Look casual !

This is my last post from this trip. See you soon !

Traveling in India is also...

...finding your way amongst cow dung, heaps of rubbish, flee-bitten skeleton-like dogs, people sleeping on the streets, all kinds of beggars and disabled with unimaginable handicaps, touts, persistent shopkeepers, massage men, hashish sellers, rickshaw drivers, more rickshaw drivers, barbers assuring you that you need a shave, people pissing against every wall, noisy motor bikes, all kinds of two and three wheeled vehicles on constant collision route. Then there are the monkeys, plus the pigs feasting on the rotten food and the rats feasting on the overflowing sewers, cows eating refuse on the streets, goats eating refuse on the streets, tourists thinking "how exotic !", locals staring at the tourists thinking "how exotic !". Overcrowded, claustrophobic trains, crumbling buses full of people with empty gazes pushing each other on a rush to survive one more day...

The Golden temple

Amritsar is the spiritual capital of Sikhism, which is the fifth largest organised religion in the world. Most of the Sikhs live in Punjab, India, and their most sacred shrine is the beautiful Golden Temple. Along with Varanasi, this is the most spiritual and inspiring place I have visited in India. Here is a selection of pictures which I hope will inspire you as much as they did to me.



The Golden Temple by night.



The Golden Temple by day.



A Pilgrim sits by the holy pool as hundreds of people cross the bridge that leads to the Hari Mandir Sahib.



One of the temple guards surveys the pilgrims (strict rules apply to visitors) while a pilgrim bathes in the holy waters of the temple.



A voluntary works on the temple decoration.



A pilgrim takes a holy dip while contemplating the beauty of the Hari Mandir Sahib.

Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer, at the doors of the Thar desert, close to the Pakistani border. A relaxed, hassle free small city with a beautiful honey coloured fort where we lingered for a couple of days. It's a small place so we profited to ease the pace of our travel and do some reading while seating on a sunny rooftop.



There is something about kite runners and sunsets...

Jodhpur

The impressive walls of the fort of the city of Jodhpur, some 250km northwest of Udaipur just at the beginning of the Rhajisthani desert.

Udaipur

When I first read that Udaipur was one of the most romantic cities of India I confess I was a bit skeptical. In a country such as India, it's difficult to believe in romanticism. India is certainly not a Bollywood film. Poverty, overpopulation, lack of infrastructure, these are known problems in India and they are in large scale. When traveling in India out of the big cities (and even there) it's difficult to picture India as an emerging economy. Anyway, this doesn't mean that India doesn't have some romantic places. It does, as you saw in my previous posts. But as a whole one has to say that the Indian cities we visited were overcrowded, noisy and dirty. That's where Udaipur surprised me, where only Varanasi had done before. I leave you with the pictures.



View of the Havelis (palacial houses) and city palace by the lakeside.



The city palace seen from the opposite side of the lake.



A view from the Ghats in the morning, with the Lake Palace at a distance.



The beautiful Lake Palace at sunset. The picture was taken from a boat around 17h30.



A final picture from the sunset on the lake.

Bundi

Bundi's impressive palace falls down the hill above a small lake. This small blue city is very calm (a bit too calm for what we're getting used to), so we profited to do a short trekking to the city's fort which is completely abandoned except of course for the monkeys. Ah, we had to go armed since the monkeys can get a bit excited some times. Fortunately we did not need to use our frightening wood sticks... fortunately for the monkeys, I mean... Anyway, this photo was taken on the way up to the fort.

Kite runners

Pushkar, magic Pushkar is a holy place of the hinduism. It is a small village with a cool vibe that makes you wanna stay. In the afternoons the rooftops get filled with children playing with their kites. Dozens of kites fill the sky making the perfect photo at sunset...

Jaipur

Rajasthan's capital it's a noisy, crowded, bustling city. In spite of all that, we felt we could have stayed a bit more. Maybe it was the palaces and the bazars, or the warm colours of the old city. Not sure. Anyway, I leave you with this photo, taken at the "tiger fort". I think it shows what I mean with warm colours...

On the road to Rajasthan

Our trip continues at a slower pace now. We have 3 weeks in Rajasthan.

But just before, still time for a stop at Fathepur Sikkri to wonder around, amongst its beautiful red sandstone palaces...