“India 🇮🇳 ~Jodhpur, Pushkar, and Udaipur”

• April 11, 2018
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

Before our 32-day visit in Rajasthan India was over, we visited every place we wanted to see in the Northern reaches of India.

Enjoy some reading, and to see all the photos, click on the links provided.

Visiting Jodhpur

We got out of town to visit some villages, meet the villagers, and see/do some interesting things. We enjoyed watching some “Ceremonial” Opium being made into a drink, and yes, we tried it!😜 The Indian government only allows the “Bishnoi” tribe to continue their practice of hundreds of years; consuming liquid opium for the purpose of energy. Not for the purpose of getting high. (The Chinese smoke it for that purpose). Otherwise, opium has been outlawed and banned in the country for any recreational use or sales.

More about the Bishnoi Tribal people:

Do you ever wonder where the first “tree hugger” came from, or where  the term “tree hugger” comes from? When we were in Jodhpur, India we visited a village of age-old traditional Bishnoi people. For those who followed our travels; this was the place we drank opium tea.  Anyway here is their story.

About The Khejarli Massacre:  The tree hugging, Chipko Movement came from the Bishnoi community as it was inspired by the story of Amrita Devi Bishnoi. In 1730 AD, Maharaja Abhay Singh, the then King of Jodhpur wanted to build a new palace for which he ordered his men to cut down Khejri trees to get wood for construction. But when the king’s men came to the village, Amrita Devi, her three daughters and the villagers opposed the felling of trees. Amrita Devi said it was against her religious faith and would rather lose her life than the trees. She, along with her daughters hugged the trees. Unfazed, the king’s men severed their heads. News of the great sacrifice spread to the other villages. Bishnois from all over came to hug the trees and had their heads severed. A total of 363 Bishnoi men, women, young and old sacrificed their lives and became martyrs for the cause. Finally, the king had to relent, and ordered a ban on cutting of trees and hunting within the boundary of the Bishnoi villages. This has come to be known as the Khejrali massacre. To this day, every September, the Bishnois gather in Khejrali village to pay their respect to all the martyrs who laid down their lives and were buried there.  The Bishnois tribes’ maintain the beliefs of their ancestors to this day.

More About the Bishnol People:
Early humans worshipped the forces of Nature: Mother Earth, the Sun God, the Gods of rain, were prime deities, because they sustained life. The centuries slid by, and religions with specific names emerged. Today, we worship Gods and gurus, but there exist tribes that still pay obeisance to Nature herself. One such fascinating tribe is the Bishnois of Rajasthan. The Bishnoi tribe is over 500 years old and they follow a religion that is based on the principle of conserving nature and wildlife. They live in the Western Thar desert and in some parts of Gujrat, Haryana and Punjab. They are mostly Jats and Rajputs, but usually take up the ‘Bishnoi’ surname. The Bishnois are widely recognized as the first environmentalists in India, with over 1 million followers.‘Bish’ means 20 and ‘Noi’ means 9, hence Bishnoi means the ‘Twenty Niners,’ after the 29 principles that the tribe follows. The Killing of animals and felling trees is totally banned.

Jodhpur ~Click on the link to see all the photos:

https://picsbypen.smugmug.com/Places/AsiaLife/IndiaRajasthan/Rajasthan/Jodhpur

Visiting Pushkar

We arrived in Pushkar from Udaiper, and we will stay six nights. We hear its the “Hippie” venue of Rajathan. We dont know if that is a term for the visitors, or the locals. It should be fun.

Pushkar Lake is a Holy Lake, so everybody must take shoes off to walk around it. BUT, when the temperatures are 110 degrees, who can walk barefoot around the concrete? Regardless, we arrived safe and sound in Ajmer by train, 🚂 after six hours. We found a “coolie” to carry our suitcases (lots of stairs) and you can’t beat their service for a couple of bucks! From the train station, we took a taxi for a 25 minute, bumpy ride over “Snake Mountain,” to Pushkar (its called snake mountain, because the cliff overhangs look like the Cobra hood on the snake 🐍) AND it really does look like a snake! Pushkar means: “Blue Lotus Flower.” We went off the beaten path a bit, to take in this town, because it just sounded like a place we should not miss!

We have also been so busy-on-the-go the last couple weeks, we need to work in some down time! Pushkar is quite popular with visitors, and I read so many good things about it; though remote, and bordering the Thar Desert. (hot)! The whole town can be walked through quite easily, but there is much to see in this small area. There is a cable car to the highest peak around, the Holy Lake, and the main road is one long Bazaar, with very good quality artisan jewelry, paintings, and leather works.

Pushkar Lake (no shoes allowed when walking around it) is considered one of the most holy places in India; with 54 Ghats. Pushkar is also one of the oldest cities in India, dating back to the 1400’s.

We look forward to experiencing this peaceful and Holy place for the next six days. It is a place for enlightenment, no matter your religious preference.
There is a Sikh Temple here that feeds 80,000 people a day. We had an opportunity to “serve” the people and contribute by helping to cook.  During this time, we will be staying at the “MadPackers,” and it’s simply divine! It took two artists; seven years to complete all the paintings in this hotel. There are six floors, so it’s a huge place with beautiful paintings throughout. It has taken my breath away, and it feels like we are staying in a castle.  Our room is enormous, and we have a pool to swim in. Yes, I feel enlightened already, and we haven’t even begun exploring yet.

4/29/18
On our last afternoon in Pushkar, we took a very bumpy tuk tuk ride, out of town to a cave that is over 1,000 years old. In the cave is an old Hindu Temple they call Shiva, but our main purpose for the visit was to meet “Aaloo Baba.” We wanted to meet him, and hear him tell of his journey towards spiritual perfection. With broken English, we actually understood some of what he was saying. With my observation of other “Holy Men” around India, I wondered if Aaloo Baba was maybe the real deal. His story is certainly interesting enough.
To begin with, he has been eating only potatos for the last 45 years. (Aaloo is the Hindi word for potato).

4/28/18
We tried getting out earlier in the day to beat the heat. It almost worked– Ha! After a couple of hours we were done, and soaked to the bone with perspiration. Pushkar is definatetly interesting, but for a “Holy” City and all, I must say we did not feel as welcomed here as foreign visitors, as we have felt in other Indian cities. We were chatting with a couple of Swedes at the pool yesterday, and they gave us a head-up for our pending visit to the “Holy Lake.” They said they felt very un-welcomed when they visited, though they felt like they were being very respectful. We felt the same, right away, and only took a few photos and left. Some guy started following me and yelling at me; not sure what he was saying, (my head, shoulders and legs were covered, and feet uncovered), so I turned around and asked him to please stop yelling at me. He turned around and walked away, and didn’t say another word. Regardless, this Lake is REALLY old, as in 4th century; before Christ, old!

Anyway, while Daryl got a haircut, I “people watched” in the Bazaar area. Always something going on. I need a hair cut too, but there are no cutting sheers here in India; only straight scissors, and that will only work for half of my hair style. Oh well, when ya have hair as short as mine, even when it grows out, it still looks like styled short hair.

4/26/18
Pushkar is very different from any of the other Indian cities we have visted so far. It seems like we are the only tourists in this town. Its very small, and there is not a lot of activity. We will explore further, but we were told for four months out of the year, it is pretty quiet. We are within those four months. We stayed in our room till late afternoon, then ventured out for dinner. After dinner, we made our way by Tuk Tuk to a cable car system that runs up the mountain to a very old Hindu Temple. We also hoped the sunset would offer up some pretty photos. While the view was good, the temple was nothing to get excited about. It seems that after the cable car system was installed, the temple sort of disappeared into concrete that was erected for the cable cars. No worries, there were plenty of monkeys to entertain me for the whole time. So many baby monkeys, too, and they look like little aliens, but cute aliens.

We also saw camel carts; lots of them running people up to the cable car parking lot area, to the cable car landing.

History of Pushkar:
Pushkar is one of the oldest cities in India. Located to the northwest of Ajmer, it is a favored  destination for thousands of tourists and devotees flocking to Rajasthan. Situated at a height of 1,673 feet above sea level. Pushkar is surrounded by hillocks on three sides. The “Nag Pahar,” literally meaning Snake Mountain, forms a natural border between Ajmer and Pushkar. Known as “the rose garden of Rajasthan,” the essence of the famous Pushkar rose is exported all over the world. Along with an interesting mythological history, a legacy of timeless architectural heritage makes Pushkar a fascinating city. According to legends, Lord Brahma, believed to be the creator of the universe, dropped a lotus to the ground leading to the immediate creation of a lake. He then decided to name the place after the flower, and thus the area got the name Pushkar. The city is home to the only temple dedicated to Lord Brahma in the whole world. Hindus consider a journey to Pushkar to be the ultimate pilgrimage that must be undertaken to attain salvation.

Pushkar ~click the link to see all the photos: https://picsbypen.smugmug.com/Places/AsiaLife/IndiaRajasthan/Rajasthan/Pushkar

Visiting Udaipur

Such a pretty place!
We enjoyed exploring the fabulous City Palace, and the Jagmandir Island Palace, which are both on Lake Pichola. Terrific fun to learn about the Royal life of India, and see the lovely riches. Seriously, it was good to be Royal, here!
By the time we completed our self-tour of the City Palace, and Jagmandir Palace, we were happy to get out of the 106 temps back at our hotel with A/C. Speaking of self-tours, we opted NOT to hire a guide from the get-go at the Palace entrance. Word of warning; the staff inside will not be very helpful, if they see you do not hire a guide.

The self-tour was easy enough inside the Palace and then getting to the boat launch, but when we were done, nobody would help us get out of that place; like which way to find a Tuk Tuk? We were told wrong; twice, and it felt like the locals were messing with us. Ha!

The City Palace

is a large complex, situated in the heart of city, and was built over a period of nearly 400 years; with contributions from several rulers of the Mewar dynasty. It sits in the edge of the lake and has amazing views! Thank We happily took a boat tour around Lake Pichola. This Lake in Udaipur has four islands with old structures on them; all with fabulous history.

Jagmandir Island Palace
was spectacular! Wow! Even though it is a working hotel, we were allowed to dock, get outing the boat abs walk around the small complex. Jagmandir is a Palace built on an island in the Lake Pichola. It is also called the “Lake Garden Palace.” Its construction is credited to three Maharanas of the Sisodia Rajputs of Mewar kingdom in 1551. Also, while on the boat tour around the lake, we were only allowed to look at the Sajjangarh Palace (Monsoon Palace). It is privately owned, from what we understood.

India is NOTHING, if not colorful! I always loved to see pictures of India, before traveling here. I suspected I would enjoy it all in person. Udaipur is a great city, full of life and activity. It is vibrant in energy and the colors are easy to take in. A fabulous experience in (once again), an old part of the world! The “Womans” Bazaar” was lively and enjoyable. For me, its not about what the locals are selling, its all about “people watching!”

We have only three nights here (our shortest stay all month), so we got out and explored every day to see it all. When our time came to an end in Udaipur, it was early to bed and early to rise, as we had leave for the train station by 5:15AM. We have a 5.5-hour trip to make our way to Pushkar, India. There is no station at Pushkar, so we go as far as Ajmer Junction Station, and hopefuly get an Uber, taxi or Tuk tuk from there to Pushkar. It’s ALWAYS an adventure!

Udaipur ~click on the link to see all the photos:

https://picsbypen.smugmug.com/Places/AsiaLife/IndiaRajasthan/Rajasthan/