Two weeks with a $25 e-visa and Rajasthan with Exodus. The “Golden Triangle” tour had to be tweaked because of Diwali, so although we lost a bit of cycling, the raucous cricket & holiday celebrations opened everyone’s eyes to India at play. It truly is crammed in with temples, cycling, forts and a highlight visit to the breath-taking Taj Mahal.
With our four ‘single ladies’ hitting it off together from the word “go” even crashing the wedding party our first hotel, Zan (credited with many of our photos), Sue, Dawn & ‘Jumbo Visma’ Jacqui; Peter & Claire our London design/artists, plus Kiwis Chris and Andrea & David ‘I’ll get used to his Kilmarnock/Edinburgh accent if it kills me” making the 9 plus us of course, the group gel’d nicely enough having enough ‘big’ characters to wonder was the odd one out the quiet one? We were marshalled by our guide Manu keeping us on-point with the itinerary and Sonny our tail-gunner. The bus and engineering crew of Vicki, Ali and Pankaj the driver all slept on the bus.
- Fri: 03-Nov. Flight 20:00.
- Sun: 05 – India beat S.Africa in the CWC. (Eden gardens, Kolkata) while we take the morning to visit the well worth it Qutab Minar monument, it’s non-rusting iron pillar & India Gate. Back in the hotel, we meet the rest of the party at 3pm to assemble bikes and check out the preparations for the wedding party
- Mon: 06 – 17km. The Ashok Country resort hotel is decent enough, but the short ride to get the hang of the streets was not really worth the bother, other than if you haven’t cycled in India before this is what you can expect.
- We went on to sightseeing in our coach which was to be our second home for two weeks as we endured a be-smogged polluted Delhi. Diesels and Diwali fireworks had been banned and schools were closed it was soooo bad, but we continued with a guided tour of the Sikh temple and kitchens, then India Gate, the Gandhi memorial and a stroll through the ridiculously packed old Delhi lanes where everyone was shopping for Diwali.
- With leaving the parking lot and a journey by our coach it took 90 minutes, or was it more, to travel the 3 or so km to the station so everyone was a bit jaded when we got there for our thali dinner. All of 150 rupees. Catching the overnight sleeper the “Mandore express” left and arrived on time. Well done India rail, but there was a bit of a double booking on our bunks, amicably sorted with those affected. It was a monster 500m long, 22 coaches with built in thieves rummaging around your luggage, as they do. A delightful gentleman explained how we should use the sheets to make the beds. It doesn’t really help but we have fun getting ourselves acquainted.
- Tue 7th: Arrive by train in Jodphur. Off to the hotel and then cycle: lakes, cows fed by discarded banana peel, dusty quarries and finally Mehrangarh fort for a guided tour
- However, we enjoy the dusty cycle and our first hill climb of the holiday that takes us towards the fort.
- Weds 8th: Is a two ride day 37km a visit to the spectacular Jain Temple, with the coach thankfully taking us out over some hilly terrain to cycle a final 33km towards Udaipur. We need to get back in the coach arriving in the dark to get a good idea of the Diwali lights.
- As we did in the Sikh temple shoes off, pyjamas on, with the ladies in fetching full length attire. We are ambushed by the purported high priest of the temple, who prays for us and not so subtly requests a 500 rupee tip. Luckily we’re getting used to the currency and don’t fall for it, so although Peter graciously obliges, we do feel as if we’ve been oh so politely mugged.
- We begin to see Zan’s calling as our archivist/photographer using her “Fuji insta” to share polaroids with delighted locals. Her Canon Powershot 62x zoom though knocks spots off everyone’s phones/cameras and even binoculars. Wow!
- Thu 9th: We leave the hotel by bike and dodging the usual cows cycle around the lakes – there are several (lakes & cows) – for 24km. The Palace hotel in the lake is clearly an attraction as we are dropped off in town by the coach to walk to a rooftop lunch stop. We are intrigued by the Health & Safety approach of the building next door as a BrushWala is sent out to clean away the pigeon nonsense. We also wonder if the pigeon taking swimming lessons is trying to get to the palace.
- Our guide takes us around the Vishnu temple where we are delighted to hear a group of ladies sing, clap & praise their God. Off to the Palace for a tour with Peter keen to point out the problems with the fonts. Our tour guide is so enthused by the history and artefacts, a quorum of our “single ladies” excuse themselves rather than endure more and then tuk-tuks back to the hotel. More tuk-tuks take us to the exotic Marigold Hotel for a rooftop dinner and fireworks in the evening.
- Fri 10th: Diwali 5 day festival starts. Ride to Kumbhalgarh You can see our 35km includes a bit of an ascent on the hill profile.
- We meet the goat transport on the way to Udaipur. Delightfully the bike stops so we can take pictures. They are as interested in us as we are in them. As soon as she gets off the bike and connects to wi-fi Beverley is uploading to Strava and is overjoyed to get a QOM – but how come Claire, who finished ahead, isn’t on the leader board? Meanwhile, holding up the coach at the back is someone happy to just turn the pedals.
- The location for the hotel is splendid, but their ability to serve the beer seems tricky. No one wants to cycle to the fort and indeed several are disinclined to take the trip in the 4×4. Luckily for them they are persuaded otherwise and are rewarded by the longest intact wall outside of China. Well worth the visit.
- Sat 11th: 35km. Everyone looks forward to the now ubiquitous chai-time stop after 25km, but the lake with kingfisher stop after 15km for a regroup – usually so Peter can catch up – is one of our most picturesque breaks.
- We then take a 5 hour transfer to Pushkar stopping at another “Midway” services which seems to be the preferred ‘this is what our western coach parties are happy with’. We don’t see any cyclists here. TBF we are travellers not tourists and all prefer the samosas from the roadside, but our guide needs to be careful with potential hygiene issues so we need to go with the flow. Pushkar is getting ready for its camel festival, but with funfairs and neon we don’t think this is the true rural India we are looking for.
- We arrive in Pushkar and are offered more trinkets by hawkers, ignoring as politely as English travellers can, and visit the temple of the Hindu God of Creation, Lord Brahma and the holy lake – both no pictures please. Our hotel is a curious affair with enclaves of themed accommodation. It’s fine, but only 12 years old and appears to be built for weddings and events. As with much of India it’s all there as it was intended but still ‘needs attention’…
- Sun: 43km. 12-Nov. Today is DIWALI. We leave our Greek themed enclave and pimp our bikes at a roadside seller who clearly sees all his Diwalis have come at once as we strip his stand of brightly coloured tassles and Ganeshes. Because Diwali meant Jaipur was closing down, we curtailed what would have been a longer cycle, so left Pushkar at a pace and pushed on with a pan-flat pretty much arrow-straight ride
- We enjoy watching, and tasting, the roadside dipped batter in sugar treats before finishing that ride and make a 2 hour transfer arriving just after 3pm to Jaipur for Puja and the ever so slightly ridiculous looking be-henna’d Russian ladies tour party. They’re clearly keen on getting their elbows out for the best seats, but there you are – no stereotyping needed, just arrogance. We hear the priest recite the ceremony, picking up the only words we recognise, the deity Lakshmi. He’s reading the ceremony from his phone of course, and why not?
- We eat in the hotel buffet with gin/vodka & tonics and then tuk-tuk into town for the raucous Diwali night celebration. As ever the locals are delighted to greet and get their pictures taken with western tourists, but we’re looking at the lights and the elephants, and jumping at the firecrackers designed to startle us. If you get 5 westerners in an electric tuk-tuk it has problems with inclines, not so much so with families of Indians who for some reason don’t seem to struggle so.
- Mon: 13km. Short and thankfully quiet ride around the pink city past the Albert Hall and off to the lake, a stone’s throw from our hotel as it happens. We see that our driver Pankaj doesn’t miss out on Lakshmi Diwali with his dashboard Puja – it’s a ‘super important’ festival, Manu was smartly dressed in his traditional kurta and the noise and nonsense clearly irritates him, “that’s not what Diwali is” he says. He’s not wrong, and it’s no different to the rampant commercialism and enforced fun our own traditional festivals now demand.
- Our cycle is followed by breakfast and a well timed early guided tour of the Amber fort before it got too busy, then off to the Royal Palace, followed by an off-itinerary tuk-tuk to the Step Well.
- Oh dear. We now have to share our sites with western tourists, elephant rides, and hawkers of finest trinkets and must haves, asking prices are quoted in dollars. Starting at 50 an elephant decorated throw gets reduced to 20. Good souvenirs if you want them, but although we don’t we are relentlessly encouraged to succumb to the ‘good price’ on offer.
- The Pink Royal Palace meanwhile is another must visit. A must-have-mercedes is seen leaving the courtyard with some potentate off shopping we guess. We also see the two largest silver bowls in the world for Ganges water that was taken to England by the Maharajah/ana on a royal visit as he didn’t trust our water, and some traditionally dressed attendants give is a turban folding demonstration.
- 5 westerners in a tuk-tuk doesn’t make it to the Step Well without a vehicle change, and the ride is arguably the highlight of the trip with a bit of a squeeze and a sing song for the intrepid travellers, their driver and the brothers he stops to talk to on the way. We finish the evening at the Green Pigeon dance restaurant with yet more western tourists having a good time. We’re not so sure.
- Tue 14th: 80km. This is the last of the 5-day Diwali festival with the coach taking us out of Jaipur to then cycle towards Sariska. Nourished by our packed lunches we see some lonely goatherds but no tigers and grind on to our longest cycling day of the tour with some damaged roads shaking our bones, but thankfully not leading to any mishaps. We have a final 50 minute transfer to the heritage hotel, but that does mean if anyone comes for the dawn safari tomorrow it will be an early start. We decide there’ll be no ‘hunting tigers out in Indiah‘ – the Bonzo Dog Doo-dah band. Really you MUST listen. That doesn’t stop the rest of the party, but they return disappointed, so that’s possibly one call we correctly made.
- Our Heritage hotel is delightful, but we notice the gradual return of the haze. We enjoy high tea at 5pm on the terrace, but are later banished to the rooftop to hide our beer drinking as they don’t have a license. There is a table-tennis table, and Claire savours victory in an inter-family bout over Peter(2) in a closely fought tie break.
- Wed: 15-Nov Post breakfast walk to Crocodile “well actually piles of rubbish but there was a turtle” Point with a gander at the blue tub/boats picking water chestnuts then some lounging around the pool.
- In the afternoon we cycle 15km around local villages to and from the still hazy Siliseth lake. As we enjoy the buffet dinner with home made ice cream, we dip in and out of the CWC Semi-final #1 where our in-house Kiwis were disappointed to see their team unable to match the 397 runs posted by India. Go Virat!
- Thu: 12km. 16-Nov – CWC Semi-final #2, where the Aussies scraped past a lowly posted South African score. No cycling as the rest of the group went off on what was a disappointing Safari to the Sariska “no tigers to be seen” Reserve. Leaving our hotel at 11:30 by coach transfer to Bharatphur arriving for an all too brief cycle around the remarkable Keoladeo national Bird Sanctuary to look at birds with a superbly knowledgeable guide.
- Fri 17th: 35km: Totalling 422km in two weeks. That’s 264 miles. We finish our pedalling setting off from the hotel with a hazy yet pleasant ride through a few villages, avoiding the snake crossing the road. The locals are clearly amused to see us negotiate a flooded road, well I say road, that will have made their day. Never mind we can clean up in the washroom at the end. That’s India for you, always eager to surprise.
- Waving goodbye to Ali & Vicki who are off on another tour, we take our penultimate coach transfer to Agra; arriving for an afternoon guided tour around the spectacular Agra Fort. And yes you can see the Taj Mahal in the distance. We’re not at all surprised to see Jacqui bumping in to friends.
- Sat 18th: Guided tour at dawn of the misty Taj Mahal. It’s difficult to describe in a few words and pictures but it has to be the highlight of the trip. We don’t look directly at any monkeys as instructed, and the guides in the tomb itself send eerie echoes to add to the atmosphere. The hazy dawn light makes it extra special, with some tourists keen to make the memory special on Diana’s bench. Of course you would, but then there are the usual poses similar to holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa that plenty are keen to add to their holiday snaps with the Taj in the palm of your hand. The eye is uncannily drawn to the minarets – they are not vertical, but inclined away at 92 degrees so that should they fall they won’t damage the tomb. Canny these Persian architects.
- We have breakfast at the hotel and transfer to a noisy Delhi central hotel. Trains from Delhi to Agra take two and a half hours so we are told the Taj gets busy when the 7.30 and 8.30 service disgorge the hordes of sightseers. We pass the F1 race circuit on the expressway back and see modern tech India in the Nioda suburbs before enduring a bus breakdown, resolved by refilling with fuel.
- Sun: 19-Nov – Flying at 12.35 we missed the chance to watch the final game of the CWC with the disappointed nation seeing India succumb to a disciplined Australia. Better luck next time
So. What did we eat? Breakfast: masala omelette, idli rice pancakes, sambar curry soup, and poha veggie rice was pretty much always available, but there were also has (sic) browns. Pakoda, deep fried veggies in a gram flour batter, and samosas were a staple for lunch. Dinner inevitably was any curry you imagine, though kadhai paneer and veg jalfrezi was popular and a Kashmiri rice with nuts and fruit was a fair upgrade to demand.
Take. Binoculars for birds and safari. Cash card verification device was worth taking. Don’t pack powerbanks or indeed batteries in your checked in bags (Dawn). Get yourself an e-sim or some other deal if you want roaming data
Whilst we are away. Suella Braverman our Home Secretary is finally given the heave-ho for interfering in policing policy, posting a scathing farewell letter with the temerity to suggest she’s had a rough ride because of the incompetence of others. It’s not a leap of faith to guess that she means the entire government and cabinet. Duh! 41 workers were trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand in India, eventually reached by some rat-hole miners a 10 or more days later. The Israelis continue to pound Gaza and Nigel Farage is on “I’m a celebrity”. Do 52% of people want to keep him in? Who knows.
