India 2025

 March 8th - Saturday 

We flew QANTAS direct from Melbourne to Delhi. A 13 hour flight, we were 1/2 an hour late taking off due to a fridge that had broken.  Dry ice solved the issue. The flight was uneventful but we both struggled to find much to watch.

Got through immigration and customs easily, after buying some duty free whiskey for the next few weeks. Chivas Regal was a bit over the top but everything else was a twin pack and that definitely would have been too much.

We met our driver, Jeet and then headed off. Delhi traffic was horrendous,  though Jeet said it was good because it was a Saturday.  Lane markings mean little as everyone jostles for position and comes within inches of other cars.  At one point there were maybe 6 lanes, though Trace counted 10 distinct rows of cars and we were all heading to a 3 lane section. That took about 20 minutes to navigate! 

We were heading to Neemrana only 100km away, but it took 2.5 hours arriving at 9:00pm. This was 2:30am Melbourne time and we had been up since 5:30am. Trace had had a couple of naps in the car but we were both pretty tired and skipped dinner.

March 9th - Sunday

Neither of us slept particularly well and we were awake before 7:00am.  Jeet picked us up at 9:00 and we started the drive to Bikaner, about 6.5hrs away. Both Neemrana and Bikaner were basically just pitstops on the way to our first major stop, Jaisalmer.

On the way to Bikaner, we stopped in Mandawa to see some Havelis. Haveli's were owned by the Elite back in the 1800's. We visited 3, the first having been partially repainted, whilst the second and third claim to have only been thoroughly cleaned.  The third one has been converted into a hotel and whilst beautiful I'm not sure I would spend the $200 a night they are asking.  The style of each was virtually identical, being lots of room around a central garden. Paintings around all of the walls and columns typically showed scenes of the original family or Hindu gods. The colours in many cases were still pretty vibrant.

A pitstop for lunch, vege Korma and palak paneer, was nice, pretty cheap but a touch too salty. We made another stop as we neared Bikaner, at a Camel research farm.  Here they have several varieties of Camel and breed them for farm use and also milking. We tried a camel milk Lassi ( yoghurt drink) and were pleasantly surprised by the taste.

We arrived at our hotel in Bikaner around 6:00pm, so much more than 6.5hrs since we left.

The Indian roads are a mixed lot. Some are very new and smooth, whilst others are a potholed mess. Road rules may exist but few follow them. Overtaking occurs whenever you want and rarely takes into account any oncoming traffic  - who obligingly move over to allow you room to continue overtaking. Our driver is on the more conservative side and although he does overtake at times when I certainly wouldn’t,  he is generally the one giving way.

Initial impressions are that India is similar to several other Asian and African countries we have been to, with rubbish very common and poor roads and driving. Pollution here seems worse though, especially when we drove through the brick making areas where chimneys belching smoke were very common. Looking forward to some forts and temples in the coming days.

Around 10pm, fireworks started somewhere nearby. We could only see glimpses from our room, but the noise continued for well over half an hour.  We think they were due to the upcoming Holi festival but could have just as easily been because India won the ICC cricket final

March 10th - Monday

Another poor night's sleep with a train horn waking us both around 4:00am, then more horns and music, that went on for hours. 

Picked up at 9:00 am and an immediate change to a Tuk Tuk. This driver took us to the old part of Bikaner and it soon  became clear why Jeet hadn't driven us. The roads were narrow and extremely crowded with Tuk Tuks, motorbikes and pedestrians.  We visited several more Haveli's that were in various states of repair, but all quite fascinating with the detail of the outside walls. We went inside only one, which has been converted to a hotel. They have done a very good job restoring the building and it looked quite stunning, especially the gold leaf on the ceilings.

Next stop was a Hindu temple. The paintings inside on the walls, roof and columns were very elaborate and there were many statues carved from timber.

From here we walked through a market which was heaving with more motorbikes and people. The shops were interesting, especially the one selling coloured powders for Holi.

Back to the Tuk Tuk we headed towards the Bikaner Fort. But first we had to stop for a train. No big deal you'd think, except the boom gates came down about 10 minutes before the train arrived. In the meantime cars and motorbikes swarmed down the road and spread out right across the road. The inevitable happened when the boom gates opened and cars and bikes started coming in the other direction, everyone pushed left and traffic slowed right down.  Took us ages to get across.

The Fort held many exhibits from old photos to costumes and weapons. We don't know a lot about Indian history though and struggled with interest at times.  There was a large amount of British influence in the items including a whole Art Deco section.

Jeet met us at the exit of the Fort and we began the long haul to Jaisalmer. The road was very good and traffic light, making the 70 and 80 speed limit very frustrating.  Jeet wisely kept to the speed limit though as we passed two speed cameras along the way. If it wasn't for the cows and bulls wandering the highway  I'm sure the limit could be much higher. 

Arriving in Jaisalmer around 6:00pm we decided to make a quick visit to the 'Bada Bagh Cenotaphs', memorials for Maharaja's. Our timing was perfect as the setting sun was shining nicely on the Cenotaphs, making them glow.

At our hotel by 7:00pm hoping for a better night's sleep.