Beauteous Bundi

This weekend I got out of Jaipur and headed off to Bundi with Amanda and Ece. It was really great to get out of the city for awhile and into a friendly, beautiful, small town.

Sleeper Class

We left for the train station around 9pm after waiting for the rain to abate. Amanda and Ece and given me a heads up about how congested the stations are, but upon arrival it was all I could do to keep my mouth closed and my eyes from popping wide. There were literally hundreds of people sleeping in the main lobby, around the ticket office, and packed against ever wall and ever pillar. Typical Indian style the dogs ran around our legs, as men found corners to do their business and trash blew around the floor. One surprising element of Indian transportation is that it is very punctual. So we arrived at our platform a half hour early and our train was already waiting. We got onto our sleeper class car and found our bunk- right next to the two most obnoxious smelling latrines I have ever encountered. My bed was in a particularly pleasant spot to absorb the fumes which were particularly bad whenever the train stopped (about 2.5 hours of stopped time for a 5 hour train ride). We survived, fortunately got off on the right stop at Kota, got one bus to the bus stop, and then took another bus to Bundi. (haha but not really that simple).

Amanda, Ece and I in Bundi

An hour later we got into our Lakeview hotel (even the lake was mostly non-existent- it's too early in the rainy season). I took the best shower of my life and then we laid down for an hour before getting breakfast (an almost 1.5 hour long affair because they had to actually go out to the market to buy the ingredients). We decided to head out into the street and see what we found. Right away we appreciated how friendly every one was: from the turbaned man herding a cow, to groups of small children, to shop keepers or just passing a woman on the street.

My favorite view on top of the guard tower.

We found the pathway leading up to the Elephant Palace and the forces above it and decided to climb. As per suggestion of an Indian friend in Jaipur we skipped the palace and headed straight up to the fort after being equipped with long bamboo sticks to protect us from the monkeys (I thought this was hilarious). The climb to the fort was steep but the views of the city were so amazing- I was surprised and delighted to see how blue the town was from above. In the city I didn't notice how prevalent the blue was but up above it was very clear. The view of the surrounding hills continued to get more and beautiful as well. We spent the majority of the morning exploring the grounds of this really old fort. There are absolutely no boundaries or safety precautions anywhere, which is actually a ton of fun, and we had an awesome time going "look it's an overgrown mysterious looking doorway. let's check it out." We would emerge on the other side to find more buildings, abandoned swimming pools or 13th century paintings. We managed to get up on top of this one guard tower with a beautiful 360 view of the fort, city, and especially the gorgeous green hills. I think we stayed in that one spot for almost an hour.

Bundi and the Elephant Palace

Afterwards we ate yummy veggie burgers at a local cafe where I got to take a nap on a bed waiting for the food (seriously more restaurants should have beds it's a fantastic system), walked around some markets, got henna done, took a nap, watched a gorgeous sunset with millions of bats pouring out of the fort on the hill above, got dinner, and I received a great massage from Amanda (I could describe in detail but I'll just post a ton of pictures). I ended the day feeling more content to be in India than at any other point of my trip. Jaipur is loud, congested, and polluted a lot of the time, and it was easy to start generalizing that to the rest of India. Note to self: India is a huge country and impossible to generalize and there is so very much of it that is beautiful even along the difficulties.

Beautiful sunset over Bundi

Looking over the edge of the waterfall.
I was silly and didn't take more pics of this.

We ate breakfast on top of a roof, in a sort of lattice/cage structure to protect us from the monkeys. I think it's hilarious that humans are in cages to keep the monkeys away. The next day we took a 1.5 hour rickshaw trip to a waterfall 34 km outside of the city. Not exactly a peaceful stroll in the mountain air, but nonetheless fascinating to pass through small towns, swerve around water buffalo and gaze on fields of rice patties. I wasn't sure what to expect out of the waterfall but it was actually very lovely. I imagine during peak rainy season it would be even more awesome. We broke a cardinal rule of travel and decided to go swimming (even with over 100 Indian guys watching) and thoroughly enjoyed feeling the spray of the waterfall against our faces. We could even swim underneath and sit right behind it as it splashed all around us. I REALLY wanted to jump off some of the surrounding cliffs into the water- but it was just a bit too dangerous and incredibly conspicuous. The experience however was 100% amazing as there were sooo many people, smoky camp fires (they weren't necessarily using wood for fuel), trash, and crap on land and in the water. It wouldn't be India for it to be quiet and pristine :) Nonetheless we still really enjoyed the time.

The bus ride back to Bundi was an experience all in itself, but a story for another time. It's time to head back to the house (I've been writing this at work) for a calmer evening of tending to my mosquito bites, and cleaning all my clothes that got soaked from the monsoon rain the flood our room while we were gone. I'll post more pictures soon!

Sunset over Bundi

Sunset Number 2

Exploring the Fort

Another view from the guard tower

Glimpse into the past (the Elephant Palace)