intrepid – But first let's travel

The second week of the tour passed in a blur of colourful towns, delicious masala chai and plenty of curries.

Bundi

A small (for India anyways) city also known as the little blue city, Bundi was an unexpected delight. We jumped in tuk tuks for a quick tour of the city and stopped at a step well. Although no longer used as a water supply it was still pretty impressive.

Next we headed to the city palace which was very cool. It overlooks the city and has some amazing art works. And, like so much of India, is over run by monkeys!

We left the tuk tuks behind and walked the few km back to the hotel through the bustling old town, stopping for Masala Chai on the way.

Castle Bijaipur

Kicking off the day with a 4 hour local train ride, we were pretty happy to get off and get on to our army style jeeps for a ride through the countryside to Bijaipur, stopping at a local village.

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Then we had a grand night in a castle, complete with a pool and massages! A nice break.

Camping

A night in tents was in reality glamping! We had a cute little tent right on the water front complete with ensuite and fan- very fancy! In the afternoon we went for a walk through the vege gardens of the campsite and to the ruins of an old town. Nice to get out and stretch the legs.

Udaipur

Next stop was Udaipur for a two night stay. We had a quick orientation but basically it is a relatively small old town and easy to wander around which is great! Our guide recommended a few shops and then we jumped on an evening cruise on the lake.

That night Scott and I found a very cool restaurant on the rooftop of one of the highest buildings. Amazing food and great views.

The next day we were off to the Palace for a tour which is a beautiful building. Then we were let loose for shopping. I had a great afternoon wandering the shops with my only rule being ‘only buy from shopkeepers that don’t harass you’ (the one thing I can’t stand is the constant ‘come into my shop’ ranting and agressive sales style often found here). As a result I found some great shopkeepers and bought a few lovely souvenirs.

That night a few of us did a cooking course which was great fun- and super tasty!

Pushkar

The last few days of the tour unfortunately had a lot of time on trains- first 5 hours to Pushkar, and then 9 hours to Delhi.

We had just missed the annual Pushkar camel fair which sees thousands of people descend on the city trading camels, but the remnants of the fair were still here with fairground rides and attractions. We had a tour around the city on camels before jumping off and wandering through the central part- choc full of small shops and bustling crowds.

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Goa and Mumbai

After the busy tour, and before we headed back to NZ, we had some down time in Goa and Mumbai, most of which was spent relaxing by the pool. Amazingly 7 months of travel has come to an end. It’s been an incredible journey!

After 6 months of travelling alone we were looking forward to joining an Intrepid tour and being able to sit back and enjoy the ride – no planning required. In fact I’d spent so little time thinking about this part of the trip I really had no expectations at all. Even so, I was a little worried when our guide said ‘always keep your expectations low in India!’ Turns out we didn’t need to worry as we had a great two weeks on tour.

The tour: Intrepid Classic Rajasthan

Length: 15 days

Style: Original

Group size: 12 + guide

Cost: approx $2k AUD + food, tips (and shopping!)

Delhi

The tour kicked off in Delhi. The first thing that hits you is the dense smog blanketing the city. It feels like you are smoking a pack a day; your eyes run, throat hurts and you can’t help feeling incredibly sorry for the people breathing this every day – let alone the environmental impact.

Next is the driving. The only road rule appears to be ‘always use your horn’ and the roads are noisy and beyond chaotic.

Then there is the poverty and dirt. The sides of the streets are caked with rubbish and you regularly see people dropping things without a second thought. Living in the rubbish are incredible numbers of the poorest people, regularly begging as you go past. It’s pretty heart breaking.

We were staying in New Delhi, which doesn’t appear to be any cleaner than Old Delhi, but does has more modern buildings. After a quick, but packed, train trip – we were in Old Delhi.

Just a few wires

Making a mattress

Cows become a very familiar sight

I wish I could say Dehli redeems itself with some great features, but frankly, this city didn’t do it for me. On our guided tour of the city we saw many temples and buildings of interest but nothing that totally blew me away.

In fact one of the funniest memories of Delhi was not the Hindu temple we went to, but rather how when we got to the temple we were made to wear ridiculous outfits (and pay for the pleasure) and then all the locals in the temple just wanted to take photos of us!! Note despite being dressed as conservatively as the locals it appears only western tourists need these outfits. (with all the photos being taken, I forgot to get one of us!)

One exception to Delhi’s underwhelmingness (yup, I know that’s not a word) was the local Sikh temple. Although nothing spectacular to look at, this temple touched all of of our tour group. Our guide Sharm explained that everyone that visits the temple donates what they can. So far, pretty normal of most religious buildings. But what they do with the donations was pretty special. All the donations are collected up every day and used to buy ingredients which are cooked up in incredible quantities, mostly by volunteers, and anyone can come and have a free meal. We were then led through the kitchens to see how the food is prepared – in mind-boggling volumes. Truly amazing to see and something a lot of the other religions around the world could learn from!

Agra

Things took a turn for the better when we headed out of Delhi on the train to Agra. It was an early morning start (4.30am!), but after a few hours we were in Agra and picked up by our mini bus. Our first stop was the Red Fort Red Fort– an impressive building, with some amusing wildlife and great views of the Taj Mahal in the distance.

Chipmunks

The Red Fort

Taj Mahal from the Red Fort, through the smog

In the afternoon we got to experience the Taj Mahal up close. Wow, words can’t describe how beautiful this building is! Even though there were tonnes of people there, it strangely didn’t feel busy or hassled, and was actually really lovely to sit down in the gardens and chill out with one of the most incredible back-drops in the world!