We’re once more sat on a train – this time a local train
rattling through the countryside towards our next stop, Bijaipur – another
heritage stay. We’ve already had some excitement this morning. On the platform
Jon accidently squirted insect repellent in Georgia’s eye. Whilst trying to blink
it out, Georgia then blindly headbutted a metal bin. Extremely fortunately, one
of the members of our tour group, Greg, is an eye surgeon! So as soon as we got
on the train, he rinsed the eye with two litres of water and all seemed fine.
One of the delights of our trip has to be the people we’re
with. As well as being an interesting mix of ages and backgrounds, they’re a
lovely bunch who have rushed to the aid of anyone in need, offering medicines
and comforts – or in Georgia’s case, an eye irrigation out of the window of bumpy
train. We have Australians, Americans and Brits but oddly an abundance of
teachers! Seven out of the twelve of us are teachers at various levels of
education (primary to university) but then again, it is the Easter holidays.
And, as Georgia believes, it accounts for why we’re all such friendly people.
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| Seen here in Agra, at dinner after the Taj Mahal |
Jaipur
Jaipur is known as the Pink City as it was painted pink to
welcome Prince Albert when he visited in 1876. Our first morning in Jaipur saw
us visit the Amber Fort. It is an amazing hill-top site which holds a glistening
‘Glass Palace’ with walls of mirrors and intricate decoration.
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| Everything is made up of tiny pieces of Syrian glass - and shines like a diamond |
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| Our tour leader H knows the secret to a good picture at the Glass Palace: find the right angle |
We then went to a jewellers to see a demonstration of
gemstone polishing – so all in all a sparkly morning. After the quaintness of
our heritage stay, it was nice to check into the Wall Street Hotel – a business
hotel) for a hot shower, wifi, and for the Australians with us, the cricket on
the telly.
That evening we saw more of modern India. H took us for some local treats – lassi (a
refreshing yoghurt drink served in clay pots), amazing ice cream in a modern
parlour, spicy pasties called kachori, and finally a Bollywood movie in the
cinema. We loved the film and it gave us such an interesting view into gender
roles we wrote a separate film review.
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| It was even more spectacular inside, yet only seemed to have one screen |
The next day we finally had the tuk tuk ride Jon had been
looking forward to. To be honest it wasn’t as exhilarating as walking. The
roads in Jaipur are wide with several lanes and no pedestrian crossings. We’ve
learnt that to cross a road you just need to go – dodging between cars, buses,
tuk tuks, bikes and cows – and pray. H usually leads us across, standing in
front of beeping traffic, yelling “Let’s go” and “WAIT!” as appropriate. We’re
on the lookout for a high vis jacket and a whistle for him.
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| Things are looking up for Jon's review of transport types! |
We had two stops. Firstly an amazing astronomical
observatory, which has a sun dial so large and accurately engineered it tells
the time to two seconds. Then we went to a block painting workshop and shop.
The hand-decorated fabrics were beautiful so we finally indulged in a purchase
(which shall not be revealed here as it’s intended as a gift upon our return). Our
time in Jaipur was definitely a look into a modern, quite wealthy way of living
– but still with piles of rubbish on the road sides, casually dumped by the
residents.
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| H tells us that people do this because, in their eyes, it's not their responsibility once they get the rubbish off their property - and because the bins smell so bad, nobody wants to take the rubbish to them. |
Ranthambhore National
Park
After a long morning bus ride (which we heartily enjoyed as
an opportunity to sit back with our iPods and watch an interesting world go by)
we were welcomed to our next hotel with a necklace of marigolds and a Pepsi.
That afternoon, we headed out on safari! We piled onto a heavy duty 20-seater
jeep called a canter. We had the best seats, next to the driver - a very
skilled man, as we were to learn.
The national park has many species but none so interesting or
rare as its tigers. We drove through the park, dutifully snapping pictures of
the deer and wild boar, but always watching for the tell-tale orange stripe of a
tiger.
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| It was hard to tell who was sat watching who with this troupe of monkeys! |
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| A samba deer - though his dancing left much to be desired |
The track wound around lakes, through woods and up and down
hills. There were some eye-watering moments as our canter strained up steep
hills, swung round corners, and even managed a three-point turn halfway up a
hill.
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| It's nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life and really connect with the wilderness... |
Eventually we reached
a water hole and popular spot for tigers, and we waited. Sadly, none appeared
so we set off on the long journey back to the park entrance knowing our
opportunity had gone.
Just before the park
entrance we paused to watch a very cute family of wild boar. As we stopped we
overtaken by another jeep. A few hundred metres later, blocking our path, was
that same jeep, now stationary. The
people were all standing up like meerkats, cameras at the ready and when they
spotted us they beckoned us urgently. We raced towards them, staring up the
hill they were facing. Far away amongst the bushes we thought we saw a large shape
stalking across but it disappeared within a moment. The people in the other
jeep explained that a few moments before a tiger had crossed just in front of
their jeep – as close as anyone could possibly hope to be.
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| This was the best photo we could get of it. See if you can spot the tiger! |
To be honest our near miss didn’t bother us too much. We’d
enjoyed our afternoon, though frankly Jon would have loved to borrow a jeep and
drive around the park tracks himself. Our park guide teased us the rest of the
way home that if we hadn’t asked to stop to see that last family of boar, we
would have been the ones to see the tiger so close.
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| There were also these cool spider webs woven in trees; who needs tigers? |
Bundi
Our next stop on this relentless tour was the city of Bundi.
It was definitely our favourite city so far. In contrast to messy, hectic
Jaipur, Bundi seemed cleaner and more relaxed. In the cool late afternoon, the
manager of the hotel took us by Tuk Tuk to see some of the sights.
First stop – Bundi’s second largest ‘step well’. Bundi has
54 step wells – structures you’ll apparently find across Rajasthan but this was
our first. They are large, wide holes on the ground, with hundreds of steps
leading down to the bottom on all sides (this one had 700). They filled during
the monsoon season, which explained why when we saw it (at the start of the
monsoon season) it was bone dry. Our guide explained that until the 90s these
were used by the locals for all their water needs, as well as being social
gathering spots. Nowadays they’re not used for water, due to the city’s litter
problem and the presence of piped water for residents to use, provided by the
government.
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| Step wells are even better if you're a fan of M C Escher |
Our tuk tuks then raced us up the hill to a wonderful view
of the city, in which most of the houses are painted blue to ward off
mosquitoes.
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| The buildings all have to be repainted annually after the monsoon washes the paint off |
As the hot day cooled we walked round the derelict Bundi
palace. Georgia particularly loved this. It was so quiet and peaceful, unlike
the other busy palaces and forts we had visited. There was a charm to the crumbling
walls of this important site, with grand wooden doors now starting to rot and
exquisite paintings now hiding in silent corners. A few dedicated souls hovered
about, tending to the beautiful roof-top gardens and showing us the good photo
angles. It’s a charm tinged with dismay, though, knowing that a fair amount of
the damage to the murals and stonework was done by the locals themselves. Still,
the views were utterly spectacular, and the ambience one of calm magnificence –
a magical place to spend an afternoon.
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| The palace as seen from the viewpoint we stopped at earlier. |
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| The neglect began when the Maharaja of the area left the palace; since then, it's not been properly looked after by the Archaeological Society of India or the local community. |
Jon asked why the locals were motivated to damage the
monument, even if it were left vacant as it had been since the departure of the
Maharaja. Our guide explained that the locals don’t care about the palace, as
they don’t see it as part of their history – it’s the Maharaja’s. H also told
us that in many instances, it’s simply a lack of education that drives people.
They don’t understand what the place they’re in means, the importance of the
murals (some of the finest examples of their kind, hundreds of years old), or
the value of the monument as a tourist attraction, which of course benefits all
the businesses in the town. It’s a bit of a recurrent theme; the plastic
littering the ground is in many cases left there because people haven’t been
taught the damage it can do the environment. We even saw a harrowing article in
the paper in Jaipur that stated that 97% of Rajasthani infants were
malnourished. In many cases it wasn’t just because they live in poverty, but
because their mothers thought they were perfectly healthy. You’d be hard
pressed to find better examples of the value of education in society.
That said, our path back to the hotel took us through the
markets where we felt a sense of comfort and happiness from the locals. Some
greeted us with smiles and even handshakes. It was quite different to Jaipur
(or Delhi, for that matter), where everyone had been in a hurry and the only
people who spoke to you were the hawkers selling tourist tat.
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| Sadly, many of the shops were shut in honour of a Jain celebration marking the birthday of their prophet. |
So, two different cities – one bustling and wealthy, but at
times a little unfriendly – and one quieter, friendlier and much more beautiful.
And though Bundi was cleaner, both cities still had a rubbish problem. We’ve
seen lots of evidence that Indians value education – the schools are the nicest
buildings around and there are adverts for schools everywhere, with posters
celebrating the highest achieving students. Education is clearly important here,
but given the seeming lack of understanding about health, the environment, and
history, we wonder how many people have access to that education – and what it
covers for those that do.
J&g xx
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| Today featuring Robbie, a fellow traveller who also works for Intrepid! |
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