New Year’s Eve Day: Back in Mumbai



Taj Mahal



We are back in Mumbai for New Year’s Eve after spending the past 10 days on our tour through Rajasthan with Twylaji Tours [this is a play on her name..."ji" added to a name is a term of endearment, and phonetically represents both her surname and the fact that she is a Guide]. The total group size, including our ji-guide, was only 6. We traveled by air, train, taxi, motor and foot powered rickshaw, van, camel, and walking. Our guide was intrepid in introducing us to new experiences and sights and challenging our boundaries. This is a quick overview of the trip with pictures and details to follow….



Agra Fort



We started by flying to Jaipur for 3 nights. The first of the days was spent going by train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. Both were spectacular. We returned by sleeper car which was an experience in it’s self when our berths for the 6 of us was unexpectedly added to by 2 people sleeping on the ends of the lower benches or on the floor. Since it was a 4 hour train ride and there was standing room only in the 2nd class car next to ours, we didn’t make them leave. The 2nd day in Jaipur, we spent walking around Jaipur visiting markets, temples, the fort, and shopping.



Pushkar



On day 3 we loaded into a van for our transportation for the remainder of the tour. The 6 of us fit well into the 11 seat van. The back seat was a bench which worked well for whoever needed to sleep/nap that day. (This was the Delhi belly or bad cold recovery ward.)
We stayed one night in Pushkar and again did a walking tour in the town center area where our guest house was located. This is a very holy location with many ghats and temples around a lake for cleansing and meditating. We and our families were blessed by several Brahmin priests at the lake. It was fun to walk around the lake and visit several of the 400+ temples.

Udaipur

The next day we went on to Udaipur where we stayed for 2 nights overlooking the lake in the old part of town. We visited the palace, took a boat trip on the lake, went to a Rajasthan dance performance at the museum and walked, shopped, visited temples and ate great meals and celebrated Christmas.

 Next we went on to Jodhpur, the blue city, for 3 nights. This city is located in the Rajasthan Desert and the locals are only able to grow crops in the winter after the fall monsoon if enough rain fell that year. This year was/is cool and wet so we actually were thankful for our light goose down "sweaters" for the low 40’s at night. It also rained one of the days we were there, very unusual this time of year in the desert... but you already know our luck with deserts.

On the drive to Jodhpur we stopped at an ox powered water lift used for irrigating the fields. We were shown how it worked and got great pictures of the water being lifted from a cistern dug many centuries ago.

Jain Temple at Ranakpur

On this drive we also stopped for several hours to visit the Jain Temple Complex at Shri Ranakpur. I think this rivals the Taj Mahal in elegance and splendour. There are over 1400 carved marble columns each unique holding up the walls and roofs of the complex. All surfaces are marble and carved completely with scenes and figures. The sunlight penetrating the complex rendered a lovely soft bright light amongst the columns. Enchanting.

The fort and palace complex in Jodhpur was also very extensive and spectacular and one gate was only a block from our accommodations. (Great choice by Twylaji Tours!) Since we were very centrally located we wandered through the streets, visited markets and temples, got lost, but could easily get back to the guest house via rickshaw if we couldn’t locate it ourselves.



Jodhpur



 One of the gates in the walled city of Jaipur

For the last 2 nights we returned to Jaipur. We visited the Amber Fort in Amer, and went to the Anoki fabric printing museum. While shopping continued for some, Greg and Dean and a rickshaw driver climbed up on a part of the city wall and walked along it to a vantage point above the fort, town, and reservoir. We successfully kept the monkeys away because they also like to walk along the wall.

Elephants at Amber Fort (Alison got snot-sprayed by an elephant,
another event to add to her list of animal-fluid exposures)

Today we flew back to Mumbai and have dinner and later plans to bring in 2011.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!



Amber Fort