Leisurely breakfast before we left for our long drive to Ooty. Only about 150km but on some dirt roads plus slow winding mountain roads. The drive took about 4 hours, that included pee stops! We drove through two areas of protected forests and wildlife preserves, Mudumalai and Bandipur. There was virtually no trash in these protected areas, but on either side the roads were littered again. Upon entry into the parks, you had to pass a police security checkpoint. Perhaps a deterrent to would be litterbugs. Despite both wildlife preserves having a population of tigers and elephants,… Read Article →
Up and ready to go by 9:00 am, met our guide for Mysore – Ragu. Our first stop was The Chamundeshwari Temple is located on the top of Chamundi Hills. We visited on a Friday which is the busiest day as many people go to the temple to worship as this is Adi Parashakti’s day. The Temple was crowded with thousands of people making their way to the top and waiting on line for 3 hours or more to get inside the temple for 2 or 3 minutes to make an offering and pray. The atmosphere was really lively… Read Article →
Up at 5am to catch our plane to Bangalore then drive to Mysore. The flight was fine but we had to pay extra because our luggage was overweight, all that is allowed is 20 lbs each, which is not a lot when traveling for 60 days. Landed in Bangalore a city of about 8.5 million, and is known as the silicon valley of India. It’s very spread out with a large number of new skyscrapers and many more under construction, but still trash is everywhere. We met our driver and started the 5 hour drive to Mysore. It took about 45 min… Read Article →
Started with a wonderful breakfast at the Trident, and then met Shamal and headed off to the famous Dhobi Ghat, Mumbai’s outdoor old fashioned laundry. Amazing to see these men knee deep in water thrashing linens on the concrete. Just watching men doing the laundry was pretty cool! Then off to the Gateway of India, a huge arch erected to commemorate the landing of King George V and Queen Mary at Apollo Bunder, when they visited India in 1911. It is the first thing you would see when arriving by boat. The monument has witnessed three… Read Article →
Had a crappy breakfast again, either doors open and bees flying in the dining area, or doors closed and AC not really going, or overhead fans at warp speed blowing everything off the table! Still misunderstandings about ordering simple breakfast food. Ravinda and our rep picked us up and took us to the airport about 45 min drive. Flight with Indigo airlines, a relatively new Indian company, very clean and efficient. Arrived in Mumbai around midday and were taken to our hotel, the impressive Trident Nariman on the Arabian Sea! Shamal our guide picked us… Read Article →
Bad breakfast they could not get it right. Met our guide Vikram at 10am for our tour of Udaipur beginning with a short walk through the old town past the travel and tourist shops to the Jagdish Temple, A temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu (preserver of the universe) built in 1651, it is the largest temple in Udaipur. We moved on to the City Palace, the largest palace complex in Rajasthan. It is adorned with mirrors, tile works, frescoes, and detailed miniature paintings that date to the 1750s. Adjacent to the palace is Lake Pichola where we had… Read Article →
We met our driver and Left this morning around 10 am for the 6 hour drive to Udaipur along the way we stopped at Ranakpur to visit a magnificent Jain Temple complex built in the 15th century. To read about the Jain religion click here. The Temple covers an area of about 325′ X 350′ and is supported by over 1444 exquisitely carved marble pillars, no two are the same. One of the pillars was intentionally left crooked because the temple can not be perfect because only God can make something perfect. The architect and all… Read Article →
We met our guide Mahavir and started the day with an open jeep ride through the countryside to the Bishnoi Villages, viewing some wildlife en route, antelope, cows of course, goats, sheep, etc. Then visited three different homesteads where the people were kind enough to let us in and show us their homes and businesses. The first was a pottery business where everything is made from material found locally. The man showed us how he made the pots, he didn’t need any electricity and the tools he used were very simple, a concrete wheel rotating on a… Read Article →
Checked out of the Holiday Inn in Jaipur and loaded up Ravinda’s van and set off for the long drive to Jodphur. It is only 335 km but when you stick to the speed limit of 80km/h and are avoiding vehicles in your lane coming in the opposite direction, scooters, cows in the middle of the highway, assorted other livestock and general impediments, plus mandatory stops at wayside tourist traps to use nasty loos, it takes 5 hours! Arrived at the luxury Ajit Bawan ‘Built in 1927 exclusively for the Maharadhiraj Sir Ajit Singhji, the… Read Article →
After a great and leisurely breakfast we met our guide Singh, a native of Jaipur. Jaipur is also known as the pink city, welcoming city, and was part of the Silk Road. Jaipur’s history dates back to the 12th century when the Kachchwaha clan or Rajputs arrived at the old fort palace of Amber in the Aravalli Hills. The Kachchwaha belonged to the Kshatriya, or the warrior caste of Hindus, but they traced their origins back to the sun, via Kusa who the twin son of the god Rama. The people the Kachchwahas ousted were the… Read Article →