Why Rajasthan is one of the best first stops, visiting India?
12 years ago, we visited India for the first time. I had a must visit places on my list but we decided to start our visit with Rajasthan before getting to our desired destinations and 12 years after that and few more trips to India, I still think Rajasthan is a perfect first stop to experience India. And here are the few reasons:
– Infrastructure for tourists is the best in Rajasthan: India in general is a perfect country in terms of internet access and online bookings unlike what you might think, but Rajasthan is one of the best in terms of infrastructure that visitors from high end tourists to backpackers might need on a trip. There are lots of information available online for different transportation, accommodation and restaurant options and in fact there are too many options available in Rajasthan comparing to some of neighboring states.
– Cost of travelling in Rajasthan: India in general is an amazing country to visit in terms of cost and Rajasthan is a heaven especially if you are travelling on a tight budget. Because lots of backpackers are visiting Rajasthan, there are more competitive options available and you money can buy even more in Rajasthan.
– Colors of India are displayed in the best form in Rajasthan: Rajasthan showcase some of the best architectures in India and have some of the most colorful cities of India like Jaipur and Jodhpur. Rajasthani women outfits are among the best in India and arriving to India and finding yourself anywhere in Rajasthan is a feast for anyone’s eyes.
Our Itinerary in Rajasthan:
Because of all the reasons mentioned above, we decided to visit Rajasthan for a week before moving further south. Most of the international flights to India are landing either in New Delhi or Mumbai. We picked New Delhi because it was the cheapest at the time and it was more central and closer to our favorite destinations. As you might know already, we hate big cities so we skip them as much as we can. We have been to New Delhi 4 times so far but haven’t stayed there even for a night. We also didn’t want to bother visiting the touristic destinations around New Delhi so skipped Agra and Jaipur too. We picked two destination, Pushkar and Jodhpur in Rajasthan to spend a week in. I’ll go through why we picked these two cities later.
Pushkar, A city with a sacred lake:
Pushkar, located in Ajmar distinct in western Rajasthan is an interesting city.to visit. First of all,Pushkar Lake is a sacred lake for the Hindus and is located right in the center of Pushkar township with 52 ghats (a series of steps leading to the lake). pilgrims are coming from all over India to wash their sins in the holy water of Pushkar lake.
The second reason for popularity of Pushkar is it’s famous annual camel fair festival which attracts lots of locals as well as Indian tourists from all over the country and also lots of tourists from overseas to come to this small town annually.
To get to Pushkar, we took a 4:00 am train from New Delhi central train station to Ajmar. We couldn’t book train tickets in advance online so we got a taxi straight from the airport to the train station and hoped for the best. In fact there are lots of trains from New Delhi all the way to the far west end of Rajasthan, Jaisalmer. We got lucky and got a ticket in sleeper train that we aimed for in the first place.
One of the biggest shock in India happened to us in New Delhi train station. From the entrance door where the taxi driver dropped us to the ticket booth, floor was covered with people sleeping on their luggage. Some of them can be seen in the photo above in the background. I knew the train number and the the class of cabin that we needed and it was easy to buy it. Train tickets are affordable in India like everything else but they are extremely popular with locals and it’s easy to miss on a certain train routes because it is full, it has happened to us few times in India so far but we got lucky on the first one.
The second shock of the train experience hit us when we got on the train. Delhi central station wasn’t where the train was starting so getting on the train around 4:00 am on a sleeper section and finding the right spot wasn’t easy. Here is how the train looked like when we got on it. We managed to find our seat / bed eventually and had few hours of sleep before the sunrise. I guess the only piece of advice for getting on an Indian train is taking some clean sheet if you want to avoid sleeping on seat/ beds, that’s what all the locals were doing too. I normally get myself sorted with few big scarves that I normally pack to cover myself in temples, protect myself against the heat and sun or when I feel uncomfortable with my cloth and use them to cover myself more and of course use them as extra sheet or sometimes blanket. With backpacks it’s easy to use it as pillow to make sure it’s safe on a busy train like this one when you go to sleep. if you travel with a suitcase a small chain and a lock can be helpful.
Train ride was perfect especially after everyone woke up and changed the setting to the sitting arrangement and we had to stop along the way on different stations and street sellers were coming on board to offer all sorts of food. From New Delhi to Ajmar is only 5-6 hours ride and we got to Ajmar around 10:00 am. with a quick tuktuk ride, we were at Pushkar before 11:00 am. The only accommodation that I booked for our whole trip was the first two nights at Pushkar. There are a lot of accommodation to choose from and the cost is extremely cheap. I booked an amazing place for only 20 usd per night which happened to be pretty much our most expensive accommodation that we booking in our whole trip. This is what we got for 20 usd per night for both of us.
I don’t have the detail of our whole trip cost as it happened quite a while ago but I will share the detail that I have and at the end, I’ll summarize all the activities that we have done during more that 3 weeks in India with our total cost.
Visiting Pushkar:
After checking in our hotel, we were ready to go out and explore the city. Getting out, the first thing that can be felt instantly is the fact that it’s a touristic town with more backpacking laid back vibe to it. all the small shops were selling toilet paper, Nutella, peanut butter and packs of toast bread. It just gives the feeling that its’ a cheap destination where lots of young travelers spend time here on a low budget. It’s well equipped with everything you need to get used to Indian towns but on a slow pace and have the luxury of nice cool cafes and restaurants. Rajasthan is pretty restricted in terms of consuming meat. most of the restaurants only serve vegetarian meals and sometimes chicken dishes, so it’s a good time to try and be a vegetarian for a while 🙂
One of the first vibrant thing that grabbed my attention was the amount of fresh flowers for sale. It’s totally different from how the cut flowers are on sale anywhere else (Well apart from Bali and some other southeastern Asia countries), they are all piled up in baskets and already made as a lovely colorful necklace.
No matter how many photos of India you have ever seen, being in India for the first time, there’s no way to not get overwhelmed with the vibrant colors of Indian women dresses. In the modern world that pretty much all the traditional clothing in most of rich cultures of the world are being replaced with casual comfortable clothing with conservative colors, India is one of the most unique countries that women still dress in their traditional outfit and remained committed to their vibrant colors and make you believe there are unbelievable color combination possibilities that you can ever think of.
After spending few days in Pushkar, acclimatizing to Indian kind of living and had few lazy days walking around streets of Pushkar and sitting on ghats and watching pilgrims coming for their rituals by the lake, we decided to move on to our next destination Jodhpur.
Visiting Jodhpur:
From Pushkar we decided to get on a local bus to go to Jodhpur. It’s around 4 hour bus ride and being on a local bus was fun. Leaving Pushkar at around 8:00 we were at Jodhpur by lunch time. After looking on the paper map and finding few guesthouses on the edge of Jodhpur old town walls, we picked one which was the closest to walk to in the afternoon heat with heavy backpacks and we were lucky and they had only one room available. The good thing about staying in small family run business guest houses is the food. They normally offer you a simple lunch/dinner menu and based on what you choose, they go out and shop and cook for you, best home cook meal ever and on top of that all, it’s safe because the last thing that you need in India is food poisoning which it’s real, if you don’t watch out what you eat on the street. My stomach can tolerate pretty well as I’m adventurous with different foods but being adventurous with street food is not a good idea if you are on a tight schedule. It will also help and support the family run businesses when you order lunch or dinner with them and it taste more like authentic home cook Indian meals. We always try it with every home stay/guesthouse that we stay in.
Jodhpur is the second largest city of Rajasthan and it’s known as blue city because of it’s gorgeous blue color houses. The old city circles the Mehrangarh Fort and is bounded by a wall with several gates. The reason that we picked Jodhpur is its realness. It’s not as touristic as Jaipur and the real life is going on in the narrow alleys of the old town. It’s an amazing spot to get lost in for at least few days.
Our hotel was on a quiet neighborhood on the out skirt of the old town walls. An easy walk through the chaos of Jodhpur was taking us to one of many gates of the old town where fun was about to start. Walking into the old town, there are street sellers which practically selling everything including lots of food and fresh produce. Looking at stalls and finding the way through the chaos of the crowd, cows and dogs, tuktuks, motorcycles honking non stop, it’s easy to find yourselves in the old town market packed with colors and smells. My favorite part was textile shops setups.
Walking to the center of the old town toward the hill where city fort is located, the busy vibe of market started to change to calm relaxing residential vibe. Narrow alleys winding in a maze shape structure going uphill toward the fort, covered with amazing spectrum of colors but blue is definitely the dominant color. We spent few days walking up and down these alleys and get familiar with the pace of life in Jodhpur, starting with quiet moody mornings where sun rays were trying hard to find their way through the narrow alleys of the blue city
Around central and south India, apart from the hill stations, it’s hot all year around so almost all the houses have very small windows and it’s dark in almost any house that we have been to in India. The other interesting fact about the Indian windows is lack of glasses.
After witnessing quiet mornings, streets come to live with kids getting out to go to school and their laughter fills the whole town like everywhere else in the world. Praying is an essential part of Hindus and there are temples everywhere. From majestic massive temples to tiny ones in the neighborhoods that you only notice them when someone is paying respect to them. It’s an essential part of Indian life and there’s an amazing sense of calmness to watch how they are conscious of what they believe in through out the day. It’s somehow essential part of their daily life to stop for few moments to meditate, focus and pay their respect to what they believe in.
Another interesting thing that we found about Indians, especially in smaller cities, is the fact that how happy they are despite the poverty which is obviously a big issue in India. They always find a reason to celebrate throughout the year and in fact we just passed few celebrations and festivals in Jodpur which weren’t even major and we couldn’t find them in Indian festival calendar. The other factor that I think affects their quality of life is socializing with their close and extended families and also with their neighbors and friends. Walking through the streets of Jodhpur, it was so easy to feel their sense of calmness and happiness.
Painting everything in vibrant colors, instead of dull neutral colors and dressing in happy colors instead of conservative colors for normal daily activities might add up more to the playful side of life rather than a more serious view to life. As a color lover, I loved to see the combination of the colors which you won’t be able to see them anywhere else in the world apart from India.
That was all we did in Jodhpur. We didn’t spend much time to see iconic places like Jodhpur fort, we only ate at our hotel where their grandmother was cooking for us and witnessing the daily life which is simple and pure in every shape and form and made us wonder if we missed something along the way. Apart from all the beauty, we witnessed serious heart breaking poverty in action both in Pushkar and Jodhpur, we have spent 2 dollars to buy 20 kg of flour for a big group of people living on the outskirt of Pushkar in a basic shelter and extremely harsh conditions with many kids around and it made us wonder how much the cost of our morning coffee can make a difference somewhere else in the world. There’s a lot in it to take in and learn and after 12 years I still appreciate the impact of that trip on setting our priorities and our views about life.
In the next post, we will travel to another part of India. A less traveled state which was one of our main destinations in India. I’ll tell you more about in in the next post. Till then, take care.
