Me and my friend Chetan wanted a break from work. So, we were pondering over the topic as to which destination will be the one which we need to cover this time. After much of consideration, we pinned Rajasthan on the map of India.
We had the trip planned for 10 days covering mostly Rajasthan, Amritsar and New Delhi. We took the Jaipur Express from Bangalore City. The journey takes about 2 and half days.
We chose to travel in AC two tier coach, wherever possible. But also kept in mind about the budget
constrains. We carried along a book, which was the best thing Chetan suggested. Lonely Planets' - India.
It has all the information one would require to go on a tour, and helps a lot to economical trave
lers. Even foreigners carry this book around. Travels agents, please excuse.
We reached Jaipur and took a room, just to freshen up and keep our luggages. We were approached by an auto driver at the station itself, for the local sight seeing. We chose to travel by the same. One can finish the sight seeing of Jaipur in less than a day. We booked bus tickets for Udaipur (no trains available from here on). Each city is about 6 hours journey away.
We visited the prominent spots of Jaipur like Hawa Mahal, few museums, Birla temple, and so on. We then reached our room in the evening for a nice siesta. Then in the evening, we took off to Udaipur.
Udaipur was a wonderful place. We got a room close by to the bus stand, which was pretty much fitting our budget. And the place was pretty good. We were right behind the Udaipur Palace and
near the market area. We had also planned for a horse safari through the villages near Udaipur (which most Indians don't, in fact we were the first Indians to do this in Udaipur).
We visited the Udaipur palace with the help of a guide who explains you every aspect of the palace very clearly. If you do not need a guide, you also get audio guides or text guides which is available on rental basis. Choose what fits your taste. After finishing the visit of the palace, we decided to book tickets from here for our journey further on.
Our plan was to leave the next evening to Jaisalmer, by changing two buses (total of 12 hours journey). We took a stroll down the market area in the evening. Then had our dinner and retired for the day. Next day early morning, we set off to horse safari. Was a day long activity and wa
s good. While our safari, we also came across a pet hospital for the abandoned and hurt animals. This was run by foreign nationals. They were very nice people. And the job they chose to do is definitely not an easy one as the funds came only from donations.
After our lunch at the end of safari, we took rest at our room. Evening, we visited the Narayan temple nearby and had our dinner and set off to catch our bus to Jaisalmer. We reached Jaisalmer the next mid-day. We had already booked our hotel at Jaisalmer, which was very near to the Jaisalmer fort. Though it was September, it was quite hot. Imagine how it would be in April or May!!!
We then got the desert safari arranged from the hotel manager. We set off for local sight seeing of Jaisalmer. We got to see many Havelis (mansions), Jain temples and also shopped a little. Evening was the best. We went to see the Jaisalmer fort, which is occupied by residents even today. Many hotels have been set up. Out of which we chose to go to "Little Tibet". We ordered a pasta and schezwan fried and had a mug of beer each. With the view of the city from the fort in the night, and few Indian Air Force officers were visitors to this hotel. The experience was awesome and cannot be explained with mere words. One has to be there to experience it.
The next morning we set off to desert safari and most of it was to be done on a camel.
We chose to go a sand dune area which was not populated. We wanted a typical desert, and not a market. The safari was about 5-10km. At first, the camel ride was joyful. Later on, you'd be in a situation wherein you neither can walk nor can sit on the camel. LOL.
We stopped midway for lunch. Our guide had all the supplies for preparing food, water, fruits, etc. We had nice lunch and throughout the journey, we clicked many snaps. Very picturesque. We reached our camp area about 5PM. Perfect time to prepare ourselves for sunset in the dunes and watch the clear sky. Thanks to Vijay Mallya, we got few beer bottles and we just lied down on the cots watching the clear sky full of stars and many a times shooting stars too.
The dunes were so beautiful, that we did not feel like leaving the place the next day. But we had to move on. We reached Jaisalmer and had to take an overnight train to Delhi. We reached Delhi and had to wait for the Shatabdi train till evening. We reached Amritsar in the night about 10PM. Took a room close to the Golden Temple. Next morning, we got up early and got ready. Had our sumptuous breakfast at a local place and went to the Golden temple. After which we got back to our room, and got ready to visit the Wagah Border in the evening for an amazing experience of India and Pakistan hoisting the flags down with pride. A must visit in an Indian's lifetime.
We then took a train back to New Delhi in the night. We reached New Delhi in the morning about 8AM and took a room. A note to everyone - ID Card a must for each person who stays in the room. ID card includes Voter ID, Passport, or Driving Licence and does not include PAN Card. Please remember to carry any of the above for each of the person who is travelling with you to New Delhi.
We then finished local sight seeing of New Delhi and we chose to travel locally by Metro Rail. Trust me, this is the best means of travel here. We then took a plane back to Bangalore and reached Bangalore by 10PM.
The memories we carried with us was awesome. Year 2008's trip ended with a visit to the amazing Rajasthan, Amritsar and New Delhi.
