Its morning of day 3, I was so tired last night that I just crashed after writing a few notes about the day. Now I edit, and hope that I’ll be able to upload this from the network when we hit the fort.
We woke up at Barwara Lodge (Great Night, comfy sleep, really nice room!), and got directions from our host to go to see amber fort. We drove through the nice sights of Jaipur (and its morning traffic, passing Hava Mahal and a few bazaars and gates to get to the fort. Which we found on the outskirts through some nice bends in the road. When we arrived, we parked where we thought we had to and found out it would cost 550 by elephant or 220 by jeep. A helpful (read someone who wanted a job touring us) told us we could take our car straight up via the same Jeep route for just 20 bucks. The road was fine, and in a bit, we got up, and went on our quick hit and run tour of the fort. We took out Dad’s camera to take pics (Last night, Dad, charge the camera. No, don’t need to its got juice. Today, Dad how do you spell DOGHOUSE?) it had no batteries, AND the ones we purchased from the touts at the fort turned out to be dead… no worries, out comes my trusty little nokia phone and here we have some representational 2 mega pixel shots for you to enjoy.
Dad kept on going on about the ostentations and unfair distributions of wealth that allowed for kings and emperors to have their kingdoms and empires. I was like, dad, you sound like you’re a communist.
“I AM A COMMUNIST!” he said proudly.
I thought, “must get a book of quotes going on this trip.”
We finished our lovely tour of the fort, where I got to reminisce about where I got lost when I was visiting here last at the age of 8. I did well not to cry this time.
There’s always bit of shirtyness at the top of the morning, getting in, settling into a drive. It was helped by the highway out of Jaipur being fantastic. Total Americana… 6 lanes, lots of tolls, lots of fancy new rest stops, including a coffee day that had just opened which when we walked in, turned on their AC and fridges and power. I thought, there is now way in hell they’ll be able to serve me cold coffee and a fresh sandwich if they haven’t got refrigeration. They managed the sandwhich, it was good, but the cold coffee and a VERY suspect after taste to it.
Our goal was Ajmer, for lunch, and a quick gander at Chisti’s Dargaha. This expressway put us a few km out of Ajmer, where NH8 again turned into a two lane road ….. I had thought the whole 4-6 business would last us to Mumbai with the Golden Quadlirateral, but nope. Back to a 2 lane road. Thankfully it was high quality surface throughout, except when we pass through the villages that NH8 go through.
On the bonding front: Dad has started to call me third gear Jana, because I like using my gears for power and control at speeds. He on the other hand is concerned about all the fuel that I haven’t been paying for, so I switch to fourth for three seconds before the next pothole. Oh, btw. Potholes… not many. Highways have been smooth and utterly lovely, except when they go through the cities they connect, and the villages that line them. At which point there are speed breakers, rumble strips and a lot of bad bits but these are few and far between.
Ajmer was a bit of a bummer. Lunch was at Honeydew restaurant – touted by Lonely Planet to be nice, famous for the fact that all the Mayo students treat each other here. A bit on the Rajasthani dating scene. I tried to open the restroom door to find it locked. Oh, it’s a single bathroom is it? Ok. I wait, three seconds later a large Rajasthani boy comes out, 2 seconds after that, his girlfriend, holding her folded hanky in front of her face. Hmm. Charming. After a relaxing and rested lunch, we set out to find Chisti’s tomb. The hot Ajmeri sun was not something we should have been sightseeing in. One look at the old quarter of Ajmer and dad was like, you go walk through those streets to see Chisti’s dargha - I’ll pass. I wasn’t too excited about the idea either. So, bit of a write off that.
The road out of Ajmer however was decent, but when we reached Rajasamand district, it made the purpose of Ajmer as a contrasting point pay off… something dramatic happened to the landscape, and things just got gorgeous. Rajasamand is the prettiest plains, semi-plains district I have ever driven through. It is just scenic, full of water bodies, lush and green with many little bits of hill and ranges that roll around us, and that we rolls through. Even the Camel sightings got more frequent, and there were asses to boot. No not asses in the boot. Asses TO boot!
For some reason, Dad wanted to do a lot of driving today. He took all the nice chunks of driving, and left me all the crap stretches. He also earned the title of evil kenievel, often coming right up a passing cow or goats butt before swearing at them to move off the road. Scared me for a bit, playing chicken with the many Jeep Taxi’s that shuttle between towns along NH8 in the district.. but here we are, and our next rest stop, safe sound and rather exhausted.
That’s the best bit though. Our next rest stop. My philosophy of a 30 minute detour of the NH8 max to smell roses? Not so well received here because Kumbalgarh and the Aoudhi Hotel where we’re staying, is at least an hour off NH8 (but its also directly connected to udaipur via an alternative route that is only 80 km – so this morning will be a nice scenic B road drive for the first 80 KM into Jaipur on a road parallel to NH8).
But Kumbalgarh. Oh my god. So worth it. After the beauty of driving through the north end of Rajasamand district we stopped for a bhutta and chai at gomati circle junction on NH8. After which I finally got to take the wheel and turned off towards Rajasamand. We took a lovely 42 km drive along a lovely maintained single B road into the Arravalis (the real ones) and this was just spectacular! We crossed ridge after ridge getting even deeper into the range, mainly driving along valley floors between hills. We arrived just in time with wafer thin patience left with each other (its in our genes to get really cranky when tired) and found ourselves at Aoudhi hotel. It’s a lovely retreat. Its been around for 20 years, the architecture tries to emulate the fort that we’re next to but ends up being a bit Kitch in the process. Still, its green, and lush, and quite luxurious - we have a suite with a bedroom, lounge, verandah, dressing-room and fancy bathroom (with hot showers and good water pressure, a MUST for such trips). So, another good call. It matters because Dad needs a place he can put his hat, kick his feet up and watch a bit of telly after days like this. (I sat and wrote down all the English channel numbers for him to use, he did it at Jaipur, so I thought lets continue this little ritual).
At 8.00 pm the lights went on at Kumbalgarh fort a km away, and our manager requested we muster enough strength to take one last outing to see the fort and a section of its 36KM rampart walls lit up. It was worth every ounce of reserve energy we had. (Plus it’s the only place in these hills that get network, so this blog will have to wait till the AM to get posted (NO I am not going with my laptop back to the fort to just post this I am way too knackerd for that). So, now I sleep.
So far, so fun!
Today morning. Udaipur – late morning tea something. Then off to Ahmedabad. It’s a straight drive day. See you then!
P.S FYI - Just so you know. I'm uploading this blog while sitting at a restraunt looking over the lovely Udaipur Pichola Lake and the Lake palace.
Pics from that.. tomorrow!
Love from Dad and Me.
No comments:
Post a Comment