Rajasthan We headed out of Delhi after an awful day as Dad had been mugged on the metro. A gang of horrid men got onto the metro in rush hour and push and shoved whilst stealing his phone and wallet. We spent the rest of the evening running around Delhi's police stations trying to report the incident and get a crime number. Every police station was the wrong one! Eventually we made it to the train station, just in time to get onto our overnight train to Ranthambore. We decided to leave all the bad feelings in Delhi and start to begin to enjoy India again! Ranthambore was brilliant. We stayed in a lovely Safari hotel called The Raj Palace and spent the early mornings and evenings searching for the famous Indian tiger. Our first safari was exciting, we saw lots of deer, beautiful peacocks, crocodiles and monkeys but no tiger!! Although many people were disappointed I still had a lovely day as the tiger reserve was so amazing- it was stunning with so much wildlife to see and hear!
The next day we set off for another safari hoping this time we would spot a tiger. Berwyn bought a safari hat and we nick named it the "lucky hat" hoping it would help our luck out! A few minutes into the park I spotted something on the hill about 20 metres away from us, I looked again and saw it was a leopard!! I couldn't believe my eyes, I quietly had to tell the driver and everyone couldn't believe it! The guide said they never see leopards as the were so shy. Better still the Leopard was having dinner! He had blood dripping around his mouth whilst chewing on a huge deer! I was happy to have spotted it!
A few moments after, we spotted a jeep who told us they'd seem a tiger! So we quietly rushed off to find it. And we did. Such a beautiful India Tiger lying amoungst the luscious long grass also eating her kill- another deer!
We waited for ages just staring at the beauty. It was so exciting. She was so lazy- and didnt move from behind the grass for a very long time. But when she did it was worth the wait, and we all got our special photograph! Ever since that day we will always called Berwyns hat the lucky hat! We tried telling the other local guides that we had seen a leopard too, but they wouldn't believe us! The next morning we got up very early and headed into the park to try and see the tigers on their morning trip to the lake. We all thought we'd never beat yesterdays experience. Until we heard the loud cry of the deer which apparently means 'danger' and a few moments later the most beautiful tiger came strolling down the path! Metres away from the vehicle. We were completely stunned.
We had spoken to many people staying around the park and they hadn't seen a tiger- so we felt so so lucky- coming all the way was so worth it. A highlight of the entire trip. Next stop Udiapur- this place was one of my favourite Indian towns. It even reminded me of somewhere in Europe. Its full of tiny little streets with towering pretty buildings. Lots of lovely cafes, restaurants and shops. We stayed in a very unusual Heritage Hotel which was stunning. Full of amazing furniture and incredible art work. Mum and I had some art lessons- such a lovely way to spend our time. The teacher was fantastic! I did 2 silk paintings, an elephant and a peacock. I'm even impressed with them- which shows how good the teacher was because I'm the most unarty person! Jodhpur The Blue City.
Here Mum and I got very ill. We caught a horrid sickness bug which many others also had. So unfortunately we missed out on quite a lot here. On our last day we mannaged to visit the incredible Fort and complete the audio tour. However we were still very weak and I begun to get an ear infection! So Jodhpur for me wasn't a pleasant place to be. There was lots more to explore that I missed out but I felt the overall city was very dirty and stinky and I was glad to be leaving! We reached Jaiselmer after 7 hours on a local bus. Jaiselmer was incredible. We arrived to the fort as we were staying inside. They call it the golden city. The fort it beautiful and looks like something out of an Indian fairy tale! Jaiselmer is so close to Pakistan and surrounded by desert hence the golden city! The fort is full of great tiny shops selling leather everything! At this point mum and I were slowly starting to feel better even though I was still deaf! So we decided to arrange a Camel Safari- we drove for hours in the back of a jeep with our turbans on to protect us from the sand and to look the part of course! Just before we met our Camels a sand storm begun- very exciting, sand was everywhere!
We got onto our Camels and went on our Safari through the Rajasthany Desert. It was wonderful!
I loved it.
It was so relaxing and a lot more comfortable than it originally looked
and the guides were great. When we reached our base we drank sandy chi and waited for our camp fired cooked dinner. Considering what they had to cook with they did pretty well! Jaipur The Pink City We arrived into Jaipur at 4:30am after another overnight journey. However this one was a lot more stressful. We booked our tickets online but were on the waiting list. We were told that its fine and that we would get tickets on the day. However only Berwyn was allocated a bed and the three of us were ticket-less. Kind of stupidly we all boarded the train hoping that the TT (ticket master) would find us something. He did up until midnight. Then we were official bed/ homeless. It wasnt the best experience as the train was jam packed with nowhere for us to even sit. Luckily a man who was high up in the Indian Army was in Berwyns carriage he took pity on us and demanded to the guard that we were all allowed to pile in the tiny carriage! Berwyn gave mum and I his bed and he and Dad tried to sleep on the floor! So our first day was rather weary- we still made the effort to see yet another fort! The evening was perfect. Mum took us to Rambar Palace where she once stayed during a grand tour of India with my Aunty.
The palace was stunning. We arrived just on time as there were 6 beautiful elephants all decorated on their faces with pretty chalk colours. There was also lots of horses and Camels but I don't notice them when Elephants are around!! That really made Jaipur brilliant as we were leaving for a train at 3 and at 4 our huge elephant festival begun- we were so gutted to be missing it. So thanks to mum taking us to the palace we still saw some Elephants in Jaipur! We boarded the train to Agra and said goodbye to Rajasthan! It was definately worth going to, the people are very friendly and each place was so different from the last. We woke up very early in Agra to begin our walk towards the Taj Mahal. The 8th March is a very special day in Northern India as its the Hindu festival of Holi. They celebrate by throwing coloured powder/paint all over eachother. It was amazing to see- bright colourful powder everywhere... On the people, dogs, tuk tuks and even some on us! Berwyn was got by a child using his water pistol!
The Taj Mahal was incredible just how I imagined it. It was not a let down at all. The only irrating thing was our bossy tour guide who kept making us pose for cringing photos- mum and I were in no mood for a photo shoot at 7am ! After leaving the wonder of the world we headed back to Delhi in a taxi and our driver was a ray of lovely colours!! The journey back to Delhi saw the Holi festival in a different light. We lost count of the car crashes we witnessed and we even saw a woman beating her husband to death on the side of the road. For the festival
and for some even everyday they make home brewed alcohol which in fact poisons them and even kills them. Many men were lying on the road side truly out of it. And the time was about 11am! So arriving into Delhi safely was a huge relief as I would say 80% of the drivers were drunk! We spent the last few days in Delhi getting ready to all go our separate ways. Dad worked all weekend in the hospital doing training, while we tried to get mums train journey to the Himalayas all booked. On the sunday mum got her train from new Delhi to Rikikesh where she was going to the Ashram! She was meant to by going with my Aunty, but unfortunately my great uncle is very unwell and she looking after him. Mum was unsure whether to just go home and visit the ashram another time. However we all encouraged her to go- knowing she would regret not going once she was back home. So she did it! We were all so proud of her- travelling alone in India is hard enough let alone visiting an Ahran for the first time and staying for 2 weeks. She was up everyday at 5am for prayers and Yoga! On Monday Dad flew back to England, whilst Berwyn and I were meant to be flying to Sri Lanka. Kingfisher airline had cancelled our flights numerous times. We eventually were reschelduled, however we went via every Indian city possible! 15 hours later we arrived into Colombo -1 one bag!! Sent from my iPod
No comments:
Post a Comment