain but functional.  We seem to be missing top sheets and duvet???

 

The bathroom however is disgusting...worst one we've had!

We go next door to another hotel (a little more upscale than ours) and order a drink.  The views are lovely.  Udaipur is known as the "Venice of the East".

This town is a little more touristy.  Lots of shopping. 

Udaipur is on a lovely lake.  Lake Pichola.  It's a very nice change.

  It's so nice here I could almost forget about our horrible bathroom!!

We go to an artist's Co-Op where we learn about miniature paintings.

 

This work is so intricate...I don't know how they do it.  They spend hours/days working on a single piece.  It takes a very steady hand and good eyesight.

 

Several people buy paintings and then it's off to the fabric store Lord & Tailor to order clothes.  I order a royal blue tunic and brown patterned pants.  2900 rupees or $60.00.  The pants are silk and the tunic is cotton.  I should have bargained more...I paid too much but I'm happy with the products.  While we are there the power goes off so it's a little difficult to complete our order.

 

We walk around town.  Here is one of the temples dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

We then head off to the Rainbow Restaurant for dinner.

Rooftop with great view.  Food was okay.  I had fish with lemon sauce.

   

 Back to the hotel and in to bed. 

We didn't sleep well.  Bed is very hard and blankets rough and dusty.  It appears that we are missing sheets and a duvet which everyone else has.  We didn't realize we were missing them and just thought everyone else just had these rough blankets!  We go for breakfast at Café Namaste.  Real coffee!  Oh, it's wonderful!  Great food and again it's rooftop.  Most of the group are participating in painting at the Co-Op but Pauline and I decide to wander about.  We meet Ali who is a tuc tuc driver and he offers to take us to several places for 100 rupee.  We start at a local market. 

Making baskets.

Bracelets anyone...any color...any size!

So many things.  We really notice a difference at this market as it is a market for the locals.  We are not bombarded with people trying to sell to us. 

Ali takes us to the spice market and also to a tailor. Pauline buys tablecloths and I arrange to have two pairs of pants made.  (Pauline and I are sooooo....bad!)  We go to Ali's home town and visit his art school. 

 

A demonstration of block printing

 

 

I buy three paintings all hand painted.  Off to lunch to another rooftop restaurant. 

Food is good but service is very slow.  At 5:30 we meet and go to a cultural dance show. 

It's well done.  This woman is 73 years old!  Pays to stay active.

The next day we walk to the Palace.

 

This rider and horse are just returning from wedding celebrations...gorgeous costume on the horse!

Leanne trying her hand at driving a tuc tuc!

 

 

 We arrive at the gates of Monsoon Palace and it costs 300 rupees to see the palace and 90 rupees for the ride up.  Packed in like sardines!



 

Great views once we are up there but the palace is a disappointment.  Very run down and not much to see.  We head back and the tailor has dropped my pants off at our hotel.  Great service!

We visit the other tailors and pick up our orders.  We're all happy with what we have ordered.  We then go for a boat ride for the sunset and it's very calm and pleasant. 

 

Cathryn, Leanne and Diana - ready to set sail!

 

 

Pauline and I onboard

 



 

Beautiful views as we tour around Lake Pichola

The Palace from the water side

 

 

After sunset we head off to dinner at a very nice restaurant where we sit out under the stars.

  There are lots of fireworks as there are at least two weddings going on. 

We head back at 8:30 as we have another early morning.  We're leaving at 5:00 a.m. for Pushkar.