Pushkar and Jodhpur

Travelling from Jaipur we decided the easiest way to visit Pushkar was by bus.  The train line doesn’t come any closer than Ajmer. From there you had catch a bus anyway so we decided to do the whole trip in one go, by bus from Jaipur. 

Having purchased our bus tickets online, and timetabled as a four-hour journey the trip seemed easily manageable.  

We arrived 45 minutes early at the bus station. Directed some streets away, we found our Bus parked up, waiting before picking up passengers.  Glad to be out of the heat and able to detach ourselves from our backpacks we climbed aboard.  And waited. 

Eventually, our bus began to move. But back towards the bus station to pick up passengers.  Stopping with plenty of time to allow local vendors to enter the bus, offering us everything from food delights to electrical gadgetry.  By the time we finally left Jaipur, we had already been on board 75 minutes.  

The App indicated fewer pickups than we experienced. This was, most definitely a ‘locals’ bus which became packed as we made our way through the countryside. Huge road-building projects seem to be everywhere.

By the time we arrived in Pushkar, perhaps we were an hour late, but who knows?  It seems that Western obsession with arrival times doesn’t really apply here.  Relaxing in to travel is always something I find hard, but hope to improve on.

The hotel was an oasis of calm with fast Wi-Fi. A long way from any noisy street.  A small outdoor pool in a tiny garden space. On trying the pool for the first time I suggested that perhaps we could stay until Christmas.  

Actually, instead of three nights we stayed for six. It was still a wrench to leave our quiet corner of India.  The hotel was more of an oasis due to us travelling slightly outside of the main season.

The Ghats and temples in town had a certain charm. Every night we walked down the hill into town to watch the sun sink across the water. We would then have dinner in our favourite restaurant ‘Amigo Mango’.  We don’t know what offerings there were to sample at other restaurants.  As is so often the way we find a restaurant we like and we work our way down the menu. The owner, a Johny Depp lookalike, was a great host and the food, always delicious.

The centre of town was a rabbit warren. Shops all selling the same sorts of things, hiding access to the holy lake. Leading to the temple, more functional than a tourist attraction.

Keeping my shopping to an absolute minimum, this location is not about the shopping it’s about the Holy Lake.  Pushkar is a holy city, expect to be surprised by wandering cows. Holy men lead ‘holy cows’ with an extra limb or horns growing from a strange place. 

Without being disrespectful, for those of us in the West with little knowledge of the Hindu gods, these sights are surprising and somewhat disturbing.  A discussion with a local however, explained to me that a five-legged cow is quite common!  

We left Pushkar as we had arrived, on a bus.  But this time we had a ‘Volvo a/c’.  We decided that this was the type of bus to look for when booking bus travel on the App.  Just four hours later we were in Jodhpur.

It’s been said, a lot, on social media that there’s nothing to see in Jodpur but the fort.  It’s not entirely true and our homestay was just a two-minute walk from the city’s gorgeous step well with its resident turtles.  

The main shopping area around the clock town and the city gates was absolute chaos.  We ventured out to try and locate an ATM.  There are plenty to choose from and it’s just as well as so many were not working. 

The homestay we chose had the most fantastic view of the fort.  Even more so at night when it’s lit up, as the fort towers over the city.  

The Homestay was in a historic building which had a mixture of rooms and dorms.  Its steep internal steps, imposing doors and multi-coloured glazed windows. It made for a wonderful stay in this Blue house in this Blue City. 

Having given ourselves just one full day to see the city we headed for the fort the following morning,  Stopping first at the Jaswant Thada (a miniature Taj).  A mausoleum for all the Maharajas of Jodpur.

Walking then further up the road to the Fort, timing our arrival with that of a school trip. So yet more selfies with the pupils and their teachers.  

We paid the entry and also the extra sum for the lift to avoid a large flight of steps.  We took the self-guided, audio tour, saw history unfold before us and wished we could step back in time.  India is fast becoming a country we wish we could have experienced 200 years ago.  Like we have missed the party.

The fort walls with its huge range of cannons. The best gift shop we experienced in all of India. The complicated queue for the temple. The cafe and its delightful menu. All these things made for a glorious day.

When we finished we walked back down from the fort into the labyrinth of streets. Homes in courtyards on which children played in the cobbled streets. Mixed in with wholesale suppliers.  It seems that Jodpur thrives on a manic pace of life and an economy focused on resin bangles and flip-flops.

I am not a massive fan of forts or Ancient Ruins but the Mehrangarh Fort blew me away.  Jodhpur is completely worth the trouble to get to and yes, the fort is probably the only thing worth seeing.

Moving on we headed back to another random ‘bus stop’ for our bus to Udaipur