October 26th, 2019
Today we got up and I mapped out some of the city highlights we wanted to see for the day. The easiest way to get around turned out to hire a tuk tuk to take us to all the sites. One of our new friends from last night wanted to join us so we split the cost of the tuk tuk three ways and it ended up being less than $3.00 a person including tip.
We started out by going to Royal Gaitor Tumbas which was a beautiful set of stone monuments in this royal crematory.
After that we drove by the Amber Fort which was huge. We decided we didn’t want to go inside that one and continued onto the stepwell that was close by.
I had seen pictures of India’s stepwells and they looked so cool I was really excited to see it in person. The only bummer part was they no longer allow you to walk down the steps for some really cool pictures. These used to be built for water storage/irrigation for the dry seasons and there are many throughout India.
Our driver then took us to another temple that was free and one not many people know about because it is not advertised on any city maps etc. It was called Sri Jagat Siromaniji Temple and was another very beautiful architectural piece of art.
We then went to the Hawa Mahal building which was also stunning.
The buildings we saw today were so amazing to look at and even with the craziness of the city, we began to understand there is such a rich history behind it. We started to see the fascination India has on backpackers and other travelers. Some of the things you find here are totally remarkable.
We wandered down the market road and also to City Palace. We didn’t pay for the expensive entrance fee to go in the palace and instead explored more of the city buildings.
We made our way back to the hostel once we needed a break and had covered most of the points of interest. I still wanted to go to the “blue city” but it just seemed so complicated to get there, and we wouldn’t have much time to spend there. So, we decided to go to Pushkar, another city about four hours away. I had heard and read about Pushkar being a place that backpackers like as it is more laid back with a hippy vibe. It is actually a very Holy city and no alcohol or meat is allowed in the city. The whole place was vegetarian! I didn’t know how thrilled Brendan would be about a city with no meat and no beer, but it seemed interesting enough that we should check it out. Brendan has actually been a vegetarian for a month now as he stopped eating meat when we got to Nepal. Not because he wanted to, but because the quality of the meat was poor and not properly stored. The electric power is off more often than on and the meat just sits out. When he has ordered meat, it is mostly bones, joints, and skin. He says there are never any edible meat parts so it has been better for him to just stick with the veggie dishes.
The main thing that caused us to decide to go to Pushkar is when I looked up an Uber and found to my surprise it was only $23 to take us there and took over four hours. It seemed very cheap and a better option than trying to figure out the crazy public transportation. So, we got our stuff and took a four-hour Uber to Pushkar. This town is situated around a “Holy” lake and is a pilgrimage site for a lot of Hindus as it has the only Brahma Temple in the world. Brahma is the Hindu creator god and the creator of the universe.
Some of the main streets in Pushkar are closed to cars which make it nice but unfortunately there are still plenty of motorbikes with their amped up horns that they use non-stop. I could totally tell why people felt this was a backpacker hippy town as it did have that kind of vibe (minus the car horns).
I think it would be a really peaceful place if they made a no horn law. We got to our hostel right around the time it was getting dark and had dinner up at their rooftop café where we again had nice views of the city.
