I spent 15 days on holiday in India from 24 October to 8 November. It’s a colourful interesting place, bustling with people. Spiritual and mysterious. Sacred and smelly. Noisy and peaceful. So many contrasts. I found the people are generous, friendly and family oriented. Wifi and internet speed is wonderful. I visited the cities of Udaipur, Jaipur, and towns of Ranakpur, Pushkar in the desert state of Rajasthan, then to Agra and Delhi.
I joined a private tour group of 9 women from New Zealand only a couple of months earlier, when one of them got sick and could not go. My friend Marilyn was the Tour Leader and Organiser, Raju was a wonderful Tour Co-Ordinator and Liaison and Babloo drove the 12 seater bus.
We marvelled at the palaces, temples and forts. Quietly and respectfully we enjoyed visiting the peaceful, sacred temples, shrines and mosques of different religions – Jain, Hindu, Mosque. We were awed at the Persian Mahals (palaces) [eg Taj Mahal, Hawas Mahal] and other amazing buildings in Agra and Delhi.
I appreciated and enjoyed the way that Indians are renovating and preserving the iconic buildings and temple that tourists want to see. We were all appreciating and marvelling at the craftsmanship and handmade fabric, clothing, textiles, jewellery, pottery, carpets, marble and wooden items and bringing some of them home to share with people here. And we all appreciated being back home to good sanitation and familiar smells.
On Friday 24 October I left Adelaide at 10am to arrive at Singapore at 5pm. There I met up with the Kiwi ladies and we flew together to Delhi. Marilyn met us at the airport, stayed the night, then got up early to catch a domestic flight to Udaipur. Accommodation was at the comfortable Kalyas Dewi Homestay, which was a 3 or 4 story large home of Ragu and his wife who supplied large comfortable ensuite rooms, bed and breakfast.
Udaipur
We changed our money in the market and then went on a tour of the Udaipur City Palace Tour with Suresh. it was meant to be one hour but we asked so many questions and he enjoyed being with 10 women, it ended up to be 3 hours!
We took lots of photos of the huge 5 storey complex, which had been extended by many generations of rich maharajahs. I asked our guide “How did they plant trees in a garden on top of palace?” He told us that originally there was a hill there, and the trees grew on top, Now the palace surrounds the hill, and they are still growing in the soil on top of the hill!
We heard about Kashmir Pashmina shawls and how to tie them different ways. We did some good shopping in Udaipur. I had the best Ayervedic massage at Udaipur Ayervedic Massage by Reetu. It was similar to what I do when I give a massage! We enjoyed dinner at Zucchini restaurant on the first night. On the second we went for a cruise at sunset on Udaipur’s Lake Piccolo – stunning sunset photos of the Lake Palace and man-made lake. Then enjoyed watching the Rajasthan Cultural Show with colourful dancing women, puppet master and a lady who danced on broken glass with 10 pots on head!!
The next day Raju, the Indian Tour Co-Ordinator & Liaison and Babloo our driver, arrived with our 12 seater bus. We drove from Udaipur to Ranakpur, through stunning countryside, with monkeys and the occasional view of a local woman in a bright pink or red sari. We stopped and took photos and videos of an ancient water wheel called a “sakia”.
The sakia pulls water up from the stream by buckets fastened to a vertical wheel and the wheel is attached to a horizontal wheel which is pulled around in a circle by a cow or ox on the top of the high edge of the river.
We had lunch at the adjacent Amari Restaurant and I bought some funky purple pants with a zip pocket in the front and ties at the ankle and a book called “Yogic Secrets of the Dark Goddess” about Kali.
We got Indian SIM cards from Raju, which cost about $12 for unlimited calls, SMS and data in India for 30 days (although we needed them for less time). I was very impressed with the Wifi and broadband/internet connection there which was fast and efficient, easy to upload our many photos to Facebook and talk and share with our group and locals when necessary.
Ranakpur – Jain Temple
Ranakpur is a village located in Desuri tehsil near Sadri town in the Pali districtof Rajasthan in western India. It is located between Jodhpur and Udaipur. 162 km from Jodhpur and 91 km from Udaipur, in a valley on the western side of the Aravalli Range.
Ranakpur is widely known for its marble Jain temple, said to be the most spectacular of the Jain temples.
In the afternoon of Ssaturday 27 October we visited the Jain temple at Ranakpur. It is one of the largest and the most spectacular Jain Temple. It was built in the 15 century. There are 1444 marble pillars, all differently carved in exquisite detail, which support the temple, no two pillars are the same. There is one beautiful carving called The deity of Parshwanath with 108 heads of snakes and numerous tails which is made out of a single marble rock – you can’t find the end of the tails!
It was lovely to be by myself and do my daily spiritual ritual within its sacred walls.
Later the Chief Jain Priest blessed us and gave us special tour. Here is some of his wisdom that I managed to write down as he spoke:
“Women are 14 x more strong than men;
Without Shakti nothing is possible;
Beauty comes from inside;
Jain followers believe in Shakti and 16 goddesses
A special Yantra raised stones to the roof
Lotus flower from tree
Only Jain followers are allowed to worship at the inner altar of their temple
The priests ring bells every day for prayer, meditation and lots of other reasons.
(See my separate blog HERE)
Jain priests mix sandalwood and saffron mix together for rituals and bindis every day;
We (the priests) will send sparkling energy to you all at Diwali;”
Here is his Womens Blessing and Om Shanti chant, which he is happy for us to record and share.
We arrived at Ranakpur Safari Lodge as the sun was setting. This was the only place on our tour that we had our own rooms. As the temperatures were about 30 degrees (and not humid) every day, we enjoyed the air conditioned bus. At the end of the day though, we needed a watery refreshment – inside or out! Here some of us chilled out with a swim in the cool pool, other women enjoyed beer or vodka and lemonade pre-dinner drinks watching us swim sitting by the pool.
A man took viagra. And it got stuck in his throat. He had a stiff neck for a week!! (Shona joke)
Pushkar
The next day we drove from Ranakpur to Pushkar, first stopping at a local rug weaver who was weaving by hand.
When we got to Pushkar it was evening, we arrived at Sajjan Bagh Hotel a distance from the town. Marilyn took us for an orientation walk through the quaint town with its windy streets – noisy and full of people, giving way to beeping motorbikes and leisurely sacred cows and dodging their droppings. The shops were funky and colourful. We booked a massage for tomorrow and had street food for dinner – I had a banana pancake and ginger lemon tea, cos I was feeling a bit seedy. I enjoyed sharing a room with Deidre. We talked about Reiki and healing and had quite a lot in common.
The next day, Monday 29 October, we had a buffet breakfast – cornflakes porridge fruit salad pomegranate bananas and paw paw. Then it was off for a day of shopping and a relaxing massage. First we went to Robin’s Jewellery Shop, where I got some lovely Amethyst earrings. We met for a delicious lunch at Honey and Spice, where I had Rose Lassi, Mediterranean salad with mango oregano dressing and Brown bread with garlic pate -which cost about A$6!
Then we smelt delicious samples at the Perfume and Incense Shop and I bought some incense and perfume. We all had to wait for our pre-booked Ayurvedic massage, mine was terrible! Afterwards we did some more shopping – I got some lovely soaps, massage oil and Ayervedic face cream.
Then we went to watch the beautiful sunset over Pushkar Lake and listened to Indian traditional Dhoti music. A pizza and pasta dinner at Om Shiva Garden restaurant was next – I had mango lassi, spinach and mushroom lasagna. We slept well after a busy day!
On Tuesday 20 October we did some last minute shopping in Pushkar. We sampled Honey and Spice’s delicious Mango Cake and I had another Rose Lassi before we left to drive to Jaipur.
To be continued…
Part 2 HERE
More photos HERE
