Rajasthan on a Shoestring part 2

Jodpur, Udaipur, Pushkar, Tordi Sagar

It’s been near impossible to keep up to date on this blog or write a single word in my journal as the shoestring tour never stops…. I’m finally catching up from my ashram in Rishikish although I’ve been deliberately on a digital detox as well as physical and spiritual for the last week! We continued the tour with two consecutive days of 5am bus journeys – long, uncomfortable local bus journeys but that’s all part of the experience! I’m sure tour guide Manny prepares us for the worst as we are usually pleasantly surprised – I knew the bus wouldn’t really have wooden benches 🤔 although one of our group did find an actual rats head in their bed…

Any ideas of sleep on the bus were out the window – this is the sound of the horn, which the driver used pretty much non stop!

First stop Jodpur, the Blue City. Our hotel was out of town as usual (it is a Shoestring tour) so we didn’t actually see any blue until we visited the Fort, which we didn’t actually enter due to the cost (remember it is a Shoestring tour).

The main bazaar in Jodpur was fun – it revolves around a fluorescent clock tower and crazy roundabout.

Onwards to Udaipur, which turned out to be my favourite place so far. It’s slightly quieter will a myriad of winding streets and little shops. By now we’d broken off into smaller groups and a few of my gang discovered we have a penchant for doorknobs – which for some reason are for sale everywhere here for 20p. Cue another buying frenzy, frantically rooting through boxes of dirty but colourful door knobs, not realising the clean new ones were out the back. Apparently I’ll be upcyling when I get home.

I’ve realised that ‘free time’ on this tour is just a myth – the time warp will absorb every last minute until it’s time for dinner. Service is notoriously slow – there is also no such thing as a quick meal (once we were served three courses of hummus which still took two hours and became known as the Hummus Incident). Neither can you buy a glass of wine – it’s a pint of ‘domestic wine’ or nothing 😂

Udaipur’s stunning fort

Udaipur offered the chance for a painting class which was great fun, lying on the floor of a local artist hangout drinking chai tea and trying our hand with natural paints – we just had to make the difficult choice of drawing a camel or elephant (“Manny, help!!”)

I was quite proud of my camel until I compared it to the professional version. The artist also painted our fingernails with a twist!

In the evening we went to a cultural show which was brilliant, not the tourist trap I had imagined.

A 80 something year old woman balanced more and more pots on her head whist shimmying around (see video below), beautifully dressed ladies performed a sitting down dance jangling bells, and there was a bizarre fight scene with a man riding on the back of another man dressed as some kind of animal, but the highlight was the old puppet master who did things with a belly dancing puppet I didn’t know were possible. I was too transfixed to take many photos.

We enjoyed more rooftop dinners with stunning views… I really liked Udapur, even with all the posters of Judi Dench from that Marigold movie.

We hopped on another insanely busy train to the holy town Pushkar (vegetarian, no eggs, no alcohol, LOTS of cows in the street and LOTS of drugs taken to compensate).

All the early mornings, long journeys with no toilets and snacking in place of meals is taking its toll. As my roommate Gemma said, we shrivel like prunes on these journeys, rationing our water and stuffing our faces with sugary snacks which we buy in bulk the night before in some kind of group ritual. I was just about to finally dose off on the train when an old woman threw a baseball cap at my head – apparently her way of reserving a non existent seat next to me. And whilst there was a toilet, it was physically impossible to reach it.

What I do like about the trains in India is the Chai men – whenever you fancy a cup of Chai tea, a man will appear out of nowhere and sell you one for about 10p. Also fun is the ‘Chips, Biscuit, Caaaaake’ man who walks up and down the aisles announcing his wares in a fantastically monotone voice 😂

So busy was this train that we very nearly didn’t make it off at all. Hordes of men stormed the narrow doorway and pushed their way on before anyone could get off, including the 18 of us with our backpacks and numerous families with suitcases. Luckily tour guide Manny had a word and they stepped aside so nobody was left behind! We all agreed that if we had been left behind we probably would have burst into tears and never let go of tour guide Manny again.

Our next stop was the village of Tordi Sagar, where I thought we were staying in a home stay, so was mentally prepared for a squat toilet and bucket shower. I was amazed to find we were actually staying in the local mansion, complete with huge balconies and gorgeous rooms with stained glass windows. This is the life!

We had an interesting walk around the village where we learned more about the Caste system (basically you’re born into one of four ‘castes’ which dictates your job opportunities and life in general, although things are gradually changing ). At the bottom are the ‘Untouchables’, who do the dirty work and at the top are the Brahmins. This explains it better than I can. Our group also had a game of cricket with the locals, who were clearly waiting for us to clear off so they could have a proper match. I watched until I was accosted by village kids who stole my water bottle then helpfully refilled it from a dirty tap and returned it to me 😬

Below are lots of photos because I’m too tired to write anymore words!