Away from the madness

Trip Start Nov 01, 2006

179

Trip End Oct 31, 2007

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Flag of India Ranakpur, India
Friday, December 1, 2006

Yesterday we took a local government bus for a 4 hour journey to Ranakpur. Tim has already mentioned about government buses and their lack of comfort, so you won't be surprised to learn that true to form, it wasn't very comfortable. However, it did have the virtue of not being very busy, which is very unusual. In fact, for most of the journey, not even all of the seating room was being used, let alone the standing room. Travel on Indian buses is interesting when it comes to toilet facilities. First of all, the one at the bus station in Jodhpur was the worst I have come across so far, and was so bad that I nearly didn't use it. I'll spare you the details - you'll just have to trust me. Then you come to the bus itself and in a 4 hour journey you're (if you're me!) bound to need to go at least once. But the problem is that although there are stops, they seem to be at the whim of the driver, and you never know how long you've got, so deciding whether or not to relieve yourself at all, and if you do, whether you've got time to go to a proper toilet, or should lose your dignity and crouch at the side of the bus, is quite an exciting game

01 Poolside at Shivika Lake guesthouse

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(A few days ago, on the bus from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur, there was a stop, and I, along with lots of the other women, got off and queued for the loo (although when I got in to it, it turned out they were going over a drain, rather than a toilet!) but when I got out (the last one to do so), Tim was standing at the side of the road waiting for me, along with the agitated-looking conductor who made us run to the bus which was now much further down the road than it had been when I'd left it. Apparently the bus had started to leave without me and Tim (who fortunately was on board, otherwise the bus would have left with our belongings) had had to frantically shout at them and somehow indicate that his wife was not yet on the bus - fortunately he managed to get the message across.)

Anyway, we got through yesterday's journey and arrived in Ranakpur, which is a very small, one-horse town, on the edge of Kumbalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary. The hotel we had booked into was basic, and very expensive for what it was (although still only 600 rupees - about 7 pounds 50 - so not exactly expensive by english standards) but was in a wonderful position, in lots of grounds, with a swimming pool and on the edge of a beautiful lake, with forest and mountains all around. So it was a magical place to just relax for the rest of the afternoon

02 Blue bull antelope, Kumbalgargh

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This morning we went for a jeep safari through Kumbalgarh Wildfife Sanctuary, which was really great. It was just us 2, along with the guide (who is also the owner of the hotel - he was a wildlife warden for many years before he opened the hotel) and a driver. We saw some really interesting animals, including the Blue Bull Antelope, which is apparently the largest antelope in the world. They were really huge, as big as, and in the case of the males, bigger than, horses. And we saw a wild camel, and a broad-winged brown eagle, which flew majestically away from us as we approached. Leopards live in the sanctuary but we didn't see any, surprise, surprise. Apparently they are very shy animals. Apart from the wildlife though, it was just lovely to be out in the countryside away from the dirt and madness of the cities. After that we went to the Jain temples, our main reason for going to Ranakpur in the first place, and they were very impressive. It's a complex of 4 temples, although there is one main one which is by far the biggest and most interesting. Lots of carved columns and high ceilings and a lovely place to wander round and marvel at for a couple of hours.

After that we went to the bus stand to wait for our bus to Udaipur. We met 2 brits who were also waiting for the bus and chatted to them for a bit, and whilst we were waiting a man came up to us and asked if we would like to go in a car instead of the bus, because he was going anyway, with only one passenger and had room for more passengers if we payed 150 rupees each. This sounded like a bargain because the bus would have been about 75. But our natural suspicion of anything that sounds too good to be true made us turn him away. But then we looked at the car and realised it was really nice and would be a much more comfortable ride than a bumpy 3-hour bus journey, so we decided to go for it. So, too, did the 2 british men, and we had a really pleasant 2-hour drive, the 4 of us and the Australian man who was already in the car. Money very well spent and definitely a good decision. (R)