Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Trailor on Tour
Firstly, let me apologise for same picture, but hoping to download some of my own in the next few days.
Got up early today and left guest house at 0830 for a tour around the surrounding area. I had my own personal driver and for the whole day it only cost about a tenner. I made sure he didn't go too fast, after my previous experiences.
We drove out into the countryside for about an hour, through villages and beautiful green hilly countryside. We arrived at Kumbhalgarh, a fort built in the 15th century perched at about 1100 metres amongst the Aravali Mountains. The outer wall of the fort is 36km long and inside are 360 temples, as well as the main palace. When we left the car I did not realise that I would have to climb about a mile and a half, or I would have left my door stop guide book in the car. By the time I got to the top I was dripping, but the amazing views made it worth the effort.
We left here and headed towards Ranakpur, stopping en route for lunch at a lovely hotel. My driver went to eat in the kitchen and left me to dine alone in luxury - still only 200 rupees!
Ranakpur is one of the largest Jian temples in the country, covered in intricate white marbel carving. The main temple is the Chaumukha Temple, which was built in 1439. Inside there are 1444 pillars, no two of which are alike. Before being allowed to enter shoes come off, everything is covered and all leather items have to be left outside.
There are two smaller temples as well, one of which is covered in carvings from the Karma Sutra. Very enlightening!
From here we headed back and got back to Udaipur at around 7.
The villages we passed through were very rural and the dress and look of the inhabitants changed at every one. The journey was very pleasant and we managed to avoid all the wildlife - cows, camels, pigs, dogs and monkeys. All of which seemed to like sleeping in the middle of the road.
To top off a good day in India (and there haven't been that many) I called and changed my flight out of Delhi to the 8th September! Just enough time to visit Agra and the Taj Mahal and then onwards.
Sherry xxxxx
- comments