Mt. Abu and rest of Udaipur

ROYAL - Udaipur Zoo

There are many more things to see at Udaipur, but we decided to make a day-trip to Mt. Abu, on the second day. It was a long drive, but the roads were pretty good for the most part. Hence, it was a good choice for the trip in the middle of the 3 days at Udaipur. After break-fast we headed out. Enroute we were informed of the bandits/tribal trouble that occurs in the night time along that highway. The cab drivers suggested that we either return before sun-down or stay over night at Mt. Abu. We thought it was not worth the while to spend lot more time at Mt. Abu.

We took in regular sights of Achalgarh temple (skipped the fort), Dilwara Jain temple and Arbudha Devi temple. The Dilwara Jain temple is pure artistic marvel - amazing sculpture on pillars, ceilings, walls - pretty much all around. Symmetry, eye for detail, and variety of patterns from tile to tile (very little repetition - and only when required for symmetry). Since photography is not allowed in most temples, we did not click any throughout Mt. Abu! Next was the climb to Arbudha Devi temple, which was about 450 steps and did take a while to make it. One has to bend / crawl below a huge boulder to get into the sanctum - even more difficult for tall and fat people like me! It was worth it - as we had a good exercise before lunch. We took lunch at a small vegetarian restaurant before we went for a boat trip on Nakki lake. It was casual pedalling around the small lake in the cool afternoon sun, taking in the greenery around the lake. Then, after some shopping for souvenirs we headed back to Udaipur.

Entrance to Sahelion Ki Badi

The third day was spent in further exploration of Udaipur. First stop at the zoo was for about an hour - and we wondered how they would maintain these in the peak of Rajasthan's summer. It must indeed be difficult to maintain, but I guess the lakes are good enough to provide the water, and some greenery to Udaipur. The whole Gulab Bagh area is full of greenery and the zoo tucked into a corner. Then a stroll around the Gulab Bagh area, including a view of the Gulab Bagh Library, was pretty relaxing. Fateh Sagar lake view was taken up next - but no boat rides on that day - the lake was over-flowing. The road around the lake would have been submerged if there was 3 inches more water in the lake. So, we took some photos of the full-to-the-brim lake before heading up to Moti Magri (Pearl hill) to see the museum and Maharana Pratap statue commemorating the Battle of Haldighati. The view from this hill was very nice too.

We drove along the lake, upto the spillway of the lake, before heading down to an architectural marvel 'Sahelion ki badi' (garden of the queen's friends). This garden contains many fountains, which function without a single pump. The garden and fountains are about 85 feet below the level of the Fateh Sagar lake (as per the guide). The fountains are directly linked from the lake and the water-head makes it function without any external effort of motors / pumps. Variety of layouts with different fountain patterns surrounded by a botanical garden was a real pleasure to enjoy. One wondered whether this is supposed to be part of Rajasthan desert in the first place! Probably not - just the border, maybe?

Fountains in Sahelion Ki Badi

The rest of the evening was spent in relaxation and shopping for a variety of things. Clothes, bedsheets, trinkets - bought a few of these, here and there - as per the cab driver's suggestions, after avoiding the main markets totally. He advised us that the main markets make hefty profits on tourists. As I have mentioned in a separate post earlier - the courtesy of the people, and the shopping experience was amazing. We are drawn to pull out our wallet and empty it at every shop! The politeness and willingness to serve was a contrast to the metro snobbery (majority of places in metros where customers are treated with disdain).

Overall, it is worth a more relaxed visit - probably on someone's sponsorship to stay at those fancy 5-star hotels or the Taj Lake Palace! :-P Temple visits would also be worth it, along with some more shopping. So, travel donations anyone?

Fountains at Sahelion Ki Badi

Pushkar and rest of Jaipur

Moti Doongri Fort near Lakshminarayan Mandir - Jaipur

Jaipur has quite a few more things to offer, which we decided to go through on the 3rd day. As we had earlier planned, we decided to visit Pushkar on the 2nd day, to see the only temple for Lord Brahma where he is worshipped as the main deity. The Pushkar lake is also supposed to be very sacred with many deciding to offer prayers for ancestors here.

The roads to Pushkar were pretty good, except a few kilometres nearing the destination. We took the help of a guide who took us to the lake and bathing ghats. Priests usually compete to get your attention in order for them to do the pooja for you and ancestors. Since we had gone with the guide, he had arranged for one to do the pooja for us. Since both parents are alive and well, for both of us, it was a small disappointment for the priest as he would have wanted us to make sacred offerings in case of deceased parents, etc. Beware of very smooth talking people who would try to get you to donate huge sums for various causes at this place. We then went to the Brahma temple and had a good dharshan before heading back to Jaipur.

Amber Palace - Jaipur

We decided to relax in the evening and took up the trip around Jaipur the next day. This included visit to Lakshminarayan Mandir near the Moti Doongri fortress, Albert hall and Museum (gave a miss to the zoo and bird park nearby) and followed by the majestic and huge Amber Palace to the north of Jaipur. The Lakshminarayan mandir is at the foot of the hillock on which Moti Doongri fortress is built. After a peaceful visit to the Mandir, we decided to go to the Albert Hall and Museum, where the artifacts are just huge in number. Sculptures, paintings, arts, craft, instruments - everything is collected and documented for us to take in. One can spend a couple of days and still not grasp the wonders of the Rajput periods. We decided to take a few photographs for later analysis and went through the exhibit halls before proceeding to Amber Palace.

Glass work at Amber

The grand Amber Palace in the Aravalli hills was the next stop. The big fort and palace overlooking the lake is really breathtaking. The size of the construction and using the natural layout of the hills - is really amazing. The paths provided for the people of the area to come over for meetings and celebrations in the huge court-yards, big rooms, sophisticated baths, great view of the hills and natural protection from the fortifications, etc., are indeed stupendous. Again the use of a guide, in this case a person with fluent English, was really useful for us. Then we went to a few places to shop, near Amber palace as well as near Jal Mahal. Courteousness and salesmanship were very obvious and we picked a few things from the variety of shops we visited.

In the evening, a second visit to the market rounded off the stay at Jaipur, as we bought a few dresses, nuts, spices, chocolates, etc., before spending evening and the next day relaxing. We indulged further in sweets and good vegetarian food, bought many sweets for distribution to relatives, friends and colleagues before we big goodbye to the Pink city.

Pink city - within the walls

Pink buildings in city

It was really comfortable to travel to Jaipur by train overnight, from Udaipur. Many had suggested that we should drive to Jaipur and could see a few places en-route, like Nathdwara and Pushkar. We decided to not strain ourselves by long car journey. Moreover we had covered Nathdwara from Udaipur, while Pushkar is nearer to Jaipur and we thought we could make a trip from there, if it could be fit into the schedule.

First day at Jaipur was spent with a short half-day trip around the Pink city area. The centre of the city within the main gates and walls of Jaipur old-city have this rule of having all buildings painted in pink, which is the reason for the name. It was painted such during the visit of the King of England and the tradition continues and, in fact, is now in the rule books of the local government.

Jantar Mantar view

 Our first stop was the astronomical center Jantar Mantar. The many scientific instruments (yantras), built by the Rajput king Maharaja Jai Singh II in early 18th century, are simply awesome. Practical approaches of using the instruments have been taken into consideration along with precision for making the readings. Jaipur's latitude and longitude has also been taken into consideration for accurate measurements. Since we engaged a guide, it was very useful to understand all the instruments built at Jaipur Jantar Mantar. Some of the instruments have a precision of about 2 seconds and other instruments provide further information and aspects of zodiac. The Jantar Mantar in Jaipur is the best and encompasses maximum number of instruments, amongst the many built across north-west India.

Samrat Yantra - Huge with 2 second precision of time

The next stop for us was the City Palace and Museum, which is adjacent to the Jantar Mantar. The medieval collection of the variety of transport, dresses, utensils, equipments and weapons are well preserved and presented for the public. Again, the help of a guide was very useful in getting to know the facts and history of the palace and the maharajas. Though there are some exaggerations and personal opinions that are slipped in, it is worthwhile to employ a guide at most of these places.

Near these two places is the famous Hawa Mahal (palace of winds). The rows of rooms along a single line, rising 5-6 floors, look quite simple. The winds in the rooms through the engraved windows of the rooms are indeed surprising. From the Hawa Mahal, one can have a good view of the market, Jantar Mantar and City Palace. We decided to rest for the afternoon and walked along the market for some window shopping in the evening.

Hawa Mahal

The sweets in Jaipur are pretty enticing. Huge portions are available at a very nominal price - in some cases about 1/4th of the price of same item in Chennai! We were enticed to sample them after every meal and thoroughly enjoyed it. One can return to the city, not only for the cleanliness and people's camaraderie, but also to enjoy the cuisine and sweets.

Udaipur - Lake, Palace, Museums

On the first day in Udaipur, we decided to go through a few sights that would be guided by our cab driver. We planned, as usual, to take it easy and cover a few places during the day, with some rest in the afternoon, followed by evening visit/shopping. The natural first stop was for the boat trip in the very famous Pichola Lake. We all longed for a trip to that Lake palace, but are immediately disappointed to know that it is out of bounds for anyone who does not stay at the hotel! Entry to the Taj Lake Palace, as shown in the James Bond movie, Octopussy, is only allowed for those who book a night or more at the hotel, and stay there. Well, who needs to go into the palace. It is likely to be full of algae, fungii, etc. (or actually sour grapes, isn't it :-) )

Lake Palace - view from boat

The boat ride from near the garden took us around the Taj Lake palace in anti-clockwise direction, first showing us a wonderful view of the City Palace. The majestic palace that extends 100s of meters along the lake is simply awesome. As we turn and take a closer look at the Taj Lake Palace, we are also pointed to the Leela Palace and the Trident on other shores of the lake. It must be really serene to spend many days along the lake in such beautiful surroundings. We ride along closer to Jag Mandir before the trip came to an end. As it was not the peak period, the overall experience was nice and calm without any rush.

Part of Lake Palace on left, with the full City Palace at the back - view from boat in Pichola Lake

The next place to visit was the Karni Mata Temple atop a hillock near the Pichola Lake. One can take a shared rope-car (which may need a wait for 15-20 minutes to collect more people) or pay for a full rope-car (like we did, to avoid the delay) - definitely pretty costly (was about 500 rupees, I think, in 2012). We decided to hurry and get the trip done quickly in order to get back to the hotel before 2 PM. The panoramic view of Udaipur is very nice indeed from this hillock. Construction work was in progress at the temple and expansion was also seen on couple of sides. After taking in a full view of Udaipur, the Pichola lake, the various palaces and gardens, we came down without wait.

Glass work in City Palace

A trip around City Palace was the next item on the agenda and we decided to go with a guide. Though the palace is a long narrow building (or set of buildings), the number of floors and rooms, make it quite imposing. We took about 2 hours to cover it along with the guide (and we think the guide took a smart short cut near the end, cutting it short probably by another half hour). The art work, architecture, carvings, glass-work, paintings, living quarters, facilities in those times, etc., are really fascinating. The palace, having been built around a mound, has trees growing on the 4th floor - that is 4th level, but that part is actually on the mound itself. It is indeed interesting piece of architecture and usage of the land around that area.

Inner Courtyard - with glass art and carvings

Overall, it was a very long walk around the palace and it was getting close to lunch time. We decided to take lunch at the Garden Hotel, which is also in same compound as the Vintage Car Museum of the House of Mewar. After the stroll around seeing all the cars, carts and other vehicles of the Maharanas we had lunch at the Garden hotel, before heading back to our resort. A good couple of hours of rest was ordered before a change of plan took us to the visit of Nathdwara temple and Eklingji temple. There is very limited opening hours and aarti timings at Nathdwara and we were able to make it to the afternoon darshan. Evening stop at Eklingji was also very nice to take in, with the view of extensive architecture of these old temples. One wonders where the crowd comes from, as both were quite crowded. I think it was an auspicious day as well, which added to the crowd, but mostly it was pretty organized and not much of pushing/shoving, which happens during crowded times.

View of Lake Palace from City Palace

We were not done for the trip around Udaipur, though it was enough for the day. One of the tidbits we learnt is that the Custodianship of City palace museum, Vintage car museum, variety of hotels, temples, etc., are with the House of Mewar and is not with the Government (Rajasthan or India). One should say that all these places are being maintained well by this House of Mewar.

Naldhera and Mall Road

The third day of our trip we decided to visit Naldhera and cover the Mall Road in Shimla in leisure. Naldhera is only 10 km from Mashobra village, which was our base. We decided to not attempt the climb from the road to the peak on our own. We took the mules - one for each of us - along with the guide to take us around the points of interest at Naldhera. First stop was at a clearing in the pine forest where several films have been shot. The climb along the winding path along the side of the mountain was at times scary. A slip would send us 100s of meters down the slope! The guides skillfully directed the mules and we reached hole 7 of the golf course there. The golf course is said to be the highest located in Asia, at about 2200 metres.

After taking some snaps of the golf course, we continued up to the top spot of the peak. From the top of the peak we had a view of Sutlej flowing deep in the valley, probably around 1 - 1.5 k.m. below the spot. We also had a grand view of the Himalayas including the India-China border. Evergreen pine forests and some mountains with different other vegetation, depending on whether it was leeward or windward side slopes were also a grand treat to watch. The climb down by the mule was a little more scary as we were worried that the mules will start to trot and get out of control. Again the guides skillfully maneuvered the animals and helped us reach the road. Another kilometer on the road and we were back at the starting point.

After this adventure, we decided to relax at Mashobra for an hour before heading out to Shimla for the Mall road visit. This time we took the "Lift" to the Mall road and had a slow visit around the shops in the area. After spending a couple of hours, we had our lunch and then continued with shopping at HPMC outlet for Himachal's yummy stuff. We could not get enough of the cleanliness of the city or the orderly behaviour and friendly nature of the people. Tourism is bound to thrive in such a city.

Some of the things that struck us at Shimla are as below. Narrow roads leave very little space for parking. Still people manage to park in areas where it will not cause any inconvenience to others. If city folks park 8 cars in a stretch, we found that in Shimla, in same space, they have managed to park 10 to 12 cars! Innovative constructions for parking cars were also found aplenty. Extensions from the road with minor construction held one car or two. Even a small mistake of pressing the accelerator instead of the brake would take the car hurtling down the side of the mountain - still they have managed to create and use such spaces.

Various buildings seem to flout all norms of construction. Match box like arrangement of buildings after buildings seem to raise a question about the law of the land. At the same time, one can notice that everything is not concentrated into the city. There are enough roads leading all over the place and the houses, buildings, etc., are spread out around the whole area. A view of the whole area at night shows dots of lights all over the mountains and spread out. Most of these places are well connected by road as well & those are decently maintained.

With everything going smoothly in this time of year, we wonder how it will be during peak time. It is likely that it will be much crowded. When asked about parking and driving problems, the folks said that it was not a problem. We don't want to test it - but with the positive approach and good attitude of the people, it may well be true.

Incredible India - Jai Hind.

In and Around Shimla

Jakhoo Temple

One day can be spent in exploring Shimla and its nearby spots. We decided to go by what the tourist cab driver had in mind, with some occassional overrides of our own. First stop was at Jakhoo temple, which is dedicated to Hanumanji. Here we have a 100-foot statue of Hanumanji in Kesar colour, overlooking Shimla city. Managing to go up the steep slopes, which remind us of the steep climb up Mount Washington in New Hampshire, we reached the footsteps to the Jakhoo temple. The big difference in this climb up the road was that we also have hairpin bends here, where even a small car like Maruti 800 or Alto cannot negotiate without a 3-point turn! Skill of the drivers were to the fore, we felt the cool confident nature of theirs as everyone went by respectfully in lane and also crossed other cars going in opposite direction smoothly without a honk, flashing of lights or any other indications of priorities / precedence. A short climb of about 200 steps led us to the giant Hanumanji statue and the temple. Some views of Shimla and Sanjouli were also nice through the dense pine growth all around. There were a lot of monkeys around the complex, but many didn't trouble us (unless people troubled them). At times they do try to scare the devotees to take away the prasaadam.

We then moved a couple of kilometers as the crow flies, but actually took 1 hour to reach the next stop through the serpentine roads to Indian Institute for Advanced Studies. We went through a short tour of the main building, which was also the Rashtrapathi Bhavan till 1960s, with the guide giving us highlights of the events at the building. We learnt the history and current uses of this institute along with the original architecture, furnishings, some historic photos, etc. A trip through the nice garden of the institute was enjoyable as we saw nature's ideas for colour combinations, which are very attractive and could give a good guide to modern garment industry.

Garment Industry - pick your natural combinations...

From the same parking area, we could walk across to the Himalayan Bird park. This is a small park in about 4000 sq feet enclosure, which houses pheasants, peacocks and pea fowls. We can get close to the birds and they wander along with the visitors with some swans, jungle fowl, etc., thrown in the mix. One could spend about 10 - 20 minutes here especially admiring the Himalayan Monal Pheasant. Then we skipped the Heritage museum as it was a further trek up the path, which was a little difficult at such high altitudes. Agreed that I am getting old and not in great shape for trekking!

Himalayan Monal Pheasant

We decided to skip the trip to Sankat Mochan temple and Vaishno Devi temple near Shimla. Since we had taken our time in both Jakhu temple and IIAS, we had less time for other places. We went on to Lakkhar Bazaar & the Mall road. Here is the place we were struck by the cleanliness, open spaces, discipline and orderly movements of people, simple efforts to keep the place clean, neat horses available for horse ride, no horse-shit anywhere except in the holding area for the horses, etc. Are we in India, we wondered? Why can't the people in South India be like these folks? Simple individual steps make it an amazing experience for any visitor or resident alike. Should we buy a house in Shimla and move here? We are tempted indeed.

We walked through only a part of the bazaar, reached the ridge, had the customary views of the valleys and mountains, took some photographs of the cloudy day and returned back to our hotel. Though it is all so neat and enjoyable, we still wonder whether summer crowd will be a little too much for us. Our guess is that it would be too much for us, just like a visit to Ooty (Ootacamund; Udhagamandalam) or Kodaikanal. We felt it was enough of an exercise for us all and thought of returning to the Mall road area on a subsequent day to make a complete visit.


Shimla is enough to make us feel - "Incredible India".

River Rafting and Sulphur hot springs

Couple of activities around Shimla, at which one can spend a day, are river rafting upto Thattapani and the natural hot springs at Thattapani. Situated around 55 kilometers away from Shimla, Thattapani is a good tourist spot on the river Sutlej. It takes about an hour and a half to reach the town Sunni by road. One can start the rafting from Sunni or from another town about 6 k.m. further upstream. Though it is referred as white-water rafting, there is not much of white water turbulence on this stretch of the river. Hence anyone and everyone can take part in the rafting.

Landslides along river Sutlej - view from Raft towards upstream part of river

Some land slides visible on one side of the mountain, the deep canyon in which the river Sutlej flows through and the tan colour water from carrying all the silt from upstream makes it quite a beauty to enjoy. Himalayas are a unique beauty not found elsewhere. One wonders whether it could also become like a Grand Canyon in a few thousand years! Since there is no plateau around, this would still be called "Grand valleys" of the world, I guess.

The people operating the rafting trips are quite professional in their approach with very good attention to detail. Even though it is not quite turbulent, they stick to processes to ensure that safety of individuals is not neglected. Taking care of our shoes & socks by taking them off before the rafting trip (and delivering it at the destination of the rafting trip), holding our valuables, cameras, etc., in a rubber dry bag, securing the rowing equipment onto the raft, etc., all carried out methodically by the team was impressive to watch. Later, they encouraged us to jump into the water to take a swim around the raft in the parts of the river where it was quite serene (still waters run deep we are taught - so we were quite reluctant, I guess). The water was quite cold - probably around 5 degrees centigrade. At the end of the trip, before real rough white water starts, we glide to the shores at Thattapani.

Tattapani alighting point - hot and cold indeed

As we alighted, we found that the stones were quite hot, because we had been drenched by the cold water of the Sutlej. We were wondering whether the mid-day sun was the cause, when suddenly we found that even some parts of the sand were very hot after getting constantly drenched by the cold water! How was this possible? The answer is that some of the areas are being heated by the natural hot water springs. It really sent confusing signals to the brain when we moved from 5 degrees centigrade to 50 or 60 degrees sand/pebbles. It was a different feeling and we rushed back into water to avoid getting burns in our feet.

Next we went to the nearby hotel named Hot Spring, where they have small swimming pools which are fed by natural sulphur hot springs. They have lot of boards in Thattapani (meaning hot water, I would guess) that mention many hotels providing the natural sulphur spring pools. We went to the hotel Hot Spring, took an elongated dip in the Sulphur hot springs and then continued on for lunch. There is excellent cooperation between the various teams that we were not asked to pay for anything from river rafting to sulphur spring dip to lunch. Everything was to be billed at our resort only!

Sutlej white water downstream from Tattapani
- real white water but no rafting here

On the way to Thattapani or on the way back, one can take a trip around Naldhera which is home to one of the golf courses in highest location in Asia. A view of the Sutlej, down in the valley, flowing a few hundred metres below our view point, view of the farther mountains near the India-China border, etc., were available when visited on the back of a mule. We decided to skip it and take it up on a subsequent day.

Courtesy and courteousness is seen from all people who provided us with various services. They know how to provide service, how to please customers and keep them in good books. They deserve tips from us, which they don't really insist and don't show their expectations for it either. It seems like "We provide excellent service and income/profits are a bonus" seems to be their motto.

Jai Hind!