Jodhpur

In Jodhpur we stayed at heritage hotel a bit outside of the center. We relaxed at the hotel with a drink before heading for dinner at this restaurant recommended by the hotel. It was such a good place to eat: the food was lovely and the atmosphere wonderful, they actually also had a nightclub which we made sure to visit after dinner.

Next day we did some sightseeing with a tuk tuk and saw the Mehrangarh fort, Umaid Bhawan Palace palace as well as the blue village of Jodhpur. The palace is divided in three: one part museum, one area where the royal family still lives and the lastly there is a Taj hotel. We visited the museum and wanted to also see the hotel, which is supposed to be amazing, after all it is a castle! But in order to be allowed into the hotel for a drink, there was a deposit of INR 3000 (around 350 NOK) per person, which we didn’t bother to pay. We rather asked if it was possible to book a table for dinner (we had tried calling several times the day before, where upon they had just quite rudely rejected us a booking saying the restaurant was full). To our pleasant surprise they were able to fit us in for dinner and we were really looking forward to coming back for dinner J

Jodhpur: the blue city

After the castle we went to Mehrangarh fort, one of the largest in India. Lots of history and nicely decorated rooms from the old days and a really nice view. When done touring the fort it was time to go down to the old city and visit the market and afterwards we had a nice lunch at a rooftop restaurant with a nice view.

The Umaid Bhawan Palace

The evening came and we were really looking forward to our dinner plans, not every day you get to dine in a castle where the royal family still lives… We arrived in a tuk tuk, quite a contrast to what met us inside the gates of the palace… There are no words, really…But it was something royal that is for sure! We figured this environment just asked for champagne so champagne we got, mmmm…What a fit! The food was also really good and even the bathrooms were like something out of this world! This was right down our alley and we really enjoyed the evening. For someone loving good food and wine compared with a royal environment this was just heaven!

Just magnificent!

Our diningroom at the castle

The day after it was time to leave for Mumbai again and back to reality.

Jaisalmer and the Thar Desert

Jaisalmer and the Thar Desert:



View of Jaisalmer from the fort

    
After heaven in Udaipur, it was time to leave for Jaisalmer. After a long travel with plane and car (well to be honest, the car ride could have very well lasted for a bit longer, cause he drove like crazy and I wouldn’t have minded a bit slower speed). We knew we were getting close to Jaisalmer and the desert when a bunch of camels crossed the road in front of us… We had booked the whole Jaisalmer/Thar desert tour with a local operator there: Prince Desert Camp.  So everything, including pick up from airport in Jodhpur, hotel and tented desert tour with camel ride was included. We arrived at the hotel in Jaisalmer and guess what… We were UPGRADED J Again! Me like! Too bad it was just for one night this time so we didn’t really have time to enjoy the tower suite too much. The day after we went for a guided tour of Jaisalmer and the fort. We had a really interesting guide, which actually held a master degree in history. He showed us this beautiful city and told all about its history. Nice, think everything is better with a guide (except from the “showing you  where to buy this and that from my cousin/brother/friend etc.) 
  

Jaisalmer

 

In the afternoon we left for the Thar Desert, which boarders to Pakistan.  We arrived the camp and checked into our tent. Really nice place with a large tent and our own bathroom as well as air condition: that was some tent! In the evening we went on a camel ride to see the sunset, nice and scary…Was sure I was going fall off when the camel got up and when the camel guide made it go fast…But somehow survived J When we got to the sand dunes we expected to see some other tourists, though not beggars, street performers and drink sellers. But I suppose every large gathering of people and especially tourists is a possibility to earn some money for the locals, though a bit annoying while trying to enjoy a peaceful sunset. Afterwards we went back to camp and enjoyed some local entertainment and dinner. We noticed that all the foreigners went to one are for the dinner and the Indians somewhere else, as foreign Indians we had to ask why and it apparently was because the one buffet was not spicy and prepared with the foreigners in mind and the other one with Indian spice level. Off course we went for the Indian one ;) We like spicy!

Our camp in the desert!

Inside our luxury tent

Local entertainment



Most luxurious tent I have been in!




The next day we were booked in for a camel safari and candle light dinner at the sand dunes. So here we went again on the camels…Amazing and scary at the same time, but a really nice way of experiencing the desert J It was just us, the camels and the desert. On the way we passed lots of watermelons which is one of my favorite things in the world! Out camel guide asked if we wanted some and off course we said yes, so he picked some for us and brought to lunch – fantastic!



Mmmm, fresh watermelon



Camel safari

 
We had lunch in the middle of the desert under a tree, nice to relax in the shadow for a while during the warmest hour of the day.  Afterwards we continued to the sand dunes where we were supposed to see the sunset and have our dinner. When we arrived, the manager of our camp was there to prepare for the dinner and he gave us the one thing we wanted the most exactly at that time: a nice cold beer! J Sooo nice! Then after we had a fantastic dinner under the full moon, just us, our waiter and the sand dunes. Really nice experience!












Nothing like a cold beer in the middle of the desert ;)



Our dinner being set up...








The day after it was time to leave the camp and head towards Jodhpur, our next and last stop in Rajasthan.



Royal Rajasthan - Udaipur

Royal Rajasthan

We went for a week’s holiday in Rajasthan and visited Udaipur, Jaisalmer and the Thar Desert and lastly Jodhpur.

Udaipur:

First stop was Udaipur and in good Indian style the experiences started already at the airport, or the transfer from the airport to be more specific. We had booked a pick up from the hotel, but 45 minutes after arrival this had yet not arrived. So we had to surrender and go for the pre-paid taxi (in general a bit skeptical to taxi in India as they are always looking to trick you and this can end up in quite an argument which I was not in the mood for since we were here on relaxing holidays). But we paid for the taxi and this guy, who we thought was to be our driver, showed us to the car park. First sign of tricky-trick was when he said: non AC (air condition), we had already paid the fee and there was no talk about not being an AC car so I objected, but then (off course) he wanted INR 100 extra for AC. As I am a stubborn person of principles, I did not accept this. We got to the “car”, ohh, what a “car”! Don’t think I have ever seen a car in such a bad state, tiny, old and quite messed up…  AND this car had another driver, which our guy gave some money and then sent us off…. Must say we were quite skeptical at this time… But hey, we were at least heading towards our hotel and would arrive there quite soon and everything would be ok right..? No… Just minutes after hitting the highway, we pulled into a gas station: there was no gas left and the guy driving this “car” probably had no money so he had to wait for our payment before he could refill…. Ohh, arghh…. End of the story is that we did finally arrive at the hotel, AND the guy driving the so-called taxi tried to convince us to use him also for return to the airport!! Ehh, no thanks…  Ohh, well this is India – gotta love it!

Our stay in Udaipur can be divided into two: pre Taj Lake Palace and Taj Lake Palace.

The first night we stayed at this nice little heritage hotel, really good value for money J We did a sightseeing trip of the city with a tuk tuk and the tuk tuk driver actually spoke English! It was a great tour, even if off course tried to sell us everything he could and whatever we said ended up being used to get some money out of us… As per normal in India… One example is that he asked us where we were going next and we said Jaisalmer, ohh the best way of getting there was definitively by car so you could enjoy the trip and stop to see a couple of these really famous temples. AND by coincidence did he actually have a car and driver that could take us there… By road it takes around 10 hours! So we had booked a flight to Jodhpur and hired a car from there to take us the last 4-5 hours to Jaisalmer. There is no public airport in Jaisalmer as it is too close to the boarder to Pakistan, only military (lots of!) so Jodhpur was the closest we could get by air. The fact that we had already booked a flight did not stop him from promoting his services; we should cancel and rather go with his car…

Well, except from this continuous selling effort (as most here in India engage in once they see you are a foreigner) the tour was really nice and we got some good views of the city. Udaipur is known as the city of lakes and we saw some of these beautiful lakes with the palaces close by. I think the pictures tell more than words…

Then…. It was time to go to Taj Lake Palace, we were sooo excited!! This is supposed to be one of the best hotels in the world. So we jumped out of our tuk tuk, picked up our luggage at the hotel and walked towards the jetty where the boat to Lake Palace was leaving from. There were (as most places in India) high security to get through the gate and they looked upon us like we were crazy as we were first of all walking and not driving (people that can afford not to, don’t walk to places in India, they get a driver to take them) and secondly we carried our own luggage! But they let us through and we walked in excitement towards the jetty and a luxury life never experienced before.

The Taj Lake Palace in the evening...

Our amazing suite....

Arriving at the jetty, the luxury life started… Servants everywhere, they gave us a nice cold facial wipe and bottle of water, there were traditional musicians and dancers performing at the jetty and the boat was looking very nice. After screening of both us and our luggage we entered the boat and set sail towards the Lake Palace which as the name suggests lies in the middle of the lake and the only way of getting there is by boat. To my pleasantly surprise, they provided all guests with life vests that they ensured we used on the way over. Safety first – me like J

We entered the hotel jetty, ohh my god! Amazing!! This butler-type with an umbrella met us and when walking towards the entrance, roseleaves were raining over us… Inside they gave us a welcome drink and told us some fantastic news: we were upgraded!! J To a Royal Suite…. Wow, having looked at their web-page for prices and booking, I knew the price of such a room and to be honest, we had to consider whether we felt we could afford the cheapest room they had (which was the one we actually had booked) as the price of this was NOK 3500,- per night…

Enjoying a pre-dinner glas of champagne with a view!

THE most lovely swimmingpool!

The suite was AMAZING!! There are no words to describe it… It consisted of a hallway, baggage room, large bedroom/wardrobe/office area, lounge area and dining room as well as the most beautiful bathroom. The view was lake, lake, lake from all windows! Just fantastic!! I almost had trouble breathing taking all this in… I have never before in my life experienced such luxury and most likely never will again in the future.

The early evening was spent drinking champagne, looking at the sunset outside our palace, just looooovely J The palace was built in 1743 and is covering a whole island in the Lake Pichola and used to be the summer palace for the royals. It is managed by the the Taj group who runs a hotel there.  All rooms come with a private butler. Must admit we worked hard on figuring out what to use him for… Ended up just asking him to bring some champagne one of the evenings and that is all we requested from him during our 2 nights stay… Hmm, next time I will try to be better prepared and know what to use a private butler for, have not a great lot of experience in this.  

The Taj Lake Palace

Instead of trying to explain this amazing experience with words, I rather include some photos to tell the beauty of it all.

Sunset from the beautiful Taj Lake Palace