The Rajasthan Rocket

The journey from Udaipur to Jodhpur is about 260km but we take a large detour to visit Kumbhalgarh, yes another fort.  Overall, it’s a ten hour journey but well worth the effort.

Once we turn off the main road we pass through dusty villages and hamlets – as usual the livestock in various forms hampers our progress but with driver Anu, shortly to be known as the Rajasthan Rocket for reasons that I will explain later, we rattle along in a cloud of dust and a rattle of stones.

The fort is high in the dry, arid Aravalli hills and is reached via a long, twisting single-track road that judging by his speed, Anu can only presume is one way.

The remote fort perches 1,000m above sea level and dominates the surrounding landscape.  From the top of a long hot climb to the top, the fort has views that melt into the blue distance.  Dotted around the fort are a number of temples but time does not permit us to visit.

The road on to our next stop, Ranakpur is 12km as the crow flies and 50km by a rollercoaster ride on badly maintained roads that snakes down through the mountains via a series of vicious hairpin bends.  Anu sees this route as a challenge to his driving skills and we bounce about the back pressing imaginary brake pedals until our feet are sore.

Ranakpor is a 15 Century Jain temple built in milky white marble.  It looks lovely but we spend only 20 minutes before heading on to Jodhpur.

A brief lunch stop provides a good egg curry and John tries dum aloo, potatoes stuffed with something which is tasty if unknown – turns out it was stuffed with fruit and served in a tomato gravy.  Had we known what was in store in the rest of the ride we’d have probably had toast.

Driving through the villages and countryside provides a large number of interesting images.  Whilst the women invariably carry huge loads of sticks or hay on their heads the menfolk seem to sit around putting the world to rights.  The women are particularly shy and cover their faces or turn away as we pass.

The children however wave and call out as we pass through whilst the goats, sheep, cows wander oblivious in the road and ignore the honking horn.  

We rapidly form a view that people and cattle are reasonably savvy and understand the basics of the green cross code, dogs couldn’t care less (which is why over 50% have at least on gammy leg) whilst goats are erratic and skittish and will often double back into our path with no warning.

Camels, not as bad as goats but you wouldn't want to hit one

Say what you like about Anu, he certainly isn’t a quitter – when the road is blocked by a wall of bricks extending across our path he swerves into a field and rejoins the track on the other side.  The bricks were there to close the road for repairs and we jolt and bounce around in the back.  Back on the main road we now encounter the scary bit.

The road from Udaipur to Jodhpur is being remade into a four lane highway.  In the meantime, we have to travel the last 100km along a temporary two lane highway which is shared with motorbikes, cars, tractors, buses, lorries, and the assorted road making kit including cranes and steam rollers.  We weave blithely in and out of the traffic whilst the oncoming traffic does the same.  

No sudden stops please

The honking of horns becomes a continuous, strident note. A small Tata dices with death as it overtakes us as we overtake a tractor.  The oncoming bus scatters everything in its wake as it ploughs through and leaves the Tata on the side of the road in a cloud of dust.

Nervously, we calculate our eta as the last thing we want is to be driving in the dark with Anu (who tells us that we are lucky the roads are so quiet today!). 

Not Busi at all

It’s just getting dark as we enter Jodhpur and the city is busy and dusty.  Our hearts sink as we pull up outside our Haveli.  The dusty sign hangs neglected at a jaunty angle.  However, I’m pleased to report that first impressions were in this case not a sign of things to come.  We’ve a large comfy room and the rooftop terrace provides great views of Mehrangarh and serves cold Kingfisher beer.  We kick off our shoes and let the beer refresh our achy brakey feet.

Moooudaipur

Our last day in Udaipur is crammed with visits to more of the sights.  The Monsoon Palace was originally built as a hunting lodge and stands on a high mountain overlooking the lake and Udaipur below.  The views are amazing with the city on one side and the desert and mountains on the other.

 Monkeys are used to having the Palace to themselves and run amok whilst we clutch our cameras for fear of the critters grabbing them.   The monkeys are brazen and whilst we watch, a group of Indians have their lunch stolen by the hairy muggers who disappear over the walls into a ravine below.

The Monsoon Palace is somewhat neglected and the interior comprises a tatty natural history display and we feel particularly sorry for the fish inhabiting a tank with panes covered with green algae who start out myopically.  The road up is a mass of hairpin bends and we are grateful that we did not opt for the long walk.  

The Palace is set in a small nature reserve that supposedly boasts leopards and pythons although luckily for us the worst we had to grapple with was a card board cut out.

As we head back into town I am amazed at the numbers of cows effecting informal traffic calming. The cows are afforded maximum respect, although this does not prevent the frenzied horn blaring of frustrated drivers in a futile attempt to get them to shift.  Oblivious, the cows are perfectly content sitting in the middle of the road or grazing, usually on cardboard (no wonder their dung is used for fuel), on the central reservation.

A visit to the Maharana’s vintage car collections includes a delicious vegetable thali for lunch. Served in a purpose built steel tray with compartments for the various dishes, dhal, rice, chapattis and chutneys we tuck in and our tray is re-filled on a regular basis - the meal cost us about £1.

The vintage cars are stored in individual garages and range from the Rolls Royce Phantom used in Octopussy and driven by Roger Moore to the more mundane Morris Minor and Traveller and a Triumph Herald in crème and red livery.  The star of the show however is a bright red 1946 MG sports car which the Maharana used to race.  Every Sunday the cars are driven to keep them in tip top condition.

A quick stop at the Sahelier Ki Bari revealed a small, well kept park with a lovely lotus pool surrounded by vivid bourganvillia

The Ropeway turned out to be a cable car ride to the top of Machla Magra hill – the views over Udaipur are supposed to be tremendous although we don’t know as, much to John’s disgust, I refuse to board the cable car as my fear of heights rises its ugly head again.  The Health and Safety aspects do not appear up to scratch and besides, the last time I went on a cable car with John he rocked the car so much I was in fear for my life.

We’re sorry to be moving on - Udaipur has been a friendly and relaxing stop and the Hotel Jaiwana Haveli has been a comfortable stop. The brothers Harsh and Yass have an easy way about them and go out of their way to help their guests.  The only downside as it turned out was that Harsh is a Chelsea supporter and has pictures of the RS hanging on his walls – John has agreed to send him some more appropriate replacements!

Chitty Chitty Chittorgarh

Before we start, can we thank all of you who have already sponsored us for our rally that begins on 28 December.  We’re 29% of the way toward our target and are genuinely humbled by your generosity.

Red Fort Delhi

You never see places at their best when you arrive in the dark although we could sense the difference between Udaipur and Delhi as soon as we stepped off the plane.  A major difference was the amount of cows wandering the roads around which we regularly have to swerve – as traffic calming measures go, the sacred cow is preferable to the vicious Indian speed bump anyday. 

We’re staying in the old town, a jumble of tiny streets where pedestrians compete with tuktuks and cars to negotiate their way past polite vendors who unusually, are prepared to take ‘No’ for an answer.

The hotel Jaiwana Haveli is a well-kept old fashioned mansion overlooking Lake Pichola and affording great views of the stunning sunsets and the Taj Lake Palace Hotel which sits in the middle of the lake and which is sadly beyond our means.

Taj Lake Hotel - No riff raff

After a good night’s sleep aided by a few refreshments we spend the day exploring (aka Getting Lost) in the maze of back streets before visiting the City Palace.  It’s an amazing mix of balconies, towers and cupolas and gives good views of the lake and the city below.  

Inside, the marble chess-board patterned floors and the bejeweled and mosaic walls demonstrate the taste and depth of pocket of the Maharanas who lived here.

The City Palace is huge although many of the internal passageways between the chambers are very narrow and the low doorways suggest that the people who lived here were short arses.  The passageways twist up and down stairs leading to unexpected delights at each turn.  

Upstairs we emerge into a treelined square, in another passage we come to the royal bedchambers and entertaining rooms. I am amazed at the number of Indians who are on holiday and who, true to form, zoom though the Palace in double-quick time.

We leave the Palace just as school finishes for the day and the throng of children who are walking, cycling, jumping into tuktuks or climbing aboard scooters carries us along. The shrill noise they generate makes a pneumatic drill sound quiet.

We seek refuge in the Jagdish Temple.  The temple is in perfect condition and was restored by hand 5 years ago.  There’s an air of calm serenity that one always feels when entering temples and we pause to get our breath.  Walking around the outside, we’re befriended by an elder who suggests that we traverse in a clockwise direction as to do otherwise is poor form in a Hindu temple.  We’re glad of his presence when a group of amorous Indian boys get a little to attached to me and he dispatches them with some stern, if unintelligible words.  

The Temple provides food daily for more than 40 of the poor and homeless.  However after leaving a healthy donation for food we end up in the elders ‘Art School’.  Udaipur is famous for its miniatures and the paintings on paper, silk and camel bone are exquisite.  Now the hard sell begins. Small is beautiful but comes with a hefty price tag – with a much better defence than the English batsmen we hold out for stumps and emerge with our wallets intact accompanied it must be said by a bit of sledging from the unsuccessful vendor.

Standing at the edge of the lake we find ourselves pursued by a couple of large cows blocking our exit.  We’re saved from the option of swimming for it by the timely appearance of a man wielding a big stick.

Man with stick will surely follow....

Advertising is on every spare space but some of it doesn’t mean a great deal to us although we think that too much of the former

Might lead to the latter.

Spent a bloody fortune on Optrex

The next day we head for Chittorgarh, the fort (garh) on the Chittor – talking about the Chittor, no that’s for another day.  We hire a car and driver for the 130 kilometers journey during which we reflect on the madness of driving on these roads.  If the lorries don’t get you the meandering cows present a considerable challenge.

Have any of you been in the dairy?

The standard of driving is seriously scary and the mad scramble for gaps to get past the slower traffic can be hair-raising and is further complicated by the lack of any lane discipline and the odd wandering cow, to the extent that vehicles drive into the oncoming traffic because the route is slightly quicker or less busy.

Chittorgarh is a sprawling town of blue coloured buildings that spread from the base of the fort that rises like a great rock island from the plain below.  The zigzag ascent to the fort takes us through six outer gates and the site itself extends over 6 km.  Luckily for 20 rupees we can take the car and our driver is more than happy to drive us to each site.  Buying the entry tickets got a bit hairy when a guy decided to jump the queue in front of John who soon bounced him to the back of the queue.

Each part of the fort is in various stages of disrepair but the overall scale is awesome and there are great views of chittorgarh from the ramparts.  Funnily enough, despite the scale and location of the fort, defensively it was a bit like Manchester United’s back four – prone to poor defending and the fort was sacked a number of times.

The Tower of Victory is nine stories high and visitors can ascend the 157 narrow steps to the top. 

It had to be done!

Obviously John wasn’t going to miss the opportunity of getting to grips with this big erection and headed off into the narrow confines of the tower leaving me at the mercy of the throng of young men who think having their photos taking next to westerners is the ultimate addition to their iphone.  They are all polite enough but do get very close and luckily for me the security man stepped in to manage all requests for photos - thank heavens John was in and out quickly.

Minding my own business

Padmini was reputed to be the most beautiful woman in Rajasthan and her palace stands aside a small lake.  The gardens are beautiful although the lake itself has largely dried up

Finally, Surajpol and the Tower of Fame on the east side offer views over the plains below.

The journey back to Udaipur after lunch was just as harrowing although our capable driver inspired enough confidence to allow John to sleep most of the way back although I was kept alert by the usual mix of roadside challenges.  

I think a relaxing evening is called for over looking the lake.

Our Delhi Diary

I’m not sure what we were expecting of Delhi – heat, crowds, and the unwanted attention of conmen?  Well yes there were crowds and yes we drew scammers like wasps to a jam pot but Delhi was a much more pleasant experience than expected and we met lots of locals keen to chat and with the aid of our trusty driver we’ve visited many of the major attractions.

We’re staying in Connaught Place and arriving in mid-afternoon we head out to acclimatise.  Personally, we like to acclimatise with a couple of cold refreshments so we were shocked to hear that because of the local elections Sunday was a DRY day – even in hotels.  Undeterred we mingle with the strolling crowds.

Sunday is the day everyone goes for a walk so it was busy and with elections taking place there were demonstrations involving loud drumming and fierce brush waving which made things interesting especially when a bus load of police arrived with batons in hand to chase away the brush wielding protestors.  I cannot believe that within hours of our arrival things are kicking off.  I am starting to think trouble follows us around.

Certainly the scammers follow us around – taxi touts, travel touts and the shoe shiners. The poo on shoe scam is classic – suddenly some dirt appears on your shoe only for a shoe cleaner to miraculously appear and offer to clean it off for a price.  Well it happened to John, how and when we don’t know although for the amount of mess involved I thought we’d have noticed a horse stopping to unload.  Cue appearance of shoe shiner, cue short shrift from John who went into full Seargeant-Major ‘It Ain’t Half Hot' mode and gave the would-be shiner a volley of abuse.  The powerful jet of the bum gun soon cleaned things up.

Our first day centered around graves and shrines – the Brits, Ghandi, Humayun, the Sayyid and Lodi rulers and the Indian war dead. Nicolson Cemetery is a quiet spot away from the hustle and bustle of Old Delhi.  Pushing open the old metal gates we find well-tended graves with headstones that hint of fascinating tales of the days of the Raj.  Many headstones are of servicemen and their families although some are simply marked ‘Deo Notus’.  Not surprisingly, we have the place to ourselves.

Many of the main attractions are closed on a Monday and those that are open appear to be the focus for school trips for thousands of young pupils, most of whom want to say hello and enquire after our health.  Once one pupil plucks up the courage to talk to us the rest of the group follow and we pass by in a chorus of greetings, smiles, waves and handshakes although the teachers aren’t always so pleased to see us as they keep the kids in line.

Raj Ghat has well tended gardens and a simple marble square that marks the spot where Gandhi was cremated.  The school parties pour by as we look around but compared to our next stop, Raj Ghat was relatively quiet.  

Humayun’s Tomb is a World Heritage sight and is dotted with tombs featuring some lovely Mughal architecture with Persian influences that inspired other tombs including the Taj Mahal.  

Apparently the Obamas visited when they were in Delhi although I doubt they rubbed shoulders with the throngs of kids.  There’s a real innocence about the children who are well turned out, chat happily in English and whose smiles are infectious.

Lunch at the Chimneys Restaurant was surprisingly good even if the backdrop was rough round the edges.  We felt quite proud of ourselves for venturing into this tiny café and were rewarded with excellent food. Whilst there, we met a couple from Belgium, the Christians who when they heard of our plans kindly made a generous donation towards MS and our impending rally.

After lunch we went to the Lodi gardens where we walked around these peaceful gardens viewing the monuments and more large tombs.  We have been pleasantly surprised at the extent of the green spaces in Delhi, which are in peaceful contrast to the chaos of the roads.  

Every crossing is a trial and junctions pose a risk from traffic and the big-eyed urchins who sidle up to cars stopped at the lights desperately trying to sell us something or begging for money.

The India Gate commemorates the 70,000 Indian soldiers who died fighting for the British in the First World War.  The Gate is 42 metres high and attended by servicemen at attention.  The solemnity is however undermined by the usual assortment of unsavory sorts offering kitsch photos and tourist tat.

On our second full day, we dodge the crowds and make an early morning start to visit the massive Red Fort.  The scale is fantastic and the gardens and elegant buildings of the walled city are well worth the early start although the stand-out part for me is the Lahore Gate and the imposing red sandstone walls.  Afterwards, we head off to the airport for Udaipur and the next leg of our travels.