UDAIPUR-THE NAMES BOND JAMES BOND
The gang’s first stop in the state of Rajasthan was Udaipur. We found a great place to stay which was like a Moroccan Riad overlooking the lake.
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| Magical Udaipur |
We hired a rickshaw to take us on a tour, which was great to gain lots of local knowledge while being able to see the local markets with their great colours and atmosphere. Our tour guide also shows us a local cemetery, an art school where we learnt the tricks of the trade, a botanical garden and of course a shop. No purchases as always but a great way to immerse ourselves in the local community.
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| Rickshaw Tour Party |
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| Buzzing Veg Market |
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| Udaipur Cemetery |
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| Back to Art School |
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| Well if you insist on taking us shopping!!! |
Udaipur is famous for the James Bond 007 film Octopussy (1983), which was filmed here staring Roger Moore. All the bars and restaurants have screenings every night and the major tourist sites are also in the film. We visited the Palace; saw the Monsoon Palace which is up on a hilltop and the famous Floating Palace in the Lake. Only one thing for it after enjoying the food stalls with the locals and some Christmas shopping with some hard bartering and that was to watch Octopussy and James Bond in action. Great fun being able to see where we had visited during the day and none of us realised just how funny and cheesy the old OO7 movies were.
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| The Palace |
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| Views from the Palace |
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| The Floating Place |
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| Street Food Time |
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| The ladies waiting for their beer |
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| Chop Chop Sunshine! No need to hide what your doing! |
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| Well Roger. Thanks for the Memories |
One final word about Octopussy before we go. There was even a scene close to the end where Roger ends up in a Volkswagen Beetle owned by 2 German Tourists where he is then offered what seemed to be a bottle of Grolsch Swing-top and a Hot Dog??? Priceless!!! If somebody has the movie please let me know if that was the case. The Swing-top being a firm favourite of mine keeps cropping up so below is some information and a wesite link. The next time you see one give it a whirl. You won't be disappointed!!!
Grolsch Swing-top, 450ml, Pilsner Style, 5.0% Abv, Holland
A traditional Pilsner style beer with a big hoppy aroma and bite owing to dry hopping late in the brewing process. Brewed and treasured in Holland from an unchanged recipe hundreds of years old with a unique yeast strain, zesty and fragrant hops making for a refreshingly dry finish and a slight sweet and sharp zing to the palette. A great combination with mildly spiced dishes and meaty fish such as cod or monkfish. Or just some quality soft dutch cheese like Edam will do nicely...
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| Grolsch Swing-top. Once you pop you just can't stop |
UDAIPUR TO JODHPUR-TAXI ANTONE?
We decided to splash out £10 so that we could say hello to Ranakpur and Kumbalgarh, with our very own private taxi, driven expertly by Sankar.It was a huge journey through the dessert and mountains of Rajasthan passing through small villages along the way. Some of it was a little strange because at all the main sites we got given unrealistic time scales to actually see them because our driver was in such a rush. However there was time to stop at a water wheel where we took turns to be pulled around in circles by an Ox. Kate had an especially great time when a giant spike pierced her flip flop all the way through to her foot. A little sympathy would have helped but Sankar’s take on the incident was that’s nothing; ‘just imagine all the women that have to carry huge loads on their heads all day!’ Very true but Kate couldn’t help feeling the pain.
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| I am sat on this thing the wrong way! |
The journey took us to the amazing hillside fort of Kumbalgarh with a 36km wall, the second largest in the world behind the Great Wall of China, apparently? Believe what you will but we were pretty sure you can see the Great Wall of China from Space. Sankar told is this wall was only a couple of km short. The views were stunning after a vertical climb that took us half an hour, when we only had 35 minutes to get back to the car. We made the driver sweat it out a little.
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| Team Fort overlooking Kumbalgarh |
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| The Great Wall. Space I am not convinced |
The onward journey took us through winding mountains at 90 km per hour. This guy was really in a rush. Arriving at Ranakpur to take in the mind blowing Chaumukha Mandy Temple made with over a thousand sculptured pillars. Marsh and I also had to borrow some funky blue pants to cover up our beautiful legs. Out of the pillars we did get shown the one wonky pillar by the high priest, because nothing in this world can be perfect apart from God.
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| Chaumukha Mandy Temple |
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| I can't believe they let us out. Nice pants by the way... |
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| 1044 Pillars Approx! |
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| Which is your favourite pillar in here? |
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| We finally cross the desert heading to Jodhpur |
We finally arrived in Jodhpur 12 hours later but what a great day, exploring while travelling to our next destination, killing two birds with one stone. Sankar had been great. Chewing his tobacco stimulant all day, but amazingly had to drive all the way back. He does this journey pretty much every day with 2 hours sleep per night. Absolutely crazy and we were so happy we didn’t know that before we got in the car. We bid him a safe journey home.
JODHPUR-KNOWN AS THE BLUE CITY
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| The Blue City |
Just one day in Jodhpur, where we headed to the Fort. Yes another fort might have to name ourselves Team Fort. Had a cheeky walk into the Fort for free. Where we were able to digest the sites of the Blue City. It really is Blue. India just keeps surprising us at every destination.
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| Team to the Fort |
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| How did we get in here again? |
The bazaar was another bustling sight beneath the clock tower where you could buy everything imaginable including spices. Apparently this is where G ordon Ramsay and Patek Curry Paste’s get theirs. Brilliant the banter is just non-stop. They must have even known Kate and I were making an appearance with Omelette Street stalls.
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| The Clock Tower in the Bazaar |
PUSHKAR-CONNECT 4 HUSTLING!Early local bus to a place called Ajmer where we were kicked off the bus at a cross roads. We were welcomed with around 20 Rickshaw drivers telling us that once again there was no bus to Pushkar and the bus station was 10km away. I knew that ciaos was just about to begin when from behind the first thing I heard was Kate’s voice. STOP LYING TO ME! Off we went to find somebody that was not one of the driver’s friends and law and behold a bus turned up on the side of the road to take us directly to Pushkar. Another emotional rollercoaster and my God India is a hard place to get around.
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| Exactly. Once we finally arrived of course! |
Pushkar was a great place to get to for a couple of days. A small laid back chilled out place built around another lake and the washing Ghats. It seems to be that the more difficult a place is to reach then that’s where you should head to. The turmoil is always worth the stress. Remember India is here to teach us tolerance!!!
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| Another town built on a lake. Centre of the communities |
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| Christmas Shopping Time! |
We took time out for some Christmas Shopping with the place being more hassle free and found a hotel with a swimming pool which was a welcomed break from the non-stop sightseeing. There was a Brahma Temple, some live Premiership Football and plenty of cards and Connect 4. I don’t think I have mentioned this but Kate is a Connect 4 Hustler. We met a nice Cuban guy called Alberto who was a TV actor from Mexico and after many hours I think the score could have been 20-0 in the favour of Kate. I can see some money making schemes for the beach scene in South East Asia.
Sleepy eyed and no breakfast we stand at Pushkar bus stand at 6.30am waiting for the direct bus to Jaipur. It doesn’t arrive. What a shocker! We have to make our own way and two buses later we finally arrive in Jaipur. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and the stop was in order for us to connect onto Agra and the Taj Mahal.
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| Jaipur the Capital of Rajasthan |
It did give us a few highlights though and some entertainment as everywhere seems to do in this amazing country. We walked into the old walls of the city just to take on board the atmosphere of the bazaars towards the City Palace where Kathryn had her palm read. A street stall for lunch joined by a giant rat was a little off putting but we had a stupendous giant popodom.
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| The Old City Walls |
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| Danny charming some Cobra's at The Palace! |
Talking of Cobra. We are in India so here is a link to Cobra Beer. Great at pairing up with Indian Cuisine. http://www.cobrabeer.com/
Cobra Premium Lager, 5% Abv, India
Cobra, originally crafted in Bangalore using a traditional Indian blend of ingredients, including maize and rice and a little less gas, is the perfect complement to spicy food, particularly curry. It’s also a renowned beer award-winner because in its own unique way Cobra combines the smoothness of ale with the refreshment of lager.
Cobra 5% Premium is preferred by Indian restaurants throughout the world to accompany their cuisine. Through the generations they have learnt how to blend the right ingredients to create the perfect curry experience and Cobra is quite simply made for curry yet has the quality of ingredients and brewing expertise to be enjoyed as a fine beer in its own right.
The restaurants serve their carefully honed cuisine with Cobra because its traditional flavours, aromas, less gas and smoothness make it the ideal alcoholic drink to release the sophisticated tastes of Indian cuisine. It actually ‘resets’ the palate with each mouthful so whether you relish the hottest spice or enjoy more delicate dishes, Cobra is the perfect complement to curry.
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| Cobra Smooth Lager |
King Cobra, 8% Abv
I must admit I am a huge admirer of King Cobra. A double fermented Pilsner-style lager lovingly crafted in Belgium’s world famous Rodenbach brewery, King Cobra is the only Pilsner-style lager to be re-fermented in the bottle, following a process normally reserved for Trappist ales.
It is ideal to share over a great Indian feast especially with being a whopping 8% Abv. Bottle conditioned for a particularly smooth, sophisticated taste, it’s brewed using the very finest natural ingredients, a superior blend of barley malt and yeast with imported maize, hops and rice.
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| King Cobra |
It seemed like a great time to pre-book the rest of our travel while in Jaipur at the train station especially with the Diwali festival just around the corner. This turned out to be a good idea because otherwise we would have missed the street dentist. That’s right on the side of the road you could have your teeth sorted out with rusty instruments or even buy a full new set of teeth. You think you’ve seen everything but that is just impossible in this country.
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| Kate with The Street Dentist himself |
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| You just can't make this stuff up!!! |
Our final night before heading to Agra we thought we’d relax and stay on our hotels roof terrace to be entertained with a local puppet show. There was only the four of us which we should have taken as a sign. The show included included Michael Jackson and Helicopter flying camels, lasting all of 5 minutes. It was so bad you just had to be there and after some hip thrusting dancing by the entertainers, we ended up giving far too much of a donation. It was more of an uncomfortable please, oh please stop this torture!
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| Let's dance at the puppet show |
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| Looks good but just has to stop. So uncomfortable!!! |
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| Goodbye Rajasthan. Next stop Agra and the Taj Mahal |
Absolutely Brilliant. Kathryn and I are in stitches. aaahhhh the memories. It is great to look back on it through your blog and reminds us how amazing the trip was. Classic Reed!!!
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