Still sore from our camel excursion the past few days, we boarded a bus for the 7hr ride to Bikaner. Bikaner is another common place to depart for camel treks and originally we had bought a train ticket departing Bikaner because we were going to ride camels there but changed our plans last minute. Nonetheless, we still made it a stop on our loop of Rajasthan.
After some debate Lianna and I were signed up to join another couple on a camel trek into the Thar Desert outside of Jaisalmer. Sometimes in relationships, compromises must be made and this was one of those times. Lianna agreed to 2 nights provided she had a tent to sleep in instead of being exposed at night to the desert wildlife (spiders and scorpion she wants to add) so after paying a little extra for her requirement was arranged and we were off.
Leaving from Udaipur to Jaisalmer, we broke the journey up with a quick stopover in Rajasthan’s second largest city, Jodhpur.
Udaipur is generally known as one of the (if not the) most romantic cities in India I wouldn’t deny that it has romantic qualities, but when in India everything is relative to your budget.
After the chaos and hassle of Agra and Jaipur, Pushkar comes as a breath of well needed fresh air. Most know it for the carnival style camel fair each fall, but Pushkar is also an important pilgrimage place for locals who come to bathe in the holy lake. When we arrived we were surprised to see that there was no such holy lake and only a holy puddle left! This years monsoon was poor and thus the lake had dried up.
Here’s a tip for anyone coming to India. Do not expect efficiency…anywhere. This tip is especially crucial when taking public transportation. Yesterday we were set to leave Katni station to go to Agra departing at 7:30pm, so like the good travelers we thought we were, we decided to get there 2 hours early. After 2 hours of locals coming up to us intrigued by everything about our lives and asking questions balancing on inappropriate (we are now pretending we are married for the rest of India), we realized our train was late and was now leaving at 9:30pm. At 10:30pm we got on the train, and we got to Agra at 4:30pm rather than 8:15am. When traveling long term there isn’t usually too much of a problem if you loose a day in transit, but the problem was that we had no food and the last time we had eaten was noon the day before, so we survived off chips and biscuits. We did not feel good.
Bandhavgarh National Park is one of three well known tiger reserves in the Indian state of Madya Pradesh. Our journey from Varanasi was an overnight 11hr train ride which went by quickly while we were in a deep slumber.
A city without shame or remorse, perched on the ghats which enter the great Ganges river lies Varanasi. Mecca or Jerusalem for the Hindu universe, it is here all Hindus wish to die before being cremated at one of the two burning ghats. Once ones ashes are thrown into the Ganga, (or Ganges) their spirit becomes free from the cycle of rebirth. Pregnant women, children, holy men or cows need not not apply, as they are already pure and enter the river without cremation.
