Rajasthan Diary - Part 2, Chapter 1 (Jodhpur-Ranakpur-Udaipur)
Dighero Stefano
Hello Travel-L friends!
Finally I made it! I've just finished the second part of my Rajasthan diary.
I will send it splitted into 6 chapters.
Here is the first. Enjoy it!
Friday, October 3rd: Jodhpur-Ranakpur-Udaipur
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Today we had to do a long trip, driving from Jodhpur to Udaipur, with a stop
to Ranakpur. It took four hours to arrive at Ranakpur, where there is one of
the most important Jain temples, the magnificent complex of Ranakpur. The
most important is the Chaumukha temple, built in 1439 (it took more than
sixty years to build it). This big marble temple is made by 29 halls, with
1444 columns (even if they say that no one never counted them), all
different each other. It is really astounding! Every surface is exquisitely
inlaid. As we entered we were welcomed by a Jain monk who, for a donation,
guided us in the temple and told us about its history. After this short
guided tour we continued to wander in the temple admiring astonished the
domes and the columns. Some of them were so intricately carved that you
could stay for minutes and minutes watching them and always discovering new
images and subjects.
After the visit of the temple we stopped at a nearby hotel where we took
some drinks and sandwiches. Then in the first afternoon we started our trip
to Udaipur. After an hour drive along a twisting and steep road we had to
stop because of an accident involving a bus. The road was blocked and it was
not possible to go on. So we had to return to Ranakpur in order to take an
alternative road, and our trip to Udaipur turned out to be much longer than
we expected. Anyway, after crossing a beautiful green region, in the late
afternoon we arrived at Udaipur.
Here we got very angry with Ashok because yet another time he tried to drag
us to an hotel of his choice. In fact we told him to take us to the Lake
Pichola Hotel, which is suggested by LP. As he didn't know where our hotel
was located, he took us to an hotel which was not on the Lake Pichola but on
the Fateh Sagar Lake. We took a look at the hotel and the rooms, but we
didn't like it, so while the owner was trying to convince us continually
lowering the price, we went back to the car and asked to Ashok to take us to
our hotel. It was a little difficult for Ashok to find his way to the hotel,
as he had to drive through very narrow and busy streets, but finally we made
it. The Lake Pichola hotel is situated in Chand Pol, on the lake just in
front of Tripolia Gate. They gave us a very romantic room with a wonderful
view on the lake, the ghats and the City Palace. It is a white building in
traditional style and all the rooms are air conditioned. It is not a luxury
hotel but offers a good value at reasonable price. We soon noticed that here
in Udaipur there are legions of mosquitos, so we turned on the A/C and went
at the hotel's restaurant where we had dinner accompanied by two musicians
(a sarod player and a tabla player) playing traditional Indian music.
After dinner we went out for a stroll around the hotel. Here we met Deva
Lal, a nice guy who is a rickshaw driver and who always stays in front of
the hotel waiting for customers. First he accompanied us in our stroll and
took us in a place where it was possible to enjoy a wonderful view of the
lake, the city and the Lake Palace hotel. Then, as we were curious about the
prices of the Shiv Niwas Hotel, we asked him to take us there. This was our
first autorickshaw ride and we had really a lot of fun. We soon realized
that the autorickshaw is the best way to move through the narrow streets of
this city. Deva is a very expert driver and took us at full speed at the
Shiv Niwas. Here we found out that the prices were much higher than those
written in the LP.
Then Deva took us in the main street of Udaipur, near the Jagdhish temple,
where there was a celebration. In fact in that period there was a feast,
whose name is Garbah (or something like that) which is nine days long. There
was a lot of local people and tourists who come to see the celebration.
During this feast each evening the people gather in the main streets of the
city to dance. This dance is very nice. All the people arrange themselves to
form two circles. The women in the inner circle and the men in the outer.
All of them must be barefooted and have a wooden stick in each hand. When
the music starts, they begin to dance with precise movements, beating
rhythmically the sticks, once with the two hands, and once crossing the
sticks of the dancer in front of them. As the two circles move in opposite
directions, each female dancer beat his sticks with every other male dancer
and viceversa.
It was very nice looking at this people dancing each one with his personal
style and we stayed until midnight, when Deva took us back to the hotel.
Thanks to Deva we had the possibility to see this celebration and we were so
happy that we made a date with him for the next day in the afternoon.
(more to follow)
Stefano Dighero
GENOVA - ITALY
dig...@orsiweb.com
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(Mushariff-Ud-Din, 1184-1291)
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